Re: [Assam] Om Shanti at MIT - Telegraph

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 10:06:08 -0700

I think all Univs have chaplains of different faiths to say the commencement prayer. It depends upon whose trun it is that day. At Harvard's this year -it was the turn of the Christian chaplain, maybe next year it be of some other faith.
Every day of the week a different faith's chaplain says the paryers in the prayer hall-atleast at Harvard.
 
Umesh

Ram Sarangapani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
C'da,

I know news items like these are rather hard to digest:-)

Honestly, IMHO, I think the whole thing is a bit over the top.
Hinduism (or any other religion) does not and should not need an MIT
or the White House to give its blessings.

I don't think it served any purpose (for Hinduism or MIT) - except
maybe to cause some discomfort to the Hindu/India bashers:-)

--Ram

On 6/12/05, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> At 6:34 PM -0500 6/11/05, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
> Here is some interesting bit of news from the halls of MIT. Hope itdoesn't
> gag those netters who find everything wrong with India orHinduism.
>
> *** That was very timely.
>
> You really delivered a 'jen-kukur-ten-tangwn' wham to these ne'er-do-good
> anti_indian, hindu-bashers. Making them gag in their own bili! ous blabber is
> too kind a treatment for them and who deserve much worse.
>
> I mean just look at it, even MIT has, at long last, incorporated Hindu
> chants
> in their convocation invocations, thus purifying, in one fell swoop, all the
> sins of commission and omission of the Hindu, something that even a deep
> steep in the Ganga could not do.
>
> Time for all good Hindus of the world to rise and rejoice and for the
> hindu-bashers to, at the very least, take a bow, if not offer a
> 'xastange-pronipaat' with appropriate 'dokkhina' to the Brahman so they too
> can reach Brahman.
>
> C-da :-)
>
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> Nevertheless hope y'all enjoy it.
> --Ram______________________________________Issue Date:
> Sunday, June 12, 2005Shanti, shanti rings out in MIT K.P. NAYAR Washington,
> June 11: Five years after a Hindu priest gave the openingprayer on Capitol
> Hill for the first time in the history of the USCongress, the Massachusetts
> Institute of Technology (MIT) has followedsuit.
> The 139th commencement ceremony of MIT, which has produced 59 NobelPrize
> winners in all, began this year with an invocation in Sanskritand English.
> "May we come together for a common purpose. Common be ourprayer, common our
> goal," prayed Swami Tyagananda.
> "May the one and the same Divine Reality lead us. May we be grantedclear
> understanding and the courage to pursue the goals of socialjustice,
> non-violence, harmony and peace."
> The swami, who belongs to the Ramakrishna order and heads its Bostonbranch,
> is MIT's Hindu chaplain. He has been in Boston since 1998,assigned to the
> Vedanta Society there.
> The presence of Swami Tyagananda apart, India was all over theceremony,
> reflecting the dominant presence of Indian and IndianAmerican students at
> prestigious US educational institutions. Amongthe speakers was Barun Singh,
> president of the Graduate StudentCouncil, who saluted the Class of 2005.
> "We celebrate the hope and promise of times to come in the world weall
> share. You have demonstrated the ability to reason. Be open tounconventional
> solutions. Keep alive your passion and drive. The worldneeds this, and it
> waits for you," Singh said.
> The president of the senior class presented MIT's president, SusanHockfield,
> with a senior class gift - $31,000 this year - for a newstudent lounge. The
> senior class president's name is Rohit Gupta.
> Senior class gift is a tradition at MIT. Since 1935, they have so farraised
> $138.56 million for MIT.
> An Indian American from California, Sandhya Sitaraman, a brain andcognitive
> sciences major! , was among those graduating this year. Shewas a resident
> academic adviser for three years at MIT's women's dorm,McCormick Hall.
> "When I was accepted to MIT, many boys were surprised that a girlcould get
> accepted to this institution," Sitaraman said. "My fouryears here have been
> absolutely wonderful in terms of helping me growas an individual, and I
> leave this place with many fond memories."
> MIT said in a press release that the invocation in Sanskrit andEnglish
> "reflected the large international crowd's spirit of unity andgoodwill" at
> the commencement ceremony of this venerable institution.
> Reflecting the diversity of the occasion, the chaplain said in hisprayer:
> "May the one and the same Divine Reality who is the Father inheaven of the
> Christians, Holy One of the Jewish faith, Allah of theMuslims, Buddha of the
> Buddhists, Dao of the Chinese faith, AhuraMazda of the Zoroastrians, The> Great Spirit of the Native Americansand Brahman of the Hindus, lead us from
> ignorance to knowledge, fromdarkness to light, from death to immortality."
> He began his invocation with a quote from Swami Vivekananda thatsuited the
> occasion: "Education is the manifestation of the perfectionalready within
> us." He concluded with the chant, shanti, shanti,shanti.
> The opening prayer at the US Congress by a Hindu priest in 2000 was onthe
> occasion of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's
> visit.Venkatachalpathi Samuldrala, a priest from the Shiva Vishnu
> Hindutemple in Parma, Ohio, was brought to Capitol Hill at the initiativeof
> Sherrod Brown, a Congressman from Ohio.
> During this year's Commencement ceremony, 1,094 MIT students
> receivedbachelor's degrees, 1,078 received master's degrees, 257
> gotdoctorates and 12 students were given engineering degrees, accordingto an
> MIT press release.
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