Hindu prayer in senate of Mormon dominated US state
February 15th, 2008
New York, Feb 15(IANS) Utah, a state dominated by Mormons, created a
religious milestone when its senate opened with a Hindu prayer with
the chanting of Sanskrit mantras for the first time. Rajan Zed, a
prominent Hindu chaplain who has earlier read Hindu prayers in the US
senate and state senates, read the opening prayer Wednesday from
ancient Hindu scriptures before the Utah senate in Salt Lake City.
After first delivering the prayer in Sanskrit, he read its English
translation.
Utah is the world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, better known as Mormonism, founded in 1830. Mormons, known
to be orthodox and conservative, account for over 60 percent of the
state's population of about 2.5 million.
Zed sprinkled holy water from the Ganges on the podium before starting
the prayer. He recited from the Rig-Veda, besides lines from
Upanishads and the Gita. He started and ended the prayer with "Om",
the Hindu mystical syllable.
Zed presented a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to senate president John L.
Valentine who thanked him for the historic prayer. Senate majority
leader Curtis S. Bramble said that the theme of the prayer was peace
and he put forth a resolution to include the prayer in the Senate
Journal, which was unanimously passed.
Fewer than a thousand Hindu families currently live in Utah.
http://www.truthandgrace.com/Mormon.htm
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