Hindu Dharma:

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Grhastha and Grhini After a young man has to completed his gurukulavasa and performed the samavartana he has to wear a 'double sacred thread '. He must discard the marks of his student-bachelorhood - the staff, the antelope skin, the girdle - and wear the pancakaccha and an upper cloth. As a celibate-student he was not ...
 
Aupasana Panigrahana, mangalya-dharana, saptapadi and other rites are performed on the day of the wedding. Aupasana begins with marriage and is performed every day until one becomes a sannyasin or untill one's death. The sacred fire that is witness to the marriage is preserved throughtout and aupasana performed in it every day. The sacred fire has an important place in the Vedic religion. The student-bachelor ...
 
Can a new Brahmin Caste be Created ? The fact that aupasana is to performed by all castes gives rise to the questions : 'Why only aupasana? Why should not all castes have the right to learn the Vedas, chant the Gayatri and perform sacrifices? '. On the other hand, we have atheists who want the Vedas to be consigned to the flames and the idols of Gods like Ganesa to be broken and, on the other, we have people calling themself reformist who want to extend to all the right ...
 
Aupasana and Women I said [in an earlier talk ] that members of all castes must perform aupasana. The husband and the wife must do it together. Even when the husband is away the wife must perform it by offering unbroken rice grains in the sacrificial fire. The Vedas themself have given women such a right. Aupasana is the only Vedic right that a woman is entitled to perform on her own. Of course, there are so many pauranic ...
 
Agni and the Vedic Religion The householder has the duty of performing a number of rites in the sacred fire. Aupasana is the first of them. Agni is of the utmost importance to the Vedic religion. This deity is called 'Agni-Narayana'. The hymns to Rudra also show that he has a connection with the god of fire. In Tiruvannamalai (in Tamil Nadu ) Isvara revealed himself as a mountain of fire. In Kerala there is the custom of worshipping Amba [the Mother Goddess] in ...
 
Sacrifices Four hundered yajnas or sacrifices are said to be mentioned in the Vedas. Of these, aupasana alone is to be performed by all the four varnas. Though the first three varnas have the right to all the other sacrifices, in practice these were performed mostly by Brahmins and Ksatriyas only. But later Ksatriyas too neglected to ...
 
Other Samskaras There are certain rites common to all Hindus though they are not included in the forty samskaras. the ears of a child must be pierced ceremonially ( 'karna -vedhanam' ). Initiating a child into the alphabet ...
 
Goal of Samskaras I have dealt with a large number of samskaras, indeed more than forty of them. The Brahmin is expected to perform sacrifices almost all through his life, thereby making his life itself a sacrifice in the cause of mankind. On his death his body is cremated with the chanting of mantras and this rite also bring good to the ...
 
A Day in the Life of a Brahmin ' How can any Brahmin perform so many samskaras these days? ' is perhaps a natural question. 'What is the use of speaking about things that are not practicable? 'Suppose I myself give two lists, the first containing the samskaras that are easy to perform these days ans the second containing those that are not so easy. What will happen then? You will keep on adding items to the second from the first list and, eventually, I am ...