Hindu Dharma: Brahmacaryasrama

The chapters that exist in "Brahmacaryasrama" are listed in this page.

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Upanayana 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. 'Bhiksacaryam cara', he is told. 'Badham', he replies( 'I will do so'). So, before his upanayana, the child must know enough Sanskrit to understand what is meant by 'Bhicksacaryam cara'. When he starts learning at the age of five he will have a ...
 
The Sastras and Popular Custom It is to be regretted that, while the rules and injunctions of the dharmasastras are conveniently disregarded, certain popular customs prevalent in this part or that part of the country are being followed as if they had sastric validity. For instance, the belief has gained ground that the upanayana of a son must not be performed if he has an elder sister yet to be married. Another belief is that three brahmacarins must not stay together in a ...
 
Basic to the Vedic Tradition When a child falls ill the parents take special care of it. How wrong would it be to neglect a sick child? If there is anything worse it is not to perform the upanayana of one's son at the proper age and fail to impart him the Gayatri mantra. This rite is for his Atmic uplift as well as for the good of the world. It is sheer vanity that the 'thread ceremony' is nowadays performed like a mini-wedding. This is one reason why it gets ...
 
Qualities of a Brahmacarin The celibate-student must perform samidadhana every day, beg for his food and take no salt. If he is a brahmin he must keep a staff(danda) or palasa, if he is a ksatriya a staff of asvattha. The vaisya brahmacarin has a staff of udumbara. The staff helps the student to retain his learning. It is similar to the lightening conductor or the aerial and is scientifically valid as to 'fix' these hymns. That is why it should be kept-to ...
 
Naisthika Brahmacarya and Family Life In the past, some students continued to reside with their guru without performing the samavartana. Even after his passing, they remained brahmacarins and remained so all their life. Our dharma takes into account the natural urges of man. The general rule is that, on his return home from the gurukula, the student must marry and settle down. It is difficult to go against the natural urges. But going along with ...
 
Upanayana : When to Perform It ? 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 ...
 
Models to Follow It often occurs to me that two divine children demonstrate their purpose of discent to the earth through their very upanayana samskara. One of the two is Sankara who gave new life to the Vedic religion and the other is Jnanasambhandhar. The Tamil Periyapuranam mentions that Jnanasambhandhar's upanayana was performed when he was a small child. From the fact that he calls himself ...
 
Why Early Upanayana Let us leave aside the question of child being inspired by Sarasvati before he is imbued with Gayatri. The more important thing is that before Kama takes hold of a boy he must be inspired by Gayatri. That is why the age of upanayana is fixed at eight. When one is possessed by Kama one would be dragged away from one's ideal, that of acquiring the power of mantras. Even the power already acquired would be destroyed. That is the upanayana ...
 
Domestic Life and the Carnal Desire Great men have spoken in the past about the evil done by the carnal desire. Remarkably enough, our Vedic dharma has turned the same into an instrument for the purification of the Self by means of samskara and by imparting to it an element of propriety. It is not easy for an ordinary man to go to the forest and live as a recluse there or become a sannyasin. To become mellow, he has to go through all the rough and tumble of life, experience all ...
 
Gayatri 'Whoever sings is protected, ' that is 'Gayatri'. 'Gayantam trayate yasmat Gayatri' tyabhidhiyate. ' 'Sings' is not used here in the sense of singiging a song. It means intoning or chanting (the mantra) with affection and devotion. People who chant the Gayatri in this manner are protected. While speaking about this mantra the Vedas use these words : 'Gayatrim ...
 
The Brahmin must keep his Body Pure The Brahmin must keep his body chaste so that its impurities do not detract from the power of the mantras he chants. 'Deho devalaya prokto jivah prokto sanatanah. ' (The body is a temple. The life enshrined in it is the eternal Lord. ) You do not enter the precincts of a temple if you are unclean. Nothing impure should be taken in there. To carry meat, tobacco, etc, to a temple is to defile it. According to the Agama sastras you must ...
 
Gayatri and Sandhyavandana If the Gayatri has not been chanted for three generations in the family of a Brahmin, its members lose caste (they cease to be Brahmins). The quarter where such Brahmins live cannot be called an 'agrahara'. It is perhaps not yet three generations since Brahmins gave up the Gayatri. So they still may be called Brahmins. In the same way if the Brahmin family has not performed sacrifices for three ...
 
Other Aspects of Sandhyavandana 'Astra' and 'Sastra' are terms used in Dhanurveda (military science) to denote two types of weapons. Knife, arrow, spear, club and so on-real weapons-come under the term 'sastra'. 'Astra' is what is energised by a mantra into a weapon. If you discharge just a darbha or a blade of grass chanting or muttering the appropriate mantra it will be turned into a weapon. Sastras are also discharged similarly with ...
 
What about Women ? I said that the twice-born must perform sandhyavandana with the well-being of women and other jatis in mind. I also explained why all samskaras are not prescribed for the fourth varna. Now we must consider the question of women, why they do not have such rituals and samskaras. Even though we perform the ...
 
The High Status of Our Women Those who complain that women have no right to perform sacrifices on their own must remember that men too have no right to the same without a wife. If they know this truth they would not make the allegation that Hindu sastras look down upon women. A man can perform sacrifices only with his wife. He does them for the well-being of all mankind and for his own inner purity. It is for this purpose that, after the samavartana ...