Hindu mantras start the day at three city councils of Idaho

Rajan Zed with Burley Mayor Steve Ormond, Council-President Casey Andersen, Council-members and city officials just before he read invocation at Burley City Council meeting. PHOTO: Courtesy Rajan Zed.

Hindu prayers opened the Idaho City Councils of Burley, Arimo and St. Anthony on October 7-8-9 respectively. The prayers included verses from old scriptures, and according to Rajan Zed, a community activist, this was the first time a Hindu invocation was read in these city councils since Burley, Arimo and St. Anthony were reportedly incorporated in 1909-1923-1908 respectively.

Zed delivered the invocations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures, a press release from him said. After the Sanskrit delivery, he read the English interpretation of the prayers.

Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, recited from Rig-Veda, Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), and started and ended the prayers with “Om”.

Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed said “Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya”; which he then interpreted 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 urged the council-members and others present to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Mayors Steve Ormond (Burley), Lonnie Gunter (Arimo) and Donald Powell (St. Anthony) welcomed Zed; who was wearing saffron colored robes, a rudraksh mala (rosary) and tilak (religious mark) on his forehead.

Zed is on the Advisory Board of The Interfaith Peace Project, Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, etc. He has been a panelist for “On Faith”, an interactive conversation on religion produced by The Washington Post; and leads a weekly interfaith panel “Faith Forum” in a Gannett publication for over 14 years, he said in the press release.