Nishkarmana (Baby’s first Outing) – Nishkarmana literally means going out or coming forth. Remember the coming out ceremonies in your teens? This is similar to that, but this is just the first time the baby goes out of the house with their parents. This is when the child formally meets the world for the first time. Until now, the baby had seen inside its mother’s womb, the hospital, the inside of the vehicle in which it was carried in from the hospital to home, the home and the family members. Now, the baby meets the outside world and joins the chaos. Observed during the fourth month after birth, parents usually take their child out to see the sunrise or sunset, or they take their child to a temple. The ritual involves bathing the baby and changing them into comfortable new clothes, and both the parents and siblings if any accompany them outside. The origin of Nishkarmana lies in Manusmriti II.34. The significance of showing the baby the sun or the moon and the temples is to dispel any darkness from the baby’s life and to ensure the baby is never separated from their mother or father. It is also believed that all souls are in the soul plane before they are born as humans and taking them to the temple might make them feel comfortable as children can recognize Gods and Deities from the soul plane. Seeing familiar forms helps them feel home.