[Advaita-l] Gayathri

[Karthik Subramanian]

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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