Sanskrit mantras to open Fresno City Council

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Sanskrit mantras to open Fresno City Council meet in California

City Council of Fresno, the largest inland city in California, will reverberate with Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on May 13.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed will deliver invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Fresno City Council on this day. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayer. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, will recite from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start and end 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 plans to say “Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya”, which roughly translates 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 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. Fresno, which boasts of over 300 days of sunshine each year, is the birthplace of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright William Saroyan, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, Golden Globe winner actor Mike Connors (Mannix), and dancer-rapper-actor Kevin Federline. Ashley Swearengin is the Mayor.

ENDS