My Munji experience

(Some posts are out of order due to internet unavailability from time to time)

At a certain age, boys of some Hindu cultures have a 2 day celebration called the munji (upanayana or sacred – thread ceremony). Different families have it at different times. It is a number of rituals to a help a boy attain spiritual enlightenment. A special mantra is taught as well, called the Gayathri Manthram. They also give the boy a Yajnopavitam (or sacred thread) to symbolize his right of passage. This year, I had my munji.

The first day of my munji was July, 12, 2009. I woke up at 4:00 A.M. I dressed up in panche early in the morning. We went to the temple where I would have my munji at around 7:00 A.M. I recited a lot of mantras. They were all prayers to the gods to give me good fortune. My parents and the priests at the temple also did many things. We had many homas, which are fires used to pray to the Gods. We also put things like fruits and clothes into the homas to give a fragrant smell. My eyes burnt because of the smoke though. We had a break sometime in the afternoon. After that, we had a music concert (flute) & Mahabharata epic singing.

On the second day of my munji, July, 13, 2009, we did some of the same things as we did yesterday, such as making homas. That day, I was given the Gayathri Upadesha by my dad & the sacred thread was put around my body. I memorized some of the mantras I would need to know. I got some money, Wee game, a few board games, a cool watch, and a few books as gifts

Today, July, 14, 2009, was the first day after my munji. I did my sandyavandana, a bunch of rituals I have to do every day, my madhanka, which is like a sandhyavandana, and today evening, I’m doing the rituals again. The mantras I memorized went like this:

Keshavaynama
Narayananamaha
Madhanayanama
Govindayanamaha
Vishnavadanamaha
Madhavayanamaha
Trivikramenameha
Vamanyanamaha
Sridharayanamaha
Rishikeshayanamaha
Padmanabyanamaha
Dhamodarainamaha

My munji was complicated, but rewarding. Looking forward to practicing it all.