HPI
KAUAI, HAWAII, May 30, 2013: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami will be guest chaplain for the US House of Representatives and give the opening prayer on June 4, 2013. As guest chaplain, Bodhinatha will offer a short prayer just after 12:00 noon as the House begins its session. The invitation has come through Representative Ed Royce of California’s 39th District., inspired by the work of the Hindu American Foundation and timed to be part of their Tenth Annual Advocacy Day. HAF will host a Congressional reception for Senators and Representatives that same evening. Additionally, they will conduct personal meetings with individual members of Congress to present HAF’s legislative concerns, including the mistreatment of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan, immigration reform and gun safety legislation.
Bodhinatha will be the third Hindu guest chaplain to give a prayer before the US Congress. The first was Venkatachalapathi Samuldrala of the Siva-Vishnu Temple of Parma, Ohio (http://www.shivavishnutemple.org), on September 14, 2000, to open the House of Representatives on the day that the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, addressed a joint session of Congress (see Hinduism Today’s report on the prayer: https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?com_mode=flat&com_order=0&itemid=4019). The second guest chaplain was Rajan Zed of Reno, Nevada, who opened the US Senate on July 12, 2007, at the invitation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
If you live in the area, it is possible to be present in person by coming to the capital building that day, then going to your congressional representative’s office for a free pass to the House Gallery.
Alternatively, you can watch the prayer live on C-Span, http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/, or at http://www.houselive.gov. The short prayer follows immediately after the House opens at noon.
For more information on HAF’s program for June 4, see http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/dc-days-2013-reception and for June 5 see http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/press-briefing-haf-release-9th-annual-human-rights-report.