Upanayanam

Last week we attended the upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony) of my cousin. The purohit who did the ceremony helped us understand the nuances of each mantram and we even got to know the historical(mythological) background behind a famous mantram. I do not want to spoil the show by revealing the name of the mantram right here. Read on and enjoy! :)

As the legend goes...

Thousands of rishis(sages) came together and found out the perfect ultimate mantram... and later all of them dispersed to go and do tapas.. after hundreds of years when they broke their tapas, the only thing that came to their mind was the fact that they had all composed a mantram.. but noone remembered what is was. they met each of the other rishis who participated in the making of the mantram. yet noone could recall it...

Finally they decided to go to the place where the mantram was discovered to find out if anyone had overheard their discussions. Their meeting had happened under a porasu maram(Chloroxylon swietenia tree). It said that it knows the mantram and recited it.. This is the gayatri mantram...

Hence when a person takes up brahmacharyam, he is given a dhandi(stick) of porasu maram.

A person who has taken up brahmacharyam needs to recite this gayatri mantram. This mantram is one of the most respected mantrams in Hindu culture. More on this mantram at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri and http://www.gayatrimantra.co.in/