HJS Success : A nude picture of Lakshmi Devi removed from a website

On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 7:20 PM, HJS Protest Team<[email protected]> wrote :
|| Shree ||

Subject : Complaints about nude image of Goddess Lakshmi in your article

To: [email protected]

Namaste, dear Mrs. Ginger Strivelli.

We at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti have received complaints from Hindus regarding your articles at:
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/cybertemples/Lakshmi.html and
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/cybertemples/Vishnu.html.

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti is a registered NGO in India doing social, Hindu Dharma related and national welfare work. Samiti is also active throughout the world, educating people about Hindu Dharma in a scientific way, campaigning against malpractices done in Hindu Dharma related practices and solving problems related to misrepresentation of Hindu Dharma. For further details please refer to our website www.HinduJagruti.org.

We are sending this letter to you to inform two errors on your website. These were brought to our attention by concerned devout Hindus. We commend you for your effort to spread awareness of Hinduism through your webpage, but the factual errors mentioned below need to be addressed in order for your webpage to represent Hinduism correctly.

1. On your website you have an image of Goddess Lakshmi in the nude. According to the Law of Karma, representing Deities in nude amounts to sin and one has to undergo its consequences. The depiction of Goddess Lakshmi in the nude is a denigration of Hinduism and also hurts the sentiments of millions of Hindus wordlwide. As per Hinduism, Deities are eternal principles of God that carry out different functions in the universe. Every principle is associated with sound, word, touch, form, taste, smell and energy. To depict a Deity in a form through a picture or idol, there are very specific rules to be followed as per Holy Hindu scriptures. Not conforming to  leads to denigration and loss of Divine Consciousness from the picture, leading to a grave sin. So we request you to remove this image from your website.

2. Your suggestion of offering meat during the Diwali puja ritual is a factually incorrect statement. Everything, living or non-living, is constituted of 3 basic components, Sattva, Raja and Tama. The vibrations emitted by anything are dependent on its predominant subtle basic component. For any Hindu puja ritual, the materials used for the ritual are supposed to emit the utmost positive vibrations (Sattva) in the purest form, items like turmeric, sandalwood paste, vermilion, flowers, etc. Meat is associated with the spiritually impure Tama component and hence is not a recommended offering for the Diwali puja rituals.

Considering the denigration caused by the above mentioned nude image of Goddess Lakshmi and the incorrect information about offering meat during Diwali puja, we hope that you will remove both of them immediately from your website to prevent incorrect information being spread about Hinduism.

Sincerely,
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.

On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 12:39 PM, an HJS volunteer wrote :
|| Shree ||
Namaste, dear Mrs. Ginger Strivelli.
It was reported to us recently that the image of nude Goddess Lakshmi has been removed from your website. We thank you for your prompt action in this regard. Could you please also remove the references to ‘meat’ in your description of the Diwali rituals at this link :
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/cybertemples/Vishnu.html
Sincerely,
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti Volunteer .

On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 6:38 PM, Mrs. Ginger Strivelli  wrote:
Hi,
Yes that sweets as ‘meats’ typo was also changed when I changed the other artist’s image to a picture of myself and my daughters in front of the Lakshmi temple in Delhi.
Blessings,
Ginger