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News and Awards
Vedika Organizes Traditional Initiation Into Formal Studentship
Through Upanayanam Samskaar
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Upanayana rituals |
Upanayana is a dynamic initiation in which a student "sits close" to knowledge and a lineage of teachers, seeking blessings for their intention to receive and understand the wisdom of the sages of Ayurveda and walk in their footsteps in service of humanity. Charaka confirms that even students who had already had their sacred thread ceremony for beginning other studies were to have a separate initiation into the study of Ayurveda. In Ayurveda, it was given to students from all strata of society, including women. Until a century ago, this tradition was a regular feature of life in all gurukulas, including those for Ayurveda. But it fell out of practice as education in Ayurveda moved into secular settings.
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Upanayana rituals begin |
At Vedika Gurukula, students who have completed a year of immersion in Ayurveda studies for personal health and who wish to commit themselves both to study further to become Ayurveda health counselors and practitioners and to the humanitarian and spiritual values of Ayurveda, have the opportunity to receive this initiation.
Vedika's upanayana was officiated by Shri Vivekshastri Godbole, Vedika's Vedic priest who heads a traditional Vedic gurukulal in Satara, India. His lyrical chanting of Vedic hymns charged the atmosphere with a sense of magic. Students were seated in a garden amidst the earthy fragrance of flowers and herbs, watching the sacred fire which bore witness to their intentions. Vivekshastri chanted mantras invoking the blessings of each of the elements and forces of nature, and explained where they reside within one's being.
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Shri Vivekshastri invokes the blessings of the elements |
As the chants invoked Vayu, the Lord of the Wind, the breeze picked up making the trees sway and fabrics flutter. When the chanting invoked Varuna, the Lord of the Waters, the fog turned to rain, and the students huddled close around the sacred fire with their Acharya, Shunya Pratichi Mathur, adding to the intensity and focus of the moment. When mantras invoking the blessings of Surya, the Sun, filled the air, dazzling rays of sunlight suddenly flooded the central place of worship and the faces of the students. Everyone was awestruck by this experience of their interconnectedness with the forces of nature, the great mahabhutas they had studied and pondered in class. It was a palpable experience of crossing a threshold into a new level of relationship with the sacred science of Ayurveda.
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