Lincoln, USA - CITY COUNCIL of Lincoln, one of the nation’s fastest growing cities, reverberated with Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on April 27, which was reportedly its first Hindu prayer since incorporation in 1890.
Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, delivered the invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Lincoln City Council on this day. After Sanskrit delivery, he then read the English translation of the prayer. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.
Mayor Tom Cosgrove warmly welcomed Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism. Before the invocation, Zed sprinkled Gangajal (sacred water from River Ganga of India) and presented a copy of well-known Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord) to Cosgrove. Wearing saffron coloured attire, a ruddraksh mala (rosary) and traditional sandalpaste tilak (religious mark) on the forehead, Zed explained the basics of Hinduism before starting the invocation.
Zed recited from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita, both ancient Hindu scriptures. He started and ended the prayer with ‘Om’, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.
Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed said, ‘Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya’, which he then translated as ‘Lead me from the unreal to the real, lead me from darkness to light, lead me from death to immortality’. Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he urged councilors to keep the welfare of others always in mind.
Rajan Zed is one of the panelists for ‘On Faith’, a prestigious interactive conversation on religion produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com. He has been awarded ‘World Interfaith Leader Award’ by National Association of Interchurch and Interfaith Families.
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. Winner of the coveted All-America Cities Award, Lincoln is famous for its pottery.