Śatānanda of Kāśī

Śatānanda · śata-ānanda, “the one of a hundred joys”

Śatānanda was an excellent learned brāhmaṇa of Kāśī, devoted to the Vishṇu vrata. He was a gṛhastha with a wife and sons, poor, humble and very śānta, and he lived by bhikshā. Bhagavān Hari met him on the road in the form of an old brāhmaṇa, granted him darśana and taught him the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata. Śatānanda kept it first and became rich, and through him all Kāśī took it up. He taught it to King Candracūḍa and to a thirsty woodcutter. Chapter 26 calls him Sadānanda, and Chapter 27 also calls him Vishṇudāsa. Sūta tells his account to the ṛshis.

The old brāhmaṇa on the road

Once, going out for bhikshā, Śatānanda saw on the road an old brāhmaṇa, who was Hari himself. The old brāhmaṇa asked him where he was going and why. Śatānanda said he was going to the wealthy, to beg for his sons and wife.

Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa said that the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata is the best means in Kali Yuga to end poverty. Refuge at the feet of lotus-eyed Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa destroys poverty, grief and all torment, and gives moksha.

“Who is this Satyanārāyaṇa?” Śatānanda asked. The old brāhmaṇa said that the Deva of many forms, pervading all, had at that moment taken the form of a vipra and come before him. The feet of Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa are the boat that carries beings across the ocean of saṃsāra. He told Śatānanda to bring this vrata to light for the welfare of the world.

दुःखोदधिनिमग्नानां सरणिधरणौ हरेः ।
कुशलाः शरणं यान्ति नेतरे विषयात्मिकाः ॥

duḥkhodadhinimagnānāṃ saraṇidharaṇau hareḥ |
kuśalāḥ śaraṇaṃ yānti netare vishayātmikāḥ ||

Of those sunk in the ocean of sorrow, the skilful go for refuge to the feet of Hari; others, given to sense objects, do not.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 25

The darśana and the stuti

At once Śatānanda had darśana of Purushottama Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa: blue like clouds, in his four arms śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and padma, wearing pītāmbara, his eyes like a newly opened lotus, with a soft sweet smile and the vanamālā, his lotus feet kissed by bees. His limbs thrilled, tears of prema filled his eyes, and he fell in sāshṭāṅga praṇāma. In a choked voice he praised Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa:

• I bow to Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa: Master of saṃsāra, Cause of even the cause of the world, Nātha of those with no nātha, giver of welfare and refuge, pure, Avyakta who becomes vyakta, who uproots the three tāpas.
• Namaskāra to the creator of this saṃsāra.
• Namaskāra to the pure Sattva form that sustains the universe.
• Namaskāra to the terrible Mahākāla form that destroys the universe.
• Ātmamūrti, doing good to the whole world, namaskāra to you.
• Today I am blessed and my birth has borne fruit, for you who are beyond mind and speech have come before me.
• How shall I praise my fortune? I do not know of what puṇya this is the fruit.
• Prabhu Satyanārāyaṇa, you have made fruitful the body of this dull-minded one without any rite.

The vidhi he received

He asked the vidhi. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa said that his pūjā needs no great wealth: whatever money comes without effort, with that one should offer yajana with śraddhā. Naivedya is about a ser and a quarter of godhūma flour mixed with milk and sugar, joined with ghṛta. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa as Śālagrāma is bathed with pañcāmṛta and worshipped with mantras with gandha, pushpa, dhūpa, dīpa, naivedya and tāmbūla, and with sweets and the fruits and flowers of the season. Then, with brāhmaṇas and one’s own people, one hears the kathā, bows and distributes the prasāda. “My delight comes not from wealth and things, but from śraddhā and bhakti alone,” said Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. Those who do this gain sons, grandsons and wealth, and at the end live with him in joy. So saying, he withdrew from sight.

The first pūjā

Śatānanda bowed in his mind and went towards the city, resolved to spend that day’s bhikshā on the pūjā. That day abundant wealth came to him without asking, and he came home astonished. He told his dharmapatnī the whole account. She approved, brought all the materials from the market, and invited their kinsfolk and neighbours.

At the end of the kathā Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa appeared. Śatānanda asked for happiness in this loka and the next and for parā bhakti, and said, “Prabhu Satyanārāyaṇa, make me your dāsa.” Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa said “tathāstu” and withdrew. All present were amazed. They bowed in daṇḍavat, took prasāda and went home saying, “Blessed is this brāhmaṇa, blessed!”

King Candracūḍa

By following his pūjā all in Kāśī became rich in śīla and dharma, and in every house the pūjā went on. King Candracūḍa of Maṇipūraka, driven from his kingdom by mlecchas, reached the city and heard of Sadānanda, as this chapter calls him. He fell at his feet, told how he had lost his kingdom, and asked for the vrata that pleases Lakshmīpati Bhagavān Janārdana.

Sadānanda told him of the vrata, which calms all sorrow, increases wealth and grain, and gives progeny and victory. On any day, at pradosha-kāla, a maṇḍapa is built with pillars of kadalī leaves and toraṇas, with five kalaśas and five dhvajas. Brāhmaṇas build a vedikā in the middle. On it Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa is established in the form of a śilā, adorned with gold, and worshipped. The vratī meditates on Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, sleeps on the ground and passes seven nights. The king did the pūjā there in Kāśī, received an excellent sword from Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa in the night, bowed to Sadānanda and returned to his city.

The thirsty woodcutter

One very thirsty woodcutter, a Nishāda selling wood in Kāśī, came to the āśrama of Vishṇudāsa, as this chapter calls him. He drank water and saw brāhmaṇas doing pūjā. He had known this brāhmaṇa as a mendicant owning nothing, and he asked, “Mahārāja, how did you gain this aiśvarya?” Śatānanda said, “Brother, all this is the fruit of the ārādhanā of Satyanārāyaṇa.” Without the anukampā of Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa, he said, not even a little happiness is gained.

The woodcutter asked for the vidhi. Śatānanda told him what he had told King Candracūḍa. With desire or without desire, one makes the saṅkalpa in the mind. A ser and a quarter of godhūma flour with madhu and fragrant ghṛta is offered. Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa is bathed with pañcāmṛta and worshipped with candana, pāyasa, apūpa, saṃyāva, dadhi, dugdha, seasonal fruits, flowers, dhūpa and dīpa. Bhagavān Satyanārāyaṇa is not pleased by abundant things as he is by bhakti.

He gave the examples. Bhagavān Janārdana left the royal pūjā of Duryodhana and came to the āśrama of Vidura, and accepted the grains of rice of Sudāmā. Candracūḍa did the pūjā, recovered his wealth and rejoices even today. So, he told the son of a Nishāda, you too will gain happiness here and at the end the presence of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The woodcutter bowed to him and went home, and the Nishādas kept the vrata and reached the Vaishṇava-dhāma.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapters 25–27