Harish Rao
CHICAGO: Chanting of Mantras and verses from world’s oldest extant scripture will open the meeting of Canton City Council (Illinois) on September 15, 2020.
Chanting will be done by Rajan Zed President of Universal Society of Hinduism. He will deliver the invocation from ancient Sanskrit scriptures via Zoom before Canton City Council. After Sanskritthe English interpretation of the prayer wouldfollow. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.
Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed will elaborate on “Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, Mrtyormamrtamgamaya”; 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.” Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to urge councilmembers and others present to keep the welfare of others always in mind.
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.
Mission of City of Canton, founded in 1825, includes “inspire citizens”; and Kent A. McDowell is its Mayor. Prominent people associated with Canton include astronaut Steven Nagel, mystery novelist Elizabeth Peters, automobile manufacturer Charles Duryea, actor Ian Wolfe, game designer Elizabeth Magie.
