Reincarnation in Hinduism

Yes, Hindus believe that the soul is immortal and from our birth to our death, we learn lesson throughout our life and evolve spiritually. Then finally we could be out of physical birth. Carnate means of flesh and reincarnate means to “reenter the flesh”. Life and death are only realities for all of us and the soul always remains in life, without death. Physical death is the most natural transition or transformation which survives and is guided by karma. Every person has had been through many lives and they will continue until all the lessons that are to be learned are learned. This is when the person will attain moksha and will be taken out of physical body. You will no longer be born or die. Reincarnation is believed by Jains, Sikhs and Indians of Americas, Pagans, and many other faiths of religion.

At death, the soul leaves the physical body, as stated above. It lives in on a subtle body called astral body. The astral body exists in nonphysical dimension and this is the world that we see in dreams at night when we sleep. Here is where we continue to have other experiences until we are reborn again. Each of these reincarnating soul chooses a home and a family which can fulfill it’s learning and maturing life. After each of the life are matured, it follows love, wisdom and knowledge of God. At this situation, there is no longer a need for physical birth and then the soul gets off the liberated and out of the cycle of life which includes birth, death and rebirth. This evolution continues as you don’t have to go back to it any more just as if you are going from elementary school to high school.

So, life’s unlimate goal are not anything that are materlialistic but transendental. This changes every fear of death from you when you know that your soul is not going to be destroyed. Every reincarnation in the life are for you to same spiritual destiny of God realization.

Previously posted in my blog

Tags: death, Hinduism, Physical body, reincarnation, Religion and Spirituality, Sikh, Soul

2009 Failed State Index

Fund for peace has decided to rank Bangladesh 19 out of 177 states putting it into “alert” state. The higher the ranking, more vulnerability exists in that nation and more likely that nation to spiral into a state-wide crisis. The bad ranking for Bangladesh has to do with corrupted government, social unrest and bad human rights record.  Although new government was able to gain some momentum initially, BDR mutiny and rising cost of living while sliding quality of life has contributed to a high vulnerability within the state.

Pakistan has been ranked 10th putting it into a highly critical category. Somalia ranks 1 in the index.

Among the top 10 ranked states, 7 of them are Muslim majority states.

Somalia (1)
Sudan (3)
Chad (4)
Iraq (6)
Afghanistan (7)
Guinea (9)
Pakistan (10)

This shows the high uncertainty that exists on most of the Muslim states. Corrupted government, rise of Islamic fascism and fundamentalism are tearing these countries apart.

Other than the Muslim states, the South-Asian states have also performed very poorly except India. Among other South-Asian states Sri Lanka has ranked 22 and Nepal 25. Unfortunately Bangladesh has ranked worse than both of these nations even though these countries are recovering from the civil war and unrest.

Click here to look at the original list.

Here is an interactive map.

Tags: Bangladesh, failed, index, muslim, Pakistan, state

Child Prostitution in Bangladesh

Various organizations and individuals have been fighting for decades to ensure justice for women and children in Bangladesh. While progress has been nominal, violence continues to be notable.

Innocent souls are crying for justice. From January to March 2009, 73 women and children were the victims of rape or attempted rape; among those, 29 were gang raped and 13 were between ages 7 and 12. In May alone, 33 women and girls were the victims of rape. Among those, 16 were women and 17 were children under the age of 16. Out of the 16 women, five were victims of gang rape and three were killed after being raped. Out of the 17 girls, five were victims of gang rape and two were killed after being raped.

Between January and March 2009, six serious acts of violence against women were instigated by fatwas. When I discussed this issue with the law minister, he denied the necessity of introducing a specific law to ban fatwas. I repeatedly insisted on the necessity of a specific law to fight fatwa, as well as a law to identify the paternity of a child in cases where it is disputed.

Dowry is another social disease in Bangladesh. From January to March 2009, 44 women faced dowry-related violence; among these women, 23 died.

Bangladesh has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world: 440 per 100,000 live births, according to UNICEF, and more than 20,000 women in Bangladesh die annually from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

In Bangladesh, women do their best to fulfill their duties and take care of all their men’s needs; yet, from January to March 2009 alone, 45 women were abused by their husbands or their husbands’ relatives. Very recently, a woman, Parul Akter, who was seven months pregnant, was killed and her body thrown in a river; her two other children are still missing. This is the reality that many women in Bangladesh face.

We can name thousands of ways that women and children are facing oppression and repression in Bangladesh. Confucius said, “We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.” I do agree with that. For almost two decades, Bangladesh’s prime ministers have been women. The number of people who oppose and oppress woman and children are larger than the number of people who are oppressed or suppressed.

Women’s empowerment alone will not solve the problem; we need to treat women as human beings first, rather than simply as women. We need to break the silence and stand up against religious and cultural traditions that encourage the repression of women and children. I dream of a day when a woman will be treated as a human being first, when women will really be empowered and lead the nation toward a more humane way, as they are the source of the human race.

The whole system in Bangladesh is male-dominated, inspired by common prophet religions that have a culture of suppressing woman historically. We need to deal with these oppressors first. Many aw and wonderful steps had taken to bring an end to the suppression to woman and children but hopefully none of them succeed.

A Woman is Harassed by Police in Bangladesh

Sometimes, a police officer who oppresses his wife in the home is used to investigate a case of oppression against a woman. In this case, the police officer should be brought to trial before anything else. Bangladesh even has cases where, after being raped, the woman gets raped again in the police station by police officers.

More than anything, the religion of Islam encourages the majority of people in Bangladesh in the historical cultural traditions of oppressing women. Laws can change, while religion inspires adherents through heaven and hell; in this light, how will jail or capital punishment be able to make any significant change?

The Prophet Mohammed said, “I was standing at the edge of the fire (hell) and the majority of the people going in were women.” When the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed guide the majority of people in Bangladesh, and the Quran (4:34) orders a man to beat his wife if she doesn’t obey him, how will the law prevent the beating of women? Laws and conventions contradict the holy sayings of the Prophet and Allah and will surely fail to ensure the rights of women.

I silently cry for justice for women like Parul, Rahima, Rebeka, Shima, who was raped in front of her father, and Mili Rani, a minority girl who was raped and later committed suicide. All this happened inside of the society before you and me.

We need to break the silence and step up a revival for humanity and justice.

William Gomes is an independent human rights activist ,Freelance Journalist and a political analyst. He can be reached at cda.exe@gmail.com .

Tags: Bangladesh, harassment, prostitution, rape, rights, woman

Hindus have said that they would pray for the peace of entertainer Michael Jackson’s soul.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Michael’s personal life might had been controversial, but he did provide “joy” to a large populace of the world through his music.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that one of the ancient Hindu scriptures “Taittiriya Upanishad” talking about “joy” says: From joy are born all creatures, by joy they grow, and to joy they return.

Tags: death, hindu, jackson, michael, rajan zed

Shiekh Hasina: PM of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a flourishing country with a large Muslim population. Recently, Bangladesh has been called different things, due to its growing Islamic extremism. Different governments have played a mixed role in fighting Islamic extremism. Presently, the Awami League government, which won the parliamentary elections with a large majority, has given the highest priority to fighting Islamic extremism.

Local and international media is covering the activities of the government against Islamic extremist groups. The government is trying to prove that Islamic extremism is going to be uprooted soon.

But the reality is very different. The Islamic extremists are growing and gathering more strength as the government initiates operations to uproot extremism. The reality is that the Islamic extremists are better equipped and strategically stronger than ever.

There are 786 high profile people in important positions of power that are closely linked with different Islamic extremist groups. Among these 786, there are 200 high-ranking government officials, including 76 individuals from the different intelligence agencies of the Bangladesh government, 20 powerful parliamentarians, and 7 high profile media personalities in different news media to fight the intellectual battle and propagate news and views in favor of the Islamic extremist groups.

The government failed to trace these 786 people and their national and international links. These 786 are working to create a scenario like what happened in Bangladesh in 1975, with the assassination of the “father of the nation” Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. As Rahman was assassinated, so will Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina if the government fails to fight these 786. Through the masses, the liberation in 1971 came about, and through the assignation of Sheikh Hasina will we be able to triumph over the tragedy of 1975.

William Gomes is an independent human rights activist ,Freelance Journalist and a political analyst. He can be reached at cda.exe@gmail.com

Tags: Bangladesh, extremism, fascism, Islam, islamic terrorism, racism, torture, violence

Hindu Gods

Back in the Spring of 1990, six college students sent 9 questions to Hinduism Today. But to make the explanation better, Hinduism Today had included another question to make it 10 questions that they answered. First remember that if the person is trying to convince you to their thoughts, then do not answer. Smile at them and show them that it is nothing to make you conviced by making you change your thought and you belief. Also remember not to answer a question about religon as if you are sure or fast because you had not thought about it at all. Offer a prolouge first to introduce the problem. This way, you have the time to think and start your conversation. Ask the questioner what his religion is and knowing that you can keep it in his understanding knowledge. Don’t be afraid to answer these questions, even meaningful answers would be taken into great consideration.

The Hinduism Today had included these prologues in their article and they are pasted here too.

1. I am really pleased that you are interested in my religion. You may not know that one out of six people in the world are Hindu.
2. Many people have asked me about my tradition. I don’t know everything but I will try to answer your question.
3. First, you should know that in Hinduism, it is not only belief and intellectual understanding that is important. Hindus place the greatest value of experiencing each of those truths personally.
4. You can also say the question back to see if the person has questioned you correctly.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: god, Hinduism, india, religion, Religion and Spirituality, Shakti, Shiva, Vishnu

Why cannot the Hindus in Bangladesh get the same benefit that the Muslims are getting in India? Is it all because we are Hindus, a minor group with little amount of population? Hindus in the world are 650-900 million and that is not a huge number on the population of the world which is about 1.57% and decreasing day by day from the last two decades. Is this number decreasing because of racism or many other factors?

For only the Indian Muslims, there are the The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 which gives the Muslims in the right to marriage, dower, divorce, maintenance, gift, waqf and inheritance. But for the Hindus in Bangladesh, which is a country right next to India and have a majority or Muslims do not have any law supporting the Hindus and the minorities but have against it.

One of that is the Vested Property Act which was actually made by the leader or the Father of the Country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who made the law that if any person, a Hindu left the country to India, then the governement had the right to take over the property that was owned by that Hindu. The pronounced that if you go to India, you are the country’s enemy but if you go to Pakistan or any other country, you are not considered to be enemy of the country.

So, still why do the Muslims in India consider themselves minority and still want more benefit? Did they get the same hardships that the Hindus are getting in Bangladesh and many other Middle East countries like Pakistan and Afganistan? They do not even have the same factors that they are watching. But still why do they want more and more freedom? Do they want to stop their worship that the Hindus are doing and people like me who had seen all those know about it all. Yeah it might have changed a little bit now with the new government, but why was it even stopped at the first place? What if the Muslims in India were not able to celebrate their Eid like us who can’t celebrate our Durga Puja?

Tags: Bangladesh, hindu, Hinduism, minority, rights

There has been a recent surge of violence against the Adibashi (mostly Buddhist) minorities in Bangladesh. In most of these cases justice haven’t been served. One of these latest incidents involve at attack on a Buddhist temple. All these incidents have been reported by Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti and HRCBM. Please spread the word and raise a voice against the violence against the Adibashi community.

A Buddhist Zadi plundered in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazaar district

On 13 June at night an ancient Zadi situated on top of Nilla Bazaar hill has been broken. Nilla is 12 miles north of Teknaf (Kayoukchoung) in the district of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. It is not yet known whether it was an act of zealotry or was it merely plundered in search of treasure.

Adivasi village burnt-down in Porsha upazila of Naogaon district

On 12th June 2009, the land-grabbers attacked an Adivasi village at Porsha upazila of Naogaon district and burnt-down 74 houses. At least four hundred people assembled with grievous weapons under the leadership of one Nur Hossain Master and his son Nazrul Haque and attacked village Khatirpur Upar-Sonadanga in Chhaor union.

Clash between Jumma and Bengali settlers in Ramgarh

On 14 June 2009 clash between Jumma villagers and Bengali settlers occurred at Jalia Para under Ramgarh upazila in Khagrachari district. It is learnt that Bengali settlers from Jalia Para cluster village have been trying to occupy the land of Jumma villagers at Baroitali area of Baroitali mouza and Hafchari union under Ramgarh upazila. Baroitali area is around 8 kms far from Jalia Para cluster village.

A Jumma youth shot in Rangamati

On 13 June 2009 around 8.00 p.m. a Jumma youth named Kallol Chakma (23), s/o Prabhat Chakma of Banarupa in Rangamati town was shot by unidentified miscreants at Samataghat under Banarupa area.

Tags: buddhist, fascism, minority, racism, religion, temple, violence

Christian Science Monitor raises a very important question regarding the prevalence of terrorism in Bangladesh. They link to a series of reports, which show a violent surge of terrorism. This is a really dangerous news not just for minorities, who are the first targets of Muslim terrorism but also the whole concept of democracy itself. The recent election gained some new enthusiasm about the future of Bangladesh but the BDR mutiny and vibrant new evidence of increasing extremism and fascism put the future of this country into jeoperdy.

Osama bin Laden may be laying low in Pakistan. But many of South Asia’s terrorists have a new hideout: Bangladesh.

In recent days, Bangladeshi police have been hot on the trail of disturbing developments: they’ve uncovered a plot that used Bangladesh to transit thousands of weapons to an Indian separatist group, and followed up by arresting key members of that group in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, reports The Times of India.

Around the same time, police arrested a fugitive hit man working for Daud Ibrahim, one of South Asia’s most notorious terrorists. While in custody, the assassin divulged that 150 of Mr. Ibrahim’s operatives are stationed in Bangladesh, according to The Daily Star, a leading English-language newspaper based in Dhaka.

Source: CSMonitor

Tags: Bangladesh, extremism, fascism, islamic terrorism, terrorism

Bhagavad Gita

Reincarnation is the significant portion of Hindu thoughts and belief system. It’s the core reason of our existence. No philosophy in this world explains the essence of life and death better than Karma.

vāsāḿsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ‘parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saḿyāti navāni dehī

Translation: As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.

Tags: gita, Hinduism, karma, Life, reincarnation, religion

Religious freedom takes a back seat in Pakistan. A man refusing to convert to Islam was brutally sexually abused and then killed by Islamic extremists. This is not the first time that it’s happening. Most of the atrocities against minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh go unnoticed. A few of them is only picked up by the media. Our expectation is Pakistani authority will take strong actions to make sure the rights of the minorities are protected.

Pakistani police reportedly found the body of Tariq “Litto” Mashi Ghauri — a 28-year-old university student in Sargodha, Pakistan — lying dead in a canal outside a rural village in Punjab Province on May 15. He had been raped and stabbed at least five times.

“They have sexually abuse him, torture him with a knife on his testicle and genitals,” Ghauri’s brother, 24-year-old Salman Nabil Ghauri, said. “They have tortured him very badly, and after that they have stabbed five times with a knife and killed him.”

The family believes Litto Ghauri was murdered by the brothers of his Muslim girlfriend, Shazi Cheema, after they found him in a compromising sexual position with their sister.

The Rev. Haroon Bhatti, a Christian clergyman in the village and a friend of the Ghauri family, said Cheema’s three brothers came to Litto Ghauri’s house on May 11 and gave him an ultimatum: Marry their sister and convert to Islam.

Source

Tags: brutal, christian, Pakistan, torture

A Muslim mother of four was brutally attacked by villagers because she simply talked to a Hindu. This incident is the example of Bangladesh fast moving towards degrading Islamic Shariah law and also the vibrant rise of support for Islamic fascist ideologies as claimed by the article.

This also rises questions about the rights of women in Bangladesh. I hope government takes proper actions to help the mother rehabilitate.

DHAKA (AFP) — A Muslim mother has been caned for talking to a Hindu man in Bangladesh, police said Saturday, prompting fresh concerns about a rise in cases of harsh treatment of women under strict Islamic law.

The punishment was carried out in a remote village in Muslim-majority Bangladesh on the orders of village elders, local police chief Enamul Monowar told AFP by telephone.

The village elders found Kamala Begum, 38, a mother of four, guilty under Islamic sharia law of chatting with an unidentified Hindu man, Monowar said. Hindus make up around 10 percent of Bangladesh’s population.

“The villagers got bundles of 25 sticks and hit her four times on the back. They claimed it was a symbolic punishment. But she’s humiliated and has been in great mental pain,” Monowar said.

It was the third such reported case in two weeks in the country and stirred concern among women’s groups in Muslim-majority but officially secular Bangladesh, about what they say is a rise in the brutal treatment of women under locally applied Islamic laws.

Source: AFP

Tags: Bangladesh, islamic, law, racism, shariah

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Hindu organization, fear attacks by Islamic militants after helping rescuedminor Hindu boy from madrasa.

Bangladesh government has failed to protect and promote human rightsof the minorities of Bangladesh over the years. Rape, gang-rape,kidnap and forceful conversion of members of the ethnic and religious minorities has turned Bangladesh into a land of human rights violation, opposed to the demand of UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The rising Islamic militancy threatens the existence of the minorities in Bangladesh. Many Hindus were forced to leave the country because of communal violence.

Recently, a minor Hindu boy, 13-year-old Poresh Chandra Sarkar, was traced out of his long disappearance. The boy from poor family took up job as child labour in a restaurant in the capital. Dhaka. Far from his village, there a Muslim man, named Hamdu Mia, came to know about the boy’s helpless condition, and with the help of some Maolanas (Muslim clerics) of a madrasa, they illegally converted this immature boy to a Islam from Hinduism and confined him in madrasa, away from all contact with his parents.

After lots of frantic searching for the boy, a clue came from a letter with $58 sent by Poresh to his father on 25.04.2008 through Genera Post Office (GPO) in Dhaka. Based on the clue, the boy’s father Krishna Chandra Sarker contacted a Muslim officer at the GPO. The officer informed Krishna Sarker that he knew of his son’s whereabouts and that he might get back his son if his family converted to Islam.

Failing to make contact with his beloved son, Mr. Sarker filed a police report (GD # 1498) with the Paltan Police Station, Dhaka.

The police then called in Hamdu Mia along with the Maulans to the Police Station. The parents, along with the relatives, beg to the police to hand over their son to them until late at night, but they were forced out of the Police Station with getting custody of the boy.

It appears that the police were connected to the extremists. The lawyers, representing the boy’s father, suspect that the innocent boy might have undergone terror-training in a camp somewhere like Bagmara, as the boy shout to his father over a cell-phone that, “I have sacrifice my life to establish the law of Allah in the world, and don’t try to find out me…..” (Allahar Ain Prothistha Korar Jonno ejibon utshorga koriachi Amar Khoj Korio na). He has been trained to keep shut himself under any circumstances.

Later on, the father and the son was brought before a court in Dhaka, chaired by magistrate Ms. Shamima Parvin on 07 April 2009. Unfortunately, ignoring the age of the victim and submission of Mr. Sarker’s lawyer, the magistrate ordered that the boy be sent to the Madrasa, instead of handing him over to his parents. But, faced with objection of the lawyers, she sent the boy to Jail Hajat (Safe Custody).

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: attack, Bangladesh, fascism, iskcon, islamist, madrasa, muslim, terrorism, terrorist

The Vested Property Act of Bangladesh is a very controversial law of Bangladesh which involves the Independence War of Bangladesh. This law allowed the ones who were gone during the war of 1971 in Bangladesh’s Independence War, not to gain their property back.
This law has been renamed to the “Vested Property Act of Bangladesh” in 1974. You can simply declare someone an enemy of the country (Bangladesh) and make the property to be gone from their hands to the government’s.
What that meant?
First, let’s look at figures. The amount of property that can be declared to “enemy” state is 702,335 acres (2,842 km²) and 22,835 homes are listed in these lands. Much of this land is from Dhirendranath Dutta, a Hindu politician in Bangladesh after the war period. His body was never found after the Pakistanis took him and it is said that he had not left the country by his own thinking. Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen’s property’s were confiscated by the Pakistani government. In 1999, the Bangladeshi government started investigating in this case but there is not much information about their progress.

Professor Barkat of Dhaka University took a survey and a research about what the regular citizens think about who has taken the vested properties. In his Inquiry into Causes and Consequences of Deprivation of Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh through the Vested Property Act, it mentioned more of the statistics about the vested properties. About 40% of the Hindus or 925,050 Hindu families of Bangladesh were affected by this act.

Now to add it all up, which party took over most of these properties?
Bangladesh Awami League 44.2%
Bangladesh Nationalist Party 31.7%
Jatiya Party 5.8%
Jamaat-e-Islami 4.8%
Others 13.5%

Tags: Bangladesh, hindu, laws, Politics, Vested property act

Why are the Hindus being demolished in Bangladesh? There are a lot of reasons to that. The Muslims, the radical ones for sure and one that everyone suggests. But isn’t there anything else than that? Isn’t there problem with the Hindus themselves? Aren’t we giving up our land that every Hindu calls their land, India in the hands of Muslims? From the period of Akabar, we have not taken care of where we are currently staying but only caring about how we can manage our property.

Let’s look at that time period. Akbar had married Haraka Bai, a Hindu. She was Raja Bharmal’s daughter. Akbar persuaded both Bharmal and Rajput to take her. This was the turning point that everyone thinks is responsible for what happened afterwards. Now there was not much difference between the Hindus and the Muslims. She even changed her name to Mariam-uz-zamani to make herself look much more like a Muslim.

Now we could see that everything that ever happened in history has to have a beginning. Now where did this have the beginning of racial discrimination in South Asia? For me, I think that this started from here because she was never let to visit her father’s property and she had to stay in a outcast area, sometimes not even with her husband so that she could not make another problem in Akbar’s kingdom.

Post previously published here.

Tags: akbar, Hinduism, muslims, race

Secularism in Danger in Bangladesh

The Islamic terrorist activities resulting in death of uncounted innocent and spreading the message of hearted and violence. Bangladesh have had failed to deal with the Islamic terrorism by the years. The root of Islamic terrorism was rooted historically by defining the Islam as a “state religion”. The historical rotten root of political Islam and Islamic extremism was rooted by the long absence of secular parliament democracy.

By knocking down the secular ascent of the constitution of Bangladesh the dirty politicians characterized Bangladesh from secular to Islamic Bangladesh.

Many nations all around the world have already successfully introduced anti terrorism legalization including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and United States. It’s the need of time for Bangladesh to introduce and well and constructive Anti terrorism legislation

It’s ironically truth that the law alone will not be able to deter Islamic terrorism in Bangladesh. Before introducing anti terror law the government should first should first kick out the “bloody bismillah” and the root of Islamic extremism the state religion “Islam”. The nation and nationals should be indoctrinated with spirit of secularism and step forward to a better and progressive Bangladesh.

The anti terrorism law should be extra ordinary law that fits with the pure democratic standard and distinct from the laws of Bangladesh penal code. In drafting the law the government should keep in mind that in implementing the law no one should be able to use the law as political instrument.

In drafting the law government should keep in mind that the law should not only focus on the present or past activities of any Islamic extremist group but should focus on with a manner to curb the root of Islamic extremities from the society.

We have experienced the Islamic extremist are recruiting new members inside of the prisons of Bangladesh during their imprisonment. The Islamic extremist indoctrinated the ill fated the Muslims inside of the prisons of Bangladesh. In a situation like this Bangladesh government should start a new prison only for the Islamic extremists and insure the proper correction and teaching towards justice and peace.

Tags: Bangladesh, fascism, islamic, muslim, secularism, terrorism

Rajan Zed at Nevada State Assembly just before reading the prayer.

Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures opened the Nevada State Assembly session here today.

After sprinkling Gangajal (holy water brought from river Ganga in India) around the podium, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed started and ended the prayer with “Om”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, 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.

Legislators and others, including many teenagers who filled the visitors gallery, stood respectfully in prayer mode with heads bowed down during the prayer. Adina and Kurt Karst, who came from Minden to listen to the prayer, described it as “wonderful”. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: assembly, nevada, prayers, rajan zed

Hindus have applauded surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, for performing together Saturday at New York to raise money for promoting meditation.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that other celebrities, who had benefited from Hindu practices, should also come out in support of charities promoting Hinduism concepts.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, invited all entertainment celebrities to explore meditation to combat stress that their challenging jobs bring and to increase the powers of their minds.

If any celebrity needed assistance in his/her exploration in meditation arena, he or other Hindu scholars would gladly provide, Rajan Zed added.

Tags: Hinduism, mediation, rajan, yoga, zed

Hindu Baccalaureate Service (Dikshant Utsav), held for the first time in Western USA at prestigious University of Nevada-Reno (UNR) in May last, will be held again on April eleven next.

Organized by acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed in collaboration with Indian Student Organization of UNR, it will bless graduating class in the traditional Hindu style according to ancient scriptures, complete with applying tilak (religious mark) on the foreheads of graduates.

Besides keynote address by Swami Vedananda, a well-known Hindu monk from California, it will also include blessing prayers by Christian (various denominations), Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Baha’i, and Native American religious leaders. Shanti-Shanti, the only Sanskrit rock band of the world, will deliver shlokas (hymns) from Rig-Veda (oldest scripture of the world composed around 1,500 BCE) on the occasion.. A “benediction through the medium of dance” by renowned dancer Martina Young will also be organized at this Service.

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Tags: america, Hinduism, university