132 - Sacred Rites (Vratas)

Brahma said: 

1. The devotee shall perform Vrata on the eighth day taking food only in the night. When the Vrata has been performed for a year he shall make a gift of a cow. This is called Sadgativrata and the devotee attains the status of Indra. 

2. The same Vrata performed on the eighth day in the bright half of the month of Pausha is called Maharudravrata. The fruit of that Vrata is a hundred thousand times more fruitful, if it is dedicated unto me. 

3. If Ashtami (eighth day in either half) and Wednesday coincide, the Vrata is to be performed. Such votaries will never lose their riches as in the story. 

4. The devotee shall aspire for salvation alone. He must have perfect devotion and full faith. Only eight handfuls of grains shall be used for food by him and the handfuls shall be with the thumb and the index finger stretched out. 

5. The food is taken on the leaves of a mango tree made into a cup and covered with Kusha grass. The Kalambika (a kind of green vegetable) cooked in tamarind water is taken along with the food. The fruit of such a Vrata is whatever one desires. 

6. In a pond or a river Budha (Mercury) shall be worshipped with the five usual forms of propitiation or articles of worship. Dakshina in accordance with the capacity of the devotee shall be given. A Karkari (water jar with small holes in the bottom) full of rice grains shall also be given as gift. 

7. The mystic lotus symbol, etc. shall be used. The Bija mantra is Bum Budhaya Svaha. The god shall be contemplated as armed with arrows and bow and dark in colour. The Angas (limbs) are in the middle. 

8. The performer shall hear the story of Budhashtami narrated by scholars. There was a certain famous brahmin named Vira in the city of Pataliputra. 

9. His wife was Rambha. They had a virtuous son named Kaushika and a daughter named Vijaya. They had a bullock named Dhanapala. 

10. On a summer day the boy Kaushika took the bullock to the river Ganga and began to play with the cow-herds there. The bullock was stolen by thieves forcibly. 

11. The grief-stricken boy left the river bank and wandered through the forest. The daughter Vijay, who came there to fetch water accompanied her brother. 

12. The poor buy became thirsty and so in search of lotus stalks came to a lake where he was surprised to see the remnants of the articles of worship used by celestial damsels. 

13. He approached the divine damsels and begged them for food for himself and his hungry sister. They directed him to perform the Vrata saying "Practise this Vrata. We shall give you food." 

14. The children performed the Vrata, the boy for the sake of recovering the lost bullock Dhanapala and the girl for securing a suitable husband. The children took two mangoleaf cupfuls of food given by the damsels. 

15. The children saw the bullock returned to them by the thieves and reached home by dusk. 

16. Vira had been grief-stricken. The children bowed to him. They spent the night in sound sleep. The father was now worried on seeing his daughter blooming into a young lady, "To whom shall I give my daughter?" he mused loudly. 

17. As is usual, the girl said "To Yama" out of her sorrow, but really on account of the good effects of her Vrata. The parents passed away and Kaushika performed the Vrata again for the sake of kingdom. 

18. As a result of the Vrata. Kaushika became the king of Ayodhya and gave his sister in marriage to Yama. Yama told Vijaya- "Be the lady of my house in my own city." 

19. There in Yama's city she saw her mother bound by noose and tortured. The grief-stricken Vijaya remembered that the Vrata had the potentiality of yielding salvation 

20-21. She herself performed the Vrata and the mother attained salvation due to the meritorious potentialities of the Vrata. She went to heaven and stayed there happily.