Fw: UPANAYANAM

08-24-2003, 12:50 PM

----- Original Message ----- From: M P Bhattathiry
To: Sadagopan ; Ram Anbil
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 3:58 AM
Subject: UPANAYANAM
Upanayana : When to Perform It ? from Hindu Dharma
A Brahmin child's upanayana must be performed when he is eight years
old from conception, that is when he is seven years and two months
old from birth. A Ksatriya's is to be performed at the age of twelve.
Krsna Paramatman who belonged to the clan of Yadus (Yadavas) was
invested with the sacred thread at that age. The corresponding age
for a Vaisya is sixteen.
According to the sastras, the lower limit of Brahmin youngsters is
eight years and the upper limit is sixteen which means a grace of
eight years. It is sinful in the not to have performed upanaya of a
Brahmin boy before his passing the upper age limit.
Uttarayana is the right period to perform upanayana- from the Tamil
month Tai to Ani. when the sun journeys northwards. While this is the
right time for marriages also, the season of spring(Chittirai to
Vaikasi)is considered particularly auspicious. For upanayana the
month specially favoured is Masi. Upanayana and marriage are not
favoured during Daksinayana(from the Tamil month Adi to the end of
Margazhi).
Nowadays, for various reasons, the upanayana and marriage ceremonies
are delayed for as long as possible and celebrated in any month other
than Margazhi. The results are there for you to see. But one must be
happy perhaps that a function called marriage is still performed
somehow. So long as people perform it, let them perform it at any
time. If we take this attitude, marriages may be permitted in any
season as a desperate step. But upanayana is a different matter. It
should never be permitted in Daksinayana. If it is for some reason
celeberated during this period, I would ask for its performance again
in Uttarayana. Money is the main problem in conducting an upanayana or
a marriage. Parents postpone the upanayana because they want to
perform it at the same time as the marriage of their daughter so as
to minimise the expenses.
The upanayana is sometimes performed when the boy is only five years
old. This is called "kamyopanayana", "Kamya" meaning in persuance of
desire. Such early upanayana is all right if you want the child to
develop inwardly at an early age. But seven years is the proper age
for the child to be invested with sacred thread because by now he
would have learned enough Sanskrit to chant the mantras clearly.
Nowadays, the "thread ceremony" is conducted together with the
marriage, that is when the "boy" is 30 or 35 years old. So to suggest
that the upanayana needs to be performed only when the child is seven
years old - and not at five - would be taken as a joke. Joke or no
joke, it [the delay in performing the upanayana] should make you
uneasy deep within if you have some concern for the vedic dharma.
Adi Sankara's upanayana, it is believed, was performed when he was
five years old. If the child is extraordinarily intelligent and can
articulate words properly, his upanayana may be performed at five
years.