[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Namaste Sri Kalyan ji,

Point Noted. Appreciate your concern. 'Calm down' was said on a lighter
note. Please don't mind it.
Śiṣṭācāra is one opinion. We are free to disagree.

So now we have 5 opinions so far.

1. Strictly Stick to śāstra-s no matter what happens.
2. Limit Injunctions of śāstras to Brāhmaṇa-s
3. Take into account deśa, kāla and paristhiti (circumstances) and enjoin
rescribed karma-s accordingly. Śiṣṭācāra (moral conduct) of men of of high
value than degraded practising brāhmaṇa-s or people in general who have
corrupted the practice of śāstra-s.
4. Rules are different in case of emergency-like situation. Āpatdharma
comes into force.
5. When following śāstra-s, there will be exceptions. Exception is not a
rule and should not be idealized.

Please let me know if I have missed anything or have wrongly understood.

---

Regarding tweaking of rules taking into account deśa, kāla and paristhiti
are mentioned in Parāśara smriti. Śrī Mādhavācārya jī / Sāyanāchārya jī has
written a commentary on Parāśara smriti.

The most practical part of parAshara smriti is that it says that old
obsolete law can be removed or replaced with a newer law. 5 brAhmin-s who
are knowers of veda-s can form a council and create new law that is
suitable at that time in the current circumstances.

Please find essence of selected quotes from parAshara smriti

paraAshara smriti (PS) which it says it is best suited for kaliyuga (refer
PS 1.1-25) gives revelations like

1. Laws are made depending upon deSa, kAla and paristhiti (time, space and
present circumstances. (PS 1.22)

2. You can practice as much as you can (no rigidity) (PS 1.33)

3. 5 knowers of SAstra-s (or even 3 incase of shortage) i.e. knowledge of 4
veda-s and 6 veda-anga-s can form a council and create new laws (PS 8.6-13)

4. Remarriage of women (PS 4.30): When her husband is missing, or is dead,
or has renounced the world, or is impotent, or has been degraded by sin, —
on any of the said five calamities befalling a woman, law has ordained
another husband for her.

5. Brahmins can accept food from Sudra-s* (PS 11.13)

6. Sudra-s can trade (PS 2.13)

7. In the Krita yuga sin is incurred by one who converses (with a sinner) ;
in the Treta by one who touches (the sinful man) ; in the Dvapara by taking
the sinner's food ; in the Kali by a (sinful) act (alone). (PS 1.26)

*bhagavAn svAminArAyaNa (Swaminarayan) in his SixA-patri (SikshA-patri)
i.e. manual of instructions, has mentioned two types of sUdra-s - sUdra-s
and sat-sudra-s. sat-sUdra-s are good people and they follow our SAstra-s
and have strong faith in God, while lower sUdra-s live to just pass the
days with little faith in God and do little or no religious activity
without understanding the meaning of what they are doing and why they are
doing.

Hari OM
Sujal


On Sun, Oct 8, 2017 at 2:06 PM, Kalyan <kalyan_kg at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Sri Sujalji
>
> I am very calm. What makes you think I am angry? I am merely posing
> questions which might be inconvenient to some.
>
> If I wilfully neglect Sandhya, elders would point out my fault. But when
> elders do something contrary to shastras, it suddenly becomes sistachara
> and acceptable?
>
>
> Regards
> Kalyan
>
>
>