[Advaita-l] Panchayatana Puja

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
I am giving you the opinion from 2 different standpoints.
 
Opinion 1 (from orthodox point of view):
 
Smriti has prohibited the vaidika from crossing the seas owing to the fear of
mlEccha saMparka.  Now, if you ponder over it, the reason is that in olden 
days, the mode of transport over sea was ship which took several days 
to travel.  So, during this period, the nitya karma like sandhya, deva pUja,
agnihOtra, vaishwadEva etc. cannot be performed.  Non-performance of the
same for more than 3 days, is considered to be non-compliance with 
brAhmaNa dharma.  And hence, the prohibition for samudrayAna.  
Apart from this, vaidika karma kANDa should not be performed where
the mlEccha dEsha ie., the place where of varNa ashrama dharma is not 
observed; where gO-hatya & madya sEvana is rampant.  Because, sthala shuddhi
is most important and which is why vEda adhyayana & brahma yajna should not be
done before everybody and at all places where shaucha niyamAs are not observed. 
 
As regards the panchAyatana, one should be extremely careful while performing the
sAlagrAma pUja and there should not be any pUjA lOpa and naivEdya lOpa.  So, when
one is travelling, the panchAyatana should be either placed in one's own house by storing
the saMpuTa in the rice drum; either given to one's own family member who is daily performing the panchAyatana ; either given to a nearby local temple temporarily under 
the care of archaka. 
 
So, considering the above option, not only panchAyatna but crossing of seas itself
is prohibited.
 
Option 2 (from the perspective of current scenario)
 
Some of the beautiful temples have come up abroad like Venkateshwara Temple at
Pittsburg, SVBF Trust, Rajarajeshwari Temple at New York etc. Also, most of the
ghanApATigaLs / vedic scholars are travelling from India to abroad to these temples.
Chandi Homas are being conducted with the approvals of muttadhipatis.  
The utsava murties of Tirupati Temple are being carried to abroad from performing 
kalyANams etc.  
 
Last but not the least, some of the finest scholars of this forum like Sri Vidyasankar Ji, Sri Jaladhar Ji, Sri Subhanu Saxena Ji, Sri Himanshu Dave Ji, Sri Ajit Krishnan Ji are in abroad who are meticulously following their anuSTAna and also are in better position both spiritually and materialistically.  Prof. Yajna Subramanian Ji is also in abroad who is a great vedic scholar and a research scientist of Bell Laboratories. 
 
Moreover, the mode of transport to abroad now is flight which hardly takes 24 hours to reach.  Today morning you do sandhya and panchayatana in India, the next day by the time of morning sandhya, you are in US.  So, IMHO, there is no pUja lOpa even in abroad too !!
 
Considering the scenario of Option-2, talking the panchAyatana alongwith you to abroad and nitya anuSTAna there should not be a problem with you (IMO).
 
So, considering the above options, the choice is yours !!!
 
best of luck.
 
regs,
sriram