CHICAGO: A strong plea has been made by Indians across the globe to the European Commission to persuade various headshops of Europe to withdraw cannabis paraphernalia with images of Lord Ganesha and other deities,
Rajan Zed, who leads the protest against inappropriate usages of Indian deities, said that Lord Ganesha is highly revered in Hinduism and not to adorn ashtrays, chillums, bongs, rolling papers, mixing trays and other cannabis related paraphernalia. The commercial usage or other agenda was hugely hurting the devotees.
Some headshops in Germany, Netherlands and Spain; which carry paraphernalia used in consumption of cannabis/tobacco and related items; sell ashtray, bongs (filtration device usually used for smoking cannabis/tobacco), chillum, rolling tray, mixing tray and cannabis seeds carrying images of Lord Ganesha.
Description of Ganesha wood chillum with carved image of Lord Ganesha at such headshop includes: “enjoy marijuana under the watchful eye of Ganesha”. “Hindu Collection” of rolling papers claims to show “all nine gods/goddess of Hinduism”; including Lord Brahma, Lord Ganesha, goddess Durga and Lord Hanuman.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.
Madhu Patel
