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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00055 Dec 2004

 
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A devotee gave me a copy of souvenir of a conference titled 'Brahma 
sabhA", coordinated by SrI Krishna Premi svAmi.  This was held for 
three days in Royampettai staring Janaury 2, 2003.  Well-known 
scholars from all the three sampradAya-s have participated in this 
gathering.  Among those who have given SrImukham are:  SrI 
vAnamAmalai jeeyar (rAmAnuja sampradAya), kAnci Sri Sa'nkarAcArya 
(advaita), and UttarAdi muTT (dvaita sampradAya).  I see photograpahs 
of SrI Karunakaran svAmi, nAvalpAkkam SrI varadAcArya svAmi, SrI 
SaThakopAcArya svAmi, the sampAdakar of SrI ahobila MuTT, the 
SrIkSryam of SrI ahobila MuTT, nRsimha tAtAcArya svAmi, and SrI 
KozhiyAlam svAmi, representing our sampradAyam.  According to the 
brochure, there were discussions on 50 topics, and recommendations on 
each.  

While I do not know whether all the above attended all lthe 
discussion, and whether they all agreed on everything that is 
published in the souvenir, the following appears in one of the talks 
by a Neela BAla SarmA:

  "The SAstra-s declare that travel to foreign country is forbidden 
because it leads to association with mleccha-s (I will leave the 
translation to each of you based on your dictionary), and this 
association with mleccha-s comes in the way of vaidika 
karmAnushThAnam.  The SAstra-s say that even within India, there are 
certian regions that have become dominated by mleccha-s, and so one 
should go to these places only for pilgrimage, and then one should do 
prAyaScittam for having been to these places in general.  dESam, 
kAlam, phalam, nimittam, and samskAram are declared to be the a'nga-s 
of karma properly performed.  Even though dESam is just one a'ngam 
for karma, if the karma itself cannot be performed properly in a 
foreign country, travelling abroad strictly leads to impurity.  A 
prAyaScittam is dictated under these circumstances.  There are 
different prAyaScitta-s specified for stay for one year, four years, 
and twelve years.  After a stay of twelve years, a braAhmaNa is 
considered to have become a mleccha". 

(Before I proceed further, let me honestly declare that I have become 
a mleccha several times by now).

In another segment, I find the following:

Only in the bhArata deSam, we have
  
  - the purifying flow of sindhu, gan'ngA, yamunA, sarasvati, 
narmadA, kAverri, godAvari, pushkaram, mAnasarovar, candra 
pushkariNi, etc.

   - himAlaya, kailAsa, vindya, malaya, sahya, ve'nkaTa, citra kUTa, 
RSyamUkha, govardhana, etc.

   - kASi, kA'nci, mAyA, dvArakA, mathurA, ayodhyA, avanti, 
indraprastha, etc.

   - SrIr'angam, tiruvanantapuram, pAnDarIpuram, jaganAtham, 
badrikASSrmam, tirunArAyaNa puram, gurvAyUr, etc.

   - rAmAyaNa, bhAgavata, bhArata, etc. originated only in bhArata 
deSam.
  
   - agastya, durvAsa, kaSyapa, bhRgu, markhaNDeya, Suka, vAlmIki, 
etc. originated here.

To make the list short, let me just say one or two or the remining 
examples:  (arundati, anasUyA, sItA etc.;  paraSurAma, rAma, kRshNa 
etc.; Sa'nkara, rAmAnuja, madhva etc; AzhvAra, nAyanmArs, etc.; )

The author quotes a passage from SrImad bhAgavatam that declares that 
it is better to beg and live in bhArata, rather than lead a life in 
devaloka even.  Another passage in bhAgavatam declares that bhArata 
is karma bhUmi and other places are bhoga bhUmi.  

Then the writer concludes that a puNya karma will have effect only if 
performed in bhArata deSam.  The author suggests that those of us who 
choose to live in America have probably been sent to lead a life here 
as an alternative to living in svarga loka to enjoy the remnants of 
our previous puNya-s before taking our next birth.  This almost looks 
true since there is 'unlimited' bhogam in these places, as in svargam.

(My own personal experience, having lived in this part of the world 
for close to two-thirds of my life here, is that it is difficult, and 
almost impossible, to perform pitR karma-s and the like properly 
here.  I am not sure whether one can safely say that they can be 
performed well in bhArata deSam either, even though if one tries, one 
can perform them properly in India).

The veda-s declare that the best of brAhmaNa-s have lived in the 
vicinity of ganga and yamuna.  

The author then goes on to establish that the bhUmi-s which are not 
part of bhArata deSam are mleccha bhUmi-s.  The vaidyanAthIya 
dIkshitIyam declares that wherever there is no following of 
varNASrama dharma-s, these places are by definition mleccha bhUmi-s.  
The Aditya purANa declares that any deva and pitR kArya performed in 
a mleccha bhUmi is ineffective, even if repeated a hundred times.  
vishNu smRti reinforces the same.  

In kali yuga, the vaidyanAthIya dIkshitam declares that samudra yAtrA 
is forbidden.  It was allowed in the other yuga-s because these were 
not mleccha bhUni-s at that time.  Even within bhArata deSam, the 
ares such as sindhu, sauvIra, surAshtra etc., are considered mleccha 
deSa-s now because of the dominance by muslims etc.

I believe I have included enough material here to create some hot 
arrows directed at me already.  So I will not continue this write-up 
further at this time. 

-dAsan Krishnamachari








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