If some on is interested in realizing Brahman its not necessary for him to have upanayanam, A boy of 11 or 13 years may not have any understanding of what real spirituality means.. so i don't think he needs to get an upanayanam because thats not his custom as well.. since he is a foreign boy... he needs to follow his customs,............ it looks like his parents want upanayanam than him... they want him to be brought up in their culture...... but that does not have anything to do with spirituality... so for all those people who are talking about human values and discarding caste differences I appreciate their whole heartedness but one question if thats your thinking that all is god and god is all?>> do u need an upanayanam to realise god>>>>> its always said for the aviveki the sastras are a burden.... and also remember even in gita krishna has said determine the value of the seeker and then donate to him.. so dont mix our customs with spirituality. they are both in their own worlds. Brahma sutram or Poonool gives u the right for rituals which are according to the vedas proposed for the dwijas and also the right to learn vedas, now regarding kali yuga its not a product ofsome orthodox thinking, its been predicted some 5000 years ago, read bhavishya purana for the purpose. read learn and then criticize otherwise dont ever thinking of criticizing without any authority.. its already said in bhavishya purana, by the end of the 1st pada of kali yuga, ie, 25000 years, there will not be even sri krishna namam in earth, everything will be mlecha we are already seeing the start of it, whether you like it or not we are fast becoming an extinct race, our forefathers protected our culture by caste and limiting marriages inside the community, i am grateful to my forefathers because due to my birth in their clan i got the right to brahma vidya gayathri and authority on rituals, if they had not preserved the culture by the caste method it would have been over.. long before there would have been nothing left....