Avighna Vrata

Avighna Vrata, simply known as Avighna Vrata, Sanskrit: अविघ्न व्रत, Telugu: అవిఘ్న వ్రతం, Hindi: अविघ्न व्रत.

The Avighna Vrata is kept on Phālguṇa Caturthī, the fourth tithi of the month of Phālguṇa. It is offered to Bhagavān Gaṇeśa, the remover of obstacles. It is one of the twelve monthly vratas of the Varāha Purāṇa (Chapters 57 to 66). It frees the keeper from all vighnas (obstructions).

The day and the deva

The vrata falls on Phālguṇa Caturthī. Its deva is Bhagavān Gaṇeśa, also called Vighneśvara, the son of Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī. He holds supreme authority over all obstacles and all auspicious beginnings. The Caturthī tithi is sacred to Gaṇeśa every month. The Purāṇa describes the Phālguṇa Caturthī as especially strong for removing long-standing obstacles.

King Sagara

The Varāha Purāṇa shows the power of the Avighna Vrata through King Sagara. He faced the greatest obstruction a king can face: the loss of his sixty thousand sons.

A great ṛshi told Sagara that his suffering came from neglecting Gaṇeśa-pūjā. The remedy, he said, was the Avighna Vrata, kept with full devotion on Phālguṇa Caturthī. Sagara kept the vrata as taught. The grace of Bhagavān Gaṇeśa began to remove the vighnas that had gathered in his line.

The vidhi

  • The devotee gets up early and bathes in clean water.
  • The place of worship is decorated with fresh flowers.
  • Bhagavān Gaṇeśa is worshipped with twenty-one blades of dūrvā grass, tied in bundles of three, with red flowers, with modaka (sweet rice balls) and with fragrant incense.
  • The Gaṇeśa stuti is recited.
  • The devotee fasts through the day.
  • At the end of the worship, the story of King Sagara and the Avighna Vrata is recited or heard.
  • Food is taken only after the evening ārātrika.

The phala

The Avighna Vrata removes all vighnas from the keeper’s path: in work, in family, in health and in spiritual practice. Those who keep it on every Caturthī, and above all on Phālguṇa Caturthī, find that their undertakings go forward without hindrance. Bhagavān Gaṇeśa gives them success in all they do. In the end they reach Gaṇaloka.

Sources

  • Varāha Purāṇa, Chapters 57 to 66