[Advaita-l] loss of right to perform vaidhika karma

[V Subrahmanian]

All the 'wrong-doings' coming under the pervasive umbrella called
'pAthaka-s' are covered in the MahAsankalpa recited during the 'AvaNi
aviTTam' every year.  There we do not see any permanent ban or loss of
right (adhikAra) to perform vaidika karma-s.

One can indulge in a lot of hair-splitting with regard to what constitutes
a lapse and what does not.  For example a view is: if a person does not
perform sandhyavandanam for three days in line, he loses dwijatva itself
and has to be 're-investitured.'  So with acts like leaving the Bharata
bhUmi.  But such 'lapses' and the 'praayashchitta' are not practiced these
days.  It is best to leave the subject without letting it take a raging
debate form.

There is a fine verse:

प्रायश्चित्तान्यशेषाणि तपःकर्मात्मकानि वै ।
यानि तेषामशेषाणां श्रीकृष्णानुस्मरणं परम् ॥

which translates roughly to:  Compared to the endless praayashchitta karmas
involving tough tapas observations and other acts the sincere contemplation
on the Lord is unbeatable.

In fact our sandhyavandanam itself consists of such expiations for
'papam-s' committed during the day and night through word, body and sense
organs.  Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati SwaminaH has said: पश्चात्तापेन
शुद्ध्यति which means 'by sincerely repenting for one's sins one becomes
purified'.  What is important is that one should not repeat those acts
after such repentence.

And I would like to add that someone (an Indian, dwija) who lives abroad or
even has to travel rarely or often outside India should not carry the
feeling of having sinned by so having gone out of the Indian subcontinent.
Ultimately the Lord, the antaryAmin, is pleased only by one's sincerity in
performing his nitya karma and his commitment to a high moral disposition
even while living in such other lands.  Someone said:
तदाभ्यन्तरवृत्तिमात्ररसिकः about the Lord.  He is concerned with the
'inner' quality of the person and not  just the exterior.

Let us not rake up an endless debate on this topic.  We have discussed
these things in this forum in different forms under different heads.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v

On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 9:51 PM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

> I asked this question in another thread but went unheard - resending with
> more clarity. Do the following categories of people forever lose their
> right to perform vaidhika karma or they can return to the vedic fold
> through prayaschitta karma?
>