UTAH. Hindu prayers will open the meetings of ten city and county councils in Utah between June 4 to7, containing verses from world’s oldest existing scriptures.
These include Weber County Board of Commissioners (Ogden), Wasatch County Council (Heber City), Juab County Commission (Nephi), Payson City Council, Centerville City Council, Heber City Council, Woods Cross City Council, Salem City Council, West Bountiful City Council and Charleston Town Board.
Rajan Zed President of Universal Society of Hinduism will deliver the invocations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures before these city and county councils. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English interpretation of the prayers. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.
Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say “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 council members and others present to keep the welfare of others always in mind.
Rajan Zed had opened Utah State Senate, Salt Lake County Council, Utah County Commission (Provo); and city councils of West Valley, Provo, Sandy, Layton, Taylorsville, South Jordan and Draper all in Utah; with Hindu invocations in the past.
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.
Utah is the world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, which has nearly 16 million members and 30,304 congregations worldwide.
Harish Rao
