Pennsylvania
and Rhode Island Senates and Houses of Representatives will open
their June 19 and 20 sessions respectively in Harrisburg and
Providence with Hindu mantras, containing verses from world’s
oldest existing scripture.
Distinguished Hindu
statesman Rajan Zed will deliver the invocations from ancient
Sanskrit scriptures before the Senates and Houses of these states.
After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English interpretation
of the prayer. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism
and root language of Indo-European languages.
Zed, who
is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, will recite from
Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common
use; besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita
(Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start
and end the prayer with “Omâ€, the mystical syllable containing
the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude
religious work.
Reciting
from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say “Asato
ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamayaâ€,
which he will then interpret as “Lead us from the unreal to the
real, Lead us from darkness to light, and Lead us from death to
immortality.†Reading from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to
urge Pennsylvania and Rhode Island Senators and Representatives to
keep the welfare of others always in mind.
Zed is a
global Hindu and interfaith leader. Bestowed with World Interfaith
Leader Award; Zed is Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to
Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, Spiritual Advisor to National
Association of Interchurch & Interfaith Families, on the Advisory
Board of The Interfaith Peace Project, etc. He has been panelist for
“On Faithâ€, a prestigious interactive conversation on religion
produced by The Washington Post; and leads a weekly interfaith panel
“Faith Forum†in a Gannett publication for over seven years.
During
the recent months, Rajan Zed opened with Hindu prayers the sessions
of Iowa Senate and House of Representatives (Des Moines), Illinois
Senate and House of Representatives (Springfield), Oklahoma Senate
(Oklahoma City), meetings of ten city and county councils in Utah,
and Sparks City Council (Nevada) meeting.
Hinduism,
oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about 1.1 billion
adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are
about three million Hindus in USA.
Official
website of the “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania†states: “Here,
you can pursue your happiness to the fullestâ€, and adds: “This
nation was born in Philadelphia, saved at Gettysburgâ€. Rhode
Island, nicknamed “the Ocean Stateâ€, is the smallest state in USA
but has the longest official name: “State of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantationsâ€.
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