Zed wants solemnity back in Hindu weddings

NEVADA - Hindu statesman Rajan Zed is stressing the need of bringing solemnity and purity back to weddings.

In a statement in Nevada (USA) today, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that in Hinduism, vivah (marriage) was the most important samskar (sacrament). Instead of going through the sacred rites of traditional Hindu marriage handed down to us by our forefathers with piety, many families sadly indulged in lavish expenditures, self-promotion, image-consciousness, over extravagance and egocentrism.

Rajan Zed further said that wedding costs had gone skyrocketing and excessively expensive as materialism, grand displays, and obsession of outspending in competition with relatives-peers had become the focus. We were losing the purpose and moral seriousness of wedding ceremony.

Zed pointed out that he understood that it was time for celebration but moments of making lifelong commitment should not be as shallower as the weddings had become now. We needed to reset our priorities: Were dresses, venues, food, and party more important than commitment, love, sacredness, and dharma?

Who said that spending more money on weddings was a guarantee to permanence or long-lasting marriages, Rajan Zed asked. (ANI)