The ceremonial drawing nigh of the spiritual aspirant to the Guru as teacher is ritualized as the Upanayanam in the Vedic tradition and is practiced as one of the sixteen samskAras in the sanAtana dharma (also called Hinduism). A samskAra is a deep latent thought impression, and in a human life this is one of the very important impressions that was ideally performed at an early age (7, 9, or 11 and also depending on the varNa or caste of the child). In recent memory this is performed only for male children, but there is evidence that this was not the case in earlier times. Of late this practice has itself fallen off (often being performed just before the marriage ceremony samskAra), and even when performed the deeper significance of the yajnopavItam (poonal or janeyu) and dvija (twice born) are often missed. Delaying the initiation into the spiritual path through the Upanayana samskAra until just before marriage is a terrible waste of human life. Upanayana is closely related to the Upanishad, and they both involve drawing close to the spiritual Source.
The essence of the Upanayanam is Brahmopadesham. The very first Upanayana according to the MunD. Up. was Brahma's teaching Atharvan the BrahmavidyA. So the concept of Brahmopadesham is a very beautiful one for the spiritual aspirant, and in each authentic Upanayanam, God himself comes as Guru (often in the form of the father or other elder) and imparts the Truth in the form of the GAyatrI mantra. In meditation and sAdhanA, one can see Brahma in Satyaloka and have a direct
experience of the meaning of the invocation
प्रणवस्य ऋषिर्ब्रह्म
Brahma is the RShi of PraNava (Om)
The real second birth happens when KuNDalini is awakened in the SuShumNA and She gives the jIva a second and real birth. Human embodiment is the ordinary first birth of the body in a womb.
Then the jIva is really worthy of being called a dvija (twice born). In this one's humble opinion, this awakening of KuNDalini itself requires serious sAdhanA. In earlier Yugas, it is of course easy to imagine that this was accomplished at an early age such as 7 years.
Once the second birth happens, then the true meaning of yajnopavItam (poonal or janeyu) is revealed as representing the three nADIs: iDA, pinGala and suShumNA. The knot or granthi of brahma holds the jIva in embodiment until jnAna is attained by breaking it. Until then, the karma kANDa is practiced and yajnas or sacrifices are made to the various gods for purifying the mind.
Amazing! Thank you.
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