Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

WORSHIP 105
Then follows the nāma-karaṇ a, or naming ceremony, and
niṣkrāmaṇ a in the fourth month after delivery, when the
child is taken out of doors for the first time and shown
the sun, the vivifying source of life, the material embodiment
of the Divine Savitā. Between the fifth and eight
month after birth the annaprāśana ceremony is observed,
when rice is put in the child’s mouth for the first time.
Then follows the cūḍ akarana, or tonsure ceremony; 1 and
in the case of the first three or “twice-born” classes, upanayana,
or investiture with the sacred thread. Herein
the jīva is reborn into spiritual life. There is, lastly, udvāha,
or marriage, whereby the unperfected jīva insures
through offspring that continued human life which is the
condition of its progress and ultimate return to its Divine
Source. These are all described in the Ninth Chapter of
this Tantra. There are also ten saṃṣkāras of the mantra
(q.v.). The saṃskāras are intended to be performed at
certain stages in the development of the human body,
with the view to effect results beneficial to the human
organism. Medical science of to-day seeks to reach the
same results, but uses for this purpose the physical
methods of modern Western science, suited to an age of
materiality; whereas in the saṃskāras the superphysical
(psychic, or occult, or metaphysical and subjective)
methods of ancient Eastern science are employed. The
sacraments of the Catholic Church and others of its
ceremonies, some of which have now fallen into disuse, 2
are Western examples of the same psychic method.
1 A lock of hair is left at the top of the head, called śikhā. As when a king
visits a place, the royal banner is set up, so on the head in whose thousandpetalled
lotus the Brahman resides, śikhā is left.
2 E.g., the blessing of the marital bed, which bears analogy to the Hindu
garbhādhāna rite.