உபநயனம் செய்யவேண்டிய காலம் பிராம்மணனுக்கு கர்ப்பத்தைக் கூட்டி எட்டாவது வயசாகும்; அதாவது பிறந்து ஏழு வயஸு இரண்டு மாஸம் ஆனவுடன் பண்ண வேண்டும். க்ஷத்ரியர்கள் பண்ணிரண்டு வயது வரை உபநயனம் செய்யலாம். யது வம்சத்தில் பிறந்த கிருஷ்ண பரமாத்மாவுக்கு அப்படித்தான் செய்திருக்கிறது. வைச்யர்கள் பதினாறு வயசு வரை உபநயனம் பண்ணலாம். பிராம்மணர்களுக்கும்கூட எட்டு வயசு lower limit [கீழ் வரம்பு], பதினாறு வயசு upper limit [உச்ச வரம்பு] என்று சாஸ்திரங்கள், போனால் போகிறதென்று அவகாசம் கொடுத்திருக்கின்றன. பதினாறு வயசுக்கு அப்புறம் பூணூல் போடாமல் ஒரு பிராம்மணப் பிள்ளையை வைத்திருப்பது மஹத்தான தோஷமாகும். – ஜகத்குரு ஸ்ரீசந்திரசேகரேந்திர சரஸ்வதி ஸ்வாமிகளின் அருள்மொழிகள்
A Brahmin child’s upanayana must be performed when he is eight years old from conception that is when he is seven years and two months old from birth. A Kshatriya’s is to be performed at the age of twelve. Krishna Paramatman who belonged to the clan of Yadus (Yadavas) was invested with the sacred thread at that age. The corresponding age for a Vaisya is sixteen. According to the sastras, the lower limit of Brahmin youngsters is eight years and the upper limit is sixteen which means a grace of eight years. It will be a great blemish not to have performed upanayana of a Brahmin boy before his passing the upper age limit. – Pujya Sri Kanchi Maha Periyava
Categories: Deivathin Kural
My 9 year old son Vidhyut’s pencil sketch of Maha Periyava, sharing this with Perivaa’s blessings.
Regards,
Vishweshwaran J
Chennai
Sent from my iPhone
>
Ram Ram Sir, Where is the drawing? I do not see it. Please share. Ram Ram
Terrific! But where is the picture?
Thank you for sharing the knowledge and the translation. A small suggestion if you permit me. Many words in our language do not have corresponding words carrying the equivalent meaning in other languages, including English, for the civilizational ethos that gave rise to different languages are different. If allowance is made for the use of words to indicate something they do not mean, often enough the object or idea itself loses its original meaning. This is particularly dangerous in the present times when we are fighting an epochal war to keep our ancient civilization from dying out. For example let us take the word “sin”. It is an English word that carries an ideology that not only does not exist in our philosophy, but is totally contrary to and a negation of it. “Sin” refers to an immoral act that goes against the laws of “God” and which will punish the sinner with “Hell”. Even the word “Paapam” is not “Sin”. It may be better if we used the word in our language itself instead of mis-translating it. Please, this is not to find fault with the translations, which have retained their integrity fo the original, and are so helpful.
“Dosha : Defect ; imperfection ; blemish ; fault ; shortcoming . In Yoga philosophy there are five doshas : lust ( kama ) , anger ( krodha ) , greed ( lobha ) , delusion ( moha ) , and envy ( matsarya )” – Sanskrit to English dictionary.
http://dictionary.tamilcube.com/sanskrit-dictionary.aspx
Periyaval Charanam.
Ram Ram Sir,
Thank you very much for the kind words and feedback. I want to clarify a few things.
1. The translation is not done by me but taken from a book called “Hindu Dharma”, a book published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan which contains English translation of two volumes of the Tamil Book Deivathin Kural. It is quite a popular book and its contents are uploaded in kamakoti.org website as well, the official website of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. The translation for the above quote was taken from the link below.
http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part17/chap6.htm
2. You are right, the translation and the choice of words could have been better for the above quote. Especially the word dosham translated to sin Vs. defect, blemish, etc.
3. Due to lack of bandwidth we (there is a gentleman by name Sri Prabhu helping with me on this) proof check for spelling, etc. but do not venture into fixing things as the translation is from a reasonably reliable source.
4. As you would understand, there are a lot of non Tamizh readers in this blog who ask for translation for articles posted in Tamizh and it would be a great disservice they are deprived. I kindly request you and other devotees to post in the comment section if anything needs to be corrected so I can fix the translation part. In this case I fixed the sin with the word blemish.
Thank you again! If you have some time and want to volunteer for this translation seva kainkaryam please do let me know and I can get in touch with you. Ram Ram
Please pardon for this delay in reply. I needed some time to think. I wish I could offer my services towards the translation, but I may not be able to consistently give enough time for this serious responsibility. Also my knowledge of Thamizh is less than basic. But as I read Golden Quotes everyday, I can bring to your attention, if you permit me, small discrepencies like this. I could write to your email, if you had rather have me do that.
The problem of use of inappropriate vocabulary has its genesis in two facts. One is that due to ignorance of our own mother tongue and Samskritham we study our own Samskrithi and Scriptures via a foreign and alien tongue. Second is that we are ignorant of the etymology of the words of an alien language. As every language is a product of the thoughts of a civilization, only if that civilization has a Thought, will it have a Word for that thought. One small example is the word “God”. This word is an English one that carries with it the idea of an all-powerful Male out there, watching over us with a benevolent but a stern eye, sending His creatures to heaven, purgatory, hell, as they deserve. That “God” is Apart and Separate from His creation. Our Paramathman, Eshwaran, Parashakhi, Thimurthi, Thrishakthi, our Devas, are all different from “God”. This misuse of just one word has led to so much moral, social and political wrongs, including describing us as a civilization that has 36 crore “Gods”, “idol” worshippers, pagans, barbarians, etc. etc. and has led to the destruction of our temples, our scriptures, our traditions, our very roots. It would be better for us to use our own words when there is no exact equivalent, and allow the reader to make the attempt to understand, as we do with words of other languages.
“Hindu Dharma” is a boon to those who cannot read the original in Thamizh. It is a fine translation and The Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan has done great service in publishing it. As it may not be right to replace some words in the original translation with others, an option would be to add some “Notes” as explanation. I am not clear how to manage this.
I beg pardon for this rather teacher-ish mail. I just want you to understand. And I apologise for speaking about other than the Periaval in this forum.
Periaval charanam.
Sounds good. Please do send in your feedback to girishsai108@gmail.com. We are not making any changes to the original content so it is okay to fix the words in the quote. As I mentioned before the goal of the translation is solely for non-Tamizh readers understanding. Ram Ram
I will be grateful if someone can tell me what is the praayaschitham if parents of a Brahmin boy delayed his upanayanam beyond the prescribed 16 years? Obviously it is not the fault of the boy(s). Will he have to forego his access to Gayatri because of the utter ignorance of his parents?
Ram Ram Sir – I provided you Sri Sarma Sastrigal’s contact info. and you mentioned you will contact him. Did you get in touch with him on this? Ram Ram
|| Sivaya Nama: Om || Sir!
I wrote to Sri Sarma Sastrigal immediately at the address given by you. Perhaps I will hear from him soon. He is a very busy personality helping many. In case you have direct link with him it would be of great help if I can get a reply for this.
You can take it as a question of Life & Death. At least I can tell the boy not to “waste” his time on Gayatri [which is perhaps “useless” as far as he is concerned] and instead give him the Taraka Mantra of Sri Rama Naamam which can also give him moksham [if one desires] or he can pray for a “productive” Brahmin re-birth!
Ram Ram Sir,
I have sent you an e-mail with Sri Sarma Sastrigal’s contact no. I’m not sure of your statement about after 16 years it is useless to chant Gayathri. Even though the upper limit is crossed if upanayanam is performed one should do Sandhyavandanam and Gayathri. This was what I understood from various incidents of Sri Periyava. Please clarify after to talking to Sri Sarma sastrigal.
Ram Ram
|| Sivaya Nama: Om || Thank you very much Sir! I shall definitely report back to the forum as to what Sri Sarma Sastrigal said.
||Sivaya Nama: Om ||
*- Sri Aiyer Raju Sreenivasan*
On 30 January 2016 at 10:55, Sage of Kanchi wrote:
> Sai Srinivasan commented: “Ram Ram Sir, I have sent you an e-mail with Sri > Sarma Sastrigal’s contact no. I’m not sure of your statement about after 16 > years it is useless to chant Gayathri. Even though the upper limit is > crossed if upanayanam is performed one should do Sandhyava” >
Let this ‘Maha Vakyam’ get spread and make a change amongst the community… I am in tears to see people are being adorned with the sacred thread before the day of the marriage… We can pray with Sri Periyava and He will make the necessary changes…
Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara
Om Namo Bagawathe Sri Ramanayah