Nevada: Cover of the January one international edition of American business magazine Fortune has apparently upset the Hindu community. The image juxtaposes the photo of Amazon.com president Jeffrey P. Bezos as the likeness of Lord Vishnu. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, said that Lord Vishnu was a highly revered deity in Hinduism meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used indecorously or thrown around loosely in re-imagined versions for dramatic effects.
Zed asked how a mortal could be depicted as Lord Vishnu, who is the director of our destinies, adding that the inappropriate usage of Hinduism concepts and symbols for pushing selfish agenda or mercantile greed was not okay. President of Universal Society of Hinduism, Zed called the image an unnecessary dragging of a Hindu deity to prove their point of view. He urged Fortune to publish a disclaimer about this on its website and the next issue with a proper explanation of Lord Vishnu and Hinduism, along with a formal signed apology by Time Inc. Chairman Joseph A. Ripp; Fortune Publisher Eric Danetz, Editor Alan Murray, Creative Director Michael Lawton and Art Director Michael Solita.
Zed stressed that Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it not be taken frivolously. No faith, larger or smaller, should be ridiculed at.
