The Forgotten Samskaras

Samskara, is defined as personal sacraments traditionally observed at every stage of a Hindu’s life (those following Sanatana Dharma), from the moment of conception to the final scattering of funeral ashes.
Broadly, Samskara comprise of 16 rituals which take place at different stages of a Human life. These rituals are obligatory sacred rite or a religious ceremony or a rite of passage. The closest English equivalent perhaps is sacrament. But it does not convey its full purport. Samskaras are the rites of passage a person is expected to perform during the various stages of his life, starting from his birth till his death. The 4 stages here are called Chaturashrama, namely, 

• Brahmacharya (student life), 
• Grahastha (household life),
• Vanaprastha (retired life), and finally,
• Sannyasa (renounced life)

In Sanatana Dharma, it is recognizes that every human goes through these 4 stages and it clearly stipulates the Dharma for each of the 4 stages. Example, a Brahmachari during his course of acquiring knowledge and education, should not indulge in marriage. I will cover more aspects of Chaturasrama in a later article. 
They are connected with his present and future, providing meaning, structure, purpose and order to his life. Although meant for an individual, they are primarily social events in which a number of people participate, with or without the participation of the individual for whom they are meant. By performing or participating in these obligatory rites a person in Hindu society:

• acknowledges his religious duties (part of Dharma),
• upholds social institutions and religious values,
• confirms his obedience to divinities and commitment to divine centered religious life,
• accepts his position or status or identity in the social order with humility as a consequence of his previous actions (Karma) in the past lives,
• earns merit (Punya) for himself, his family, his ancestors, his future and his society in general,
• and most important of all becomes a refined and religious individual qualified to transcend his lower nature and awaken in his higher (Nyana).

There is a misconception that the Samskaras are prescribed for men only. Tradition proves to the contrary. They vary according to caste. Certain castes are excluded from the obligation of performing most of them. Here, I'm not referring to the caste system in the modern society Caste here denotes the level of spiritual advancement one attains and based on the Trigunas.
They are performed at various times during the four stages (ashramas) of human life. There is no unanimous opinion as to the number of rites. The number varies between 13 and 40. The Gautama Dharmashastra prescribes 40 Samskaras, the Grihya Sutras between 12 and 18, where else Manusmriti mentions only 13. The most traditionally accepted number is 16 and they are mentioned below:

Man Making is a science. Like a gardener, parents & teachers work on a person so that the best can flower out from him or her. The whole thrust is to help bring about greater awareness & love in the mind, and channelize the interest & energies into positive fields. The whole ‘work’ is on the mind alone, and is comparable to the work of a genetic engineer. The only difference is that while a genetic engineer plays and transforms with the basic structure, a teacher works to manifest the basic inherent beauty, freedom and potential which facilitates to carve out a dynamic, creative, intelligent & magnanimous personality.

Interest is a very subjective thing, and has to come out from within. It can never be imposed. Interests are created by impressions & knowledge. That is what ad agencies too do.

They create impressions, and this ‘works’ on the mind of the person to bring about the interest in him in the desired field. Once the interest has been manifested we can just sit back and see the person work for his or her field of interest in a dynamic way. While the experts of the advertisement world are generally seen to use this ‘knowledge of impressing minds’ for their selfish & commercial ends, the Vedic Masters used this knowledge to help bring out a positive & dynamic personality. While the former conditions the mind to the extent that the very thinking process of their target crowd is conditioned in their favor, but the Rishis saw to it that the very power to think & question  daringly, independently & creatively grew. Thus we have all our scriptures in the form of question & answers.

These deliberate & positive impressions which help create a deep & lasting impressions on the mind of a person - so as to generate interest in him about the Truth & Dharma, help bring out a positive personality and free the mind of its negativity are called ‘Samskaras’. No one while living in the world remains free of the conditioning of his or her environs & teachings, so the question is not whether we can stop all conditioning but to see to it that a person is looked after like a plant and help his or her potentials bloom. To a question whether Samskaras are deliberate positive conditioning, well the answer is that, the objective of the entire exercise is to help a person awake to a state which is free from all conditioning, so while impressions are certainly put effectively & deliberately yet they are the very anti-thesis of what is implied by the word conditioning. This is one of the finest & blessed science, and has been perfected here as an art form too. 

Samskaras are the turning points of life and need to be celebrated. Celebrations are very important ingredients of Samskaras. They directly or indirectly involve our respected elders, scholars, near & dear ones. Everyone gets together to convey their best wishes & blessings to the person concerned and thus there is social & religious sanction for the act & ceremony. Samskaras are great, time-tested tools in our traditional systems which help carve out a great personality. Apart from scriptural validation, history also proves to us the great effectiveness of these methods. When Vedic Masters had their way, India was on top of the world. The people of the far off land prayed that they will one day see this great land of plenty, prosperity & righteousness.

To know more and or to conduct any these Samskaras, please drop me an email- shanthan.penta@gmail.com.