Famous American band produces groundbreaking album on Vedas and presents to Hindu leader Zed

The only Sanskrit rock band of the world, “Shanti Shanti”, has come up with a groundbreaking new album on the oldest scripture of the world Vedas, and they presented the first copy to the acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed in Nevada (USA) today.

This CD titled “Veda”, produced by Ganesha Publishing BMI, contains shlokas (hymns) from all four Vedas-Rig-veda, Sama-veda, Atharva-veda, and Yajur-veda, some as old as 1,500 BCE. With extensive research and selection process, it took one year to complete this CD, which is their sixth album.

“Shanti Shanti” consists of American sisters Andrea Devi Forman and Sara Anjuli Forman, their younger brother Micah Mahdev Forman and father Robert Henry Forman. The Formans have never been to India, never had a Sanskrit teacher, and still Andrea and Sara can spontaneously chant, read, write, and translate Sanskrit since they were nine and seven years old respectively.

Devoted Catholics, Andrea and Sara have also translated and chanted Ave Maria, a traditional Christian prayer, in Sanskrit. They have toured various countries and various states of USA giving packed Sanskrit musical performances. They have been in various television shows, mentioned in various publications, and extensively written about. 

“We fell in love with the overwhelming stillness, exuberance, clarity and amplified sensory awareness of Sanskrit poetry which we have attempted to share with you in this record,” Andrea and Sara stress.

Youth, specially of India and those living in foreign countries coming from India background, need to learn from the example of Forman sisters who have mastered ancient language Sanskrit (also known as “the language of the gods”) and are promoting it in a big way on their own inspiration, living in a non-Sanskrit environment and coming from a heritage with no Sanskrit background, Zed points out.

Andrea and Sara thanked Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, for blessings, encouragement and guidance, while presenting him with the first copy of the new album.

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Details of the picture attached: Andrea (left) and Sara Forman (right), lead singers of Shanti Shanti rock band, presenting the first copy of their new album “Veda” to acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed (center) in Nevada (USA).

Picture by: Roger Bowen Weld

Featured Comment – H. H. Swami Ramakrishnananda on The Love Guru

Photo: B Balaji

Dear Respected Producers, Directors and Distributors of the The Love Guru:

Please accept my humble reverences. As the founder of the Ramakrishnananda Yoga Vedanta Mission and as a minister and preacher within the Sanatana Dharma religion, I wish to express my most vehement repudiation of your film The Love Guru.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to see the trailer for this movie and found that it offends the most intimate religious feelings of millions of Hindus in the United States and in the world. It is a clear expression of a colonialist mindset, complete with an unfounded superiority complex that considers religions to be true only if they are based on the Holy Bible, a practice that marginalizes religions such as the sacred Sanatana Dharma as a sect or cult. Portraying rabbis, priests and pastors as the only authentic religious leaders demeans the holy preachers of Hinduism. This movie is another offense against our religion, a clear expression of anti-Hinduism, which grow more common and acceptable in the media and on the internet.

I wish to express my denunciation of anti-Hindu attitudes wherever they may appear.

Your ever well wisher
H.H. Swami Ramakrishnananda

Founder of The Ramakrishnananda Yoga Vedanta Mission
headquarters 96 Ave. B, New York, USA

» See this comment in context

Christians-Muslims-Hindus-Jews to pray together at Nevada hilltop at sunset to honor Gandhi

Peace by Cayusa / Bart

Special to Earthpages.org

October has been designated as “Gandhi Month” by a team of Nevadans in USA who want to celebrate his 139^th birth-month to highlight his message regarding human and spiritual rights.

Lead by Right Reverend Gene Savoy Jr., bishop of International Community of Christ, and Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu leader, this team will culminate the “Gandhi Month” celebrations with prayers from major world faiths by religious leaders of Nevada on a 5,000 foot high hilltop at Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary north of Reno at sunset on October 12.

At this unique first-of-its-kind celebration, the recitations at the sunset to honor the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi will include Christian prayers in English, Muslim prayers in Arabic, Hindu shlokas in Sanskrit, Buddhist prayers in Pali, Jewish prayers in Hebrew, a Baha’i prayer in Persian, and a Native American chant in the Sioux tradition. All attendees will do mass recitation of one of the Gandhi’s favorite songs, “Raghupati raghav rajaram,” on the occasion.

A ringing of bells ritual, with bells collected worldwide, will be held exactly at sunset during this ceremony in memory of Gandhi as a promoter of global peace. Representatives of different faiths will garland a picture of Gandhi, and tributes will be paid to him in an interfaith dance. According to Zed and Savoy, they would like to make “Gandhi Month” an annual feature in Nevada. The two are also pushing for Gandhi monument around the state capitol in Carson City and Gandhi statues in Las Vegas and Reno.

A Nevada-wide essay competition will be held in October on the topics of non-violence, peace, conflict resolution, etc., to promote Gandhi’s teachings.

“This special sunset service is being held in recognition that every member of human family, equally and without distinction, is invested in God with a spiritual nature. Gandhi acknowledged this and was a champion of religious freedom as a fundamental human right,” Reverend Savoy said.

“There is a renewed interest world over in Mahatma Gandhi and his ideas, who is universally venerated as one of the paramount moral, political, and social leaders of the recent history,” Rajan Zed adds.

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Unique Gandhi festival in America

“Ahimsa (non violence) — means infinite
love, which again means infinite capacity
for suffering.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi,
February 1940

Originally uploaded by Haeretik

Special to Earthpages.org

A unique first of its kind eco-friendly festival celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s life and message will be held in Nevada (USA) on Jul 26.

According to Tom Stille and Doug Keeney, coordinators of this Gandhi Fest; drummers, fire spinners, artists, healthy and organic food chefs, yoga teachers, DJs, and sustainable living advocates will join hands to celebrate peace, love, freedom, non-violence, self-power and conscious living as promoted by Gandhi.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Indo-American leader, will be the keynote speaker who will talk about Gandhi’s life, philosophy, and experiments, and answer questions of the participants during this festival.

To be held at River School Reno, this festival will continue till two am, and will include folk dancing, musical performances, sustainable goods displays, nature tours, fire spinning, kite flying, yoga shows, organic food demonstrations, etc. Each festival participant will artistically contribute to a “Gandhi collage”, to be created on the occasion. A competition will be held to make Gandhi sketches. Plans are being formed to make this Gandhi Fest an annual feature.

There is a renewed interest world over in Mahatma Gandhi and his ideas, who is universally venerated as one of the paramount moral, political, and social leaders of the recent history, Rajan Zed adds.

Catholics to have serious dialogue with Hindus and others

Autumnal Faith by paulbence photography (CCL)

Special to Earthpages.org

Catholics will have a serious dialogue with Hindus and other religions during the Annual Diocesan Conference of Reno (Nevada, USA) Catholic Diocese in January next.

According to Father Charles T. Durante, Pastor of Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church of Carson City, it will include dialogue among leaders of Muslim, Protestant, Hindu, and Jewish faiths besides Catholic. The Conference will be held on January ninth and tenth.

Invited religious figures include acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed, Reverend V. James Jeffrey, Rabbi Myra Soifer and Imam Abdul Rahim Barghouthi, besides Durante.

Catholic Diocese of Reno, established in 1931, covers 70,852 square miles spread in eleven Nevada counties in addition to Carson City. Before 1840, this area was under the Diocese of Sonora in Mexico, when it came under the jurisdiction of Bishop Moreno of California. Current Bishop is Most Reverend Randolph R. Calvo.

Rajan Zed has congratulated the Catholic Diocese efforts in reaching out to other religions for a dialogue. “Religion is a complex component of human life. Dialogue helps us to see interconnections and interdependencies between religions and even similarities in doctrines,” Zed adds.

Demand of public apology by Paramount and Viacom gathering storm

             Hindu Leader Rajan Zed

Special to Earthpages.org

Calls for public apology by Paramount Pictures and its parent Viacom on issues surrounding “The Love Guru” movie, started by acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed, are gathering strength.

Now Nevada Clergy Association (NCA); which is composed of Christian (various denominations), Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Bahai, Native American, etc., clergy; has joined others in asking for Paramount/Viacom apology.

In a statement issued in Nevada (USA) today, Right Reverend Gene Savoy Jr., NCA President, said, “We urge Paramount and Viacom to issue a general public apology over this issue, which will help heal the wounds of seemingly perturbed one-billion-strong Hindu community”.

Rev. Savoy, who is himself a well-respected Head Bishop of International Community of Christ, said in this statement, “We are dismayed at Paramount Pictures, presenter of this movie, for backtracking on their promise to protesting Hindu brothers-sisters, which we consider an unethical business practice. We are also appalled at Paramount and its parent Viacom for utter disregard of the protesters and making no efforts to have an open civilized dialogue with protesters and arrive at a mutually acceptable solution, who have been stressing that this movie denigrates Hinduism and Hindu concepts.”

He congratulated Rajan Zed “for his successful campaign” against the Hollywood movie “The Love Guru” and thanked him for “effectively creating this debate and awakening the future filmmakers to be more sensitive to the feelings of devotees when dealing with faith related issues”.

Rev. Savoy further said, “We at NCA are for free speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith is something sacred and attempts at debasing it hurt the adherents. Hollywood should be more conscious while handling faith related subjects, as cinema is a very mighty medium and it can create stereotypes in the minds of some audiences. We are concerned that today it is Hinduism; tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to mock another denomination/religion, which can be very painful to the faithful.”

Sometime back, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu religious leaders, in a joint signed statement, described Paramount’s backtracking on their promise to protesting Hindus as “un-Christian, un-Hindu, un-Buddhist, un-Jewish, etc., besides being unethical.”

Meanwhile, various other organizations, including Universal Society of Hinduism, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Hindu Alliance of India, Shri Ramayan Pracharini Sabha, Sanatan Sanstha, India Heritage Panel, have also demanded public apology from Paramount and Viacom.

Rajan Zed launched the protest movement against “The Love Guru” in March, saying that it appeared to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus and using Hindu terms frivolously.