Saubhāgya Śayana Vrata

Saubhāgya Śayana Vrata, “the vow of the bed of good fortune”

The Saubhāgya Śayana Vrata is a vrata of the Matsya Purāṇa, Chapter 60. Lalitā and Parameśvara are worshipped together on Caitra Śukla Tṛtīyā, the third day of the bright fortnight of Caitra, and on every śukla tṛtīyā after it through twelve months. The text also speaks of 12 or 18 years of keeping it. The vrata remembers the marriage of Lalitā to Parameśvara. At its end an Umā-Maheśvara pratimā (image) is given in dāna on a bed. The phala is a stay in Kailāsa for ten thousand kalpas.

The Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 178, also teaches this vrata. There Agni Deva tells it to Vasishṭha Maharshi among the vratas of the tṛtīyā tithi, as the Mūla-Gaurī vrata kept on Lalitā-tṛtīyā, and names it the Saubhāgyaśayana at its close. Parameśvara married Devī Pārvatī on Caitra Śukla Tṛtīyā, and the two are worshipped together, limb by limb, with paired name-mantras. Each month has its own flower, its own food and its own name of the Devī. The eight saubhāgya-dravyas (articles of good fortune) are given away, and at the end a bed with a golden mūrti of Umā-Maheśvara is given to the guru. The vrata gives saubhāgya, health, beauty and long life, and both bhukti (enjoyment in this world) and mukti (moksha).

The origin of saubhāgya

Saubhāgya is the splendour of beauty and grace. At the time of pralaya (the dissolution), the saubhāgya of all beings gathered in one place and passed to Vaikuṇṭha, where it rested on the chest of Vishṇu.

At the beginning of creation, Brahmā and Vishṇu fell into a dispute. A great flame in the form of a liṅga rose up. In its heat the mass of saubhāgya melted from the chest of Vishṇu and fell outward. Daksha, the mānasa-putra (mind-born son) of Brahmā, caught a part of it before it reached the earth. The moment he touched it he became beautiful, strong and bright.

What fell on the ground became eight sacred things, called the saubhāgya-ashṭaka:

1. Ikshu (sugarcane)
2. Yava-śarkarā (barley sugar)
3. Jātiprala (nutmeg)
4. Dhanyaka (coriander)
5. Vikṛta-go-kshīra (altered cow’s milk)
6. Kuṅkuma (saffron-flower)
7. Babbara (bobbara gram)
8. Lavaṇa (salt)

Satī, the daughter of Daksha, drank the essence of these eight things. So she was born as the most beautiful being in the three worlds, and she is known as Lalitā. She was then given in marriage to Parameśvara on Caitra Śukla Tṛtīyā.

When it begins

The vrata begins on Caitra Śukla Tṛtīyā, the day on which Lalitā and Parameśvara were married. On this day:

• the devotee bathes with tila (sesame), tila-piṇḍi and tila-taila (sesame oil);
• the pratimās of Lalitā and Parameśvara are worshipped with pañcagavya (the five products of the cow) and fragrant waters.

The pūjā: paired names for each limb

The pūjā uses paired names for each limb, one name for Lalitā and one for Parameśvara together. Twenty-one pairs cover the whole body.

After the pūjā the eight things of the saubhāgya-ashṭaka are set before Lalitā and Parameśvara and offered as naivedya (food offering). The one who keeps the vrata fasts. He or she takes only go-śṛṅga-jala (water held in cow horns) and sleeps on the ground.

The monthly schedule

The vrata is repeated on every śukla tṛtīyā for twelve months. Each month has its own food for the upavāsa (fast) day, its own mantra and its own flower.

The dāna at the end

At the end of the twelve months an Umā-Maheśvara pratimā is placed on a bed made for the purpose, with all its things: pillows, cāndanī, cāmara, ornaments, fruits and garments. It is given to brāhmaṇa couples. Further gifts of cloth, grain, ornaments and cows are made according to one’s means. One must show neither meanness nor pride in this dāna.

Those who kept it before

Brahmādeva, Kārtavīryārjuna, Varuṇa and Nandī kept this vrata in earlier times.

The phala

Those who keep this vrata, men or women, receive:

• in this life: kīrti (fame), saubhāgya, ārogya (health), rūpa (beauty), āyuḥ (long life), cloth, adornment and ornaments;
• 300 arbuda years of rājatva (royal life);
• for those who keep it for 12 or 18 years without a break: ten thousand kalpas in Kailāsa, waited on by the devas.

Those who hear or read this account reach vidyādharatva (the state of a vidyādhara) and a home in svarga-loka.

Per Agni Purāṇa

In the Agni Purāṇa, Agni Deva teaches the vratas of the tṛtīyā tithi to Vasishṭha Maharshi. “I shall now tell the tṛtīyā vratas, which give bhukti and mukti,” he says. “Hear the Mūla-Gaurī vrata, kept on Lalitā-tṛtīyā.” Parameśvara married Devī Pārvatī on Caitra Śukla Tṛtīyā. So on that day the devotee bathes in water mixed with tila (sesame) and worships Parameśvara together with Devī Pārvatī with gold, fruits and other offerings.

The aṅga-pūjā of Śiva and Pārvatī

The pūjā goes limb by limb, from the feet to the head. For each limb one name-mantra is said for Bhagavān Śiva and one for Devī Pārvatī, in the order the text prints them.

The pūjā is closed with “sarvātmane namaḥ”.

The eight saubhāgya-dravyas

After the pūjā of Umā-Maheśvara, eight saubhāgya-dravyas (articles of good fortune) are set before them:

1. Nishpāva (a bean) mixed with ghee
2. Kusumbha (safflower)
3. Milk
4. Jīvaka
5. Dūrvā grass
6. A stick of sugarcane
7. Salt
8. Coriander

In Caitra the devotee drinks water from a mountain peak and sleeps before Pārvatī-Parameśvara. In the morning he bathes, worships Pārvatī-Parameśvara, honours a brāhmaṇa couple and gives away the eight saubhāgya-dravyas, saying “lalitā prīyatāṃ mama” (“may Lalitā be pleased with me”).

The twelve months

The vrata goes on through the twelve months, beginning with Caitra. Each month Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped with the flower of that month, the vratī takes the food of that month on the vrata day, and a name of the Devī is joined to “prīyatāṃ mama” when the saubhāgyāshṭaka (the eight articles) is given. The text prints twelve flowers, nine foods and eleven names, in order from Caitra.

The completion and the phala

When the vrata is over, the vratī gives up some one fruit for good. He gives the guru a bed with pillows, a golden mūrti of Umā-Maheśvara, and a bull together with a cow. One who honours the guru and brāhmaṇa couples with garments and other gifts obtains bhukti and mukti. This vrata is the Saubhāgyaśayana: by it a person gains saubhāgya, ārogya (health), rūpa (beauty) and long life.

The second vidhi

The vrata may also be kept on the śukla tṛtīyās of Bhādrapada, Vaiśākha and Mārgaśīrsha. Devī Pārvatī is worshipped with “lalitāyai namaḥ”. One who worships her so in every paksha, and at the end gives garments to twenty-four couples, gains bhukti and mukti. This is the second vidhi of the Saubhāgyaśayana.

In the same chapter Agni Deva goes on to the Saubhāgya-tṛtīyā vrata, in which the vratī gives up salt on the śukla tṛtīyās from Phālguna on and at the end gives a bed and a furnished house, saying “bhavānī prīyatām”; then the Damanaka-tṛtīyā of Caitra and the Ātma-tṛtīyā of Mārgaśīrsha.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 178

Sources

• Matsya Purāṇa, Chapter 60
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 178