[Advaita-l] Gayathri

[sriram]

Dear Karthik
Gayathri being a manthra it requires upadesa from a competent person
viz.,Guru.According to my knowledje this manthra is given as an upadesa by
parents to their sons during the Upanayana ceremony-also called as
Brahmopadesa- in the immediate
presence of the sastrigal or vathyar of that family who is held by that
family as a Guru.In the absence of parents ,grand parents or elder
brotherand his wife or as guided by the family priest/sastrigal/vathyar a
dampathy has to do this upadesam.So it follows that chanting of this manthra
by others who have not been so inducted is not contemplated by our
Shastras.It is therefore my humble opinion that it is better that we follow
the Shastras if we really want benefits of Gayathri manthra japam.According
to our Shastras those who help conduction of Gayathri Manthra Japa by the
qualified do get the benefits equally.Ofcourse people may say why not me
etc.It is like this.In a democracy all or equal but we donot appropriate the
authority of other functionaries legitimately constituted as otherwise there
will be chaos only.
And finally Gayathri manthra does not require propagation by such ashastra
vihitham.
R.Krishnamoorthy.
----- Original Message -----
From: Karthik Subramanian <karthikvathula at yahoo.com>
To: <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 12:00 PM
Subject: [Advaita-l] Gayathri


> Namaste,
>
>   Many of the masters/gurus belonging to this age preach to their
followers to chant the Gayathri mantra. Many of these followers might not be
dvijas, who, according to the Shastras, do not qualify to chant the
Gayathri. Also, they have many women followers too who are also recommended
to chant the Gayathri. Again here too, the Shashtras are against women,
dvijas or not, chanting the Gayathri.
>
>   Now I am in no way qualified to speak anything about these masters or
the propriety of the Shastras and the Vedas. Surely these masters would know
what the Shastras say. But by preaching that everybody can say the Gayathri
mantra, are they not going against the Shastras, which are considered
paramount?
>
>   I sincerely request the learned members of this group to kindly clarify
regarding this long-standing doubt of mine.
>
>   Regards,
> Karthik
>
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