[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Santosh Rao]

Namaskara Venkatesh,

Using myself as an example I have had a keen interest in shastras and
dharma ever since I was very young, despite being born and raised in
America, and unlike most brahmins living in the west I was raised in a bad
neighborhood in New york city surrounded by things like drugs and violence.
I'm far (very far) from a saintly person and I have fallen to multiple
temptations, but my interest in spiritual matters was always there, to the
point where my mother was annoyed by the fact that I was more keen on
reading shastras rather than my school books. It's only because of this
that I question the opinion that practicing dharma outside of India should
count less than inside India, because as per my logic neglecting dharma
because of location could make ones situation worse.

-Santosh

On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:14 PM, Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> 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
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