RE: Upanayanam and Sandhyavandanam

From the Bhakti List Archives

• November 6, 1995


I agree that Upanayanam should not be forced on people who have no
belief in the process of Sandhyavandanam and related Brahmana Vidhi.
 The general reason given is that priests will not perform the
marriage in the traditional way.  However it should be possible for
priests to perform a marriage using whatever rituals are used in the
case of Shudras.  This will probably not be acceptable to most
parents who would rather let their children accumulate the sin of not
doing a duty forced upon them (the children) against their will.

Jaganath.
PS:  If anyone knows any Vedic reason why Shudra rituals cannot be
applied to non believers of brahminical descent please let me know.