Book Satyanarayana Pooja

What is Satyanarayana Vratham?

Satyanarayana Vratham is the worship of Lord Vishnu as Satyanarayana — Narayana who is Truth itself. The vratham and its story come from the Reva Khanda of the Skanda Purana, where Lord Vishnu describes it to Narada Muni as the simplest way for people in the age of Kali to be free of sorrow and to have their wishes fulfilled.

It needs no elaborate homam and no long fast. What matters is devotion, the offering of the special prasadam, and listening to the vratha katha — the five chapters of the story below — with family and friends gathered together.

When is it performed?

• On Purnima (full moon), Ekadashi or Sankranti, traditionally in the evening
• After a griha pravesh, a wedding (as the couple's first pooja together) or the birth of a child
• To give thanks when a wish is fulfilled, or to keep a vow (mokku) made in difficult times
• On birthdays, anniversaries, a new job or business, or recovery from illness

In the Telugu states the vratham is closely tied to Annavaram, where Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy is worshipped on Ratnagiri hill and families perform the vratham every day of the year.

The prasadam

The prasadam (sapaadam) is made from wheat rava, ghee, sugar and milk, each in a measure of one and a quarter, with bananas and cardamom. Everyone present should receive and eat it — the story itself warns against leaving the Lord's prasadam untouched.

The story (vratha katha)

Chapter 1 — Narada's question

At Naimisharanya, the sages led by Shaunaka asked Suta how people could attain their wishes in the age of Kali. Suta told them what Lord Vishnu had once told Narada Muni. Seeing people on earth suffering, Narada had gone to the Lord and asked for a simple remedy. The Lord described the Satyanarayana Vratham: performed with devotion on any day, and especially on the evening of a full moon, with Ganesha worshipped first, the Lord worshipped with flowers, incense and lamps, the prasadam offered, and the story heard together with relatives and friends. Whoever keeps it, the Lord said, is freed from sorrow and blessed with wealth, children and peace.

Chapter 2 — The poor Brahmin and the woodcutter

In Kashi lived a poor Brahmin named Shatananda, who wandered every day begging for food. Moved by his devotion, the Lord appeared to him as an old Brahmin and taught him the vratham. Shatananda performed it the next day with the alms he received, and his poverty came to an end.

A woodcutter who stopped at his house to rest saw the pooja, asked about it, and vowed to perform it with whatever he earned that day. His firewood sold for twice the usual price; he performed the vratham with his family and lived in prosperity ever after.

Chapter 3 — The merchant's broken promise

King Ulkamukha and his queen were performing the vratham on the banks of the river Bhadrashila when a merchant named Sadhu stopped his boat and asked what they were doing. Longing for a child, he vowed to perform the vratham if he were blessed with one. His wife Lilavati soon gave birth to a daughter, Kalavati — but Sadhu put off his vow, first until the child grew up and then until her wedding. Even after Kalavati was married, he set out on a trading voyage with his son-in-law without keeping his promise.

In the city of Ratnasarapura, thieves who had robbed King Chandraketu's treasury dropped the stolen wealth near the merchants as they fled. The king's guards arrested Sadhu and his son-in-law, seized their goods and threw them into prison. At home, Lilavati and Kalavati lost everything and were reduced to begging.

One evening Kalavati saw the Satyanarayana Vratham being performed in a Brahmin's house. She listened to the story, received the prasadam and told her mother, and the two of them performed the vratham with devotion, praying for the safe return of their family.

Chapter 4 — The boat of leaves and the forgotten prasadam

Pleased by their prayers, the Lord appeared in King Chandraketu's dream and told him the merchants were innocent. The king released them, returned their wealth twice over and sent them home with honour.

On the way, the Lord came to the boat as a sanyasi and asked what it was carrying. Sadhu mockingly replied, "Only creepers and leaves." "So be it," said the sanyasi — and the treasure turned into creepers and leaves. Realising his mistake, Sadhu begged for forgiveness, and the wealth returned.

When the boat reached home, Kalavati was in the middle of the vratham. In her hurry to meet her husband she left without taking the prasadam — and the boat, with her husband on it, sank before her eyes. A voice from the sky told her it was because the Lord's prasadam had been disregarded. Kalavati hurried back, ate the prasadam with devotion, and her husband and the boat rose safely from the water. From then on the family performed the vratham on every full moon.

Chapter 5 — King Tungadhwaja's pride

Returning from a hunt, King Tungadhwaja saw cowherds performing the vratham under a tree. Proud of his rank, he neither bowed to the Lord nor accepted the prasadam they offered him. Soon he lost his sons, his wealth and his peace. Understanding the cause, he returned to the same place, worshipped the Lord together with the cowherds, humbly accepted the prasadam, and everything he had lost was restored.

The message of the vratham

The katha teaches that Truth (satya) is itself God: keep the promises you make, never look down on a prasadam or on devotees of any station, and remember the Lord in good times as well as bad. Whoever performs the vratham — or even listens to its story — with faith is said to be freed from sorrow and to receive the Lord's grace.