[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Sujal Upadhyay]

​Pranams Sri Santosh ji,

Now since the doubt has ​entered in your mind, can you actually chant the
mantra, be it gAyatri or any other mantra with full faith?

I agree with Sri Jaldhar ji. At times it is better not to go into too much
technical details. At times piling up layers one may lose charm and
enjoyment in reading shAstra-s and doing japa.

Do not worry, just have faith in Ishvara. She is omnipresent and also in
your heart. She will do what is needful.

There is a saying in Gujarati which roughly translates into - a one-eyed
Uncle (mAmA) is better than having no uncle (mAmA).

Secondly there are different dharma-s for different types of situation -
sAmAnya and Apata. i.e. there are different dharma-s during emergency or
ApatkAla. Sri Kanchi Paramacharya in Hindu Dharma has said that in Apata
dharma i.e. in crisis, a brAhmaNa (Brahmin) can approach and learn form
women and sudra-s. How many people are today practising dharma regularly?
How many brahmins are doing nitya karma? For a yagna, 4 priests from 4
veda-s are needed. How many atharvavedins do we have in bhArata - 13
families? What if there is no brahma in yajna, who is an athavadika panDita
and whose job is to keep a watch on the entire proceedings and then at the
end he must do the needful corrections (if any) and complete the yajna.

In old days before 1000 years, the entire situation was different. It is
good that our dharma is protected by hard work and sacrifices of Brahmins,
especially from the south who have hold on to the traditions even in most
difficult circumstances.

However, things are different today. Adhere as much as you (practically)
can, but don't lose faith if things are not as they should be as per
shAstra-s.

I humbly request you not to dwell too much deep and try to be perfect in
each and every way. We must do maximum what we can, but it depends upon the
circumstances. Everything depends upon and is relative to time and space
(desha and kAla)

Please surrender all the worries and concerns on the Ishvara. Leave it upto
him / her ... and please do not enter into debates that use hair-splitting
logic, unless you have an apatite for them. For a laymen, devotional
practice is important than being technically correct, it is always the
faith and strong surrender that helps on progress.

Hari OM
Sujal


On Oct 1, 2017 2:10 PM, "R Krishnamoorthy via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Dear
> To my knowledge there is no restriction to chant Gayathri Japa or doing
> Sandhya Vandhanam.Bharath is said to be Karma Bhumi and there is a belief
> that karmas especially pithru karmas should be discharged only here and not
> in foreign countries.As we have a number of our temples in foreign
> countries the priests should be reciting vedas/upanishads etc
> there.Therefore chanting japas in foreign countries is not incorrect.Even
> Americans have recited Sri Rudram .
> R.Krishnamoorthy.
> ​​
>
>