Lalitikā Upākhyāna

The Lalitikā Upākhyāna is the account of a woman who by chance made a lamp burn brighter in front of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Because of the puṇya (merit) of that act, she was born as the daughter of the king of Vidarbha. In that life she taught dīpa-dāna (the offering of lamps) to her co-wives, and all of them reached Vishṇuloka. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells it to show the glory of offering lamps.

The accidental brightening of the lamp

In an earlier birth, a woman was standing near a lamp that burned before the mūrti of Bhagavān Vishṇu. By some chance movement, and not by plan, she made the lamp burn brighter. The lamp was offered to Vishṇu’s mūrti, so the puṇya of her act came back to her, even though she had not meant it.

Rebirth as Lalitikā

The puṇya she had gathered made her be born as the daughter of the king of Vidarbha. In this birth she was named Lalitikā. She grew up in the royal household, bright and auspicious. The light and beauty of her body showed the fruit of her lamp-offering in the past life.

Teaching the co-wives

Lalitikā understood, through the clear wisdom that her puṇya had given her, why she had been born so fortunate. She told her co-wives in the royal household about dīpa-dāna, the offering of lamps to Vishṇu. She taught them the right way to do it, the phalaśruti (the list of its fruits), and the great power of this simple act of offering light.

All her co-wives took up the practice. By keeping dīpa-dāna faithfully, all of them, together with Lalitikā, reached Vishṇuloka at the end of their lives.

The teaching

The account shows that even an accidental act of making Vishṇu’s lamp burn brighter brings puṇya that changes a birth. A lamp offered with devotion brings greater fruit. The longer teaching on dīpa-dāna is given in Chapter 166 of the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, and this account in Chapter 167 shows by a living example what that teaching promises.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 167
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 166 (the teaching on dīpa-dāna)