Sanskrit mantras to open Vacaville City Council in California

NEVADA - City Council of Vacaville (California, USA), one of the fastest growing areas of the nation, will reverberate with Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on July 27.

Acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed will deliver invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Vacaville 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 me from the unreal to the Real, Lead me from darkness to Light, and Lead me 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.

Incorporated in 1892, Vacaville houses California’s legendary road stop “Nut Tree”. Len Augustine is the Mayor. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. (ANI)