Hindu priest offers the invocation on Day 3 of Democratic Convention

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Rakesh Bhatt, a Hindu priest from the Sri Shiva Vishnu temple in Lanham, Maryland, conducted the invocation at the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024, the 3^rd day of the massive event that ended with Vice President Kamala Harris accepting her Party’s nomination for President of the United States.

Bhatt, a Vedic priest, said the prayer in Sanskrit, and then translated it to English.

“We should be in unison, like our mind thinks together; like our hearts beat as one. All for the betterment of society. Let us make us powerful so that we can unite and make our nation proud. Even if we have differences when it comes to the nation, we have to be united. And it moves us towards justice for all. We are one universal family – From unreal to real, from darkness to light. And from death to immortality.”

Bhatt, a priest originally from Bengaluru.

The Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, located near Washington, D.C., grew from an idea shared by a few Indian devotees in the late 1970s, to become one of the largest temples in the western hemisphere, says the website. The actual temple construction began in 1988 and has incorporated the Mayan, Pallava, Vijayanagara, Kerala and the South Canara styles of temple architecture, and houses several deities.

According to a Times of India report, Pandit Bhatt has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in religious studies and rituals, and knew multiple languages.