The celibate-student must perform samidadhana every day, beg for his food and take no salt. If he is a Brahmin he must keep a staff or palasa, if he is a ksatriya a staff of asvattha. The Vaisya brahmacarin has a staff of udumbara. The staff helps the student to retain his learning. It is similar to the lightening conductor or the aerial and is scientifically valid as to fix these hymns Continue Reading...

The upanayana of a boy is performed when he is old enough to understand things and chant the mantras.When he starts learning at the age of five he will have a basic knowledge of Sanskrit by the time he is eight years old, the age fixed for the upanayana samskara. The world will stand to gain if eight-year-old children wear the sacred thread, have sufficient knowledge of Sanskrit and chant the Gayatri mantra. Continue Reading...

Jatakarma, namakarana, annaprasana and caula are common to all jatis. Only Brahmins, Ksatriyas and Vaisyas have the upanayana ceremony. There is nothing discriminatory about this nor need there be any quarrel over the same. People belonging to the fourth varna do physical work to serve the world and in the process acquire inner purity. Continue Reading...

The forty samskaras which are meant to purify the individual self are:garbhadhana, pumsavana, simanta, jatakarma, namakarana,annaprasana, caula, upanayana, the four rites like prajapatya (Vedavratas) performed during gurukulavasa (the years the celibate student spends in the home of his guru), the ritual bath on completion of gurukulavasa, marriage, the five mahayajnas performed everyday by the householder. Continue Reading...

The eight gunas or qualities are: daya, ksanti, anasuya, sauca, anayasa,mangala, akarpanya, asprha."Daya" implies love for all creatures, such love being the very fulfilment of life. There is indeed no greater happiness than that derived by loving others. Daya is the backbone of all qualities. Continue Reading...

The best testimony to the claim that the Smrtis are founded on the Vedas is provided by the words of mahakavi (great poet). Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva, the founders of our religio-philosophical systems, proclaim that our dharmasastras are in accord with the Vedas. But they had, each of them, a doctrine to establish. Continue Reading...