Pañcarātra Pūjā of Vāsudeva

Kriyā-Yoga is the Pañcarātra system of worship of Bhagavān Vāsudeva. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa taught it to Nārada in the Vāsudeva Māhātmya of the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, in Chapters 26 to 30. It is the practical means of reaching Ekāntika Dharma, the dharma of single-minded devotion to Bhagavān Vāsudeva. It covers who may keep it, the daily routine of the initiated devotee, the Rādhā-Kṛshṇa maṇḍala (sacred diagram), the meditation (dhyāna) on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Rādhā, the order of the pūjā, and Ashṭāṅga Yoga, including the yogic way of leaving the body.

The purpose of Kriyā-Yoga

After Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa had taught the meaning of Ekāntika Dharma and the nine kinds of bhakti (devotion), He said: “For the accomplishment of Ekānta-Dharma, one should devote oneself to Kriyā-Yoga. Thereby a man attains to the stage wherein he is exempted from the consequences of karmas.”

Nārada asked more. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa then explained: “Performance of worship as per injunctions is declared as the Kriyā-Yoga of Vāsudeva. It is described in different ways in the Vedas and the Tantras. Due to differences in the tastes of devotees and the diversity in the forms of Vāsudeva, it is vast and varied.”

Who may keep it, and dīkshā

All persons who have received Vaishṇava initiation (dīkshā) may keep Kriyā-Yoga. This holds for men and women, for all four varṇas, and for all four stages of life. The Vāsudeva Māhātmya is a Pañcarātra Āgama text.

Mantras are given by eligibility:

  • The twice-born varṇas may worship with Vedic, Tāntric and Purāṇic mantras, and also with the Mūla-Mantra.
  • Initiated women and pious Śūdras use the Mūla-Mantra. It is the six-syllable Śrīkṛshṇa mantra:

śrī-kṛshṇāya namaḥ

This means “Salutation to Śrī Kṛshṇa.”

The guru. The teacher who gives dīkshā must be a Brāhmaṇa established in Ekāntika Dharma. He is a store of mercy, has spiritual knowledge and devotion, and keeps his own dharma. A man whose heart is held by women must never be accepted as guru. Initiation from such a teacher bears no fruit.

Marks after dīkshā. After dīkshā the devotee wears a rosary of Tulasī beads. He applies ūrdhvapuṇḍra marks (vertical lines) of white Gopīcandana clay on the forehead and on other parts of the body.

Daily routine of the initiated devotee

The devotee rises in the last watch of the night, at Brāhma Muhūrta (24 minutes before sunrise). Then he does these in order:

  1. He meditates in the heart on Keśava for half a Muhūrta (24 minutes).
  2. He glorifies the names of Bhagavān Vishṇu and of His devotees for one Ghaṭī (24 minutes).
  3. He does the acts of purification and cleans the teeth.
  4. He bathes and offers tarpaṇa as laid down.
  5. He wears two washed and dried cloths and sits on a pure seat.
  6. He applies two vertical Gopīcandana lines on the forehead.
  7. He does sandhyā (twilight prayers), homa (fire worship), japa and his daily duties.

The Rādhā-Kṛshṇa Maṇḍala

The heart of Kriyā-Yoga is the making and worship of the full Pañcarātra Maṇḍala (Chapter 27). On a white cloth, which stands for Śveta-dvīpa, a lotus of eight petals with a bright pericarp is drawn. Its three zones (pericarp, filaments and petals) hold all the divine forms. Around it a city with four gates is made with coloured powders. The eastern gate is red, the southern dark, the western yellow and the northern crystal-clear.

The pericarp: Rādhā-Kṛshṇa and the Vyūhas

In the middle of the pericarp is Śrī Kṛshṇa, with Rādhikā on His left.

  • Behind them is Saṃkarshaṇa. He is four-armed, fair, in blue garments, and holds an umbrella. He stands for the jīva (the Self).
  • On the right is Pradyumna. He is four-armed, dark like a cloud, in yellow garments, and holds a cāmara (fly-whisk). He stands for buddhi (the mind).
  • On the left is Aniruddha. He is dark blue like a sapphire, in red garments, and holds a cāmara. He stands for ahaṃkāra (ego).

Sixteen avatāras on the eight filaments

On each of the eight filaments (kesaras) a pair of avatāras is placed:

  • East: Vāmana and Buddha. Buddha is dark, compassionate and celibate, in white garments, with a lotus in the right hand and abhaya (the sign of fearlessness) with the left.
  • South-east: Kalkin and Paraśurāma. They are fair, red-eyed and have matted hair. They hold a sword and an axe respectively.
  • South: Hayagrīva, horse-headed, four-armed, golden, in white garments; and Varāha, boar-faced and reddish-brown, four-armed with conch, discus, pestle and lotus.
  • South-west: Matsya (the Fish) and Kūrma (the Tortoise). The lower body is fish or tortoise and the upper body is man-like. Their bodies are dark, with a conch in the left hand and a mace in the right.
  • West: Dhanvantari, fair, in white garments, with a pitcher of nectar; and Narasiṃha, lion-faced, with the lustre of a blue lotus, two-armed with mace and discus.
  • North-west: Haṃsa and Dattātreya. Dattātreya has matted hair, yogic dress, is white, and holds a staff and a water-gourd.
  • North: Vyāsa, black, in white garments, with tawny matted hair, holding the Vedas; and Gaṇapati, elephant-faced, one-tusked, red, four-armed with noose, goad and pen.
  • North-east: Kapila, white, with a lotus in one hand and abhaya in the other, quiet and still; and Sanatkumāra, who looks like a five-year-old child, naked, with slight matted hair.

Sixteen attendants on the eight petals

On the petals, going clockwise from the east, are these pairs:

  • East: Vishvaksena and Garuḍa
  • South-east: Prabala and Bala
  • South: Kumuda and Kumudāksha
  • South-west: Sunanda and Nanda
  • West: Śrutadeva and Jayanta
  • North-west: Vijaya and Jaya
  • North: Pracaṇḍa and Caṇḍa
  • North-east: Pushpadanta and Sātvata

All are four-armed with conch, discus, lotus and iron club. They are dark, crowned and dressed in yellow.

Eight Siddhis

In the spaces between the petals are the eight Siddhis: Aṇimā (east), Laghimā (south-east), Prāpti (south), Prākāmya (south-west), Mahimā (west), Iśitā (north-west), Vaśitā (north) and Kāmāvasāyitā (north-east). All are shown golden, decorated with all ornaments, and holding musical instruments such as the flute and the lute.

Four Vedas and four Śāstras

At the front ends of the petals stand the four Vedas:

  • Ṛgveda (east): white, short, pot-bellied.
  • Yajurveda (south): of middle height, yellow.
  • Sāmaveda (west): tall, in golden garments, singing.
  • Atharvaveda (north): white body, blue dress, old, red-eyed, holding a khaṭvāṅga.

In the intermediate quarters stand the four Śāstras:

  • Dharmaśāstra (south-east): white, holding a necklace and a balance.
  • Sāṃkhya (south-west): fat, white, with a staff and a rosary.
  • Yoga (north-west): golden, thin-waisted, gazing at the tip of the nose.
  • Pañcarātra (north-east): white, wearing forest flowers, holding a rosary and a ploughshare.

Eight pairs of ṛshis

In the space between the outer petal-ends, going clockwise from the east, are the eight pairs of ṛshis and their wives: Marīci with Kalā, Atri with Anasūyā, Aṅgiras with Śraddhā, Pulastya with Havirbhū, Pulaha with Gati, Kratu with Kriyā, Bhṛgu with Khyāti and Vasishṭha with Arundhatī.

Eight Dikpālas

Outside the lotus, in the eight quarters, are the guardians of the directions: Indra on Airāvata (east), Agni (south-east), Yama (south), Nirṛti (south-west), Varuṇa (west), Vāyu (north-west), Kubera (north) and Ardhanārīśvara, the half-form of Śiva and Pārvatī (north-east).

Eight planets

Outside the city, in the eight main and intermediate directions, are the Sun (east), Venus or Bhṛgu (south-east), Mars (south), Rāhu (south-west), Saturn (west), the Moon (north-west), Mercury (north) and Jupiter (north-east).

Dhyāna: meditation on Kṛshṇa and Rādhā

The devotee first sips water, does breath-control with the recitation of Oṃ bhūr, bows to the devas he wishes, and declares the time and place. Then he makes the saṅkalpa (vow): “I shall perform the worship of Vāsudeva for the accomplishment of Ekānta-Dharma.” (Chapter 28)

Then he does nyāsa (placing the mantra on the body) with four main mantras:

  1. The twelve-syllable mantra: Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
  2. The Vishṇu Gāyatrī:

nārāyaṇāya vidmahe, vāsudevāya dhīmahi, tanno vishṇuḥ pracodayāt

  1. The eight-syllable mantra: Oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya.
  2. The six-syllable mantra: Oṃ vishṇave namaḥ.

Meditation on Kṛshṇa. He is a lad below fifteen years, beautiful like ten million devas of love joined together. His divine limbs are full of fitting beauty. His body is pure and charming like the autumn moon. His arms are long and lovely. His lotus feet have tender reddish soles, with tinkling anklets and swan-foot-shaped foot ornaments. His calves are well rounded, and his knees and thighs are even. He wears a yellow garment tied with a girdle of excellent jewels. His chest is broad and high, beautified by the Śrīvatsa mark. He wears pearl necklaces of twenty-four strings (Gucchārdha) and one hundred strings (Devaccanda), a gold sacred thread and garlands. His shoulders are broad and his mighty arms wear armlets. He wears a garland of forest flowers with humming bees, and the shining Kaustubha gem. His lips are red like the Bimba fruit. His face is like the full moon, with a slight white smile. His nose is fine, shaped like a sesamum flower. His ear-rings are crocodile-shaped. His hair is curly, fine, black and glossy. His crown is richly set with excellent jewels of many kinds. His glance falls with affection on His devotees.

Meditation on Rādhā, standing on Kṛshṇa’s left. She has two hands, a fair complexion like gold, and a clean reddish-yellow garment. Her ornaments shine, with jewelled ear-rings. Her nose is like a parrot’s. She is young, below fifteen years, with eyes like a young deer’s. Her breasts are full, her waist slender and her hips large. She wears a jewelled girdle and brilliant ornaments. Her face is like a full-blown lotus with a smile. Her hands shine with rings, armlets and bangles. Her lotus feet have tinkling anklets. A saffron tilaka is on her broad forehead. Her lips are red like the Bimba fruit. Her braids are decorated with jasmine flowers. She gazes with love at Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and holds a lotus in her hand.

Pūjā Vidhi: the order of worship

After establishing Bhagavān Vāsudeva in the mūrti, the devotee does the following (Chapter 29):

  1. Waking. He rings a bell, takes it that Bhagavān Vāsudeva has risen from sleep, and brushes the teeth (in imagination).
  2. Pādya. He offers water mixed with Śyāmāka grain, the Vishṇukrāntā plant, Dūrvā grass and a lotus, for washing the feet.
  3. Arghya. He offers water with sandal-paste, unbroken rice grains, flowers, Darbha grass, gingelly, mustard, barley seeds and Dūrvā.
  4. Ācamanīya and bath. He offers water fragrant with nutmeg, cloves, cardamoms, Kaṅkola and Andropogon root.
  5. Pañcāmṛta bath. He bathes the mūrti with five substances, each with its mantra. The five are milk (mantra āpyāyasva), curds (dadhikrāvaṇo), ghee (ghṛtam mimikshe), honey (madhu vātā) and sugar (svāduḥ pavasva).
  6. Purity bath. He bathes with fragrant hot water and wipes the mūrti clean.
  7. Dress and ornaments. He dresses Kṛshṇa and Rādhā in costly clothes as his means allow, and puts on gold and jewelled ornaments. He applies tilaka marks of sandal or saffron according to the season. He adorns Rādhikā with her ornaments and draws a tilaka and decorative figures on her with saffron.
  8. Garlands. He shows the mirror. He worships with garlands and with one thousand Tulasī sprouts. Each flower or Tulasī leaf is offered with a name of Vishṇu in the dative followed by namaḥ, so that the Sahasranāma is completed.
  9. Incense and lamp. He offers Daśāṅga incense and a lamp with two wicks in ghee.
  10. Naivedya (food offering). On a four-footed stool he places Samyāva, Pāyasa (rice in milk), Apūpa, Śashkulī-khaṇḍa, Ladduka, Pūrikā, Polikā, boiled rice with kidney beans, condiments, curds, milk and ghee. He offers water from time to time to wash the hands.
  11. Betel. He offers a betel leaf with betel-nut, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg powder.
  12. Kīrtana. For one Muhūrta (48 minutes) he glorifies the name, singing and dancing before Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.
  13. Ārati. He waves a lamp before Bhagavān Kṛshṇa with instrumental music.
  14. Circumambulation and prostration. He walks around the mūrti and falls down like a staff, slightly across towards the south. There are two kinds of prostration. Ashṭāṅga (eight limbs) is when two feet, hands, knees, chest, head, sight, speech and mind touch the ground. Pañcāṅga (five limbs) is two hands, mind, bowing of the head, speech and sight. This is for women.
  15. Closing prayer. “O Bhagavān Vāsudeva, I have submitted myself to you. Please protect me who am afraid of saṃsāra.”
  16. Rest. He establishes Rādhā-Kṛshṇa again in the lotus of the heart. He sends all the Aṅga-devas back to their places. He lays the mūrti in the cane box for rest. He performs vaiśvadeva, shares the remnants with his dependents, and spends the rest of the day hearing or telling the stories of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

The phala of daily worship

The text says: “He who daily performs the great worship as per procedure, worshipping Vishṇu with devotion, becomes his attendant. Ascending in a refulgent divine car coveted by the devas, the worshipper, endowed with a brilliant celestial body, goes to Hari’s region called Goloka.”

Ashṭāṅga Yoga: the eight limbs

In Chapter 30 Nārada says that control of the mind is very difficult. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa answers that the practice of Ashṭāṅga Yoga is the chief means, and gives fruit at once, for controlling the mind. The eight limbs are, in order:

  1. Yama (restraints): non-violence, celibacy, truth, non-stealing and non-possession.
  2. Niyama (observances): purity, tapas, contentment, study of the Veda and worship of Vishṇu.
  3. Āsana: keeping the body in a comfortable, steady posture (Svastika and others). It overcomes the mental distress that comes from pairs of opposites.
  4. Prāṇāyāma: holding at one place the vital breaths that wander everywhere. It is done with pūraka (inhalation), kumbhaka (holding) and recaka (exhalation). When the breath is steady the mind becomes steady.
  5. Pratyāhāra: the backward pull of the mind and the sense organs from their objects.
  6. Dhāraṇā: fixing the mind together with the vital breath on the form of Vāsudeva in the different cakras, from the navel onward.
  7. Dhyāna: meditation step by step on each part of the body of Bhagavān Vāsudeva, beginning from the lotus feet.
  8. Samādhi: absorption of the vital breath and mind in Hari with deep love. It is the perfection of Yoga.

The yogic way of leaving the body

A knower of Yoga avoids the coming time of death. He gives up his body of his own will by entering samādhi. The way passes through six cakras:

  1. Mūlādhāra (the place of death). He presses the anus with both heels and draws up the vital breath from between the two feet.
  2. Svādhishṭhāna (the place of Prajāpati). He meditates on Keśava and mutters the six-syllable mantra keśavāya namaḥ. He takes the vital breath to this place.
  3. He takes it through Maṇipūra (the navel), Anāhata (the heart) and Viśuddha (the throat) to Ājñā (between the eyebrows).
  4. After closing the seven openings of the body, he brings the vital breath with the senses and the mind to the crown of the head (Tālu).
  5. He goes on to Brahmarandhra. He gives up desire for all objects of Māyā, joins the mind with Vāsudeva and drops the mortal body.
  6. The text says: “Then coming to the abode of Śrī Kṛshṇa which is beyond darkness, endowed with a celestial body, one lives in bliss, serving Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.”

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapters 25–26 (the purpose of Kriyā-Yoga)
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 26 (eligibility, dīkshā and daily routine)
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 27 (the maṇḍala)
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapters 27–28 (dhyāna)
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 29 (pūjā vidhi)
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vāsudeva Māhātmya, Chapter 30 (Ashṭāṅga Yoga and the yogic way of leaving the body)