Upanayana Sanskar Puja

Upanayana Sanskar

Among the sixteen sacraments in Sanatan Dharma, the Yagyopavit Sanskar, also known as Upanayana Sanskar, comes at number eleven. Prior to this, he is given the Vidyarambha ceremony which begins at the age of five. Through the Vidyarambh ceremony, he is made aware of letters etc. so that he can go ahead and get him to study the Vedas. After this, his Upanayana ceremony is performed in which he is considered capable of studying the Vedas and scriptures. Let us know about the Upanayana ceremony.

When is the Upanayana Sanskar performed?

In this, different ages are prescribed for different characters. Since all human beings are considered to be of low status by birth and only after acquiring education, they are considered educated. That is why the Upanayana ceremony was performed to send it to the Gurukul.

For this the Brahmin was considered fit for the Upanayana ceremony at the age of eight, the Kshatriya at the age of eleven and the Vaishya at the age of twelve. Since everyone had the right to receive education, so it was up to the Gurukul's Guru, at what age he accepts as his disciple.

For this, the age after eight years was considered appropriate because 2 to 3 years were required for him in the knowledge of alphabets and language, which were given to him in the Vidyarambha ceremony.

What is Upanayana Ceremony?

The word Upanayana means to go near, that is, through this sacrament, a person starts living near his guru. After the Upanayana ceremony, a Guru accepts him as his disciple and places him in his Gurukul. After this, the parental authority over that boy/girl ends and he returns to them only after completing the period of celibacy which is fixed till the age of 25 years.

It is also called Janeu Sanskar because before going to the Gurukul, he is taught the Gayatri Mantra with full rituals and is taught the initial mantra to study the Vedas. After this, she is dressed as Janeu, which consists of three threads which are dedicated to Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.

After doing this method, he becomes able to study the Vedas and then he is given esoteric education in the science of Sanatan Dharma, mystery, astronomy, geography etc.

Importance of Upanayana Ceremony

This rite is very important because a person without knowledge of Vedas was considered to be condemnable. To build a good society, it is very important for a person to get education, otherwise he has no participation in the society. In a way, it is also called the second birth of a man, hence he is also called Dwij, that is, his second birth after receiving education.

It is in a way an admission card to study the Vedas, only after which a guru accepts him as his disciple and gets him to study the Vedas-shastras. Its education is also given to him according to his further karma, that is, the one who has to perform the duty of a Brahmin is given complete education, the one who has to perform the religion of a Kshatriya is taught diplomacy, politics, etc. He is taught about trade, money, bargaining etc.