Samashrayanam & Panchasamskaram

SamAshrayanam means 'to approach (AchAryA) with all sincerity'.In a nut  shell , during 'SamAshrayanam' ,the AchAryA initiates a person , irrespective of caste,creed or sex, as his sishyA. It is a commitment from the disciple that he or she will live as per the wishes of the AchAryA. Thus  the person gets the  link to the Sri Vaishnava paramparA. During SamAshrayanam ,                    Pancha SamskAram (five Purifications) is performed and he becomes a "Sri VaishnavA".
         
      The five samskArams and its main purposes are 
 
    1. thApam   : To emboss the impressions of heated Sankha and ChakrA on the arms ( near    the shoulders ).
 
    2. pundram  : To wear the dvAdasa OOrdhva pundram ( 12 Thiruman & Srichoornam )
 
    3. nAmam    : To be christened by the AchAryA afresh as "RAmAnuja dAsan" (addition of 'dAsA' at the end of  ones name) to indicate that one is forever a servant of the Supreme Lord Sriman NArAyanA and BhagavAn RAmAnujA .
 
    4. manthram : To get the initiation of "Rahasya Traya MantrAs" -  AshtAksharam , Dvayam    and charama slokam  .
 
    5. Ijyai    : To learn the worship of Sriman nArAyanA in proper form ( Bhagavad ThiruvArAdhanam) .
 
Today, 
by the blessings of our Lord Sri Lakshmi Narayana Perumal , 
by the blessings of our Sri Vaishnavite Acharya - H H Sri Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikan (Srimad Srimushnam Andavan), 
by the blessings of our Guru HH Sri Sri Ravishankar,
by the blessings of my father Late Sri D Srinivasan, grandfather Late Sri R Devanathan and of all the members of this illustrious family  - I have completed my Samashrayanam and panchasamskaram .... Feels Gr8....
 
Adiyen Bharadwaja ( Btw having the conch and chakra (panchajanya and Sudarsana ) embossed on my shoulders also feels cool. will post pics sometime