Hindus praise Pope for inclusion of Hindu verses in Good Friday prayers

The inclusion of Hindu verses for the Good Friday meditations and prayers led by Pope Benedict at the Roman Colosseum has won praise from the Hindu community.

Rajan Sed, the well-known Indo-American statesman, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Monday, applauded Pope for including verse from ancient Hindu scripture Upanishads and further invited Pope to study more Hindu scriptures, which were rich in philosophical thought.

President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, Zed, noted that the verses were taken from India's Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali, and in addition the prayers also made reference to peace icon Mahatma Gandhi.

This year's "Way of the Cross at the Colesseum" Meditations and Prayers on Good Friday led by Pope, included well-known verse from Brahadaranyakopanishad ("Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality."), line from Tagore's Gitanjali ("Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service."), and reference to Mahatma Gandhi.

Zed, who led the historic first Hindu prayers at the United States Senate in Washington DC, urged all religions to work in unity for a peaceful world. Dialogue would bring us mutual enrichment, he said.

This year's Good Friday prayers at the Vatican was composed by Archbishop of Guwahati, Thomas Menamparambil.

The 72-year-old Archbishop became the first Indian and second Asian to prepare the meditation prayers, where '14 stages' of Jesus Christ are meditated upon.