WHETHER UPANAYANAM HAS TO BE PERFORMED ONLY WHEN THERE IS GURUBALAM?

The dharma SAstras prescribe age as the only criterion for performing Upanayanam. They have not mandated Gurubalam etc for performance of Upanayanam. There is  authority for performance of Upanayana even at the early age of five. We have to always keep in mind that in respect of any karma, dharma SAstras provide for multiple options and thus allowing from the age of five to sixteen for performance of Upanayanam with different associated benefits.

According to Manu, a BrAhmaNa who is desirous of brahmavarcas can perform Upanayanam at the age of five.
brahmavarcasa kAmasya kAryam viprasya pancame !
--- Manu
According to Angiras, a BrAhmaNa who is desirous of brahmaVarcas can perform Upanayanam at the age of five.
brahmavarcasa kAmasya pancame abde agrajanmanah !!
--- Angiras

Now the issue is that if some body strongly believes that Gurubalam is a must for this purpose, then it becomes a mental block for performance of Upanayanam within the age prescribed by SAstras. We need to understand that by Upanayanam one is drawn towards the Guru for study of Vedas. Hence Guru kataksham will be there for any one who undergoes Upanayanam.

 

But in the family if there is serious difference of opinion among the elders on this point, one can get it resolved by approaching one's own family Guru and act accordingly. If in the process the decision gets delayed, only the boy is deprived of the benefit of early study of Vedas.

The specific date for Upanayanam has to be fixed for the boy concerned based on PancAnga. One should not go by a common muhurta date as far as possible.

जय जय श्रीराधे

FREE WILL, DESTINY AND VASANAS

In the scheme of nature, there is a free will for an individual to do something or not to do something or do differently. This is the free space available to us.

Destiny , on the other hand, plays its trick starting with the birth of a child. Why one is born poor and another rich ? Why one is healthy and another has serious birth defects? One loses the mother the moment it is born? One is born dead? The questions are too many.

But what is the force which causes such disparities ? Whether God is to be blamed for this partiality?

The only logical answer could be the Karma Theory which explains that the human being takes birth to exhaust his PrArabdha Karma. This gets extinguished only by experiencing in the world , going through the vicious cycles of pleasures and pains. In the process there is always a little scope to do some action within a limited domain. Just like a Cow which is tied by a long rope has the freedom to move within the space determined based on the length of the rope, human beings have some free will to exercise. Beyond that limited area the tied cow cannot roam about. This represents the force of destiny. The reason why people lose their precious life suddenly due to accidents, dieseases, natural calamities like Tsunami , earthquake and so on cannot be otherwise explained.

Self- effort is absolutely essential for any one without taking shelter under the guise of destiny. Therefore one has to do his Svadharma in a given environment without any expectation. If destiny decides otherwise, one should have the will power to take it in his stride in a positive manner. For this meditation techniques help a lot to make one develop equanimity towards the dualities. One should take caution not to abuse the little free will that is available to him.

Desapite one's best intentions and efforts, the effect of PrArabdha Karma embedded as VAsanAs may suddenly manifest and impact one any time. But that is the secret of life .