LONDON, ENGLAND, July 15, 2005: Yesterday’s vigil at Trafalgar Square in London, marked by a two-minute silence at noon in honour of those who died in the terrorist bomb attacks last week, continued in the evening with a vigil of poems, messages and prayers from celebrity, political and faith leaders. His Grace, Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, congratulated the Londoners on the maturity and the resilience they have shown and said a Christian prayer. The Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, spoke of our basic human rights and Dr Indarjit Singh from the Network of Sikh Organizations said that there is no difference in Hindu, Muslim, Christian as we are all one family for God. Anil Bhanot, General Secretary of the Hindu Council UK, then spoke on behalf of the Hindu community and his speech is reproduced here as follows:
“Namaste, London. I would like to recite a Vedic mantra, addressed to Lord Siva, who is the giver of knowledge that destroys ignorance, the ignorance that raises its ugly head in extreme cases in the world, from time to time and last week in London, where children of the same one God go out to hurt their fellow beings and that too in the name of God. Knowledge dictates that to hurt any of your fellow beings is to hurt God.
I am going to recite a mantra from the Hindu Vedas. The mantra is called the Maha Martunjya Mantra. It is a very powerful healing mantra, it is a rejuvenating mantra, and when chanted with sincerity and devotion, it creates divine vibrations which ward off the negative forces and create a positive protective shield. It has known to cure diseases, declared incurable by doctors, and has cured people from fatal illnesses. In everyday life it protects us from accidents and misfortunes of every kind.
Today I will recite it 8 times for the speedy recovery of those injured and the salvation of those who tragically lost their lives last week and if you can also remember them in the all-pervasive consciousness seated in our hearts. “Om Trayambkam Yajamahe, Sughundhim Pushti Verdhanam Urva Rukmev Bandhyanath, mrityor mokshiyah maamrataat, Om.”
Half way through the chanting Mr. Bhanot paused and said to the 15,000 Londoners, “at this time you are supposed to join me!”, and there was a roar of laughter, but later he got an email from a member organization, Pulkit Agarwal, General Secretary of the National Hindu Students Forum, wrote “I was at the vigil at Trafalgar Square today and just wanted to express my congratulations for a very calming and appropriate speech for the assembled public. There was definitely a sense of calm and tranquillity after your recitations, and although you may not have heard, many people made the effort to chant along.”
HCUK is the main representative body uniting over half-a-million Hindus in the UK. It was established in 1994 by the 30 year old National Council of Hindu Temples to represent all facets of Hinduism, and the same mandate was obtained from the UK’s Hindu community over a period of 2 years prior to the HCUK’s launch in November 1994.