Gayathri Mantra !!!

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 12 Feb 1997, Anshuman Pandey wrote:

> I believe that these injunctions against braahmaNa-s crossing oceans
> appear fairly late and do not appear during the Vedic times.  I am not
> sure as to whether or not they are found in dharmashaastra-s or in the
> manusmR^iti.

Whether they are late or not is immaterial from the Dharmic point of view.
Diwali didn't exist in Vedic times either.  We have no conception in the
shastras of Vedic times.  The Vedas are eternally valid.  The Smritis
which do not oppose the Vedas are eternally valid and Shishtachara or
traditional practices which do not oppose Shruti and Smriti are eternally
valid.

>This bit about crossing oceans being a sin was often
> used as an excuse for braahmaNa members of the British Bengal Army during
> the 1850s as they did not want to serve in the newly annexed colony of
> Burma.
>

I find that difficult to belive.  Because for one thing you don't need to
cross the sea to get to Burma from Bengal.  And what exactly do you mean
by Brahman members of the Bengal Army?  Somebody whose job is to kill
others doesn't have the requisite gunas and karma you claim a Brahman
needs yet you still refer to them as Brahmans.  (As does everyone else.)

> As for the ashubha and the ashuddha aspects of chanting mantra-s and
> practicing sanaatana dharma outside of India, I believe this view is also
> unfounded. Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami
> Bhaktivedanta all came to the United States from India and were able to
> carry on their dharmik duties and present brahmadarshanaM. If one is pure
> in duty and thought, such petty injunctions as crossing oceans is sin, are
> inane.
>

This is irrelevant.  Bhaktivedanta wasn't a Smarta and the other two
weren't particularly knowledgeable about Dharmic matters.

> Lastly, you mentioned that since you were born here and did not cross any
> ocean, then there is no sin for you to resolve. Keeping the injunction in
> view, would you not then already be ashuddha for not having been born in
> India?

No.

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