Chatur Masa – Dadhi Vrata

Dadhi means Yogurt, curd, or mosaru. Dadhi vrata in Chatur Masa starts from Today Putrada Ekadashi to ends September 6th. During this month all food items using curd are avoided.

You can use butter milk instead of Curd. The Dadhi vrata ends on the Shukla Paksha Ekadasi in Bhadrapad masa.

So, starting tomorrow you can offer any fruit, dry fruit and coconut as naivedya. I had a tough time just offering Mangoes and Candy Sugar as naivedya daily.

I am excited to offer all types of fruits, dry fruits, coconut and also other food items starting tomorrow daily and for Upakarma, Shravana Friday’s, Rayaru Aaradhane and Krisha Janmastami.

Hope you all have a great remainder of Shravana Festival season.

And here are the slokas to recite from UM Panchanga:

ಶಾಕವ್ರತ ಸಮರ್ಪಣ

ವಾಸುದೇವ ನಮಸ್ತುಭ್ಯಂ ಆಷಾಢ ಮತ್ಯತೇನ ಚ |

ಶಾಕವ್ರತೇನ ದೇವೇಶ ಪ್ರಸನ್ನೋ ಭವ ಮಾಧವ

Śhakavrata Samarpaṇa

Vasudeva Namastubhyam Ashada Matyatena Cha |

Shakavrate’s Devesha Prasanno Bhava Madhava

ದಧಿ ವ್ರತ ಸಂಕಲ್ಪ

ಸಂಕರ್ಷಣಾರವಿಂದಾಕ್ಷ ಕರಿಷ್ಯಽಹಂ ದಧಿವ್ರತಮ್ |

ದ್ವಿತೀಯೇ ಮಾಸಿ ದೇವೇಶ ನಿರ್ವಿಘ್ನಂ ಕುರು ಮೇ ಪ್ರಭೋ ।।

Dadhi vrata Sankalpa

Sankarshanaravindaksha Karishyaham Dadhivaratam |

Dweeteyo maasi devesha nirvighnam kuru mei prabho ||

Karkataka Sankramana – Dakshinayana

This year in the US, Dakshinayana starts from July 16th Saturday. In India, it is July 17th Sunday.

Below some additional details:

The term Uttarāyaṇa  is derived from two different Sanskrit words – “uttara” (North) and “ayana” (movement) –  northward movement of the Sun.

Dakshina means South and Aayana means travel or movement. The movement of Sun in the Southern direction is called as Dakṣiṇāyaṇa.

Uttarayana or Dakshinayana consists of six months each is the time taken by the Sun to travel from one house to the other during these periods.

Our Hindu calendar is  divided into two periods  of six months each.

Sun is the central point for both Uttarayana and Dakshinayana.

Legend also has it that Uttarayana represents Gods and Dakshinayana represents Pithrus. Uttarayana is the day time and Dakshinayana is the night time for all Gods. 

All major festivals are during the Dakshinayana period including Shravana Masa, Chatur Masa, Dasara, and Deepavali. Pitru Paksha is also during this period. 

On this day, Karkataka Sankramana when the transition happens from Uttarayana to Dakshinayana, tarpana is given to forefathers. As always Anna dana is good. Any religious activity such as reciting Vishnu Sahasranama, other devotional songs and slokas can be recited.

Chaturmaasa Vrata Details

So many of you had asked for details about Chaturmasa Vrata which starts from Aashada Shukla Dwadashi which is Wednesday July 21st 2021. I saw this amazing tweet on Twitter by @bhargavasarma about a PDF they have compiled for all the details. I asked for permission to post the link here and they readily obliged.

A million thanks to @bhargavasarma for providing these details and allowing to share the link.

Please find details in this google docs about all you need to know about Chaturmaasa, it’s significance, and every thing else you need to know.

Download a copy from this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mn2IvJTqWO9SzyM0hhLCzwM3qUPF3MPE/view

2019-2020 Important Dates

Please find attached a neat handy version of important festival dates for Vikarinama Samvatsara. All credit to the webmaster who created this. I am just sharing it.

Chaturmasa 2018 and Significance of 1 Lakh

During Aadhika Masa, I posted the significance of 33 and all the details. Many of us even did follow them. During Chaturmasa which is coming soon, there are many many vrathas you can follow. In 2018, Chaturmasa starts from July 23rd Monday and ends on November 19th 2018. If you know Sanskrit, Chatur means four and masa means month, Vrata means performing religious activities.  It is 4 months during which it is said Lord Narayana is in deep sleep. Of course, not like us.  These four months are very dear to God and any religious activity or any good deed you do which will be very dear to Lord Narayana.

There are also food restrictions during this 4 month period like you all know.

First month – Saakha Vratha:  Any kind of  vegetable and fruit is prohibited

Second month – Dadhi Vratha: No yogurt, butter milk is allowed

Third month – Ksheera Vratha: No milk

Fourth month – Dwidala Vratha: Any daal or vegetable which when broken splits into two halves. All type of Daals, groundnuts, green peas, any fruit or vegetable that contain multiple seeds is not allowed; apple, orange, grape, pomegranate, cucumber etc etc

Again, not easy to follow, but if you can that’s awesome. Many I know follow this food restriction on dwadashi days.

My eyes brightened when I saw in our Uttaradi mutta panchanga about 1 lakh pradakshina or a few other activities you could do for the next 4 months.

The above text from our panchanga translated in English “1 lakh namaskaras, pradakshina or 1 lakh tulasi, flowers, 1 lakh Deepa vratha. Start during Aashada masa, and finish during Karthika masa. For 1 lakh deepa, karthika, Magha and Vaishakha masa is great. This vratha should be started by doing punyahavachana which is great. Start by recollecting all the bad things you have done, and beg for forgiveness from God. And doing sankalpa recite

” Chaturmasye thu samprapthe keshave shayanam gathe| Aashadasya sithe pakshe ekadashyam samahithe|| Mama lakshanamaskara vrathasya purushothama| Nirvignam thadvratham sangam kugu thvam krupaya hare| papapankanimagnam mam papavaishyasyabhajanam | vrathenanena supreetha samudhara jagathpathe|| “

reciting this do namasakara.

There is also Mauna Vrata, where you can remain silent for a set period of time and focus on God.

There is also Vachika Vrata, where you can spend time reading religious books, donating books and so on.

You can also do 1 Lakh Japa Vrata recite stotras, sahasranamas, saying Shree Raghavendraya Namaha 1 lakh times.

So, based on what you can do, start simple. I thought I could do 1 lakh Namaskaras, but with my broken ankle not sure will be able to do that. I might try doing 1 lakh Japa or something else.

So, remember start this on July 23rd Ekadashi by reciting the above sloka and than continue for the next 4 months.