Aśoka Pūrṇimā Vrata

Aśoka Pūrṇimā Vrata · a-śoka-pūrṇimā-vrata, “the full-moon vrata that ends grief”

The Aśoka Pūrṇimā Vrata is kept from the pūrṇimā of Phālguna for a year. It is the pūjā of Bhagavān Bhūdhara and of Dharaṇī Devī under the name Aśokā, and by it a person never knows śoka (grief). Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches it to King Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa. Dharaṇī Devī herself kept it in Pātāla, and Bhagavān Janārdana in the form of Vārāha lifted her out and promised its fruit to all.

The vidhi

  1. On Phālguna pūrṇimā, apply clay to the limbs and bathe in a river or the like.
  2. Make a vedī of clay, and on it do pūjā of Bhagavān Bhūdhara and of Dharaṇī Devī under the name Aśokā, with flowers, naivedya and other upacāras.
  3. After the pūjā, with folded hands, pray as given below.
  4. After this prayer, offer arghya to Candra at night.
  5. Fast that day, or eat at night food without oil and kshāra.

The prayer: “Dharaṇī Devī! You bear the whole moving and unmoving jagat. As Bhagavān Janārdana brought you from Rasātala, established you and freed you from śoka, so free me from all śoka and fulfil all my wishes.”

The pāraṇās

One pāraṇā is made for each four months beginning from Phālguna. At the end of each pāraṇā there is a special pūjā and jāgaraṇa. The names in the pūjā are Dharaṇī at the first pāraṇā, Medinī at the second and Vasundharā at the third.

At the end of the year one gives brāhmaṇas a cow with her calf, land, cloth, ornaments and the like.

Dharaṇī Devī in Pātāla

Dharaṇī Devī herself performed this vrata while she was in Pātāla. Then Bhagavān Janārdana took the form of Vārāha, lifted her out, and, pleased, said: “Dharaṇī Devī! I am supremely content with this vrata of yours.”

The phala

Bhagavān Vārāha said: “Any man or woman who keeps this vrata with bhakti, does pūjā of me and makes the pāraṇās according to rule will be free of every affliction birth after birth and, like you, will become a vessel of all good.”

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 104

Sources

  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 104, 208