Senate Prayer Led by Hindu Elicits Protest (Earth, soul, choice)

[celina]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071202007.html

Senate Prayer Led by Hindu Elicits Protest



Senate Prayer Led by Hindu Elicits Protest
Associated Press
Friday, July 13, 2007; Page A07


A Hindu clergyman made history yesterday by offering the Senate's morning prayer, but only after police officers removed three protesters from the visitors' gallery.

Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., gave the prayer that opens each day's Senate session. As he stood at the lectern in a bright orange and burgundy robe, two women and a man began shouting "this is an abomination" and other complaints from the gallery.

Police officers arrested them and charged them disrupting Congress, a misdemeanor. The male protester said "we are Christians and patriots" before police led them away. Police identified the protesters as Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar. Their home towns were not available.

For several days, the Mississippi-based American Family Association has urged its members to object to the prayer because Zed would be "seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god."

Zed, the first Hindu to offer the Senate prayer, 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 the heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds."

Zed, who was born in India, was invited by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) He defended the choice and linked it to the war debate. "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."


Christian extremists disrupt Hindu Senate invocation

[Booko]

See this thread also:

Protesters stop Hindu prayer in Senate

And here's the man who's provided the...er..."inspiration" for these people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildmon

[celina]

Originally Posted by Booko

See this thread also:

Protesters stop Hindu prayer in Senate

And here's the man who's provided the...er..."inspiration" for these people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildmon

oh, thanks for the link.

[Booko]

Hey, you might want to discuss it here as well.

[celina]

yeah, waiting for other replies.

[Don Penguinoini]

Its terrible. A hindu, senate? NO! Religion, senate? NO! The senate should have never been opened by religion to start with.

[mahesh]

Even if it was the public viewing should have been controlled.

[Aupmanyav]

The three hindu prayers in American Senate:

Bhurbhuvah swah, tat savituh varenyam,
Bhargo devasya dhīmahi, dhiyoyonah prachodayāt.

(That desirable effulgence, of earth, sky, and heavens,
May we know its glory, may it stimulate our minds.)

Asatomā Sadgamaya,
Tamasomā Jytirgamaya,
Mrutyormā Amrutamgamaya.

(From untruth, (may) I go to truth,
From darkness, (may) I go to brightness,
From death, ((may) I go to immortality.)

The third prayer is for a teacher and student, or a congregation discussing something (like a Senate).

Saha nāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu,
Saha vīryam karavāvahi,
Tejasvi nāvadhītamastu, mā vidvishāvahī.

(May we protect each other, may we be nourished together,
May we work together with great vigour,
May our study be brilliant, may there be no hatred between us.)

Anyone finding them objectionable?

[mahesh]

Exactly! Nothing to be obejectionable about. How daft. All prayers are like that.

[Hema]

Originally Posted by Aupmanyav

The three hindu prayers in American Senate:

Bhurbhuvah swah, tat savituh varenyam,
Bhargo devasya dhīmahi, dhiyoyonah prachodayāt.

(That desirable effulgence, of earth, sky, and heavens,
May we know its glory, may it stimulate our minds.)

Asatomā Sadgamaya,
Tamasomā Jytirgamaya,
Mrutyormā Amrutamgamaya.

(From untruth, (may) I go to truth,
From darkness, (may) I go to brightness,
From death, ((may) I go to immortality.)

The third prayer is for a teacher and student, or a congregation discussing something (like a Senate).

Saha nāvavatu, saha nau bhunaktu,
Saha vīryam karavāvahi,
Tejasvi nāvadhītamastu, mā vidvishāvahī.

(May we protect each other, may we be nourished together,
May we work together with great vigour,
May our study be brilliant, may there be no hatred between us.)

Anyone finding them objectionable?

I don't see how anyone can object to this.