The meditation program consisted of two 15-minute sessions on school property during every school day. The program began with a “Puja” initiation ceremony. which is defined in the dictionary as a Hindu act of worship. It involved “various bowls, food items and symbolic items” that were arranged around a picture of Guru Dev, one of the founders of Transcendental Meditation, according to the suit.
Instructors chanted Sanskrit words during the ceremony that recognized the power by various Hindu deities, according to the suit. Students were assigned mantras that they should silently repeat that are drawn from a pool of Sanskrit words that reference specific Hindu deities, the complaint alleged.
In a press release, Green’s lawyer, John Mauck of Mauck & Baker, called the meditation program “an egregious abuse of Mariyah’s religious rights.”
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