Verse 1.6.3

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.6.3:

কিছু শেষে মিলিযা সকল বন্ধু-গণ কর্ণ-বেধ করিলেন শ্রী-চূডাকরণ ॥ ৩ ॥

किछु शेषे मिलिया सकल बन्धु-गण कर्ण-वेध करिलेन श्री-चूडाकरण ॥ ३ ॥

kichu śeṣe miliyā sakala bandhu-gaṇa karṇa-vedha karilena śrī-cūḍākaraṇa || 3 ||

kichu sese miliya sakala bandhu-gana karna-vedha karilena sri-cudakarana (3)

English translation:

(3) Then after a few days all the family friends came to observe the ceremony of the child’s ear-piercing and shaving of the head, leaving only a śikhā.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Karṇa-vedha, or piercing the ears, is part of the cūḍā-karaṇa-saṃskāra. It also marks the beginning of hearing the Vedic literature, or becoming eligible to hear topics related with the Absolute Truth by giving up hearing topics not related with the Lord.

Cūḍā-karaṇa is one of the ten saṃskāras, or reformatory ceremonies. In this ceremony the child’s head is shaved with only the śikhā remaining. This ceremony was previously known as vedāgni-śikhā, and later it became known as śrī-caitanya-śikṣā. The inactive Māyāvādīs consider

that keeping a śikhā is meant for karma-kāṇḍa, so they shave off their śikhā in order to free themselves from karma-kāṇḍa. Vedic tridaṇḍi- sannyāsīs, however, do not shave off their śikhā; they keep it as a sign of giving up karma-kāṇḍa and progressing on the path of devotional life.