Explaining The Necessity And Significance Of Upanayam

@Gauri03,

I liked the explanations given by these ladies and instead of re-typing I am quoting them.

In my view, this system has lost its significance. Instead of getting the Upanayanam done and then disrespect the sacred thread, it is better to not do. My FIL was a learned man and he didn't endorse it and my husband has not undergone this ritual and we will not be doing it for our son too. Any day in future, if my son feels the need, he is free to undergo this ritual. Since all the other elders in my family are aware of our strong views, they don't force us. I have taught Gayatri Mantra to my son and he recites it and lights lamps at the altar daily after bath.

 

Hi JAG,

I really liked your comment here. The kids of current generation are smarter and especially Gauri has her hands full with her son. Sooner or later, her son will find out that his parents are not as convinced about Upanayanam as his grandparents.

Viswa

 

Let me try to add some thoughts to what has already been said. Knowing full well that 'the perfect is the enemy of the good', I dare not attempt a coherent essay, one that may not be completed until the young man's wedding, but I will try to set down some fragments of what I was taught. Before I do that, Gauri, I would urge you to ask all the elders in the family and among your friends to write a short note, in longhand, of what they think this rite of passage might mean (not just good wishes!) - what it meant to them, and what they imagine it ought to mean to your son, growing up in a different time and place. You and your husband can add your own thoughts. Collect all those pieces of paper and have them bound as a keepsake for him, a mark of the occasion. You might do better with this than with hasty scrawls in a guest-book.

 

First and foremost, the upanayanam is a rite of passage. All recorded societies in history have had them. The most rudimentary notion of a rite of passage is this that there is a 'before' and there is an 'after'. The ceremony itself is the 'passing through', a transition across a threshold. Through such rites, one leaves behind one's former status and is welcomed into a new status as an initiate.

Such rites are not necessarily religious. They can be entirely secular. To use one example: In medical schools today, all over the world, students are initiated into their medical education with a "white-coat ceremony". They take the Hippocratic Oath and don the white coat symbolic of science. I need not belabor the significance of the oath, among the oldest in existence. Through it, the novice is transformed from a layperson into an apprentice member of a noble profession, its lofty ideals rooted in ministering unto the sick and the search for truth. The ceremony is an invitation to reflect on what this might mean, on his obligation to to his profession, to his society, and to truth.

So, it is with the upanayanam. In Hindu tradition, after the ceremony, the initiate is a 'dvija' or twice-born - once in his physical birth, and now, reborn in a spiritual birth as he is introduced to the first mantra that will begin his education.

 

In Hindu tradition, there are four main rites of passage (with many added variations) or Samskaras: Jatakarma (birth and the ceremonies associated with it, including the ones before and after), Upanayana (the thread ceremony), Vivaha (wedding ceremony) and the Antayeshti (or funeral rites). A parallel for those educated in English would be the the catholic sacraments. There can be no doubt that these are significant life events (and not just to your insurance company) that are worth marking. How many phone calls to India are entirely filled with lists of new babies, kindergarten admissions, JEE triumphs, weddings, and deaths?

Speaking of Samskaras and what they might mean, you might want to read, and depending on his level of maturity, read with your son, the great novel by U.R. Ananthamurthy, orginally written in Kannada, your son's father-tongue. It deals directly with this tension between the sacred and the profane, with what rite and ritual, tradition and modernity may mean to life as it is actually lived. Those are the very questions with which you opened this thread.

More, later.

 

The upanayanam is medieval in origin. There is no direct mention of it in vedic literature. Occasional attributions are thought to be later interpolations. Still, that is nearly a thousand years of unbroken tradition.

All traditions are in some sense invented (See: Eric Hobsbawm and also "Pizza Effect"). They need not necessarily remain static. What is invented can be reinvented. It is we who imbue our traditions with meaning. What can a white-coat ceremony mean to a physician destined for a career of golf and three-day work-weeks, punctuated with the occasional botox injection or butt implant? What can vows and wedding bands mean to an adulterer? We get back from tradition what we put into it. You can sit in front of the sacred fire cursing smoke and flame, waiting impatiently for it all to be over, or as my yoga teachers might say, set an intention, and in body and breath, be there. In that intention lies the essence of the ritual. The rest is mechanics. Like ayahuasca or peyote, traditional rite and ritual amplify and reflect back to us what we bring to them; or neglected and spurned, they can lie there dead and inert, in a fallow American field of caste, cow, and curry cliche. There is no 'necessity'. There can be 'significance' if you wish.

 

The following article might explain the significance in a meaningful way for a child.

Ancient India: Upanayanam - The Sacred Thread

I hope this is helpful for many parents.

Viswa

 

What might the significance be? What exactly is it that the young initiate 'dvija', freshly reborn, setting out to study with his teacher? Central to the upanayanam ceremony is the "Brahmopadesha" (from Brahman + Upadesha), an introduction to the nature of "Brahman" or ultimate reality, wherein the novitiate is introduced to the Gayatri Mantra. The student's initiation into the mantra ('Gayatri Diksha') is the beginning of his inquiry into the Brahman, which is the core purpose of the spiritual education he seeks to acquire under the guidance of his guru. Wikipedia lists many literal and interpretive translations of the mantra. For completeness, let's include a simple one here, by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (philosopher, Sanskrit scholar, and former President of India), (emphasis, mine):

• "We meditate on the effulgent glory of the divine Light; may he inspire our understanding."(1947)
• "We meditate on the adorable* glory of the radiant sun; may he inspire our intelligence."(1953)

To ask that our intelligence be inspired in the service of understanding the ultimate nature of reality is a worthy goal for any student, whether the path is spiritual, philosophical, or scientific. This quest need not be alien to a modern spirit.

*The Latin root is 'adōrātiō', meaning "to give homage or worship to someone or something". The word is also used in the Christian tradition (as in 'The Adoration of the Magi' for example). However, to an ear corrupted by the American popular idiom of the internets, the word is denuded of this sense of respect and veneration, but rather brings to mind the cloying cuteness of kittens and K-pop stars!