The Saffron Monk

19/06/2023

19/06/2023

Sinu Joseph latest video. More than mere architectural marvels, mandirs are scientifically advanced systems which affect physiology, biology & emotions. Thei...

14/06/2023

अजमेर सेक्स स्कैंडल पर सीरिज छापने वाले पत्रकार मदन सिंह की सितंबर 1992 में अस्पताल में घुसकर हत्या की गई थी।

14/06/2023

14/06/2023

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit's account suspended from Twitter after Team Saath initiated an attack - he is the co producer of 72 Hoorein | OpIndia News

14/06/2023

Contrasting portrayal of Indic kings and foreign rulers in history is a stark example of the NCERT history writers’ bias for anything Indian.

14/06/2023

छत्तीसगढ़ के खड़कोना में 1906 में पहली बार हिंदुओं का ईसाई धर्मांतरण हुआ। उसके बाद जशपुर धर्मांतरण के बड़े केंद्र में ब.....

14/06/2023

14/06/2023

If they (Islamists) occupy Kashmir, do you think they will stop there ? I am very happy that India has now taken a strong position on Kashmir: Israeli prime ...

04/06/2023

Mamata Banerjee layest video.Mamata Banerjee withheld farmers' bank account details so that the Modi government was unable to transfer funds to them: Shantan...

04/06/2023

'या खुदा' का नारा लगा कर इमरान ने देहरादून में मंत्री गणेश जोशी पर किया हमला तो भीड़ ने उसे पकड़कर पहले पीटा और फिर पुल...

04/06/2023

दुर्घटना रक्षा कवच को लेकर विपक्ष रेल मंत्री पर निधाना साध रहा है। वहीं, रेलवे ने कहा कि जिस रूट पर दुर्घटना हुई है, ....

04/06/2023

ऑनलाइन टिकट बुकिंग पर मिलने वाले ट्रैवल बीमा को दुर्घटना के बाद कैसे क्लेम करें, जानिए इसके बारे में सब कुछ।

04/06/2023

लड़की कहती है ये मुस्लिम है इससे तुम्हें क्या मतलब है। एक वीडियो वायरल हो गया तो तुम बतंगड़ बनाकर बैठ जाओगे। ये मेरे स...

04/06/2023

बालासोर ट्रेन हादसे के बाद घायलों के राहत बचाव कार्य में बजरंग दल के कार्यकर्ता ग्राउंड पर उतरे हुए हैं। अस्पतालो....

04/06/2023

अमेरिका में राहुल गाँधी के बयान को लेकर विदेश मंत्री जयशंकर ने नसीहत दी है। उन्होंने कहा कि कुछ चीजें राजनीति से ऊ.....

04/06/2023

अशोक पंडित की '72 हूरें' फिल्म आतंक के आकाओं द्वारा मुस्लिमों को बहकाकर उन्हें 72 हूरों का लालच देकर आतंकी बनाने की घट.....

04/06/2023

Rahul Gandh latest video. Rahul Gandhi's remarks in Britain were a signal for foreign entities to intervene in Indian politics. But with this, he is only red...

04/06/2023

The Congress, Rahul Gandhi provide moral & legal support to terrorist organisations, giving them a veil of respectability. What could be more dangerous to In...

04/06/2023

Manipur latest video. The month-long violence in Manipur started with Christian Kukis burning down Hindu Meities' homes & temples. That escalated to abductio...

28/05/2023

liberalism latest video. The newer versions of liberalism, predominantly present in the US, are more aggressive. It's almost like an Abrahamic religion wanti...

28/05/2023

The Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) has become the first in the country to free Hindu temples from government control. The right to the temples, their activities, and their land will now solely rest with the priests and the temple trust.

In India, Hindu temples and their revenues are controlled by the government. However, all other places of worship, be it mosques or churches, are under their respective board of religious leaders. This has long resulted in a culture of temple money being used for political appeasement and in some cases, funding religious extremists and anti-national elements.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that the state’s BJP government will not interfere in the functioning of the temples from here on. “The government will not have any control over the activities of the temples and the auctioning of temple land will be done by priests, not collectors.” This way the priests will be able to maintain the temple premises and sustain their livelihood using its agricultural land.

Chouhan also said that priests with no agricultural land would receive a higher monthly honorarium while priests with 10 acres of temple land will not receive a separate salary. “Arrangements will be made to give a respectable honorarium to the priests of private temples."

In 2022, the Supreme Court of India observed that all temple earnings come from the Hindu community and should be used for their societal welfare itself. This came in response to a Public Interest Litigation which demanded that Hindus not be "singled out" and have the same rights as Christians and Muslims to manage their religious places.

Before the announcement, the collector or administrator’s permission had to be taken for any work related to the 1,320 temples in MP, adding to the ever-increasing red tape. The MP government's other reforms include setting up a welfare board (Brahmin Kalyan Board) to empower priests and providing scholarships to students studying Sanskrit. | More @ citti.net

Share | Follow | Hug People |

28/05/2023

For about two and a half hours, the laborer's hands were tied and he was beaten mercilessly with pipes and sticks.

25/05/2023

The Kerala Files video.Kerala will be converted into an Islamic state within 20 years: The Kerala Files director, Sudipto Sen quotes a former communist Chief...

25/05/2023

Indian Culture latest video. The objective of Indian traditions is not to worship some sort of god up there, but to realize that presence of the divine withi...

25/05/2023

South African politician Fikile Mbalula, the Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC), the party that has governed the country since the overthrow of the racist apartheid system, criticized the Western media's hypocritical stance on the Russia-Ukraine war in an interview with Stephen...

25/05/2023

16 Samskaras in Hindu Culture

Hindus believe that every aspect of life is sacred. That is why each significant stage, from conception to cremation, is celebrated as a reminder that life is a gift from God which should be duly respected and lived according to His wishes.

Sanskar (Subconscious impression) is a process of increasing the potential in ourselves. The word "Saṁskāra" as "sacrament" means the religious purificatory rites and ceremonies for sanctifying the body, mind and intellect of an individual; the process by which positive qualities in man are developed and enhanced is known as a sanskar. Sanskar = sam (samyak) + kar. ‘Sam’ means good and ‘kar’ means work or action.

Every action of an individual should be enriched with good sanskars; for example, eating a banana and throwing away the skin is an action, throwing the skin in a dustbin is sanskar, throwing it on the road is a perversion. Sanskar means culture. We are not cultured by birth. We learn culture by education and tradition. Sanskrit root meaning :

To refine; in the sense of education, cultivation, training, making perfect, refining, polishing, embellishment, impression, form, mould, operation, impression on the sub-conscious mind, a purificatory rite, a sacred rite or ceremony, consecration, sanctification and hallowing; idea, notion and conception; effect of work, merit of action etc.

In the Jaimini sutras (111. 1. 3) the sage explains the term Saṁskāra as "an act which makes a certain thing or person fit for a certain purpose".

The Tantra-vartika (p. 1078) defines Saṁskāra as "those acts and rites that impart suitability adhikara" and further adds that suitability adhikāra is of two kinds (A) the removal of negative mental conditioning (pāpa-kṣaya) (B) the generation of positive qualities through purification of the mind (citta-śuddhi).

The sage Angirasa gives the analogy of a painting and says, "Just as a picture is painted with various colours, so the character of an individual is formed by undergoing various Saṁskāras properly".

The sage Gautama gives eight spiritual-virtues of the Self (ātma-guṇas) that need to be cultivated and this is done through the medium of the Saṁskāras, viz: Daya (compassion for all beings) Kṣānti (forbearance, tolerance, forgiveness) Anusūya (freedom from envy) Saucam (purity, hygiene, cleanliness; environmental, physical and mental) Anayāsa (calmness, freedom from stress and anxiety) Maṅgalam (auspiciousness) Akārpanya (generosity) Aspṛha (freedom from greed and covetousness).

If all the 40 recommended samskāras are done without these 8 then they are worthless, and even a few saṁskāras done with these qualities is equal to the performance of all. Although the number of samskaras prescribed by various scriptures vary, there are sixteen that are a consensus among scholars. These 16 samskaras are:

(A) Pre-natal Samskaras

(1) Garbhadan (Conception)

'Garbha' means womb. 'Dan' means donation. In this sacrament the man places his seed in a woman.

The Gruhyasutras and Smrutis advocate special conditions and observances for this, to ensure healthy and intelligent progeny. Procreation of children was regarded as necessary for paying off debts to the forefathers.

Another reason for having progeny is given in the Taittiriya Upanishad. When the student ends his Vedic studies, he requests permission to leave from his teacher (see Samskara 14). The teacher then blesses him with some advice which he should imbibe for life. One of the commands is:

"Prajaatantu ma vyavyachchhetseehi..."
(Shikshavalli, Anuvak 11.11)

"Do not terminate one's lineage - let it continue (by having children)."

(2) Pumsavana (Engendering a male issue)

Pumsavana and Simantonayana (the third samskara) are only performed during the woman's first issue. Pumsavana is performed in the third or fourth month of pregnancy when the moon is in a male constellation, particularly the Tishya-nakshatra. This symbolises a male child. Therefore the term pumsavana literally means 'male procreation'. Sushrut, the ancient rishi of Ayurveda, has described the procedure in his Sushruta Samhita:

"Having pounded milk with any of these herbs - Sulakshmana, Batasurga, Sahadevi and Vishwadeva - one should instil three or four drops of juice in the right nostril of the pregnant woman. She should not spit out the juice."

(3) Simantonayana (Hair-parting)

The religious significance of this samskara is to bring prosperity to the mother and long life to the unborn child. It also wards off evil influence. The physiological significance is interesting and advanced.

Sushrut (Sharirsthan, Ch.33) believed that the foetus's mind formed in the fifth month of pregnancy. Hence the mother is required to take the utmost care for delivering a healthy child. Stipulating the details, Sushrut enjoined the pregnant mother to avoid exertion of all kinds: refrain from sleeping during the day and keeping awake at night, and also avoid fear, purgatives, phlebotomy (blood letting by slicing veins) and postponing natural excretions. (Sharirsthan, Ch.21).

(B) Childhood Samskaras

(4) Jatakarma (Birth rituals) These rituals are performed at the birth of the child. It is believed that the moon has a special effect on the newly born. In addition, the constellation of the planets - nakshatras - also determine the degree of auspiciousness. If birth occurs during an inauspicious arrangement, the jatakarmas are performed to ward off their detrimental effects on the child. The father would also request the Brahmanishtha Satpurush for blessings.

(5) Namkaran (Name-giving) Based on the arrangement of the constellations at birth, the child is named on a day fixed by caste tradition. In the Hindu Dharma, the child is frequently named after an avatar, deity, sacred place or river, saint, etc., as a constant reminder of the sacred values for which that name represents.

(6) Nishkrama (First outing)

In the third month the child is allowed agni (fire) and chandra (moon) darshan. In the fourth month he is taken out of the house for the first time, by the father or maternal uncle, to the mandir for the Lord's darshan.

(7) Annaprashan (First feeding)

Feeding the child with solid food is the next important samskara. For a son this is done in even months - the 6th, 8th, 10th or 12th months. For a daughter this is done in odd months - 5th, 7th or 9th months. The food offered is cooked rice with ghee. Some sutras advocate honey to be mixed with this. By advocating this samskara, the wise sages accomplished two important considerations. First, the child is weaned away from the mother at a proper time. Second, it warns the mother to stop breast feeding the child. For, an uninformed mother, many out of love, continue breast feeding the child, without realising that she was not doing much good to herself or the child.

(8) Chudakarma (Chaul) (Shaving of head)

This samskara involves shaving the head (of a son) in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 5th year, or when initiating him with the janoi (Upanayan). According to Sushrut, the significance of this, together with nail cutting, is to give delight, lightness, prosperity, courage and happiness (Chikitsasthan. Ch. 24-72). Charak also voiced a similar opinion.

A tuft of hair (shikha, chotli) is left in place at the top of the head for longevity. Sushrut points out its significance, "Inside the head, near the top, is the joint of a shira (artery) and a sandhi (critical juncture). There, in the eddy of hairs, is a vital spot called the adhipati (overlord). Any injury to this part causessudden death" (Sharirsthan Ch. VI, 83). In the course of time, the shikha was regarded as a symbol of the Hindu Dharma and its removal came to be regarded as a grave sin (Laghu Harita IV).

(9) Karnavedh (Piercing the earlobes)

The child's ear lobes are pierced either on the 12th or 16th day; or 6th, 7th or 8th month; or 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th or 9th year.

Sushrut reasoned, "The ears of a child should be pierced for protection (from diseases such as hydrocoele and hernia) and decoration" (Sharirasthan Ch.16.1, Chikitsasthan Ch.19.21).

One sutra says that a goldsmith should pierce the ears while Sushrut advocates a surgeon. For a boy, the right earlobe is pierced first and for a girl, the left. For boys today, this samskara is only prevalent in some states of India. In girls, this samskara has lost its religious significance and is only performed to enable them to wear earrings.

(C) Educational Samskaras

(10) Vidyarambh (Learning the alphabet)

This samskara is also known as Akshararambha, Aksharlekhan, Aksharavikaran and Aksharavishkaran.

It is performed at the age of five and is necessary before commencing Vedic study - Vedarambh.

After bathing, the child sits facing west, while the acharya (teacher) sits facing east. Saffron and rice are scattered on a silver plank. With a gold or silver pen the child is made to write letters on the rice. The following phrases are written:

"Salutation to Ganesh, salutation to Sarasvati (goddess of knowledge), salutation to family deities and salutation to Narayan and Lakshmi." The child then writes, "Aum Namah Siddham". He then presents gifts to the acharya, such as a pagh and safo (head adornment of cloth). The acharya then blesses the child.

(11) Upanayan (Yagnopavit) (Sacred thread initiation) At the age of eight the son is initiated by the acharya with the sacred thread, known as janoi or yagnopavit. Amongst all the foregoing samskaras this is regarded as supreme. It is the dawn of a new life, hence dvija - twice born. The child enters studentship and a life of perfect discipline which involves brahmacharya (celibacy).

He leaves the guardianship of his parents to be looked after by the acharya. This samskara is performed by Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, for both boys and girls. Therefore, both the boy and girl received training in discipline, truthful living and physical service. During the course of time this samskara ceased to be given to girls, who thus failed to be formally educated. Today, the tradition of education underlying this samskara has died out.

(12) Vedarambh (Beginning Vedic study)

This samskara was not mentioned in the earliest lists of the Dharma Sutras, which instead listed the four Vedic vows - Ved Vrats. It seemed that though upanayan marked the beginning of education, it did not coincide with Vedic study. Therefore a separate samskara was felt necessary to initiate Vedic study. In this samskara, each student, according to his lineage, masters his own branch of the Vedas.

(13) Keshant (Godaan) (Shaving the beard)

This samskara is included as one of the four Ved Vrats. When the other three faded, keshant itself became a separate samskara. 'Kesh' means hair and 'ant' means end. This samskara involves the first shaving of the beard by the student at the age of sixteen. It is also called Godaan because it involves gifting a cow to the acharya and gifts to the barber.

Since the student now enters manhood he is required to be more vigilant over his impulses of youth. To remind him of his vow of brahmacharya, he is required to take the vow anew; to live in strict continence and austere discipline for one year.

(14) Samavartan (End of Studentship)

This samskara is performed at the end of the brahmacharya phase - the end of studentship. 'Sama vartan' meant 'returning home from the house of the acharya.' This involves a ritual sacrificial bath known as Awabhruth Snan. It is sacrificial because it marks the end of the long observance of brahmacharya. It is a ritual bath because it symbolises the crossing of the ocean of learning by the student - hence Vidyasnaatak - one who has crossed the ocean of learning. In Sanskrit literature, learning is compared to an ocean.

Before the bath, the student has to obtain permission from the acharya to end his studentship and give him guru-dakshina - tuition fees. Permission is necessary because it certifies the student as a person fit in learning, habit and character for a married life. Obviously the student is not in a position to pay fees. One Sutra describes the debt of the teacher as unpayable, "Even the earth containing the seven continents is not sufficient for the guru-dakshina."

Those students who wished to remain as lifelong students observing brahmacharya would remain with the acharya. Today, this means accepting a spiritual guru - an Ekantik Satpurush and becoming a sadhu. The student thus bypasses the next two ashrams, to enter sannyas.

(15) Vivaha

This is the most important of all the Hindu Samskaras. The Smrutis laud the gruhastha (householder) ashram as the highest, for it is the central support of the other three ashrams.

Manu enjoins, "Having spent the first quarter of one's life in the guru's house, the second quarter in one's own house with the wife, and the third quarter in the forest, one should take sannyas in the fourth, casting away every worldly tie." (Manu Smruti IV.1).

By marriage an individual is able to achieve the four purusharths (endeavors) of life: dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), k**a (desire) and moksha (salvation). He is also able to pay off ancestral debt by having children. Procreation for children is also a primary purpose of marriage.

(16) Antyesthi (Death rites)

Antyeshti is the final samskara in a Hindu's life. Yajur Veda regards vivaha as the sixteenth samskara while Rig Veda considers antyeshti. Though performed after the death of a person by his relatives, it is of importance because the value of the next world is higher than that of the present. The final rituals are performed with meticulous care with the help of Brahmin priests.

The first ritual after death is to place a few tulsi leaves and a few drops of water in the mouth of the dead person. It is then laid on the floor which has been purified by applying the sacred cowdung. The old clothes are removed and the body is bathed with sanctified water. The body is then covered with one piece of a new, unbleached, uncut cloth (kafan). It is then laid on a bier (nanami) made of bamboo canes tied with jute strings. The underlying message in removing the old clothes can be gleaned from a Sanskrit verse:

"Dhanãni bhumau pashavashcha goshthe,
Nãri gruhadware sakhã smashãne,
Dehashchitãyãm paraloka mãrge,
Dharmãnugo gachhati jiva ekaha."
"Wealth will remain buried, cattle will remain in the pen, (his) wife will accompany (him) to the doorway, friends will accompany him to the crematorium, the body will come till the funeral pyre, but on the path to the next world, the jiva goes alone (with his karmas)." Jai Hind

By Anadi Sahoo

25/05/2023

Anand Narasimhan latest video.How much damage has been done to Indian civilisation & culture? Just look at us - we are talking about this very subject in the...

24/05/2023

Varna latest video.Varna is NOT based on birth. If it were, there would be no concept of "dwija" (twice born). Your biological birth is distinct to guna, kar...

24/05/2023

Haha epic

19/05/2023

मंदिर के तोड़े जाने का एक महत्वपूर्ण प्रमाण 'मा-असीर-ए-आलमगीरी’ नाम की पुस्तक भी है। यह दरबारी लेखक सकी मुस्तईद ख़ान ...

19/05/2023

Amid the ongoing battle for the Chief Minister post in Karnataka, State Congress president D K Shivakumar has said that the speculations about him agreeing to let Siddaramaiah be the CM are "rubbish".