Hindu statesman and president of the Universal Society of Hinduism Rajan Zed, has released a statement this morning, urging the Brookvale Union Brewery located on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to apologise and withdrawal its ginger beer which features juxtaposed images of Hindu deities, Ganesh and Lakshmi.
The label of the ginger beer features an image of Ganesh’s face on the body of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi’s body, and also displays various other Hindu religious symbols.
Zed says that label is ‘highly inappropriate’ as using Hindu deities, concepts or symbols for commercial purposes is highly insensitive to the religion's devotees.
He stressed that both “Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi are highly revered in Hinduism and they are meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer for mercantile greed.”
“Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled,” said Rajan Zed.
Brookvale Union Brewery, which was launched by the team behind 4 Pines in October this year, has been contacted for comment.