[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Namaste Sri Kalyan ji and Sri Subbu ji,

Thank you for sharing Br.Up. and view of our āchārya Ādi Śankara. At times,
āchārya explains only verse in context and when following
adhyAropa-apavAda, he himself will contradict it. For example in Br. Up. in
last part sensuality is described upon which ther eis a commentary, but
still AchArya says he has written it only for the sake of completion of
commentary. If I remember, these verses are of lower authority then other
verses describing non-duality. If not then if we do not practice what is
said in these verses, we are not practicing sanAtana dharma.

As Sri Subbu ji has said, avatAra-s speak or preach keeping in mind then
then prevailing circumstances. They speak all in relative to time and space
(desha and kAla). However, they see to it that they do not compromise the
core philosophy and the fundamental and universal principles. Again, Sri
madhusudan sarasvatI (mostly in advaita siddhi) has said that shruti-s
speaking about duality are of lower authority than those speaking duality.
I remember this being discussed in this list some time earlier.

Secondly, dharma smriti-s are not eternal and there are different smriti-s
for different period of time.
It is also true that we should not keep altering smriti-s and shruti-s or
rules to suit us, as if this is allowed than someone will remove certain
portion, another some other portion, finally we are left with nothing. This
is said by Kanchi Paramacharya.

I understand that, in order to arrest deterioration, saints and pundits
will remain strict and ask us to adhere to shAstra-s and will refuse to
allow slight alternation by anyone.

I am not contesting the view given in smriti-s and in upanishads. What I am
saying is that when a matha like Sringeri matha does take some step there
is some reason behind it.

We are all influenced by deśa and kāla. We cannot remain alienated from
current circumstances. Conversions, loss of interest in shāstras, etc.

There is a change in thoughts of younger generation.  There is a change in
thoughts pattern I.e. way of thinking, of masses. We are not above
prakriti.  We too get affected by these vibrations. Purity is decreasing
day by day.

Important step for making of a sanyāsī is prarivrajaktā. This is now almost
finished. It is so important to train the mind of a saint. They will know
pleasure and pain, samāna and apamāna, living everything on Īshvara like
food, clothing and shelter. When sick they may not find medicines as they
wander in villages and forest. They may find communication difficult a
North Indian may not be able to communicate to South Indian village people.
Saint will have to leave everything including cure to illness on Īshvara.
This will increase faith in Īshvara. Saint when travelling entire length
and breadth of India will also know the psychology of masses. After
traveling throughout India when they return back to their Guru. They will
be so strong mentally that now they won't ever depend upon any human being
not will they think to return back to samsāra S their vairāgya has now
intensified.

With the near end of this system, mind of saint is not trained to the
extent that it used to be during times of Ādi Śankara and upto few
centuries later after he attained mahāsamādhi.

Things have changed too much. when one takes sanyāsa, one takes his mind
along with himself.
प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान्।  prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān
pārtha manogatān says bhagavān in gItā. The thing is sanyAsIn also has all
the desires, but his strongest desire is moksha and he has strong vairAgya.
However, he too is not above prakruti and so his mind may demand some body
comforts like having A.C., iphone, iPad, etc. During Adi Sankara's time
there were no such facilities. Still sanyAsI-s lived the life.

I may be wrong in my understanding. I am open to suggestions and
Corrections.


OM
Sujal


On Sat, Oct 7, 2017 at 11:45 AM, R Krishnamoorthy via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Dears
> In Varaha avatar the whole earth is lifted up including all the five or
> seven continents. So for the Lord all parts of our bhumi are equally
> important. If one has to follow the sasthras then travel overseas is a
> strict no. But as we look for exemptions we want to rely on some sub
> clauses to satisfy our conscience. So it is.
> R. KRISHNAMOORYHY.
> On 7 Oct 2017 10:23, "Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l" <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > That's an excellent bhAShya reference, Subbu ji,  on how dharma can
> > definitely be reinterpreted by shiShTa-s in keeping with the present
> desha
> > and kAla. No doubt it's not a licence to say, anything goes. We have to
> > cautiously move on.
> >
> > But to say that all NRI brahmins are patita-s as long as they are based
> > abroad seems untenable.
> >
> > Om
> > Raghav
>