Table of Contents
Is recitation of Sanskrit prayer in KVs violative of Constitution?
Issue
- The Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition challenging the compulsory recitation of Sanskrit and Hindi hymns in the morning assembly sessions of 1,125 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) across the country. The apex court referred the matter to the five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.
Article 28 (1) of the Constitution
- Article 28 (1) of the Constitution prohibits religious instruction in schools wholly maintained by the State. The petitioner was specifically referring to the recitation of the prayer, Asato Ma Sadgamaya, and said this was mandatory irrespective of a student’s faith and belief.
- “The prayer simply means lead me from darkness to light.”
- Justice Nariman replied saying that the prayer was taken from the Upanishads.
- The shloka is from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
So what does the hymn mean?
असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
- (O Lord) Keep me not in the ignorance, but lead me towards the reality (of the eternal self),
- (O Lord) Keep me not in the darkness, but lead me towards the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge)
- (O Lord) Keep me not in the (fear of) death (due to the bondage of the mortal world), but lead me towards the Immortality (gained by the Knowledge of the Immortal Self beyond Death)
(May there be) Peace, peace, peace (at the the three levels – Adidaivika, Adibhautika and Adhyatmika).
In support of the Petioner
- No religious Instruction in Govt. funded schools.
- No Morning assembly
- School has no right to initiate prayers.
- Unscientific thought process
- Violation of Right of Atheist
- Loss of Cultural identity/Religious identity
- Prayer is practice of Religion
- USA in 1960
- Why should a Christian or Muslim or Sikh need to recite a verse from Hindu scripture? It definitely violates their rights, just like a forced recitation from the Quran violates a Hindu’s right.
Criticism of the Peition
- Aruna Roy case
- Not Religious but cultural
- Pictures in Original Constitution
- For peace of mind
- Connote universal truth
- Problem is this country don’t know about other religions
- Not teaching about deity but about humanity
- Universal truth irrespective of religion
- Not orthodox.
- While the secular and rationalist world denounce Hinduism as a religion of superstition, when the same “superstitions are copied” by the west , it suddenly becomes science !
Conclusion
- Is comparison in school and other things justified?
- Involve all or leave!
- Meeting of multiple religions is good
- Different prayers
- Why SC constituted a bench into the matter?
- Respect the law of land.
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