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Hindu Prayer To Open General Assembly Session

State of Illinois

Each day of session in the General Assembly starts off with a prayer from a minister or chaplain. For the first time, a Hindu will be sharing a recitation from his religion.

Rajan Zed is the President of the Universal Society of Hinduism. He has prayed before government councils and groups all over the country.

When Zed appeared as a guest chaplain in the U.S. Senate, he was met by protest from a small group of Christian extremists.

Zed doesn't care to address this incident from a decade ago. Instead, he's focused on his goal of educating others about the third largest religion in the world—Hinduism.

“We all need exposure and representation so other people understand us,” Zed said. “It will be a good educational tool.”

In Springfield, Zed says he’ll recite a prayer from the Rig-Veda, “the oldest existing scripture of any religion.”

Zed will give an English translation, and also recite the original Sanskrit rendition. He's slated to be in the capitol near the end of February.