The Brahma or Savitri Gayatri is certainly a Vedic mantra. Some may also say that other mantras we chant are technically Vedic mantras also. Hare Krishna mantra is found in Kalisantaranya Upanisad and is also therefore Vedic. Gopal mantra comes from Gopal Tapani Upanisad and is therefore Vedic.
As for different forms of Upanayanam. It depends very much on your definition of Upanayanam. There are different versions of this Vaidic samskara according to which Veda, Sutra and Sakha a dvijas family follows. There may also be Puranic and Agamic versions but I am not aware of them. In ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math the upanayanam samskara is mixed with the Vaisnava Agamic samskara of diksha. Before Bhaktisiddhanta these were separate rituals. Now they are combined and performed with the text coming from Sat Kriya Sar Dipika. Although that text is of dubious origin.
Gaura Kesava
Hare Krsna Gaura Keshava Prabhuji !!!
Are there two types of Upanayanam? Vedic and Pancaratrik?
Which one is made in Iskcon?
Thank you.
"Most interestingly the sanatkumAra saMhitA gives two forms of upanayanaM, the vedic form for dvijas and tantric agnimukhaM version for women and shUdras. On recieving that they may perform several rites, but the pAncharatric brahmin is still supposed to perform vaidika rites to various deities in addition to the internal pAncharatric sacrifices to vedic deities given in the rudra rAtra."
http://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2006/03/27/notes-on-early-pancharatra-vaishnavism/
"Even Sudras can undergo the sacrament of initiation with the sacred thread
(upanayana) using Tantrika mantras alone."
The Brahma Gayatri we recite in Iskcon is not Vedic Mantra?
