Recently, Forum for Hindu Awakening received several emails from concerned Hindus around the world about a website, www.USA-Postage.com that has issued postal stamps with images of Hindu Deities and Saints, as follows.

At first, the Hindu community welcomed this as an attempt to bring awareness about Hinduism. However, news reports are saying that it is following "the tradition of 'Sunny Funnies', a series of stamps featuring popular cartoon characters!" Further, being postal stamps, they are bound to be stamped with ink, and can be inadvertently trashed or trampled underfoot, resulting in blatant denigration of Hindus' revered Deities and Saints. Hence, we urge you to contact the issuers of these stamps, educating about this aspect of denigration, urging them to withdraw the stamps

Contact details :

Contact Person : Nageshvar Rao
Email : ennar@usa-postage.com
Phone : 404 551 3265
Address : P. O. Box 682, Alpharetta, GA 30004

One of Forum for Hindu Awakening's active visitors has initiated this protest drive, by calling up as well as sending an educative mail, indicating his displeasure to the owner of the website. Here is the mail :

From : Ninad Chitre
To: ennar@usa-postage.com
Cc: info@forumforhinduawakening.org

Subject : Request about Deities' images on postal stamps

Dear Shree Nagesh,

I am Shree Ninad Chitre writing to you. It was nice to speak to you on 26th Jan. I appreciate the recognition you showed towards the concept of Hindu Deities through the postage stamps with Deities' images on them. The Hindu philosophy has always been a beacon to the whole world. Bhaarat (known as India in the West) is the land of Dharma. No doubt the nation of Bhaarat is a spiritual nation.

I saw a reference to your website from the Forum for Hindu Awakening. We had a brief chat about the God's images. During our conversation we discussed these main points:

1. We spoke about the ink marks on Deities faces leading to denigration. You mentioned that Thailand, Nepal and Bhaarat too issue such stamps. I fully acknowledge the current situation. I feel it's far from perfect. Because of lack of Dharmic Education the Hindus themselves do not know about the wider aspects of our own Dharma. Bearing this in mind, shouldn't we establish the sanctity of our own Gods? Because if we don't, no one else will.

2. We spoke about printing an advisory line to dispose the stamps in fire. As per your opinion no Hindu will dispose them incorrectly. I completely agree with you. However, it's a common experience in Bhaarat that the Gods' images on consumable items such as paper bags are routinely found in garbage dump. We, the Hindus, are ignorant about our own Dharma. What to speak of non Hindus? They have absolutely no means of knowing the correct way of disposal. They could unintentionally accumulate bad karma, as the energies of the Deities exist along with form and/or name of the host Deity.

3. We also spoke about alternative symbols for postal stamps such as yogic posture or a banyan tree. I understand the need to make your venture commercially viable. I also appreciate the charity mission in which you are supplying the stamps to the 400+ temples in the US on a cost-price basis. However, the very act of subjecting our Deities to unsuitable places amounts to Pradnyaaparaadh. This means knowingly making a mistake. You can get more reference here:

   Gestational diabetes

   pragya-aparadh

In the end, I encourage your efforts to promote the Hindu Culture. I also understand your position. However I strongly feel that the explanation you gave does not serve as a justification to issue the postal stamps with Deities' images.

As a matter of Dharma, I feel we should not print Deities' images on consumable items. The very lifecycle of such items threatens the sanctity of our beloved Gods. However, I sympathise the situation you are facing. As a solution, can I request you to print alternative Hindu symbols?

Please let me know your views. I am putting a cc to Forum for Hindu Awakening as I saw a reference to your website through them. I suggest you to take a look at their website at : Forum for Hindu Awakening

Thank you for your time and attention.

Spiritually yours,

Ninad Chitre

Let us take inspiration from this effort and contact these postal stamp issuers promptly, to show solidarity and sensitivity towards the Hindu community, and fulfill our duty towards Dharma! Please inform Forum for Hindu Awakening about your effort in this regard or cc info@forumforhinduawakening.org if emailing to the stamp issuers and let us know if it is ok to publish your correspondence with the level of detail of your identity (such as, 'A Hindu, London, UK', or 'D. Naidu, Brisbane, Australia') on this website.