Yogalakshmī
Yogalakshmī · yoga-lakshmī
Kṛttikā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kṛttikā.
Yogalakshmī was the daughter of Gautama Ṛshi and Ahalyā and the wife of Maharshi Śāṇḍilya. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira of her in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, in the glory of the Kṛttikā vrata. In two births before she had been Queen Kaliṅgabhadrā and then a she-goat, and through all three she kept this vrata.
Her former births
As Kaliṅgabhadrā, queen of Mahārāja Dilīpa at Vṛshasthala in the Madhya-deśa, she always gave dāna to brāhmaṇas and performed pūjā of the devatās. Once, in the month of Kārtika, she took the saṅkalpa of the Kṛttikā vrata of six months. When a little of it was still left, a terrible serpent bit her at night and her life left her.
In her next birth she became a she-goat, and by the power of the vrata the memory of her former birth stayed with her. She took up the vrata again and began to fast. Once, in Kārtika, the owner of a field seized her. Atri Ṛshi, who remembered former births, knew that she was Queen Kaliṅgabhadrā and in his compassion had her freed. She ate leaves of the ber tree and drank cool water, and so made the pāraṇā. Atri Ṛshi taught her yoga-jñāna, and as a yogeśvarī she kept the vrata again, and after some time gave up her life by the strength of yoga.
Yogalakshmī
She was then born from the womb of Ahalyā, wife of Gautama Ṛshi, and named Yogalakshmī. Gautama Muni gave her in marriage to Maharshi Śāṇḍilya. In Śāṇḍilya’s house she shone like Sarasvatī, Svāhā, Śacī, Arundhatī, Gaurī, Rājī, Gāyatrī, Mahālakshmī and Mahāsatī, ever honouring the devatās, the pitṛs and guests, and feeding brāhmaṇas.
One day Atri Muni came there, knew the whole past by the strength of yoga, and asked: “Mahābhāge Yogalakshmī! How many are the Kṛttikās?” Hearing this, the great satī remembered what had gone before and said: “Mahāyogin! The Kṛttikās are six.” The compassionate Atri Muni again taught her the mantra and the Kṛttikā vrata. By performing it she enjoyed the happiness of saṃsāra for a long time and attained moksha.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 103
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 103