Nevada (Face2News)
Hindus are urging Florida legislators to add Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita to House Bill 195; thus also requiring Florida public schools to offer elective courses on these ancient scriptures.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that ancient texts of Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita contained a plethora of knowledge and wisdom. Why would the Florida legislators want to deprive the over 2.8 million students (including some Hindu students) of state’s public schools from such a treasury and storehouse of enlightenment? Zed asked.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that Hindus wanted the inclusion of these texts purely as a literature for academic enrichment, in a secular objective pattern, to enhance the students’ world-vision. It did not have any religious/doctrinal agenda and was not intended to convert/evangelize the students or advance religious views. Hindu were not interested in religious indoctrination at all, he added.
Rajan Zed further said that Vedas meant “knowledge” in Sanskrit and Rig-Veda was the oldest existing scripture of mankind still in common use. Vivid Upanishads provided a privileged glimpse of the wellspring of loftiest philosophies. Bhagavad-Gita, a philosophical poem, offered a universal message.
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about 1.1 billion adherents. There are about three million Hindus in USA.