General questions

[Ashish Chandra]

Thank for the response Jaldhar.

>From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
>
>On Wed, 27 Sep 2000, Ashish Chandra wrote:
>
> > 1. What is the importance/significance of Shikha?
> >
>
>It is mandatory for Brahmans.  Other castes also have a tradition of
>keeping shikha.

Yes I know that and,

>If you read the recent Bhagavata Purana post by
>Mrs. Vidyaranya, Asvatthama considered it very humiliating to have his
>shikha cut off.
>

it is also to be tied, as an open tuft is a symbol of impurity and/or
mourning.

>As to what exactly it represents, like the yagnopavit, it is a symbol of
>the competency for karma.

But I wanted to know how. Like the janeu makes one a dvija and entitles one
to study the 3 Vedas, what specific karma or thing is associated with the
Shikha. I know that the Shankaracharyas keep asking us to keep a Shikha, and
during the last 4 months, 3.5 of which I was in India, I came across several
people and some sadhus who commended me on keeping one.

I have vaguely heard things about Shikha being somehow related to the
Brahmarandra chakra at the top of the head but I wanted to know exactly the
what/how/whys.


>That's why the Dashanami sannyasis cut it off
>and stop wearing yagnopavit when they take sannyasa.  Those who believe
>karma can be combined with jnana like various Vaishnavas, contine to wear
>both.
>
> > 2. What is the use of wearing a rudraaksha?
> >
>
>Mala dharana is part of the sandhyavandana.  I've been taught that
>Brahmanas should wear rudraksha mala regardless of whether they are
>personally worshippers of Shiva bhagawan or Vishnu Bhagawan.  Again,
>Vaishnava sampradayas disagree and say they should wear tulsi mala if they
>are Vaishnavas in term of ishtadevata.  Interestingly Swami Sahajanand who
>was the founer of one of the bigger Vaishnava sampradayas in Gujarat
>agreed with the Smarta view.
>

Interestingly, our family punditji also told me that Bholenath is the ishta
devataa of all Brahamans. I was searching for the info on Rudraksha and
found that Tattvaloka had printed an article some time back. It is at
http://www.svbf.org/sringeri/journal/vol2no1/index.html

thanks
ashish
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