[Advaita-l] Chanting Gayatri overseas

Venkatesh Murthy vmurthy36 at gmail.com
Thu Oct 5 02:27:08 EDT 2017


Namaste
On Thu, Oct 5, 2017 at 11:35 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, Oct 5, 2017 at 8:57 AM, Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Namaste
>>
>>
>>
> It is well known that Sri Sugunendra Theertha of the Puttige mutt, one of
> the eight maṭha-s said to have been established by Madhva, does undertake
> foreign trips and some years ago there was a raging controversy about his
> paryāya at Udupi Sri Krishna Temple.  As I had reported in this thread, he
> has released a book on this very topic, that sees no defilement, authored
> by a practicing Madhva settled in the US.
>
> It should also be noted that śiṣṭāchāra is also a pramāṇa. The Sringeri
> Jagadguru, though has not traveled abroad, nevertheless does not impose the
> smṛti-ban on others. He does not excommunicate any devotee of the Peetham
> for having traveled abroad. I have heard that there is the rule that is in
> vogue that those from the Peetham at Sringeri who travel abroad are not
> allowed to conduct worship in the temples there any longer.  Someone said,
> once the present Jagadguru had observed that so far the Pontiffs of the
> peetha have observed the ban for themselves but nothing can be said about
> the coming generations. As has been reported in this thread, the Peetham
> has institutions abroad, in the USA for some decades now and all religious
> activity is conducted there. The Jagadguru has blessed the activity there
> through a webinar type live relay from here.
>
> regards
> vs
>
>
It is good to say we want Spiritual Globalization like the Swamiji of
Puttige Mutt but why he is not doing that in African countries? Why only
rich countries like USA? If he is serious about Spiritual Globalization he
must go to many countries and spread our Dharma. Why only rich people have
to come to Hindu Dharma? That is the difference between Christian
missionaries and him. The Christians purposely go to poor people and spread
the Faith. But our leaders open Mutt branches in Posh and rich countries
because they can get money there. Like Rajaneesh many years back he was
having a Huge collection of Rolls Royce cars given by his followers.

Another point is if a Brahmin is 'Patita' here in India itself there is no
ban for him to cross oceans. Because he has become impure here only by bad
habits, not doing Sandhya, not doing Pooja, not doing Sraddha of deceased
parents, not following religious festivals and so on. There are many
families like this in India and they are Brahmin in name only. For them
there cannot be a ban to travel across oceans because they are already
'Patita' and they have lost the caste.




>
>
>
>
>> He added that the ban
>> applies to all three upper castes, and not just brahmins. It also applies
>> to sannyasins, who--in his tradition--can only be from the brahmin caste.
>> He pointed out that other Vaishnava Sampradayas, such as the
>> Srivaishnavas,
>> who follow the Pancharatra Agama, travel freely. He gave the example of
>> Chinna Jeeyar (www.chinnajeeyar.org/), a follower of Visishtadvaita, who
>> travels extensively. Similarly, the swamis of the Vaishnava Swaminarayana
>> sect travel extensively.'
>> <https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/www.chinnajeeyar.org/
>> >
>>
>>
>> 'In the Baudhayana Sutra, the ban is discussed in the context of a
>> description of the geographical limits of India which concludes that
>> within
>> its boundary "spiritual preeminence is found." Generally, two reasons are
>> given by scholars for the ban. The first is that it is impossible to
>> maintain one's required daily religious observances on a ship,
>> particularly
>> thrice-daily personal worship. The second is that one will incur the sin
>> of
>> mleccha samparka, usually politely translated as mixing with foreigners.'
>>
>> 'Dr. A.V. Ramana Dikshitulu, head priest of the Balaji Temple in Tirumala,
>> one of India's most respected and popular pilgrimage destinations, said,
>> "None of our priests who serve in the main sanctum can cross the ocean.
>> Neither I nor any member of my family have done so, despite lucrative
>> offers from abroad. Serving the Lord here is most important to us. The
>> Balaji Temple is governed by the Vaikhanasa Agama. It says that the people
>> outside India are akin to mlecchas, barbarians, who do not follow any
>> rules
>> or code of conduct, and therefore it forbids visiting such places. These
>> places have habits, food, relationships and other things which could make
>> us corrupt and impure."
>>
>> "According to the Agama, all brahmins are supposed to worship at sunrise,
>> midday and sunset, called trikal gayatri sandhya," he explained. "This
>> trikal sandhya cannot be performed on a plane or ship; it must be done on
>> the earth." Dr. Ramana Dikshitulu does not specifically rule out
>> "crossing"
>> an ocean, for he himself flies occasionally from Chennai to Kolkata, a
>> flight which goes out over the Bay of Bengal. But as that flight is only
>> two hours long, he does not miss his trikal sandhya as he would on a
>> longer
>> flight or a voyage by ship, and he does not land outside India.'
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 5, 2017 at 8:36 AM, Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Namaste
>> >
>> > 'The Baudhayana Sutra
>> > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudhayana#The_Dharmas.C5.ABtra>, one of
>> > the Hindu Dharma Shastras
>> > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma%C5%9B%C4%81stra>, says that
>> "making
>> > voyages by sea" (II.1.2.2)
>> > <http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/hinduism/dharma/b
>> audh2.asp#fr_1078>
>> > is an offense which will cause *pataniya*, loss of caste. It offers a
>>
>> > rather difficult penance: "They shall eat every fourth mealtime a little
>> > food, bathe at the time of the three libations (morning, noon and
>> evening),
>> > passing the day standing and the night sitting. After the lapse of three
>> > years, they throw off their guilt."
>> >
>> > On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 11:19 PM, Sujal Upadhyay via Advaita-l <
>> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Pranams
>> >>
>> >> Have a look at biographies of priests
>> >> http://svbf.org/our-priests
>> >>
>> >> Also noted that they perform shrādha either at temple or at home. You
>> can
>> >> check second last page of calender. They also have rates card which
>> >> mentions seva-s like  different kinds of pUja-s, homa-s, and also
>> shrAdha
>> >>
>> >> All these in a matha in USA which it says is affiliated with sringeri
>> >> matha.
>> >>
>> >> Confused, surprised, happy, sad all mixed emotions in me. What to
>> say!!!!
>> >>
>> >> Sorry Sri Vidyasankar ji for mentioning your name. Never took it
>> >> sarcastically. No offenses please. I personally feel you did a great
>> >> service. I am saying it from the bottom of my heart.
>> >>
>> >> Secondly, Sri Rajiv Malhotra ji is working very hard to defend our
>> dharma.
>> >> Now Indian Govt is helping him indirectly. Sri Ravi Sankar Prasad, a
>> >> cabinet Minister gave a speech in his conference .
>> >>
>> >>  Importantly he is getting support from Sri Mani Dravid Srastringal and
>> >> his
>> >> students. He even gave awards to him or may be his disciples for their
>> >> contribution. Rajivji lives in USA and he has given award to Disciples
>> of
>> >> Sri Mani Dravid Srastringal. They accepted this award.
>> >>
>> >> What traditionalists could not do he did it. He opposed Wendy and her
>> >> children I.e. her disciples, shendon Pollack and others. But he may be
>> >> impure as per our shāstras.
>> >>
>> >> Can't go against shāstras. Can't stop appreciating his hard work.
>> Problem
>> >> hai. What to do.
>> >>
>> >> On a lighter note Sriramji, I am reminded how much you love Dr. Zakir
>> Naik
>> >> (PBUH). Even my blood used to boil when I saw his videos. I guess
>> >> traditionalists didn't responded well or did They or they are not
>> required
>> >> to?
>> >>
>> >> Honestly it is always west that stood up against such attacks on our
>> >> dharma.
>> >>
>> >> Look at the site dedicated to Srila Prabhupada. They have done hard
>> work
>> >> to
>> >> upload bhagavat Purana and others scriptures. Nothing if that kind from
>> >> India for a long time. There is fit a supersite.  Still there is no
>> >> bhagavat Purana in a way it is put by them. It's s western effort.
>> >>
>> >> Yes it has nothing to do with nitya karma or rules laid down by
>> shāstras
>> >> but practically it counts. Such portals are an assets for those
>> interested
>> >> in comparative study or to study our own dharma and find references.
>> >>
>> >> OM
>> >> Sujal
>> >>
>> >> On Oct 3, 2017 10:45 PM, "Sujal Upadhyay" <sujal.u at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > Pranams
>> >> > Please find link of sringeri matha USA
>> >> > http://svbf.org/contact
>> >> > It's in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Detroit and Texas. Those living in
>> USA
>> >> > can talk to them. Have a look at the activities carried out by them.
>> >> Have
>> >> > look at calender. It can be downloaded from home page.
>> >> >
>> >> > Also note that the prestigious work to put our AchArya's
>> prasthAntrayI
>> >> > commentaries (which includes Brahms sUtra-s) is also supported by
>> some
>> >> > volunteers living in foreign land.
>> >> >
>> >> > One of them, if I remember is our very own Sri Vidyasankar jio, who
>> >> lives
>> >> > in USA.
>> >> >
>> >> > Any thoughts on this ??
>> >> >
>> >> > Hari OM
>> >> > Sujal
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Oct 3, 2017 8:15 PM, "Sujal Upadhyay" <sujal.u at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > Pranams Sri Sriramji
>> >> > I cannot understand Telugu or any South Indian language
>> >> > I am Gujarati.  I can understand Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi and English
>> >> >
>> >> > Please either translate the essence or kindly give Hindi translation
>> of
>> >> > video
>> >> >
>> >> > Thank you
>> >> > OM
>> >> > Sujal
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Oct 3, 2017 3:48 PM, "Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l" <
>> >> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > Dear Sujalji,
>> >> >
>> >> > Our Sarma Sastrigal's plea to NRIs
>> >> >
>> >> > ..............
>> >> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At6tnQbZWhg&t=417s
>> >> > ..........
>> >> >
>> >> > regs,
>> >> > sriram
>> >> > _______________________________________________
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>> >> >
>> >> >
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>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Regards
>> >
>> > -Venkatesh
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Regards
>>
>> -Venkatesh
>> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh


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