[Vaideekam] Bramnan should not cross the sea ?

[Guest guest]

hai ranjan,

whatever you have aked for is excatly right!! but you know what? i was being said that when you are leaving your native place of birth and cross one river you dont have to suffer the usual tittu if any of your family member dies.this was said once by krishna premi in a Q & A session on hinduism and its principles!! imagine just for crossing the river you are not expected ot oblige to the regular rules that guide you!!!

practically thinking,see it would obviously have been difficult for people to travel and come back!!! {this is my guess,was not said by anna}

just a river has this much of effect then imagine the effect of sea!!!

i think they should have meant that you are not expected to abide to all the rules!!for example you have said that you are able to get 100%veg foods over there...but my cousin in us always complains of having to eat just uncooked leaves and vegetables as it is very difficult o get those things especially in parties which are being hosted by his company!!

so can it be this reason why it has been said like that?i mean you loose your brahmnatuva because you are not being governed by those rules to which you are expected to abide if you were in you home town!!!

 

again even i am just putting forth a discussion!! i dont intend to hurt anyones feelings!!! i am alo a strong beliver of our religion.i love it to the core!!

murali.

rvv21 <ranjan wrote:

Dear respected members, namaskaarams to allI am a youngster born and settled in the UK who finds the issue of 'crossing the ocean' very interesting for obvious reasons. A few thoughts I had on this issue - although I certainly don't deserve the title 'braahmanan' I thought I would share them with you:Anyone who has read elementary school science will know that our planet Earth is one of nine planets, which is in our solar system surrounding our Sun, which is in turn one of millions of star systems in our galaxy (the Milky Way), which is in turn one of the billions of galaxies we have in the in the unimaginably huge observable universe. In light of this observation, I have the following doubt about the issue of 'applicability of shastra to India' - why would our dear Lord Sriman Narayana, in his infinite wisdom, make the

ancient sages write such dharmashaastras which can only be lived and adhered to properly in such a tiny, tiny corner of the universe known as 'India', 'Bharata' etc?I am not asking this question to offend anyone's sensibilities, or as a 'naastika' - in fact I am always seeking to deepen my faith in the Lord, understand my family's Srivaishnava sampradaayam and serve Him and His creation, but I do think that this is a legitimate question. What I am trying to understand is, why would the Lord do something which seems so much like 'bad planning'? If India is the only place in the *entire universe* where dharma can be properly adhered to, then what of the potentially trillions of life forms that will miss out on knowing God because they were born in the wrong country/even the wrong planet!? To me, the question of crossing oceans within our own planet earth then becomes a bit indulgent, as these days man is

even able to go into space, has landed on the moon, etc. I know this may seem very silly/hypothetical, but what should a braahmaNa do if he goes on a rocket to the moon? He has left dear Bhoomi-devi, what to speak of crossing the ocean. Should he stop performing his sandhyaavandanam, etc. because he has lost his brahmaNattvam?Returning back to planet earth: some observations regarding my own experiences of practising my religion in the UK. My family was not very religious, but I decided myself that I would come to India, have my upanayanam and practice whatever I could of vaideeka tradition and learn about my family's Srivaishnava tradition. Up until now I have never felt guilty for living outside India when I do my religious duties. I have always been accepted fully as 'British' by our local friends in this country and also my relatives in India see me as one of their own. However,

to use our respected Moderator's analogy (if India is the 'pooja room' of the world, perhaps England is the 'bathroom', I know many of my relatives jokingly use the word 'London' to mean toilet!), somewhere like England is not really suitable for practising of vaideeka dharmam. But what I don't understand is, isn't dharma supposed to be practised everywhere? You are meant to be a good person whether you are in the pooja room or in the bathroom, is this not so?Then this introduces doubts in my mind as to how useful vaideeka dharma really is for the whole world/universe, if it should only be practised in India - unless it can be practised outside India, how can all those other people of the world know about our great Vedic tradition? Shouldn't we as Vaideekas, work for the welfare and upliftment of the entire world and try to spread at least a tiny fraction of Sriman Narayana's compassion and grace to those

other places too?I also wonder whether the reason some dharma shaastras say that crossing the ocean/going to other countries is prohibited is because the sages may not have actually visited those countries. For example, a few of you who have never visited the UK may think it is very hard to stick to 'aahaara niyamam', that everbody is materialistic etc. However, I can tell you that this country is one of the easiest countries in the world outside India to be vegetarian -in all the main shops those items which are 100% veg have a green label (like the green dot you see on items in Indian stores), and also that many people here have a very deep social or religious conscience and are very active in working for charities etc - the very opposite of 'materialistic'. Similarly, I wonder whether at least some of the injunctions in dharma shaastras are due to the sages not fully knowing, perhaps having some

prejudice as to what it is like 'on the other side of the ocean'. I do not mean any disrespect to the great sages like Sri Manu, etc. but surely they couldn't know what it is like in all these far away places before the invention of aeroplanes, and what's more, surely they didn't know what England and the USA would be like in 2000 years and that actually, there would be big temples in those countries constructed according to aagamas, with utsavams and yagnas and all sorts of things being conducted there - yes, in these so called 'bhoga-bhoomi' places!I am sorry for the length of this post and infintely more so for any apachaarams/offence committed to anybody unknowingly - but I seek only guidance and clarification from respected members and our respected mama as this issue recently has confused me. Must I feel guilty or incomplete for being a proud 'British' vaideekan?sarvAparAdhAn kshamasvanamo

nArAyaNawith praNaamams,Ranjan

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