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RITUALS
The
specific manner of performance of the Hindu sacraments varies
according to local customs in different parts in India. None of the
sacraments signifies a conversion into the Hindu fold or into a
denomination within it. The following is a summary of the general
features of the rituals involved.
Name-giving
(Nama-Karana)
On the tenth or the
eleventh day after the birth of a child, the priest performs the
name-giving ceremony, invoking the blessings of God. Many Hindus,
however, defer the performance until the first taste of cereals
(annaprashana), or initiation (upanayana).
First Taste of Cereals
(Annaprashana)
When the child is six
months old, the celebration of offering it cereals for the first
time takes place. The food thus offered must have been offered to
the deity before.
First Hair-cut
(Churakarana, or Mundana)
This is the custom of
having the child’s head shaven. Often, the formal celebration of the
occasion takes place at the time of initiation (upanayana).
Initiation
(Upanayana)
Boys of priestly families
have their initiation by the age of fifteen, with the investing of
the sacred thread, which entitles them to perform their priestly
duties. Later on, they may have a second initiation at a time of
their choosing, depending on their spiritual capabilities and mental
constitution. The second initiation is open to every Hindu at some
point of life. Upanayana today is not always common among members of
the two other castes, viz., Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaishyas
(merchants). The sacrament of graduation (samavartana) is performed
these days on the day of upanayana. In olden times the life of a
householder would begin with graduation after the days of celibacy
at the teacher’s house following upanayana.
Marriage (Vivaha)
According to the Hindu
tradition, marriage is a step toward spiritual perfection, with a
strong emphasis given to the social benefits accruing therefrom.
Very often marriage is arranged by parents, whose duty is to see
that children are established well for the second stage of regular
family life, the stage of householdership (grahasthya ashrama) that
follows the restraint and celibacy of student days (brahmacharya
ashrama). Consultation of horoscopes for match-making is quite
common. The auspicious day and time of marriage are determined on
consultation of the almanac.
Tolerance and adjustment
are very much emphasized in married life. Divorce is rarely
accommodated as an alternative. Marriage is considered as much a
bond between families as between individuals. Arriving at the
bride’s place, the groom formally agrees to start the marriage
ceremony on a request from her father or guardian. All assembled
express their blessings. Marriage is performed when the bride and
the groom walk around the sacrificial fire seven steps together
(saptapadi-gamana). Fire is looked upon as pure, because it cleans,
and the light emanating from it is symbolic of wisdom that dispels
the darkness of the mind. By holding the hands of the bride
(panigrahana), the groom accepts his responsibilities as a husband.
Tying a knot of the upper garments of the two is an important part
of the ceremony. The veil of the bride adds to her charm and grace.
The groom also wears a covering for the head. Kissing has no place
in a Hindu marriage ceremony. Kissing of husband and wife is to take
place in privacy, for their personal relationship is not expected to
be exposed to public viewing.
The keynote of Hindu
marriage is restraint, as reflected in the practice of the couple
sleeping separately the first two nights, and fasting till the
marriage ceremony is over. Abstinence is practiced on other
occasions, too, as on days of special worship, including the night
immediately preceding the beginning of worship, and on days of
bereavement.
The general sign of
marriage for a Hindu woman in North India is a vermilion mark along
the parted hair on the forehead, while in South India the custom is
to wear an auspicious necklace with special beads (mangala
sutra).
Funeral (Antyeshti
Kriya)
According to the Hindu
scripture the Gita, with the death of the body the soul does not
perish. The body must be cremated soon after death, before daybreak.
No one is supposed to have any attachment to the dead body.
Exhibitionism is not permitted. Embalming the body or beautifying it
with cosmetics is forbidden. Use of perfumes and sandalwood paste
for decorating the face is common. The body must be kept pure, away
from items like leather and meat. It has to be washed clean before
cremation. It is normal practice that people wash their hands before
touching the body. The feet of the dead person must be accessible to
those younger in age, and in the case of a spiritual leader, to all
the devotees as well, in order to allow them to pay their final
respect by touching the feet. The custom of opening only the top
part of the casket in funeral homes in North America for public
viewing of the dead body, denies the Hindu this important way of
paying his last respects.
White being the colour of
peace and purity, white flowers and white clothing for men attending
the funeral is appropriate. Tradition requires the body to be in
constant attendance while the names of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna and
Lord Shiva are chanted. Just before death anything that binds the
body, such as a belt or a ring, is removed from it. This is a
symbolic gesture towards paving the way to a free journey of the
soul to infinity. The Gita is supposed to be recited to fortify the
mind of the dying person about to start the final journey. Placing a
copy of the scripture near the head is advisable. The whole
atmosphere around the person has to be peaceful. No cooked food is
to be eaten by the nearest relatives till after the cremation.
Taking a bath is appropriate after the funeral. The ashes are
scattered onto a river, lake or sea, allowing the body to return to
the elements it had originated from.
For the renunciates,
burial is an alternative way of funeral, for it is believed that
yogis can come back to life with the passage of time, even though
apparent signs of death are peasant.
Bereavement
(Shraaddha)
The sons, unmarried
daughters, and nearest relatives of the deceased person eat cooked
vegetarian food once a day, men grow their hair and beard and put on
white clothes as a mark of bereavement for ten days. This period of
mourning comes to a close with the performance of a worship called
shraaddha on the eleventh day, where the concept of peace is
emphasized. At the end of the bereavement period men shave their
head and face. Small balls of cooked rice with clarified butter and
black sesame seeds (pinda) are symbolically offered to the deceased
person during the shraaddha ceremony. A community feast marks the
end of bereavement. Sharing one’s savings with others through
presentation of gifts (dana) to the pandits and the poor is an
important part of the sacrament.
Oblations to Forefathers
(Tarpana)
For the whole fortnight
during the waning moon period that ends with the new moon preceding
the Navaratri festival (see ‘Festivals’ section for clarification),
men remember their forefathers and offer them water with black
sesame seeds. On the concluding day the priest and Brahmins are
treated with special food.
HINDU
WORSHIP: THE SEQUENTIAL PATTERN
The Initial
Step
A service of worship may
be performed by a priest or a householder who has had upanayana. The
priest who visits a house to perform a worship at an auspicious time
sits on a clean piece of cloth spread on the ground, facing east or
north. An image of the deity to be worshipped may be placed in front
of him. This, however, is not mandatory. The formal worship of the
deity begins with a general worship of other deities, and a
declaration that a worship is being performed for a specific person.
The body of the worshipper has to be purified to make it fit to
receive the deity during the worship. Thus, due respect is paid to
the parts of the body by name in the process of their prospective
union with the divine. Deep breathing (pranayama) also is done for
the same purpose.
Internal Worship
This step is followed by a
short meditation while uttering a mantra that gives a description of
the deity, during which a flower is held in the palms joined
together in a specific posture called the posture of the tortoise.
After the meditation is over, the worshipper places the flower on
his own head and worships the deity within himself. In this position
he offers his heart as a seat for the deity. A divine nectar
believed to be flowing from the lotus of the head is offered to God
as water to wash the feet, to bathe and to drink.
Invocation
Next comes the invocation
ceremony of the deity, during which He or She is requested to come,
stay and accept the worship. The worshipper confers sight to the
clay image at this time, and life is established in the image, so it
acquires the status of a special manifestation of the deity during
the worship. Once the infinite is deemed as having assumed a finite
manifestation before the worshipper in the concrete form of the
image, water is offered to the deity to wash the feet on arrival at
the place of worship. This is followed by offerings that indicate a
joyful welcome and hospitality, consisting of wet rice, flowers and
sandalwood paste for greeting, along with perfumes, flowers,
incense, lamp and food, water to wash the mouth with and to drink,
and betel leaves to mark the end of the symbolic dinner. More items
can be added at this point for offering depending on how elaborate
one intends the entertainment to be. The Hindu deity very often
takes a human character and is looked upon affectionately as a part
of the family. The whole process is a sacramental divine awakening
within oneself, considered a preparation for a complete surrender on
the part of the worshipper to God, so his whole being becomes an
instrument for the free play of the divine without any
hindrance.
Arati
An important part of the
worship is the arati, or greeting of the deity with a lamp, a
conch-shell filled with water, a cleanly washed piece of cloth,
auspicious leaves or flowers, incense and lighted camphor. Arati is
performed by rotating each of the items clockwise in the following
order: four times at the feet of the deity, twice at the navel
region, three times around the face, and seven times around the
whole image. This is a form of meditation on the deity culminating
with a gesture of complete surrender by prostrations in front of Him
or Her.
End of Worship
It is customary to light a
fire and offer some clarified butter and fruit to the deity to be
consumed in the flames. A remuneration is paid to the priest
performing the worship, according to one’s ability. The ceremony
ends with a prayer for forgiveness if any formality has been skipped
or performed incorrectly, and a declaration that it is over. The
image, made of clay, is then taken to a river, lake or pond for
immersion where it dissolves. The respectful ending of the image
serves to establish the fact that it is a symbol (pratika) worthy of
reverence, but that God is not confined to it.
This is a description of
an occasional worship. For regular worship of deities to be
performed every morning and evening, the steps of invocation,
establishing of life, giving of sight, the declaration of payment
and immersion in water are omitted.
The kind of worship described
above is called tantric worship, as opposed to the pauranic, which
is much easier to perform, for purification of the body and other
paraphernalia are absent there. Tantric worship is forbidden to be
performed by one who has not been specially initiated by a guru, for
without instruction a devotee might corrupt both the worship and
himself. For the occasional worship, the devotee is supposed to fast
the whole day till the worship is over, eat vegetarian food the day
before and practice abstinence on the night of worship and the night
preceding it. During the course of the ceremony and even after it is
over, devotional songs appropriate for the occasion are sung to the
accompaniment of drums, the blowing of conch-shells and the use of
other instruments. The music is only silenced when the worshipper is
absorbed in meditation. Many among the faithful offer flowers
together to the deity three times in succession uttering mantras
with the worshipper. Special care is taken to ensure that a flower
or food, once it has been offered to the deity, does not fall to the
ground or is not trodden under foot. The devotee’s fast is broken by
eating food that has been duly offered, known as prasada, literally,
the satisfaction (of the deity).
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