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HINDU STATESMAN Rajan Zed, right, poses with Board Chair John R. Knight before the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting. Zed led Hindu prayers before the meeting. Courtesy photo
For the first time since the county was founded, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors opened their meeting with Hindu prayers.
Rajan Zed, who is president of the Universal Society of Hinduism and a resident of Reno, recited several Hindu prayers in both Sanskrit and English including lines from Rig-Veda, Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita.
Zed said some of the prayers date as far back as 1,500 B.C.
Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and the root language of Indo-European languages.
Clad in traditional Hindu garb, he noted, “This is a historical event because they’ve never had a Hindu prayer said at this meeting before.”
Zed said that there are three million Hindus in the United States and one billion in the world. “We’re the oldest existing religion and one having nothing to do with the Abrahamic traditions,” he said.
The Hindu leader said he had previously opened a session of the California State Senate with a Hindu prayer, which was also its first time doing so.
Beaming, he said, “it is always better to have a prayer rather than not have a prayer.”
Contact Dawn Hodson at 530-344-5071 or dhodson@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @DHodsonMtDemo on Twitter.
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jessie thomsonJuly 20, 2012 - 9:58 am
Why in the world is a Hindu prayer being recited at an El Dorado County BOS meeting? Were there any Hindu's there? WHy did this guy come from Reno to do this?
prayerfulJuly 20, 2012 - 10:24 am
A Hindu prayer is just as good as any other, and we're certainly in need of divine intervention when BOS gets together, whether formally or unofficially at one of their preferred dining establishments. But admit it, jessie thomson has a point.
Foaming at the MouthJuly 20, 2012 - 12:11 pm
Everyone knows tha US Constitution requires a Christian prayer. Somebody complain to the Grand Jury before we all get cooties!
BOS and religion, what a jokeJuly 21, 2012 - 8:16 am
The last time the Catholic Church had a big gathering in Placerville the big guy came from San Francisco, but why do we need to use the public time for prayer anyway...Prayer is just a religious belief that flies in the face of all religions.
Holy Cow!July 21, 2012 - 10:09 am
I found it peculiar there were only 12 people in the BOS audience, mostly county employees including 3 deputies from the Sheriff’s Department. At a Tea Party meeting last year I made an announcement about this ecumenical tactic after I overheard the new CAO & Clerk to the Board talking about it just prior to the start of a BOS meeting. This is a very ominous political move on behalf of EDC leadership. All religions do NOT serve a Holy God of the Bible. Will Buddhist or Islam prayers be next? Heaven help us!
James E.July 21, 2012 - 10:20 am
My God, it's the end of the world.
times are a changin'July 21, 2012 - 10:31 am
James you're being an alarmist. Not the end of the world. Just the transformation of America.
RichJuly 21, 2012 - 10:40 am
Maybe Chicken Little was right, the sky is falling, or I bet it seems that way to the christian right.
Ken SteersJuly 21, 2012 - 11:29 am
So am I to understand that the Progressive Left embraces the Muslim and Hindu faiths as being fine but Christianity must be belittled to extinction?
times are a changin'July 21, 2012 - 11:51 am
Yup. The economic and social structures of the U.S. are being replaced, one covert step at a time.
James E.July 21, 2012 - 12:18 pm
In America all faiths should be embraced. Freedom of religion: Practice one, or none of them. One is not better than the other. Choose the one you like and go for it.
Ken SteersJuly 21, 2012 - 12:27 pm
It would be fun to see one progressive, Bill Maher for instance, ever show that they are fair minded about their athiesm and moch the Muslim religion. Cowards. Hell I'll settle for creepy dude Daley. He chastizes Christians but nothing regarding any other religion. Comical.
RichJuly 21, 2012 - 9:46 pm
Who ever in the County allowed the Hindu prayers should be congratulated for their Forward Thinking. In America most people respect the rights of others to believe what they want no matter what they believe in, god, flying machines, USMC, the spirits of their departed love ones or anything that helps people live a fuller happily life for the time were allowed to stay on this good earth. The problem is that some intorenate groups, mostly Christian more than any other, have aliened them selves with the worst kind of politics in America and are threatening the liberty of the individual, our society, our nation and our freedom from religion.
American ValuesJuly 24, 2012 - 5:33 pm
It appears the publisher has closed comments and/or is blocking further comments. One last try: America's decline of morality, Patriotism and spirituality will cause America to collapse from within. Watch this brief video trailer. It will alter your perspective about Judeo-Christian and American values that are under attack, especially by the mainstream media: http://agendadocumentary.com/
R J CarterJuly 24, 2012 - 5:57 pm
Hindu prayers are OK I guess, but I heard there's a religion where the preacher juggles rattlesnakes....That would be really cool!!..Let do that next time!!!.....
IndependentJuly 25, 2012 - 6:18 am
American Values, if you're going to copy from the web, pick something thats not so easy to find. Carter, nothing beats praying and kissing rattlesnakes on the lips, ya just got to love those crazy Christians.