Srila Prabhupada says,

“Samskara means purificatory method. It is a process of purification. Samskara means educational process to elevate oneself. Just like a child is sent to school, college, for elevating him to a higher standard of life by knowledge, similarly, these samskaras are also like that. One must undergo the samskaras, the reformatory method, and act in life. janmanä jäyate südraù samskäräd bhaved dvijaù. One takes birth from the father and mother, but one is considered a südra, or a lower grade person by birth, janmanä jäyate südraù. Birth is not all, everything. Samskära means culture. One has to take his rebirth, by culture, by education, by knowledge. That is called cultural birth, samskäräd bhaved dvijaù”.

Samskäras enable one to progress peacefully towards the ultimate existence, to reach the Absolute. Vaishnavas will find through their performance the means to hold all the trumps on the long path to spiritual advancement. Through samskäras we can sanctify relations between parents and children, between husband and wife, between master and disciple, between humans on earth, between men and the deceased, between men and demigods, the sages and the Supreme Lord. Samskäras drive away the evil influences of the visible and invisible worlds and attract the blessings of the sages, demigods and the Supreme Lord Himself. In the absence of samskäras, life’s activities become mundane.

Srila Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvati Thäkura, a great äcärya in the line of Chaitanya Mahäprabhu accepted the Sat-kriyä-dipikä of Srila Gopäla Bhatta Gosvämi as the only valid samskära handbook for future generations of Vaisñavas. Hence we at Sri Krishna Balarama temple, Sunnyvale will be performing the samskäras as outlined in the Sat-kriyä-dipikä of Srila Gopäla Bhatta Gosvämi.