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Washington:
Five and a half years after a Hindu prayer opened a US Senate
session, Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu to be elected to the US
House of Representatives, created history by taking the oath of
office on the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred Hindu text.
Raised by a Hindu mother and a Catholic father in "a multiracial,
multicultural, multifaith family," Gabbard, 31, the first American
Samoan and one of the first female combat veterans in US Congress,
became the first US lawmaker ever to take the oath of office on
the Gita Thursday.
In July 2007, when a Hindu clergyman offered the Senate's first
Hindu morning prayer, three persons disrupted the ceremony and
were arrested. But Gabbard's oath taking ceremony went without any
incident Thursday.
Proud of her Hindu religion, Gabbard, who is not of Indian origin
but embraced a Hindu identity as a teenager, hopes to make her
first trip to India soon.
Democrat Gabbard, who represents Hawaii in the Congress previously
served on the Honolulu City Council and as a Hawaii state
representative. She was the youngest woman in the United States to
be elected to a state legislature.
"I chose to take the oath of office with my personal copy of the
Bhagavad Gita because its teachings have inspired me to strive to
be a servant-leader, dedicating my life in the service of others
and to my country," Gabbard said after the swearing in ceremony.
"My Gita has been a tremendous source of inner peace and strength
through many tough challenges in life, including being in the
midst of death and turmoil while serving our country in the Middle
East," she said explaining why she chose to take the office on the
Gita.
"I was raised in a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-faith
family. My mother is Hindu; my father is a Catholic lector in his
church who also practices mantra meditation. I began to grapple
with questions of spirituality as a teenager," Gabbard said.
"Over time, I came to believe that, at its essence, religion gives
us a deeper purpose in life than just living for ourselves. Since
I was a teenager, I have embraced this spiritual journey through
the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita.
"... In so doing, have been blessed with the motivation and
strength to dedicate my life in service others in a variety of
ways," she said.
(Arun Kumar can
be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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