[Advaita-l] Dog sitting in front of the Puja room.

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

Namaste

I have a question My friend has a dog. When he is doing Pooja
sometimes the dog is sitting in front of Pooja room.
Is it allowed to do this? They say dogs are not allowed in Madi
matters. Can they hear Mantras?

I read somewhere if a cockroach, lizard or rat comes in Pooja room
there is no problem but dog should not come inside.
Dogs are not allowed. Why?

-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh
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Besides sanctity not associated with dogs,the main reason why dogs are not allowed when daivika/vaidika rituals are performed is that normally dogs eat "amedhya"which is prohibited in sastra.Otherwise,dogs are glorified that they are wirness to "yama",they are with Dattatreya,they are called "Bhairava',because of the barking 'Bhai,bhai'and "rava'means sound.If the "pinda'after the shraddha ritual accidentally eaten by a dog,the sastras say the performer has to go through the rituals of the shraddha,over again,after his ablutions.
N.Srikanta.
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