Talk:Brahmacaryāśrama':Upanayana
By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami
The upanayana of a boy is performed when he is old enough to understand things and chant the mantras. During this ceremony he is asked to go begging for alms. Bhikṣācaryam cara, he is told. Bādham, he replies ("I will do so"). So, before his upanayana, the child must know enough Sanskrit to understand what is meant by bhikṣācaryam cara. When he starts learning at the age of five he will have a basic knowledge of Sanskrit by the time he is eight years old, the age fixed for the upanayana saṃskāra.
The world will stand to gain if eight-year-old children wear the sacred thread, have sufficient knowledge of Sanskrit and chant the Gāyatrī mantra. Today things have so changed that godlessness is thrust into tender minds.
Upa = near; nayana = to take or lead (a child). Near whom or what is (the child) taken? Near the guru. That is what upanayana means. Who is a guru? One who has mastered the Veda-s. There is one guru during the brahmacaryāśrama (student-bachelorhood) and another during the last āśrama of saṃnyāsa. The first guru is learned in the Veda-s, Vedāṅga-s and so on while the second is one who has forsaken all including the Veda-s. In the first āśrama you acquire vidyā; in the last āśrama you realise jñāna.
Upanayana is initiation into the brahmacaryāśrama while samāvartana is the completion of this stage of life. Samāvartana means "return". To repeat, from the upanayana to the samāvartana is student-bachelorhood or the brahmacaryāśrama. Samāvartana thus denotes returning home on completing one's study of the Vedic discipline in the gurukula.
Upanayana is the pūrvāṅga of student-bachelorhood. Any aṅga must have something that gives its distinctive character. This is called aṅgī. Thus for the aṅga called upanayana the aṅgī is brahmacarya. The word Brahma has six different meanings. In the term brahmacarya it means the Veda-s. An entire āśrama or stage in life is set apart for the study of the Veda-s: this is brahmacarya. The minimum period for student-bachelorhood is twelve years which is the time taken to master the Veda-s.
Brahma also means Viṣṇu as well as Śiva. The word, in addition, is also used to denote a Brāhmaṇa, tapas or austerities, and the Paramātman. When you say Brahmā with a long "ā" at the end (Brahmā) it means the Creator.
At mealtime we do pariṣeccana, that is we sprinkle water over our food, say, rice. It is the aṅga for the meal. The rice must be eaten only after it has ceremonially been made a prasāda of Īśvara. This is the purpose of the pariṣeccana. Is it not foolish to refuse the food after it has been made a prasāda of Īśvara? Not to learn the Veda-s after one has had the upanayana is akin to refusing to eat the food placed before one after one has done the pariṣeccana. In this sense the majority of people who have had their upanayana must be called foolish.
There are four vrata-s between the pūrvāṅga called the upanayana and the uttarāṅga called the samāvartana. These are Prajāpatya, Saumya, Āgneya, and Vaiśvadeva.
There are certain rules to be followed to master a mantra. The Veda-s are replete with mantra-s that help you to go forward spiritually and find release from worldly existence. Brahmacarya may be described as the total discipline required to master the Veda-s. There are also rules meant for the study of each part of these scriptures. Each Veda has four kāṇḍa-s, each associated with a great ṛṣi. Brahmayajña is performed in honour of them. For each kāṇḍa there is also a separate vrata. During student-bachelorhood when a kāṇḍa is studied its vrata must also be observed. The kāṇḍa-s are Prajāpatya, Saumya, Āgneya and Vaiśvadeva. After completing the four kāṇḍa-s the pupil will have his samāvartana with the permission of his guru.
The four vrata-s mentioned above are for students of the Kṛṣṇa-Yajurveda. For students of the Ṛgveda there are the Mahānāmnī, Mahā, Upaniṣad and Godāna vrata-s. Thus each Veda has its own vrata-s. I mentioned those for the Kṛṣṇa-Yajurveda first since it is widely followed [in the South].
Samāvartana is also called snāna and one who has gone through it is a snātaka. Everybody must learn his own Veda [the Veda that is his by birth] and other subjects in addition. When we perform upākarman we must start learning a new part of the Veda-s. Later, at the time of utsarjana, it must be discontinued and the study of the Vedāṅga-s taken up. The Veda-s, to repeat, must be studied during the six months roughly of Dakṣiṇāyana, from the south of Śrāvaṇa to Taiṣya. The next six months must be devoted to the Vedāṅga-s.
To master the mantra-s the student must strictly observe the rules pertaining to the brahmacarya and to the particular part of the Veda that is being studied. Nowadays we do not observe anything, we do not even learn the Veda-s or a part thereof. Before the wedding ceremony, we perform a rite called vrata: in one hour we go through a number of saṃskāra-s without understanding what we are doing and why we are doing them. Perhaps, I find myself giving this discourse because so much at least survives of the Vedic tradition.
The importance of the upanayana ceremony lies in this: it makes a person fit to receive instruction in the Veda-s and spread their divine power throughout the world. Parents must realise this fact and perform their son's upanayana at the right time.
Dvija (iru-pirappāḷaṉ in Tamil) is the name given to a Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya or Vaiśya. They merit the second birth only when they become qualified to learn the Veda-s. Such a birth is meant, as mentioned earlier, to spread the divine power all over the world, and it is through the upanayana ceremony that they become qualified for it. Performing this ceremony at the right time is the responsibility of the parents. At present, in matters like this, no regard is paid to the canons. In contrast, in the old days, people had faith in the scriptures and acted according to their dictates.