Over 2,000 families and more than 5,000 participants from over 56 countries joined online to participate in the prayer assembly held by the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi. The webcast assembly was in support of the noble ‘Prayers for Humanity’ initiative of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity (HCHF).
The hour-long assembly began at 7:30 p.m. with an address by Param Pujya Mahant Swami Maharaj and continued with prayers from various Indian communities. Guest speakers included Pradeep Kumar Rath of the Odia Samaj, Mr. Ravi Kale who recited a prayer in Marathi, Mr. S. Venkatesh who shared a prayer in Tamil, and Mr. Shiv Kumar who offered prayers in Malayalam. All viewers were able to follow and understand each of these earnest prayers through the English subtitles provided.
Devotional songs were also sung by different groups, including BAPS youths who sang in Gujarati and Hindi, and the ISKCON youth prayer group, who also thanked the UAE government and the frontline teams for helping the citizens of the UAE. This was followed by a heartfelt prayer video.
Thereafter, Brahmavihari Swami provided the closing remarks of the prayer assembly. He extended his gratitude to the rulers of the UAE and the UAE Government for their continued efforts to bring the global community together in praying for a swift end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This online prayer assembly concluded with a touching gesture of lighting a lantern or candle as a symbol of hope and prayer for the world.
Along with the assembly, more than 1,300 people from across the globe submitted personal prayers in various languages through the online portal at
prayer.mandir.ae.