[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

I heard you cannot practice Dharma in a place without Varna Ashrama system.
That place must have the four Varnas of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and
Sudras and the Ashramas. Earlier Brahmins used to live in Agraharas
together. There was a reason. If all like minded people live together it is
easy to follow Dharma. When you wake up  in the morning from the
neighbour's house you can hear Suprabhata or Vishnu Sahasra Nama. You can
hear the Puja bell ringing from other houses. Then you also will follow the
tradition and do Puja and so on.  When you see other Brahmins near your
house doing Sandhyavandana you will also follow them. When you hear Veda
Mantras coming from other houses you will also do Veda Parayana.  When you
get the smell of festival food coming from other houses your family will
also prepare festival food.

In big cities even in India it is difficult to create this environment.
Some organizations have come forward and they are allotting sites to
Brahmins to build houses and stay in one area. Some areas are coming up. If
the same can be done in USA or other foreign countries it is better to
follow Dharma. If you are staying alone surrounded by Mlecchas it is
difficult. Then your sons may ask why we have to do Sandhyavandana when my
friends  in the neighbourhood are not doing it? Your family will ask why we
have to eat festival food when our neighbours are eating Pizza? Why we have
to listen to Vishnu Sahasra Nama when our friends are listening to other
music? Your daughters may ask why I should not have a boy friend when all
my friends have? Endless list.

On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 7:34 AM, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Here is a book, by a Madhva who is settled abroad, on the justification of
> foreign travel (and perhaps stay there):
>
> https://sites.google.com/site/madhwaprameyaqa/akarmanyavadakhandanam
>
> Madhvas are known to be a practicing orthodox community and a lot of stigma
> is attached to foreign travel. One can recall the incidents that took
> place, court cases, divided opinion among the eight mathas, etc. when the
> Puttige pontiff got his paryaya chance. The above book was released by this
> seer.
>
> regards
> vs
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 6:15 AM, Santosh Rao via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the responses,
> >
> > Yes Jaldhar, that was the exact term he used - Karmabhoomi...I had
> > mentioned to him that I was looking for someone to teach me how to
> perform
> > sandhyavandanam properly since I do not have any elders or family members
> > to consult about these things, but he said that that only India is
> > Karmabhoomi, it isn't advised to perform those duties or chant Gayatri in
> > "Mleccha-bhoomi."
> >
> > He also said that since I was born in NY I would have to have my
> upanayanam
> > re-done in India, even though I had it done (in India) when I was 15
> years
> > old.
> >
> > I have been performing my fathers shraddha rites for past 2 years since
> he
> > passed. He said that I should perform those in India only.
> >
> > I understand these are one persons opinions, but he is very knowledgeable
> > overall and I ask him questions from time to time and he always has
> > satisfying answers. I would ask them hear to get wider responses, but not
> > all of my questions are focused on Advaita Vedanta so I don't want to get
> > off-topic and annoy other members.
> >
> > Namaskara,
> >
> > Santosh
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 8:11 PM, Shashi via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Mr. Santosh,
> > >
> > > I would second Mr Vyas's point.
> > > In addition there are some smriti texts that
> > > seem absolute in their exhortation for dvijas to perform nityakarmas.
> For
> > > example,
> > > the Daksha smriti says that one who neglects sandhyavandana becomes
> > > unclean and unfit to perform any ritual, and it makes no exception to
> > those
> > > who are overseas.
> > >
> > > Shashi
> > >
> > > Sent from my iPhone
> > >
> > > > On Sep 28, 2017, at 4:18 PM, Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <
> > > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> On Thu, 28 Sep 2017, Santosh Rao via Advaita-l wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >> Namaskara,
> > > >>
> > > >> I was recently advised that chanting Gayatri outside of India is not
> > > >> proper. Is there a basis for this, even for those born overseas? How
> > > would
> > > >> this affect duties such as sandhyavandanam?
> > > >
> > > > There is a theory in dharmashastra that only bharatavarsha is the
> > > karmabhumi (but what are the limits of Bharata?  The current Republic
> of
> > > India is considerably smaller than its historical extent.) and
> therefore
> > > mantras do not have any efficacy outside its limits.
> > > >
> > > > For myself and my son, we do sandhyavandana and Gayatri japa without
> > > fail despite living in America.  Bhagavan can decide if it has merit or
> > > not; we shall continue doing our duty without expecting any particular
> > > phala.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh