Raas Leela: As seen by me!

It is sharad Purnima night and Radha with her Gopis are done with evening prayers. They ask the God to bless Braja bhumi. And then as usual their thoughts go to Nandalal Govinda. They all walk down into the kunj vatika. The garden is full of flowers and the flowers are all blushing thus making the whole garden look sweet and beautiful. Birds are singing songs while lotus sways with the waves of pond water.

In all this, Radha rani feels the pangs of separation with Shree Krishna, with tears rolling down she calls out to Nandalal. Patches of white lotuses, their broad stems swaying! When stirred by the wings of geese honking lustily. But they seemed dark blue as she looked in the intervals, between one tear falling and the next welling up.

Gopis and Radha Rani are sitting near the Kalpataru tree when suddenly they hear the flute. The sweet sound was enveloping everything around the forest and turning it more beautiful.

Surya Namaskar and the Science behind it.

Salutations to Sun or Surya Namaskar is a something that is being practiced from ages in India. Sun God in Hindu scriptures is considered to be the source of life and energy. It is considered to be the symbol of good health. Rig Veda describes Sun God as – “Suurya aatmaa jagasatasthuushasca”, meaning “Sun is the Soul, of both moving and unmoving things.

Sun salutation or Surya Namaskar is performed as series of yogic postures. You can get the details of the postures from this link. [LINK]. In the Vedas, Surya Namaskar has been prescribed to be performed early in the morning. It is just when the Sun is rising that you are supposed to do it and not later. Like many other such customs as mentioned in our Vedas, even this has a scientific reasoning behind it.

Yoga Sadhana and Tantra Sadhana

Yoga sadhana and Tantra sadhana are both intertwined. Yoga is merging of our self into the supreme self and the paths are different like bhakti yoga, kriya yoga, kundalini yoga etc. Tantra understands the matrix of energies, which constitute the universe, take the help of those energies and become master of the universe.

Yoga: Yoga deals more with the clearing and stabilizing of the mind. This is done through different methods of meditations. Through different paths mind is purified. This helps in reducing many kleshas likes ignorance, ego, fears, attachments etc. It helps the seeker to systematically cultivate the power of concentration and move inwards in the process of meditation & deep absorption. Yoga helps the seeker to distinguish between the “Purusha”, the consciousness and “Prakriti”, the matter. This way the seeker gets to know the pure consciousness on one’s own being.

True Facts about Upanayana.

Upanayana these days is taken as a birth right for people belonging to few selected caste. But this is far from truth. Upanayana is not limited to one caste and in our country this thinking is changing and doing so for past many years.

Let us first know the science behind Upanayana. It is a scientifically proven fact that a vein passing through the ear regulates the flow of urine. Applying pressure and acupuncture principle on different points in our ears is a medically acclaimed remedy for many of our urinary troubles. Therefore, when one wears the sacred thread around the ear, a pressure is created at points which in turn help the urinary system to regulate the urine flow, thus keeping his urinary system, bladder, etc. healthy and free of problems. Lot many of these scientific practices have been attached to God so that we get to perform them correctly. To explain them all to people in details the science behind it is not always possible. A layman might not get the point and never follow.

Is there really a caste or gender barrier when it comes to Upanayana? No, this practice is for everyone. Even girls! It is with time that changes happened and the practice got limited to maybe 1-2 castes.

Panini Kanya Mahavidyalaya

I read an article sometime back telling about a village in Bihar where girls, irrespective of caste go through Upanayana ceremony. LINKHERE. Not just this, there are schools now who are training women as priests and these women all go through Upanayana. Sunitee Gadgil, a priest from Pune herself got janeyu and became a priest more than 10 years back. And currently she herself initiated more girls. There is an institution for women Dyanprabodhini in Pune who are training women as priests IRRESPECTIVE of what caste they belong to. (LINK HERE) Have you all ever heard about Panini Kanya Mahavidyalaya in Mehmoorganj? This school for past more than 40years is imparting Vedic knowledge besides training girls as priests. These girls, many of whom, go through Upanayana ceremony. Quoting the Pricipal of the college from THIS LINK – “…the college principal teaches the students that anyone who can read and understand the Vedas are also entitled to wear the janev (sacred thread).” Besides these let me tell about few temples which have women priests, all of whom got initiated with the sacred thread. The Shakti temple right next to Dharmaya temple in Bangalore has a women priest. Many remote temples in Kerela are served by women priests through generations. There is a place near Chennai which has the Adi Para Shakti temple. Again that has women priest. Ongur in Trichy is served again by women priests.

Now let us come to the next point that only Brahmins are given this thread. Again this is not the complete truth. I agree that is the most prevalent one, but let us not get into generalizing it. From our Vedic era itself Upanayana was never for any specific caste. It was taken that anyone who wants to get started with education would go through this ceremony. Even Shudras had the rights. The Sanatkumara Samhita tells us about Tantric Upanayana for Shudras. Even in our Varahapurana it tells in details about Shudra Upanayana. In Mahabharata, Chapter 131 in the Uma Maheshwar conversation, the Lord tells his consort “Shudro Paye AgamasampannoDweejo Bhavati Samskrataha”. Meaning – “By adhering to the agama scriptures (in other words getting initiated through pancharatric system), a shudra also becomes a Brahmin.”

And interestingly it is followed even today. Shaivites even today do initiate Shudras as priests. These people get Upanayana initiation and become priests. In the Lingaraja temple at Bhuvaneshwar the worship is done by both Brahmins and Shudra priests. (LINK HERE) The Durga temple in Dhoopchandi, UP (near Varanasi) does not follow the tradition of Brahmin by birth priests. It is the boatmen of that area who go through thread ceremony, learn vedic mantras and become the priests. ISKON also initiate people and they follow the Pancharatrik system. The thread ceremony done by ISKON never look into the caste of the seeker. Many other Vaishnavite organisation also follow the same. They follow Upanayana process as explained by Sanatana Goswami. He was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s disciple and he explained about all such process in his book Hari Bhakti Vilasa. Gaudiya Math people follow this system and when they perform thread ceremony, never do they ask for your caste.

So you see it is a wrong fact that in India ONLY Brahmins (boys) are going through Uapanayana and becoming priests. I agree this ceremony is done more among Brahmins. People’s perspectives are changing. Society is not the same. The practice and thought process that janeyu is ONLY for Brahmin is prevalent in our society. But to say that is the sole thought process is wrong. I even chatted with three priests known to me. And all of three said they have no issues if someone from other caste comes forward for Upanayana. What I could gather from discussion with these priests is that because people of other caste also take it Upanayana is for Brahmins, they never come forward. One even chuckled and said this also saves them from another round of financial expense.

The wrong mindset of people, in our country, need to be changed. Let us show the world how society is changing so that more would come forward and embrace the same. And this is the reason today for this post of mine!!! Hope this can change the century old mindset of many and also remove wrong concepts from the mind of others and we can get a better world to live in.