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United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the world’s foremost medical research centers, has released a video which reveals “science behind yoga”.

An NIH release announcing this has said that “there is a growing body of evidence that yoga may be beneficial for low-back pain”.

“Due to a growing body of evidence-based research, the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society now include a number of mind and body approaches, including yoga”, the release points out.

It states that number of American adults using yoga “is on the rise as mind and body therapies are becoming increasingly integrated into the health care system”.

Lauding NIH efforts in this direction, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged NIH to provide more funding and support for yoga research, as although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage to be utilized and benefitted by all. About 16 million Americans, including many celebrities, now do yoga.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, has also asked Government of India to launch a mega project to research, preserve, and promote yoga and open a world-class institute to support the yoga research and studies around the globe.

Rajan Zed further said that yoga, referred as “a living fossil” whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, was a mental and physical discipline handed down from one guru to next, for everybody to share and benefit from. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical, Zed added.

“This video provides important information on the safety and usefulness of yoga and also insights into how scientists study this commonly used health practice. What we’re seeing from our researchers—through the application of rigorous scientific methods—is evidence suggesting that yoga may help people manage certain symptoms…”, NIH release adds.

NIH, an agency of United States Government headquartered in Bethesda (Maryland) which invests about $31 billion annually in medical research, traces its roots to 1887 and over 130 Nobel Prize winners have received support from it. Francis S. Collins is the Director.

Eureka City Council in California to have Hindu invocation

Eureka City Council in California (USA), incorporated in 1856, will launch its day with Hindu prayers on August seven, containing verses from world’s oldest existing scripture.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed will deliver the invocation from ancient Sanskrit scriptures before the City Council. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayer. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, will recite from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start and end the prayer with “Om”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.

Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say “Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya”, which he will then translate as “Lead me from the unreal to the Real, Lead me from darkness to Light, and Lead me from death to Immortality.” Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to urge councilmembers to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Zed is a global Hindu and interfaith leader, who besides taking up the cause of religion worldwide, has also raised huge voice against the apartheid faced by about 15-million Roma (Gypsies) in Europe. Bestowed with World Interfaith Leader Award; Zed is Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, Spiritual Advisor to National Association of Interchurch & Interfaith Families, etc.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Eureka is home to Sequoia Park Zoo, Carson Mansion, Kinetic Sculpture Race and “Blues By The Bay”. Prominent people associated with it include musical artists Sara Bareilles, Trevor Dunn and Mike Patton; actors Lloyd Bridges and Brendan Fraser; baseball player Dane Iorg; hunter Seth Kinman; football player Rey Maualuga; fighter Nate Quarry and bowler Walter Ray Williams Junior. Frank Jager and David W. Tyson are Mayor and City Manager respectively.