The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 17)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Nov_Dec/v1.ShikhaSutra_II) 

The japa of Gayatri Mantra with devotional meditation is carried out twice a day; preferably around the times of sunrise and sunset (this is also called sandhya vandan),

but the sutra (yagyopaveet, the symbol of Goddess Gayatri) is enshrined on the body all the twenty-four hours.

Doing japa or yagya, etc., has become a superficial ritual for most of us today, partly because we are not aware of their underlying philosophy and science, and partly because of our extrovert, selfish attitude, which always looks for materially gainful results.

We feel that doing this or that will bring worldly benefits, eliminate our sins, and what not!

Is this rational thinking?

Nothing will be bestowed upon you by doing all this.

Remember! Vedic scriptures do mention of miraculous effects and supernatural potentials associated with these sacraments, but these materialize only when we adopt the essential disciplines of sadhana connected with them.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 16)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Nov_Dec/v1.ShikhaSutra_II)

The commencement of wearing of the sutra and tightening of the shikha at the time of initiation (diksha) into Gayatri sadhana is referred in the shastras as dwijatva - the second birth - and the one who wears the sacred thread (sutra) and keeps the shikha is called a dwija (born anew - as Brahmin).

That means: whatever family one may be born in, wearing the sutra is his second birth, which is that of a Brahmin.

What does that imply?

It conveys that the beginning of wearing the sutra symbolizes the initiation into the life of a true Brahmin.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 15)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Nov_Dec/v1.ShikhaSutra_II)

Many people have great faith in doing havan (yajna or yagya).

This faith is inculcated in their minds since the childhood.

Havan is generally performed in every religious ceremony in the Hindu families.

But nobody knows about the intimate relation between yagya and yagyopaveet.

Yagya symbolizes noble deeds and yagyopaveet (sutra) indicates noble qualities that should be an integral part of a Brahmin's life.

Who is a Brahmin?

The one who strives for his inner enlightenment; who expects minimum from the society, and gives his best to the society. 

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 14)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/) 

The military officers wear different kinds of stars/stripes/badges as signs of their rank; the police uniform also has different kinds of badges stitched on it, which reflect the identity of the rank / post / state, etc. of the wearer.

If any police or army personnel is found guilty of deviating from his duties, the first punishment is that his medals and badges are taken away. This is like wiping out his identity. No penalty would be more painful to him than losing his uniform.

The Christians wear a cross; few people would know that even the custom of wearing necktie had begun as a mark of wearing the thread-symbol of the holy cross.

The Sikhs keep kirpan (tiny sword), comb, and maintain their hair uncut; they also wear a turban.

Then what do the Hindus have as a sign of their identity of being the followers of the Vedic religion?

If a Hindu has left shikha and sutra, should not he/she be regarded as someone who has disowned his religion?

Friends! I am not telling you to become fundamentalists.

But I am trying to make you aware of the importance of the symbols of our cultural dignity, which our forefathers, the great seers and sages, the scientists of yoga and spirituality, had invented.

These are not only the symbols of the eternal values and disciplines suitable for men and women of all ages, in all eras, but also have scientific and spiritual relevance.

I have mentioned about these in some of my articles.

I have also requested the parijans of the Gayatri Pariwar to propagate these teachings in scientific light, with logical justifications, during the yagyas and other religious ceremonies.

If we explain the meaning, purpose and importance of these sacred symbols of our faith, there is no reason why our children, our acquaintances, would not respect and adopt these basic symbols of the Vedic culture.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 13)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

If we go to some college and ask the students whether they wear the sutra, they would look at us blankly. They would not have even heard about it.

It is not their fault. We have never bothered to tell them about these things.

How will we explain the meaning and purpose behind these symbols when we ourselves don't know it?

We have just shunned such things as signs of superstitions, blind faith and backwardness.

The braided or tied hairs of women have at least preserved the custom of shikha.

But look at the boys; they may have long hair as per the fashion, but maintaining the shikha! Just don't talk about it!!

On one hand we are running blindly after modernity, and on the other, we have let ourselves entrapped in blind customs in the name of religion; for example, in many parts of the Indian society, girls / women are deprived of chanting or even knowing the Gayatri Mantra; they can't wear or even touch the yagyopaveet (sutra).

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 12)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

This body is the fort of the individual self, upon which the flag of shikha is hoisted, as the mark of the dignified values and virtues of humanity.

The foreign invaders, the crusaders against the Vedic (Indian) Culture, had attempted to eliminate the roots of this divine culture, by first cutting the shikha and removing the sutra from the bodies of the followers of Hindu religion. Thousands of innocent heads were cut off just for protesting against this attack.

It was for protecting the glory of these universal emblems of human religion that Maharana Pratap, Veer Shivaji, Guru Govind Singh, and other great martyrs of India had dedicated their noble lives.

Today, we have forgotten their sacrifices, and done what even the foreign invaders of the medieval times could not do - we have let ourselves be swept away from our roots, by the storm of cultural pollution coming from the West.

We have lost faith in our own values.

We feel ashamed in wearing the sutra and keeping the shikha.

The Foundational Emblems of Indian Culture: Shikha and Sutra (Translation of a discourse of Revered Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya)

(Post 11)

(http://literature.awgp.org/akhandjyoti/2004/Sept_Oct/ShikhaSutra/)

The moral and social duties of human life are worn on our shoulders, and kept attached to our heart in symbolic form as the sacred thread of yagyopaveet (Sutra).

It also hangs on our back. It has tied us from all sides, as a reminder of the moral disciplines and ethical duties as human beings.

With the advent of different religious doctrines and diversities in the religious practices, shikha and sutra might have been confined only to the Hindus, but the principles and teachings associated with them, are eternal and universal.

I have written several articles and booklets to elucidate these facts with historical evidences.