Pracodayat!........... Kallahalli

It was Sunday morning. My parents were visiting us for a week. We all were in a hurry early morning getting ready to participate in the thread ceremony of the elder son of one of our close family friends.We had to reach Kallahalli 'Chikka Tirupathi' temple just 2 kms before Kanakapura. The muhurtha was at 9AM. The road to Kanakapura is pretty good. Traffic was quite less as it was Sunday early morning. Somehow my contemplative instincts become very active when iam driving in a serene environment with skimpy traffic. To further trigger thoughts, my son started his usual barrage of questions and this time it was about thread ceremony.
To differentiate Humans from animals and to redirect them towards Brahman, vedic culture of sanatana dharma prescribed 16 samskaras and upanayana samskara is one of them. Upanayana(Upa+Nayana), as the name suggests initiates one into Spiritual vision or cultivation of 'Sastra Cakshusu'(seeing the world from the vantage point of the sastras). Upanayana Samskara is the beginning of the individual's journey towards Brahman. Just like a river takes its birth and proceeds hurriedly towards merging with the ocean, the individuals' river of divine love takes its birth thru Upanayana samskara to proceed towards merging in emotion with the Connosieur of Love Rasaraja Sri Krishna. My son enquired about the key aspects of the thread ceremony rituals. Initiation into the Gayathri Mantra by a bonafide Guru is the primary essence of Thread ceremony. Technically the word 'Gayathri' is made of two words'Gana'(song) + 'Trayate'(liberation). Hence Gayathri is the song of liberation. Thread ceremony also initiates one into Nitya karma or sadhana to cross over the inauspicious attachment to matter(Bhava sagara). The nitya karma is to be performed by the candidate thrice a day during Sandya kala and is called Sandyavandana. The Gayathri combined with nitya karma acts as a churning agent supplying the candidate with divine wisdom. Vibration of Gayathri mantra assists one with philosophical aptitude to further deepen contemplation and transcendental understanding.
We crossed the majestic 'Art of living' campus. This remembered me that Pranayama is performed during Sandyavandana prior to chanting the Gayathri. Pranayama enables concentration with single minded focus. Hence it is a preamble to maximise the benefit of divine vibrations. '5 kms to chikka Tirupathi' - a signboard beckoned us. The village of kallahalli has a huge dwara at the entrance welcoming visitors to their own vaikuntha. A big GarudaKhamba in the front hinted that the temple is built in SriVaisnava style. It is a sampradaya in Sri Vaisnava temples to pay obeisances once at the GarudaKhamba. Otherwise inside the temple we may commit the offence of our feet facing one of the diety.
After conveying best wishes, i advised the newly initiated Brahmacari of the wonderful benefits of Gayathri and Nitya karma. One has to just surrender to these divine vibrations, and they take us to wonderful unexplored territories in transcendence. After taking darsana of the main diety Srinivasa, we could also witness the Srinivasa Kalyanotsava. Kalyanotsava is a wonderful sadhana to remind us that we are all members of 'Vasudaiva Kutumbham' and our real well being is to reintegrate into the eternal familyof Radha-Krishna or Lakshmi-Narayana. It is said that everday is a festival(Nitya utsava) in our eternal family. After having sumptous prasadam of Puliyogare,yogurt rice and hoilge, I was worried of driving back to Bangalore without feeling drowsy. But the effect of prasadam is such, it makes you spiritually active. Immersed in the 'dasara padagalu' sung in Hindustani style by Pt. Bhimsen joshi, I had a very refreshing drive back home. While taking my evening tea, after taking an hours rest following excerpt from one of the best conversation since time immemorial reverberated in my mind
Supreme Lord Sri krishna said
7.19 -> After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

The words 'Vaasudevam Sarvam iti' is very important. One of the great acaryas had the following to say about the above statement:

In the beginning of spiritual realization, while one is trying to give up one’s attachment to materialism, there is some leaning towards impersonalism, but when one is further advanced he can understand that there are activities in the spiritual life and that these activities constitute devotional service. Realizing this, he becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrenders to Him. At such a time one can understand that Lord Sri Krishna’s mercy is everything, that He is the cause of all causes and that this material manifestation is not independent from Him. He realizes the material world to be a perverted reflection of spiritual variegatedness and realizes that in everything there is a relationship with the Supreme Lord Krishna. Thus he thinks of everything in relation to Väsudeva, or Sri Krishna. Such a universal vision of Väsudeva precipitates one’s full surrender to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna as the highest goal. Such surrendered great souls are very rare.