US-based Hindu leader hails Russian court's ruling on Gita

 Hailing the Russian court's decision to reject imposing a ban on translated version of Baghavad Gita, a US-based Hindu leader on Thursday termed the verdict as ''right'' and ''sensible''.

Hindu leader Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, thanked the Tomsk court in Siberia welcoming its ruling and pointed out that "it did the right and sensible thing befitting a democratic, open-minded and pluralistic society."

Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that Bhagavad Gita was one of the holiest scriptures of Hinduism and banning it would have hurt the devotees.
"Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly," he said.
Zed argued that attempt at banning the sacred book was apparently an attack on religious freedom and belittling of the entire community.

He stressed that this "philosophical and intensely spiritual poem, often considered the epitome of Hinduism, was highly revered by Hindus."

"Besides being the cornerstone of Hindu faith, Bhagavad Gita was also one of the masterpieces of Sanskrit poetry and a world treasure and had been commented by hundreds of authors and translated into all major languages of the world," the Hindu leader added.

A group linked to the Christian Orthodox Church in Siberia has described the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita as 'extremist'.