Mahākārtikī Vrata

Mahākārtikī Vrata, simply known as Mahakartiki Vrata, Sanskrit: महाकार्तिकी व्रत, Telugu: మహాకార్తికీ వ్రతం, Hindi: महाकार्तिकी व्रत.

The Mahākārtikī Vrata is the vrata of Kārtika Paurṇamī, the full-moon day of the month of Kārtika. It is most special when that day falls under Kṛttikā nakshatra on a Monday or a Thursday. It is offered to the six Kṛttikās, the mothers of Kumāra. The Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva (Chapter 103), counts it among the greatest Paurṇamā vratas. It can give moksha even across many births, as the account of Queen Kaliṅga Bhadra, who became Yogalakshmī, shows.

The Mahākārtikī Yoga

When Kārtika Paurṇamī falls together with Kṛttikā nakshatra on a Monday (Somavāra) or a Thursday (Guruvāra), this meeting is called the Mahākārtikī Yoga. The Purāṇa calls it very rare (durlabha) and very powerful. On such a day the vrata gives moksha, not for this birth alone, but along the whole course of the jīva’s journey. An ordinary Kārtika Paurṇamī, without this meeting of days, is enough for the full vrata.

Kaliṅga Bhadra and Yogalakshmī

The Purāṇa shows the power of this vrata through Queen Kaliṅga Bhadra. She died in the middle of the vrata from a snakebite. She was born again as a goat, and she kept the memory of the vrata. Ātri Maharshi freed her from that birth. In her third birth she was Yogalakshmī. She received the whole teaching of the vrata (upadeśa) from Ātri and gained moksha.

The Purāṇa’s teaching here is that even a vrata left unfinished gathers puṇya (merit) that does not run out and that goes with the jīva from birth to birth. The one who takes up the Kārtikī vrata with a sincere heart will finish it, in as many lives as are needed, and will gain moksha.

The vidhi

The vrata is kept on Kārtika Paurṇamī.

The morning

  • Rise early and take the saṅkalpa for the vrata. It is either a naktavrata (eating only at night) or a full fast (upavāsa).
  • If it can be done, bathe at a holy tīrtha: Pushkara, Prayāga, Kurukshetra, Naimisha, Śālagrāma, Kuśāvarta, Mūlasthāna, Sakuntala, Gokarṇa, Arbuda or Amarakaṇṭaka. If this is not possible, bathe at home with pure water.
  • Worship the devatās, the ṛshis, the pitṛs and the guests (atithi), and perform the havana (fire offering).

The evening: Kṛttikā shaṭ-mūrti pūjā

  • Make six mūrtis of the Kṛttikās, each of gold, silver, gems, butter, grain flour or clay, as one is able.
  • Place them in six vessels filled with ghee and milk.
  • Wrap each one with red thread. Worship each with sindūra, kuṅkuma, candana (sandalwood paste), mallikā flowers, dhūpa (incense), dīpa (lamp) and naivedya (food).
  • When the mūrtis are given as dāna to a brāhmaṇa, say this mantra:

Oṃ saptarshi dārā hyanalaśya vallabhā
yābrāhmaṇā rakshitayeti yuktāḥ |
tushṭāḥ kumārasya yathārtha mātaro
mamāpi suprīta tarābhavantu ||

The meaning: may the mothers of Kumāra, the wives of the seven ṛshis who are dear to Agni, be pleased, and may they be even more pleased with me.

  • The brāhmaṇa receives the mūrtis with this verse:

Dharmadāḥ kāmadāḥ santu imā nakshatramātaraḥ |
kṛttikā durga saṃsārāt tārayanty avayoḥ kulam ||

The meaning: may these mothers of the nakshatras give dharma and give the fulfilment of desires. May the Kṛttikās carry our family across the hard saṃsāra.

  • The yajamāna (the one who keeps the vrata) walks six steps with the brāhmaṇa as he leaves with the mūrtis.

The phala

The man who keeps this vrata gets a chariot that blazes like the sun and goes to the nakshatra-loka. The woman who keeps it, together with her husband, gets a home in the nakshatra-loka. The vrata purifies the kula (family line) of the one who keeps it, and also his or her ancestors, across seven generations.

Sources

  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 103