City Council meet in Nevada to open with Sanskrit shlokas

Nevada (US), Dec 23 (ANI): City Council of Sparks, one of the fastest growing cities of Nevada (USA), will start day's business with Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on February eight and July 12 next year.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, will deliver invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Sparks City Council on this day. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayer.

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, dated from around 1,500 BCE, 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 Taittiriya Upanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say "Om saha naavavatu, Saha nau bhunaktu, Saha viiryan karavaavahai, Tejasvi naavadhiitamastu, Maa vidhvishhaavahai," which roughly translates as "May we be protected together, May we be nourished together, May we work together with great vigor, May our study be enlightening, May no obstacle arise between us." Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to urge Councilors to "fulfill all your duties, action is better than inaction".

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 a dherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Known as "City of Promise", Sparks is a tailor-made town, custom ordered by the Southern Pacific Railway Company. Geno Martini is the mayor. (ANI)