Bramana thread

> Hari bol,

> I see some devotees wear 3,6 or 9 threds. In the Deity worship hand book it

> says you wear 3 for your wife. But it does not give the # you start out

with.

All I know is that the sacred thread Srila Prabhupada gave me had 6 strands. It appeared that those he wore had the same, although someone like Sritakirti would be able to give more authoritative information on that. Over the years, I've heard all the lore about number of strands, even colors. I just stick with what I was given by Srila Prabhupada.

Your servant,

Babhru das

- Brahmin thread with three lines is for the children who got upanayan to

chant brahma gayatri as samskara or/and for help in the deity worship.

- Brahmin thread with only four lines is for sannyasi

- Brahmin thread with 2Xthree lines for brahmacaris. 1th three lines as

upper cloths, 2nd three lines for chant gayatri.

- Brahmin thread with 3Xthree lines for grihasthas. 1th three lines as upper

cloths, 2nd three lines for chant gayatri 3rd three lines for chant gayatri

in the name of the wife.

Is it all right Krsna Ksetra Prabhu?

Your eternal servant

Gaura Krsna dasa (SRS)

Dear Priya-darshana,

In the Gaudiya Math the system is that everyone wears 9 threads ( 3 sets of 3). However the traditional system in the rest of India is that Brahmacharis wear one set (3 threads) and Grhastas wear two sets (6 threads). The extra set is considered for the wife. One is also allowed to wear an extra set to cover the set or sets that one wears if one is not wearing a chaddar (angavastram/ upper cloth). This would make the total for a Brahmachari 2 sets of 3 and a Grhasta 3 sets of 3. Most ISKCON people wear 2 sets of 3 because that's the usual way they are sold in the shops. Very orthodox brahmins make there own and don't buy them. Also Vaisnava Sannyasis in the Sri Sampradaya wear 12 (4 sets of 3). Other Sannyasis don't wear any at all. In ISKCON the Sannyasis do as the rest of us do and just wear 2 sets of 3.

ys

Gaura Keshava das

Ther is a book on Gayatri written by His Holiness Mahanidhi Swami. It is called Gayatri Mahima Madhuri.

"According to tradition, a brahmacari wears one set of three strands; a grhastha adds a extra set of threee for his wife (total 6 threads); a vanaprastha wears three sets of three threads. Traditionally, vanaprasthas would wonder in the forest wearing only tree bark. The extra set of three strands substitutes as an upper cloth which is required for chanting Gayatri and doing puja. A brahmacari who directly takes sannyasa may wear one set of four strands to represent the fourth order of spiritual life. According to the statements in the Srutis, Smritis an Brahmanas, if one takes sannyasa after going through the grhastha asrama, he may wear four sets of three threads (total 12 threads) to signify going through all four asramas. The four sets are also said to represent the devas, pitrs, upper cloth and outer cloth.

In Bengal it is a tradition among brahmanas in general, and specifically among grhastha brahmanas to wear three sets of three (nine threads); one set for the devas, one set for the pitrs (forefathers), and one set for the uttariya (upper cloth). Srila Prabhupada wore three sets of three, and he was put in samadhi with the same number of threads."

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