NEW YORK: Utah created a religious milestone on February 13 when its State Senate opened with a Hindu prayer containing Sanskrit mantras for the first time. Rajan Zed, the prominent Hindu priest, read this historic opening prayer from ancient Hindu scriptures before Utah Senate in Salt Lake City. After first delivering in Sanskrit, he then read the English translation of the prayer.

All the Senators, Senate employees, and visitors stood respectfully with the heads bowed down listening intently during this prayer. Zed sprinkled Gangajal (holy water from river Ganga of India) on the podium before starting the prayer and presented a copy of Srimad Bhagwad Gita to Senate President John L. Valentine after the prayer.

Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of all Indo-European languages. Rajan Zed recited from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, dated from around 1,500 BCE, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures.

He started and ended 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 said "Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya", which roughly translates as "Lead us from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light, and from death to Immortality." Reciting from Chapter three of Bhagavad-Gita, he urged the Senators to act selflessly. John L. Valentine thanked Zed for the historical prayer and Senate Majority Leader Curtis S. Bramble, said that the theme of the prayer was peace and he put forth a resolution to include the prayer in the Senate Journal, which was unanimously passed.

Senator Darin Peterson and few other Senators personally thanked Zed for the prayer. Louis Nickens, a technical writer in Utah, in an e-mail to Zed, wrote, "…God bless you and your efforts to build bridges…" Various local leaders of Hindu community, including Dinesh Patel, Indra Neelameggham, Mahesh Pokala, etc., accompanied Zed to the Senate. Adi Gundlapalli, President of Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple of Utah, applauded Zed's efforts to spread the message of love. "This is a great day for Utah and a historic day for us," Zed said at the beginning of the prayer.