Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I recently joined ISKCON Desire Tree website and this group. I have a 2 year old son named Madhumangala. I would like to share the Samskaras we did for him. They are mainly from the "Book of Samskaras" by Prema Rasa Prabhu. The fire yajnas mentioned were done by a brahmana devotee friend of my husband.

1. Upon conception we chanted 50 rounds Hare Krsna Mahamantra and absorbed ourselves in service as much as possible;

2. At 3 months pregnancy we did a yajna called Pumsavana intended for having a male child;

3. At approximately 7 months we did another yajna called Simantonnayana or hair parting, intended for the peace of mind of the would-be mother;

4. Shortly before birth I chanted another 50 rounds and I prayed to the Lord for safe childbirth;

5. Upon the birth my husband put a little ghee and honey on the child's tongue with a golden ring. This is intended for the creation of intelligence of the child. (It is ideally done before cutting the umbillical cord, but unfortunately in the hospital they cut it immediately);

6. At about 2 weeks we showed the child to the Sun God, chanting the verse from Brahma Samhita 5.52: yac caksur eva savita sakala grahanam...;

7. At abot 3 months after birth we did the name giving ceremony. In the "Book of Samskaras" there is a chart of syllables for child names according to the birth nakshatra. So for him it was "do" and "ma", so we gave him legal name Domenic and spiritual name Madhumangala;

8. At 6 months we did the first grain ceremony, feeding sweet rice offered to our Deities. After the yajna we let the child choose among Srimad Bhagavatam, a knife (as a weapon for ksatriya ;-), money and a drilling machine (as for shudra, I told my husband not to put this, because everyone is already born a shudra ;-). But he chose Srimad Bhagavatam.

So next we will probably do the hair cutting ceremony during his 3rd year, but I am not sure about this, since we have already a few times cut his hair, and he has a Vaishnava sikha already.

Your humble servant,

Madhavi-lata devi dasi