Upanayanam is a ceremony that initiates a devout Hindu to a life of celibacy and devoted education. During this important ritual that helps in leading a pious life, it is the role of the father, guardian or a guru to whisper a sacred mantra into the ears of the child being initiated. The process involves spreading a cloth around the heads and shoulders of both the parent and child so that no one can neither see nor hear the sacred knowledge that is being transferred. Starting from that initiation point, the student becomes worthy of studying vedas and chanting the most sacred of all Hindu verses called Gayathri mantra. It is said ‘Gayantham Trayate ithi Gayatri’ meaning Gayathri mantra protects the one who recites it. Let’s take a look at this sacred mantra, its source and its significance.
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In around the year 2004, I made an arrangement with my dad, Sri KYL Narasimha Rao. I requested him to talk about any subject of his choice and that I will record his speeches. He picked topics on Vedic literarature and the importance of education. He is a treasure house of knowledge on varied subjects, especially English and Sanskrit literature. He is a gold medalist from Andhra University in M.A. English(1951). He is a great orator. It is an inspiration to listen to him talk about King Janaka and his assemblies, Manu Dharma Shastra and a number of other topics. So, every morning before the sunrise we both sat down, me with my laptop and a microphone and he with his post card sized reference material. He spoke and I recorded. This continued for days. Later on, all those wonderful speeches were converted into a valuable book as well as an MP3 CD titled ‘Veda Vijnanam’ in Telugu.