Hello!

To preface, I'm a non Hindu. I posed the same question over in the Hinduism subreddit and received very supportive responses but I would like to get some more opinions on the matter.

"I recently designed a t-shirt for a contest. In this design, I parody a webcomic character called Godhead Pickle Inspector, who obviously draws on Hindu/Buddhist symbols. In the design, I borrow the iconography of: sitting in a lotus and multiple sets of arms holding objects symbolic to the webcomic itself. I don't think the artist of the Pickle Inspector was referring to any specific deity. (If you would like to see the design, please pm me and I'll will link you.)

After I put my design up, I received a message on Tumblr from someone (I'm not sure if they are Hindu) who says that it is "disrespectful" to make money off of religion. Considering that there are a lot of products and artwork that make money off of religion, Christianity in particular, I'm not sure whether their concerns are unfounded or not."

Though at this point, I don't think the design is much of a problem, I'd rather not assume in the place of others especially as my understanding of Hinduism is limited. Preferably I would like to keep my design in the contest as I worked really hard on it but I'd like to hear your thoughts first.

Thank you!