Nevada Senate Session Opens with Hindu Prayer

Nevada State Senate session in the United States opened on Monday with a hymn from the Rig Veda read by Rajan Zed, Director of Interfaith Relations of Hindu Temple of Northern Nevada, and Public Relations Officer of India Association of Northern Nevada. Rajan Zed said “I open my prayer with an invocation to the divine—wherever it may be and however we may conceive it.”

Next he read the immortal lines from the opening prayer in Katha Upanishad.

Saha nav avatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha viryam karavavahai
tejasvi nav adhitam astu
ma vidvishavahi
aum santih, santih, santih

May he protect us both; may he be pleased with us both; may we work together with vigour; may our study make us illumined; May there be no dislike between us. Aum, peace, peace, peace.

Then a few verses from the Bhagavad Gita and concluded by reciting another mantra from the Rig Veda.

Since its formation in 1864, this is the first time that Nevada State Senate has opened with a Hindu prayer. Rajan Zed had read the opening prayer to the Nevada State Assembly on March 19, 2007.

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