Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik 2 by Devdutt Pattanaik

Author:Devdutt Pattanaik
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9789386495150
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2017-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

16

Vrata

On any given day of the week, people seem to be observing a vrata. Do the Vedas mention vrata?

The Vedas do mention vrata but not in the sense that it’s practised today. There, a vrata is simply an observance before a yagna—like bathing, fasting before a puja, and so on. These observances are called vrata, and the word comes from there.

Why is a vrata observed?

It’s associated with karma. Our 3000-year-old philosophy believes that there is a cause for whatever happens in life. There is a seed for every fruit. But you have no control over the fruit whose seed your action has sown. As Krishna says, don’t worry about the fruit. We also know that we can work hard but there’s no guarantee that it’ll produce results. Life is uncertain. When things are not going right, what can you do? You’ll be told to work hard, be motivated, have faith, go to a guru or a temple, but that doesn’t seem enough. You have to do something. That’s where vrata comes in. You undertake a series of activities by which you try to communicate what you want in life. It’s almost as if you’re communicating with the cosmos, sending a message that this is your wish. By observing a vrata, you express your wish.

How is a vrata observed?

There are different kinds of vrata. One is a jagaran, in which you keep awake all night. It’s a shift from your day-to-day practice. There is maun vrata, in which you abstain from talking. The most popular is fasting, in which you decide to not eat, say, from this sunset to the next. Some people take it a step further and observe a nirjala upvas, that is, they do not even drink water. Then there are those vratas in which you eat only a specific kind of food, like chana or sweet food, or those in which you do not eat certain foods, like sour food. Other vratas can be for going to a temple on foot, or going barefoot, on the knees, or by rolling the body, and so on.

Some of these can be quite rigorous, like keeping silent for ten days, not drinking water for twenty. Although men, women, young and old, all observe vratas, these seem to be more popular with women. Perhaps women did more of this because after marriage they would move from their father’s home to a new home to live with an unfamiliar man. It would make them feel lonely, helpless and powerless. They would console themselves by observing a vrata—it would make them think they were conversing with god and the cosmos, that they had a connection with the world. So from the psychological point of view, it was a very important ritual.

When is a vrata observed?

There are no fixed days. Some are observed annually during a festival or on a tithi (appointed time) like Ekadashi or Sashti or Dussehra when one massages with a particular oil. Others over longer periods like the Vasant Navratri when one eats only vegetarian food.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.