Hindus have urged for a “Hindu Prayer Room” at Frankfurt Airport (FRA) in Germany, which is one of the world’s ten largest airports.
FRA already has Christian chapel as well as Jewish, Muslim, and Orthodox prayer rooms. “The prayer and worship rooms at the airport let you escape all the hustle and bustle and find peace and quiet for praying or meditating”, FRA website says.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that lot of Hindu passengers daily used FRA and it would be nice if they had a quiet facility at the airport where they could pray/meditate/worship and perform religious services.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged Prime Minister Volker Bouffier of the German state of Hesse (which is largest shareholder of FRA) and FRA Executive Board Chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte to work in this direction as an issue of fairness and equality in customer service. He or other Hindu scholars would be glad to help, if asked, regarding the structure of “Hindu Prayer Room”.
Hindus would appreciate FRA if this “Hindu Prayer Room” had murtis (statues) of popular deities, copies of sacred scriptures, a traditional bell and recorded devotional music; and once-a-month kirtan and arti session was held in it, Rajan Zed noted.
Prayer/worship to God was highly important in Hinduism and it would be great to have “Hindu Prayer Room” at FRA so that Hindu passengers did not miss their daily worship rituals/rites while travelling through FRA; which might include recitation of texts, repetition of mantras and dhayan (meditation), Zed added.
Prayer Rooms and Chapel at FRA are reportedly open around the clock. “On the firstWednesday of each month between 12 noon and 1:30 p.m., there is a midday concert in the interdenominational Christian chapel: sometimes a choir sings, while other times a wind ensemble plays”, FRA website states.
FRA, Germany’s busiest commercial airport whose history goes back to 1924, covers about 21 square kilometers. Germany’s largest place of employment at a single location with about 75,000 employees, FRA handled about 56.5 million passengers in 2011.