Alaska, USA (CHAKRA) – The House of Representatives in Juneau as well as Alaska State Senate will reportedly open with Hindu prayers for the first time on April 9th, by Rajan Zed, Indo-American and Hindu statesman.
Zed will read the opening prayers from Hindu Sanskrit scriptures. He will read these scriptures before Senators and Representatives on April 9th. Once he has read in Sanskrit, he will translate the prayers from Sanskrit to English. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism and is known to be the root language of Indo-European languages.
The Rig Veda will be used to read the prayers from, by Zed who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism. The Rig Veda is the oldest known scripture in the world dated from around 1,500 BCE. Some lines from the Bhagavad-Gita as well as the Upanishads will be read as well. Zed plans to commence and end the prayer with AUM, the mystical syllable which is the essence of the universe, used in Hinduism at the beginning and end of any prayer.
Reciting from the Bhagavad-Gita, Zed plans to deliver the message of keeping the welfare of others in mind at all time, to the Senators and Representatives. He also plans to say Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya, which translates to lead us from unreal to real, darkness to light and from death to immortality.
One of the panellists for On Faith, a well-known conversation on religion between Newsweek and washingtonpost.com. He has received are the World Interfaith Leader Award which was presented to him by National Associate of Interchurch and Interfaith Families.
The Alaska senate comprises 20 members with Gary Stevens as their president. Mike Chenault is the Speaker for the House of Representatives which is made up of 40 members. Alaska is a beautiful place with the highest mountain peak in North America.