Budha-Śravaṇa Prayer

Budhaśravaṇa Prārthanā · budha-śravaṇa-prārthanā, “the prayer to Govinda as Budha-Śravaṇa”

The Budha-Śravaṇa prayer is the prayer to Govinda said at dawn in the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vrata, kept when the Bhādrapada śukla dvādaśī is joined with Śravaṇa nakshatra. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches it to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, for one who cannot keep a long fast.

The setting

The vrata fulfils all desires; one Śravaṇa Dvādaśī gives the fruit of twelve dvādaśīs, and if Budhavāra too falls on it, every act becomes akshaya. In the morning the vratī bathes at a river confluence and fasts, sets up a kalaśa with a pratimā of Bhagavān Vishṇu on it, worships its limbs and keeps jāgaraṇa at night. At dawn he bathes, worships Garuḍadhvaja, offers a handful of flowers and prays.

The prayer

नमो नमस्ते गोविन्द बुधश्रवणसंज्ञक।
अघौघसंक्षयं कृत्वा सर्वसौख्यप्रदो भव॥

namo namaste govinda budhaśravaṇasaṃjñaka |
aghaughasaṃkshayaṃ kṛtvā sarvasaukhyaprado bhava ||

Namaskāra again and again to you, Govinda, known by the name Budha-Śravaṇa. Destroy the flood of pāpa and be the giver of every happiness.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 75

After the prayer

He worships brāhmaṇas learned in the Veda and the Purāṇas and gives the pratimā and all the articles to a brāhmaṇa, saying “may Janārdana be pleased with me”. Śrī Kṛshṇa then tells of a greedy merchant of Śākala who, having once kept this vrata at the meeting of the Toshā and the Candrabhāgā, was fed with curd-rice and water every noon even as a preta in the desert, for whatever is given in the name of Śrī Kṛshṇa is akshaya. Telling this to a lost vaṇik, the merchant was freed, and the vaṇik later freed the other pretas by śrāddha at Gayā, near the Akshayavaṭa.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 75