Hindu prayer to open 100th anniversary of Scouting event in Nevada

NEVADA - University of Scouting will open its day of training seminars to commemorate 100th anniversary of Scouting with prayers from ancient Sanskrit scriptures at Reno (Nevada, USA) on October 16.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed will deliver invocation from Hindu scriptures before an assembly of leaders and parents from various Scouting programs 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 ig-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 he then will translate as “Lead us from the unreal to the Real, Lead us from darkness to Light, and Lead us from death to Immortality.” Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to urge participants to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Boy Scouts of America executive Marty Baldwin, Chancellor Chris Harvey, and Professional Advisor Kathy Grost will address the gathering after Zed’s invocation at Bishop Manogue Catholic High School auditorium. Thirty-eight training seminars will be held on this day, including Religious Emblems in Catholics and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dealing with difficult people, utensiless cooking, venturing, outdoors skills, etc. The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations headquartered in Irving (Texas, USA) with Robert “Bob” Mazzuca as Chief Scout Executive. Incorporated in 1910, it has served over 114 million youths.

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 adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.(ANI)