Have you noticed that the happy gleam simply vanishes from your face every time old memories and sadness linked to them surface.
It is only by decimating these sorrows can we live happily in the present. Our scriptures talk about several types of kriyas and abhyas that can help remove our sorrows. But it is not easy. One way to do this is mundan -- tonsuring your head, shaving all the hair of your scalp. It is believed that our hair are always tied to our past samskaras, and when they are shaved off, we feel lighter and become immensely happy. Besides shaving your scalp, other things such as satsang, dhyan, mantra japa too are performed along with the kriya of mundan.
Just as we are connected with Nature through every breath we take, similarly, through the kapaal kshetra, region of the head, also known as ‘Brahm-rendra’, we are connected to Brahmn. By shaving our head, we are better able to connect with Brahmn. It is said that cutting our hair makes it easier for us to enter the state of dhyan.
The hair on our head are not simply meant to make us look beautiful and attractive, but as a result of being deeply connected with our past, they have a deeper effect on our personality. Our hair are a storehouse of our past impressions that continue to influence our future too. This is why in Hindu tradition, the ceremony of mundan is performed. So that one’s samskaras from past life and the period of one’s stay in the mother’s womb are wiped clean and we don’t carry forward the past into our present. This is why mundan ceremony is considered one essential kriya.
Traditionally, mundan is not performed only in childhood. It is also done when there is a death in the family. The reason being, to dislodge the grief that is seeped into the body after the death of a dear one. By tonsuring the head, the hair and grief both are removed so that we can move on and lead a happy life, not one based on grief from then on.
Sannyas or renunciation also means removing ourselves from past thoughts, perceptions, prejudices, beliefs, sorrows, memories, and results of our past actions, in other words, removing the past and becoming rejuvenated. There are many ways to cut ourselves from our past. Sometimes we seek the help of a guru to give us a new lease of life. Just like mundan ceremony is performed in childhood, sannyas too is like a new birth, in which we renounce our past life and resolve to lead a new life. At the physical level, the resolve manifests by way of cutting our hair, which is a sign of renewal.
In sannyas, it is not enough to merely cut our hair, what is essential is to recast our heart and mind, renew them too, but removing ourselves from our family and attachments and connect ourselves with the Divine. From now on, we lead our life with a new thought process. That is why even the colour of our robes becomes ochre, reflecting the rays of the rising sun and the sacrificial fire. Which essentially means that we have, from then on, destroyed all that is old, old ways of thinking, old lifestyle and turned it to ashes. This colour keeps reminding us that fire of jnana can destroy all impurities within. The tradition of shaving our heads in certain temples too is based on this belief.
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