Shastiuptha poorthi or arokara santhi

[CHANDRU1849]

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Today I attended one of my schoolmate's hastiupthapoorthi. He has a son and daughter; both are Software Engineers. We all studied in the same school in Villupuram.

His cousin, who has four days elder to him, also attended. I asked him why he didn't celebrate the function, since he has already completed 60 years. The reply was that it has to be performed by the children. He has a daughter, who is studying Plus Two now.

My question is - whether the function has to be performed only by the grown up children of the concerned person or the person himself.

What does the Shastra say?

 

[sangom]

Today I attended one of my schoolmate's hastiupthapoorthi. He has a son and daughter; both are Software Engineers. We all studied in the same school in Villupuram.

His cousin, who has four days elder to him, also attended. I asked him why he didn't celebrate the function, since he has already completed 60 years. The reply was that it has to be performed by the children. He has a daughter, who is studying Plus Two now.

My question is - whether the function has to be performed only by the grown up children of the concerned person or the person himself.

What does the Shastra say?

Our Saastras prescribe a mandatory 16 samskaaras for any dwija. Shashtiabdapoorthy, Bheema-rathi saanthi, Sathaabhishekam etc., do not find a place in this list AFAIK. Hence, there is no 'saastra sammatham' for these above-referred three celebrations.

As brAhmaNas became increasingly materialistic, they might have felt elated that they had lived such enjoyable, affluent lives, that they wanted to trumpet their innings to the society publicly. Religion, priesthood, etc., found a good opportunity to make some money and it has now come to the general belief that if you do these celebrations, then your chances of long life will increase!

ShashTiabdapoorthy is supposed to be initiated, financed, etc., by one's children as a token of thanksgiving to their parents. Some children are keen and happy to reward their parents this way, in some families the children may not be interested in wasting money on an already wasted, and about-to-be-written-off asset like the parents

 

[Iyyarooraan]

In one invitation I found an explanation: The number 6 of the years 60 is a bad and harmful number. The function is to ward off some such troubles. It might have helped in the days of the Rishis and now too here and there. People have survived this number and in many cases people have preceded or followed the deadline. Baalyavastai, threshhold of 32, 60, etc. are deadline stages. Life has many paradoxes. Every advice is respected and every advice has been proved wrong. Essence of life is to live it as it is. Giving money to purohits is a way to sustain Vedas and also a way to open employment avenues.