[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste
Kindly see Two great Swamijis opinion on this subject. One is Kanchi Maha
Swamiji and another is His Holiness Sachidananda Siva Abhinava Narasimha
Bharati Svamiji of Sringeri
https://mahaperiyavaa.blog/2014/05/05/pithru-karyam-in-foreign-land/
https://tamilandvedas.com/tag/hindus-crossing-the-sea/

His Holiness Sachidananda Siva Abhinava Narasimha Bharati Svaminah of
Sringeri Mutt (33rd Head of Sringeri Shankara Mutt) answered a devotee’s
question on the ban on orthodox Hindus travelling abroad:-

“ Some gentlemen pleaded with His Holiness for relaxation of the rules
prohibiting foreign travel and urged the great need and the advantages of
such travel in the interests of the welfare and advancement of our country.
His Holiness said:-

“Brahmanyam is the highest asset of a Brahmana and for preserving it he is
asked not to mix with all and sundry people even in this land whose contact
or company is likely to affect the Brahmanyam. How can a Brahmana then be
permitted to go to foreign lands and stay there with people of quite
different tastes, tendencies and habits? No kind of expiatory rite can
completely eradicate the effect of such contact. So the Sastras do not
permit free intercourse as before with one who has returned from foreign
lands though he may have performed some expiation ceremony. It is in no
sense cruel to have such segregation.
Though we equally love all the portions of our body, do we not allow some
portions to be operated upon and even removed if we find that they are
likely to affect the general health of the whole body? It may be a painful
process but is a necessary one. Similarly a person who has seriously
impaired or lost his Brahmanyam is sure to affect the purity of others and
nothing wrong in segregating him from the main society.

It is correct procedure if the Indian relatives of a foreign Brahmin cut
off all relations with him and his family. This procedure is Ghata Sphota.
In this they break a pot to show they are not his relatives because he has
given up Brahminhood and he has lost Brahminhood. He is expelled from
Brahmin caste and nobody should speak to him and his family.

On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 8:15 PM, Dr. Yadu Moharir via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namste Sriram
> I am aware of the information you have provided.
> Is whether there is any documented evidence for recitation being place
> dependent as claimed ?
> Thx
> Dr yadu
>
>
>       From: Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-
> vedanta.org>
>  To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> Cc: Venkata sriram P <venkatasriramp at yahoo.in>
>  Sent: Sunday, October 1, 2017 10:02 AM
>  Subject: [Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas
>
> For vaidika karma, the purity of the place is very important and hence it
> is clearly
> mentioned in shruti itself vide स्वाध्याय ब्राह्मणं of तैत्तिरीय आरण्यक :
>
> तस्य वा एतस्य यज्ञस्य द्वावनध्यायो यदात्माऽशुचिर्यद्देशः
>
> There are 2 anadhyAyAs for swAdhyAya (brahma-yajna) viz., one is during
> the impurity
> associated with oneself (ashauchAs) and another is during the impurity
> associated with
> the dEsha (place / surroundings / ambience / etc.).
>
> It is said that those regions other than Aryavartha, is considered as
> म्लेच्छ owing non-observance of varNa dharma, madya-pAna and
> gO-mAmsa-bhakSaNa.  Hence, those regions are considered as unfit for
> vaidika-karma anuSTAna.
>
> Now, several people (my own relatives) have argued with me stating that in
> foreign
> countries too there are many temples, pundits and Indians following
> traditions and culture.
> Now, how far they are following the siSTAchAra like rajaswala-niyamAs etc.
> only God knows
> and this has to be given a ‘benefit of doubt’.  They also argue that even
> in bhArata,
> the values of vaidika dharma have degraded and many are into beef eating,
> drinking and non-veggie.
>
> My answer is well – we have Kasi, Tirupathi, Srisailam, Puri, Dwaraka,
> Ayodhya,
> Srirangam, Kanchi, Sringeri etc. and we have puNya-nadi-pravAha like
> Ganga, Krishna,
> Kaveri, Tungabhadra, Narmada, Godavari etc. Our AchAryAs have sanctified
> our land
> with their holy feet, our rAmachandra & kriSNa are born here; whose
> substitute we
> cannot find in foreign countries. These are sweet memories associated with
> our
> bhArata and when we do sankalpa at the time of sandhyAvandana we tend to
> become
> emotional and proudly utter ‘भरतवर्षे भरतखण्डे मेरोः दक्षिणदिग्भागे
> श्रीशैलस्य वायव्यप्रदेशे....”
> thereby mentally visualize the ‘srisaila’ kshetra – the seat of
> jyotirlinga and shakti peeta
> where Sankara Bhagavatpada composed ‘shivAnandalahari’.
>
> Not to point out any NRI but a fact is a fact.  The bhArata is the only
> place for
> performance of vedic rituals as it is a karma-bhumi.
>
> गृहे जपः समं विद्यात् गोष्ठे शतगुणं भवेत् । नद्यां शतसहस्रं तु अनन्तं
> शिवसन्निधौ ॥
>
> The gAyatri-japa done at home though gives the fruit, however, 100 times
> effective when done in gO-shAla; 1000 times effective when done at the
> banks
> of holy river; infinite when done siddha kshetras / swayambhu temples /
> shivAlayAs etc.
>
> Taking all these difficulties in Kali Yuga as the mleccha-samparka would
> be at a spree,
> the bhakti, nAma-sankirtana and bhagavannAma smaraNa is considered to be
> the only refuge:
>
> हरेर्नामैव नामैव नामैव मम जीवनं । कलौ नास्त्येव नास्त्येव नास्त्येव
> गतिरन्यथा ॥
>
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh