Srimad Bhagavatam – day 695
The Kātyāyani vrata
Krishna Narayana Srihari
Tenth Canto Chapter Twenty-two
In this chapter, Krishna stealing the clothes of the Gopikas is narrated.
Commonly, people ridicule this incident of Krishna stealing the clothes of these ladies. However, the supreme significance contained within this incident can understood only through repeated reading, listening or through contemplation.
Maharishi Śuka continued, “Autumn gave way to winter. It was the month of Margaśīrṣa. The young unmarried maidens of Gokula commenced the auspicious ritual known as Kātyāyani vrata”.
All unmarried girls need to worship Mother Goddess through the Kātyāyani vrata as this ritual grants auspiciousness. This is applicable even to the present-day girls. They will quickly see the fulfilment of their desires. More importantly, Kātyāyani vrata enables them to have the vision of the Supreme Lord.
“During the period of this ritual (vrata), these girls consumed only food prepared from broken wheat and jaggery, in accordance to the stipulated rules. During the very early hours of the day, they bathed in the pure waters of Yamuna and then, on the river bank, creating an image of Mother Katyāyani using sand they worshipped Her reverentially. They offered sandal paste, garlands made from sweet-smelling flowers and coconut to Her. They lit incense sticks and oil lamps. They worshipped Mother Goddess with tender shoots and coloured rice (akshata). They offered Her various types of fruits as Naivedya.
Kātyayani mahāmāye mahāyoginyadhīśwari
Nandagopa-sutam devi patiṃ me kuru te namaḥ
O Mother Katyāyani! You are the repository for all forms of auspiciousness.
In common parlance, the word kalyanam refers to marriage and hence we assume that She blesses the performer with quick marriage. In reality, Kalyanam means auspiciousness. The successful completion of the desired task is auspiciousness. It is incorrect to limit the significance of Kalyanam to only marriage.
When a sumptuous meal is cooked at home, we say it is ‘marriage food’, although the celebration was not on account of marriage but due to some other festival. Why don’t we say ‘festival food’? Why do we always link it to ‘marriage food’? Can we not at least remember the festival/ occasion that we are celebrating by addressing it correctly?
Often when we ask, ‘Did you celebrate the festival grandly?’, we get to hear, ‘No idea of the festival but definitely we enjoyed a sumptuous meal’. In many homes, the members have no idea of the ritual (vrata) or festival being celebrated on that day. Who is this deity being worshipped? Why do we worship Him/Her? Can this ritual be performed by ourselves at home or should we seek the services of a priest? What are the materials necessary to perform this worship? Where should the deity be installed? Who are the guests to be invited for this festival? Instead of enquiring and procuring the right materials for puja, the concentration is exclusively fixed on the food preparations.
What are the items to be prepared today?’- they think. They then list out the items they desire to eat and cook according to their tastes. As the festival approaches, the first and most important discussion revolves around food preparations for that day. Since I am not any expert in cooking field I will not be able to name the dishes or the discussions families have regarding food preparations. Ask me about the ingredients and puja arrangements to be made for that day, the origin of the ritual, references to it from Vedas and Upanishads or any other topic pertaining to worship, I would be glad to detail. How could I know about food arrangements?
This obsession with food goes to such extent that even on death anniversaries of their parents, people focus on food instead of performing the ritual diligently. At what time will you be done with cooking? What items are you planning to prepare for the death ceremony? ‘It’s my father’s death anniversary. He will be visiting us. We should worship him and seek his blessings’- instead of thinking thus, the person thinks, ‘What food should I prepare on this day? We should not repeat the same food preparations as were done during the last death anniversary function. We should introduce some novel items’.
Why then are you conducting the death anniversary? Is it to eat sumptuous tasty meal? Do you even understand the purpose behind this ritual? Ultimately it ends in a waste of money.
A true wise person rushes to the Puja room at the advent of a festival. He decorates the room and readies to welcome the Lord. This is truly appreciable. He wipes the room clean and decorates it in a novel way so as to please the Lord. In those homes where the Puja room is not maintained clean, families of cockroaches and rats thrive. Instead of having a vision of the Lord during Puja, the person will have a vision of these rodents. Terrified, he will refuse to enter the prayer room anymore.
In some homes, to ward away the stinky smell from the unclean, unmaintained Puja rooms, they light incense sticks. It doesn’t really serve any purpose barring filling the room with smoke. We wonder whether any Puja therein is effective.
The primary requirement for any Puja is to clean and tidy the entire home. Every clothing used should be washed and cleaned. Even that garment which has been used just once should be washed. Bed spreads should be regularly washed, else the dust accumulated on the mattress or the pillow causes it to bulge. Now of course, there are some who can slip into deep sleep only when the room and beds are dusty and stinky. Clean the house and they complain of spending a sleepless night. We should learn from these maidens the procedure to worship the Divine Mother.
“The maidens prayed, ‘O Mother Kātyāyani! You are the repository of all auspiciousness. You are the supreme illusion that envelops. You are supremely accomplished. You are the ruler for everything in creation. Please bless me to obtain Śrikrishna, the son of cowherd Nanda, as my husband. We offer obeisance to You’.”
The last sentence in the hymn highlights the purpose behind their prayer. These young maidens sought to marry Krishna. Hundreds and thousands of young maidens were diligently performing the Kātyāyani vrata seeking this. We will discuss the origin of this ritual at another time. After this Kātyayani ritual, the young maidens celebrate the Bhima Amavasya (new moon) day on which they worship Bhima symbolically in place of their husband. ‘may we be blessed with a husband like Bhima’- they pray.
Here, the girls were praying to Mother Goddess to bless them with Krishna as their husband. They then chanted the mantra seeking the fructification of their desire. If young unmarried girls eligible for marriage chant the above hymn on a daily basis, it will, in short time, bless them with a good husband. Nevertheless, it is imperative that the mantra is chanted with full faith upon the Mother Goddess and not with thoughts about marriage. Worship and mantra chanting should be with a focussed, dedicated attitude. Else, the mantra will not deliver the proper result.
Krishna Krishna