Vrata
Vrata, “a sacred vow”
Atirātra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Atirātra. Caitra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Caitra. Vimāna has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vimāna.
Grammar: neuter noun, from the root vṛ (to choose): “what one has chosen to keep, a vow”. Vrata-nishṭhā is steadfastness in vows.
Meaning: a sacred vow or observance; a rule of conduct, fasting or pūjā kept for a time or for life as a part of dharma.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa counts the vratas among the good means of dharma, and again and again sets satsaṅga, bhakti and the name of Śrī Hari above them.
Ajāmila and the name. The Yamadūtas told the Vishṇudūtas that Ajāmila, before his fall, was learned, gentle and truthful, the master of his senses, and lived his life with steadfastness in vratas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 1). The Vishṇudūtas answered that the knowers of the Veda have prescribed vratas and other prāyaścittas for removing pāpa, but the special purity gained by merely uttering the names of Śrī Hari is not gained by those prāyaścittas, for by his name his qualities come to the mind (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 2).
Satsaṅga above vratas. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that yoga, sāṅkhya, the study of the Veda, tapas, sannyāsa, dāna, vratas, yajña, mantras and pilgrimage cannot bring him under one’s control as satsaṅga does. The asuras, rākshasas and animals, Vṛtra, Prahlāda, Bali, Hanumān, Jaṭāyu, the gopīs of Gokula and many others “did not study many Vedas, did not serve great mahātmās, did not perform vratas or tapas; yet, through satsaṅga, they attained me” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 12).
Bhakti gives all. Of the many views of the good, Śrī Kṛshṇa says, the Paurāṇikas hold that tapas, dāna and vratas are the means to śreyas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 14). And he says: whatever fruit is gained by ashṭāṅga-yoga, by dāna and dharma and by vratas and the like, whether svarga, moksha or his own dhāma, his bhakta gains easily by bhakti alone (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 20).
Also a name: Vrata is one of the twelve sons of Cākshusha Manu and Naḍvalā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 13); he is a different being from the word.
Related terms: Niyama · Tapas · Prāyaścitta · Satsaṅga · Bhakti · Dāna
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 13; Skandha 6, Chapters 1–2; Skandha 11, Chapters 12, 14, 20