By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : For the first time in US history the country’s Senate opened with the chanting of the Gayatri Mantra from the Rig-Veda, the oldest Hindu scripture composed around 1,500 B.C., even as three Christian protesters who tried to disrupt the proceedings were arrested.
Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Thursday sprinkled few drops of water around the podium from the Ganges river, considered sacred in Hinduism and is used at the start of Hindu religious services, before the start of the Senate prayer.
Zed, the first Hindu to offer Senate prayer since its formation in 1787, recited from Brahadaranyakopanisad and Tattiriya Upanisad. Reading from the Bhagavad-Gita, he urged Senators to strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world, performing their duties with the welfare of others always in mind.
Zed clad in saffron with a tilak on his forehead began: “We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme, who is inside the heart of the earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of heaven. May he stimulate and illuminate our minds.
“Lead us from the unreal to real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. May we be protected together. May we be nourished together. May we work together with great vigour. May our study be enlightening. May no obstacle arise between us.”
“United your resolve, united your hearts, may your spirits be at one, that you may long dwell in unity and concord!” continued Zed closing with, “Peace, peace, peace be unto all” as the senate prepared for another day of debate over the Iraq war.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thanked Zed for the prayers and added that Mahatma Gandhi was his hero.
“If people have any misunderstanding about Indians and Hindus,” Reid said, “all they have to do is think of Gandhi,” a man “who gave his life for peace”.
Even as the proceedings were on two women and a man in the gallery began protesting loudly against the ‘false prayer’.
“Lord Jesus, protect us from this abomination,” shouted one. “Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight,” screamed another. “This is an abomination. We shall have no other gods before you.”
Officers from the Sergeant of Arms’ office quickly ejected them from the gallery at the bidding of presiding officer Democratic Senator Bob Casey even as they continued shouting, “No Lord but Jesus Christ!” and “There’s only one true God!”. They were later arrested on charges of disrupting Congress, a misdemeanour.
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the protest “shows the intolerance of many religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it’s clear they mean only their religion”.
Capitol police identified the protesters as Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar. An organisation named “Operation Save America” later said the three were protesting “as that chamber was violated by a false Hindu god”.
“The senate was opened with a Hindu prayer placing the false god of Hinduism on a level playing field with the One True God, Jesus Christ,” it stated. “This would never have been allowed by our Founding Fathers.”
For several days, the Mississippi-based American Family Association had also urged its members to object to the prayer because Zed would be “seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god”.
Each day, when the senate is in session, the senate chaplain delivers the morning prayer. Occasionally guest chaplains, particularly from minority religions, are invited to offer a prayer from their faith.
“…Throughout the years, the United States Senate has honoured the historic separation of church and state, but not the separation of god and state,” according to US Senate website.
“During the past 207 years, all sessions of the senate have been opened with prayer, strongly affirming the senate’s faith in god as Sovereign Lord of our Nation…”
About thirteen percent of the world’s population is Hindu. Currently there are about 800 Hindu religious centers in the US, concentrated in California, New York, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. Hinduism in North America began in 1830s with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau studying Hindu scriptures, a press release said.
Zed, a journalism graduate from Panjab University, received his master of science and master of business administration from San Jose State University in California and the University of Nevada, Reno, respectively. He is also the public relations officer of the India Association of North Nevada.