CHICAGO: Members of Hindu community across the USA have pitched for prayer services at the world’s airports which have chapels.
This is especially where the airports provide facilities for specific religious groups, like John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Similar facilities should be provided to members of Hindu community who are frequent travelers and globe trotters as well, said Madhu Patel, president of NRI Press Club.
Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that a lot of Hindu passengers daily used world’s airports and it would be nice if airports offered a quiet facility at the airport where they could pray/meditate/worship and perform religious services.
He added that Hindus across the globe would appreciate if world airport authorities work in this direction as an issue of fairness and equality in customer service. Hindu scholars and pundits, including Raja Zed, would be glad to help, if asked, regarding the structure of “Hindu Prayer Room”.
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents, lays great emphasis on prayer/worship to God. Prayer Room would provide facility Hindu passengers who missed their daily worship rituals/rites while traveling. This might include recitation of texts, repetition of mantras and dhyan (meditation), Rajan Zed pointed out.
According to Pew Research Center (PRC), “a nonpartisan fact tank” headquartered in Washington DC, “Most of the busiest U.S. airports have dedicated chapels” (first being Our Lady of the Airways, opened at Boston’s Logan International Airport about 60 years ago) and “many of these facilities offer a variety of worship services for different faith traditions”.
John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York “has four places of worship: a Catholic church, a Protestant chapel, a mosque and a synagogue”, while “Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, has five different interfaith chapels – one in every terminal”.
“Washington Dulles International Airport, near Washington, D.C., offers weekly Catholic Mass, Protestant worship and Christian prayer services, as well as daily Jewish and Muslim worship.”
Nand Kapur
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