Upanayanam-Poonal

[rjvv]

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Hi folks,
What are the good halls available in the chennai area to perform upanayanam/poonal, any info on the rates charged by the halls would be appreciated.
Also is it necessary to perform nandhi as a seperate ceremony or can it be performed along with the poonal.

Thank you
Ramdas

 

[msureshkumar]

Mr. Ramdas,

Recently my brother-in-law's son poonul function was held at "Sri Sath Sangam" Pammal. The hall was quite spacious with water facility and seating capacity of 100-150 (approx.) along with dining hall.

Rent - Rs.6100/- (from 5 am to 2 pm)
Electricity - Rs.100-150/-

You may contact them at the phone no. - 044-22484499 (available from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm only) & Mobile No.09790796404.

Regards...

M. Suresh Kumar

 

[rjvv]

Thanks

Thank you for the information, does the hall have A/c. I will check them out.
Thank you

Ramdas

 

[Nara]

Upanayanam

Folks,

Gautama is supposed to have performed upanayanam for Satyakama right there in the ashramam itself without any fanfare.

Before my time kshavaram during upanayanam must have meant a proper brhmachari kshavaram. After the first madyanikam, regular sandya vandanam was pretty much automatic.

During my time it was common to see upanayanam getting combined with wedding ceremony. Kshavaram meant a little sliver of the top of the forehead getting shaved off -- I was teased by my classmates for weeks. Sandyavandhanam followed for a few months or years, but soon forgotten after going to college. But we retained the basics such as acamanam and pranayamam so come Upakarma time, when vadyar says acamanam we understood what he meant and did it.

These days kshavaram means a few strands of darbai is placed on the forehead and it gets cutoff, leaving no sign of any shaved forehead. Sandyavandhanam, what is that? What could be characterized as திரு திருன்னு முழிக்கிறான் is the only way to describe the reaction you get from these children when asked to do acamanam during upakarma.

Over the years, there has been an increase in grandeur and expense in conducting upanayanam and a steady decline in anushtanam of any kind, which is supposed to be the very point of the whole function.

Some years ago I was watching an orthodox young kid learning the sandhyavandanam manthras from his father. I have also seen many of my relatives hiring vadyars to come and teach their newly enrthreaded kids sandyavandhanam, which they themselves never do.

Dear rjvv sir, please do not take this as a comment directed at you, I wish you and your family all success with the performance of upanayanam for your son.

Cheers!

 

[rjvv]

Hi,
I completely understand your view point here. I am just trying to balance the money spent so that the expense does not go out of control ( I have heard so many stories). Like you mentioned it is the core fundamentals which are important, would like to keep the function that way.

 

[sankara_sharmah]

Just a few points to be noted.

1. Upanayanam or Brahmopadesam is not a social function. It is a function where only family and village elders are supposed to attend. No other caste other than Brahmins. We have now made it into a social function where we invite a lot of people. This is not strictly necessary.

2. Nandi or to call it the correct name Nandi Shraddha is a function where we remember our ancestors. In fact a Shraddha is to be performed before most samskaras. Nandi is absolutely essential.

3. There are a number of books on Upanayana. Please go through the details before performing the Samskara. Giri Trading has a number of books.

Talking about books, long back when Rabindra Nath Tagore had his Upanayanm, his father brought out a pamphlet in English explaining the significance of Brahmopadesam. It was later made into a book.

It is not relevant what your son does after Upanayanam. That is his duty. Your duty is to perform the upanayanam for your son and give him Brahmopadesa. Do your duty to the best of your ability.

 

[RVR]

Keep the Upananayam at home only. If home doesn't have sufficient space, one can get it done through Samashti Upanayanams conducted by our community organisations on regular basis.

Brahmobadesam is a very important function in a brahmin boy's life. Don't compromise on religious ceremonies but cut down on all other unwanted expenditures.

Call only close relatives and nearby elders of our community and make it a simple affair. Digital camera is available in most of the cell phones and it is sufficient to take few photos from that. I earnestly feel that buying of new clothes are not necessary for all those who participate in function. Engage a `Vadhyar' who is very sincere in his profession and at the same time charges reasonably. Such `Vadhyars' are still available in Chennai City.

A boy is suppose to get matured only after Brahmopadesam. There are still sincere boys in our community who take up the function very seriously.

All the best

 

[Nara]

....Brahmobadesam is a very important function in a brahmin boy's life.

Dear RVR, in many ways my family is a typical middle class family. In the generation next to my own in my family, we have 7 male siblings from my side and my wife's side. They all have had upanayanam/brahmopadesam and 6 out of 7 probably did no more than 6 sandyavandhanams in total in their lives. The seventh did two sandhayas per day for a couple of years before finally giving it up.

I have no formal evidence, but my suspicion is this is not atypical among Brahmin families. From what I have seen, for Brahmins, upanayanam is nothing more than a social event. Lot of religious fury during that one day, amounting to not very much in the long run. For them, the religious aspects of upanayanam are important only in a nostalgic sense, the social part is much more important in a real sense. This is why invitations are printed, lots of people get invited, a grand feast is served, presents are given, some even arrange katceri.

This is not going to change given the ease with which Brahmins have been abandoning their traditional ways in favor of lucrative professions. There is nothing wrong with this, as you observed earlier, much to the dismay of NBs, Brahmins have long been the pioneers in giving up inconvenient traditions with some convenient changes to relevant rules and successfully adapting to changing conditions. Perhaps in due course all pretenses to religiosity will be completely jettisoned and upanayanam will continue as just a social event -- a celebration with lots to eat and drink, make merry with many presents for the வடு.

Cheers!

 

[anandb]

A spark is enough to start a fire. As long as there are even a few brahmins doing Sandhyavandanam and vedaadhyanam, a fire can start anytime. At least in Dubai where I work there is an increasing number of people taking to learn the Veda and a percentage of them regularly do the Sandhya. Right now there are 3 people who teach Veda here and the doyen among them is a iyengar bachelor who has been dong this here for the last 15 years. He never runs out of people to teach and he has a trick up his sleeve. People join his classes to learn the Veda and after a few classes of Vedam, he starts teaching the Sandhyavandanam. He tells them there is no point reciting the Vedam if one does not do the Sandhyavandanam first. This way a lot of people who only had the intention of chanting vedam have resorted to doing the Sandhya at least once.

I have seen a lot of people starting to do the Sandhya in their late thirties and early forties. I myself started doing it about four years before my first son's poonal and continue to this day. Initially I used to skip on the weekends due to getting up late but then my son never used to miss the sandhya even then so i started following him. (I know a lot of children who does the Sandhya while their dads do not, may be the mom's influence) . I am lucky in a way. Because I conducted my second son's poonal recently and he has been doing the Sandhya without any goading from me as he sees my first son as a role model. So my opinion is one never knows when the spark turns into a fire in one's life. There is no statistical evidence, but I feel for every 5 brahmins forsaking their customs, there could be 2 brahmins reverting to those customs. So the spark is always kept alive. And realization is dawning that life is not just having a career, making money, eating, sleeping and making merry at late night parties but there are things beyond that.

 

[ganapathig]

Namaskaram. My name is Ganesh. I want to conduct Upanayanam for my son through Samashti Upanayanams conducted through our community services. We have plan to do th function between Jan 2011 and June 2011. Since I want to do on strictly on customs basis with out being as social function as per our Kanji Periyava. Can any one guide me and provide information. my e-mail id is [email protected], [email protected]. Namaskaram.

 

[ganapathig]

Namaskaram. My name is Ganesh. I want to conduct Upanayanam for my son through Samashti Upanayanams conducted through our community services. We have plan to do th function between Jan 2011 and June 2011. Since I want to do on strictly on customs basis with out being as social function as per our Kanji Periyava. Can any one guide me and provide information. my e-mail id is [email protected], [email protected]. Namaskaram

 

[cavenu]

my son born in 21st june 2001, star Mirugashisam and now 9 years completed, i would like to have poonal in the april month in chennai.

could any one suggest me the available muhuratham in the apirl month and other details, since we are living outside india more than 15years.

 

[kunjuppu]

my son born in 21st june 2001, star Mirugashisam and now 9 years completed, i would like to have poonal in the april month in chennai.

could any one suggest me the available muhuratham in the apirl month and other details, since we are living outside india more than 15years.

cavenu,

i presume you do not have or wish to involve any relatives here in arranging the function.

here is a website which lists many brahmin caterers in chennai. from what i know, these guys perform a turnkey celebration of any function - poonal, wedding etc - including priests, music, flowers, receptionists, etc.

you may want to contact a few of those for starters to get a feel of the current situation and costs.

best wishes to your young son.

one suggestion if you don't mind... perhaps. along with your son, maybe you can do poonal to a couple of fatherless or poor brahmin boys. 1001 koti punyam for you

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