STORY OF SANKATAHARA CHATURTHI AND THE BENEFITS OF DOING IT

                                    BENEFITS OF SANKATAHARA CHATURTHI
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There are two types of chathurthi. One is sukla patksha chathurthi which comes after New moon day and the other one is krishna patksha chathurthi that comes after Full moon day. In Krishna patksha chathurthi Lord Ganesha's pooja should be performed in the evening when the moon rises in the sky after keeping upvaas for the whole day. This pooja is completed only after giving arkya to lord Chandra. This is called sankatahara chathurthi pooja. It is believed that the person who does this pooja will get relieved from all their worries and troubles.  

 

On sukla patksha chathurthi day in the month of Badrapada nobody should see the cresant moon . If anybody  happens to see it by bad luck , they will face lot of troubles and problems. I will tell a story from purana for this .

Lord Krishna who was born in Yadav family once saw the cresant moon on sukla patksha chathurthi in the month of Badrapada . As the result he had many problems. Once he met the Yadav Raja Rishi  " Sathrajith " . He had a beautiful gem called "chyamanthaka mani" on his neck. This gem is known to give heavy amount of gold when requested. Satrajith got this from the Sun God after worshipping him for so many years.  Krishna told the raja rishi to give that gem to him since such a powerful gem should not be with a rishi  and that it should be with the king "Ugrasenan" for the benefit of everybody. But Satrajith refused since he had already given that to his brother Prasenan (who is Krishna's friend). 

 

After some days Krishna and Prasenan along with their other friends went to forest for hunting. Prasenan got separated from that group. A lion killed him and took that gem. A bear named Jambavan killed that lion in turn and took that gem. He gave the gem to his daughter and  told her that he will give it to his son- in- law as a gift.

  

In the mean time, Krishna and his friends were worried as they could not see Prasenan even after thorough search .They all went back and informed Satrajith . On hearing this Sathrajith got angry and doubted that Krishna might have killed his brother Prasenan  and  had stolen the gem. 

 

So he went to the King Ugrasena and complained. After hearing both the sides the king held Krishna culprit and ordered that nobody should talk to Krishna and he should be  avoided . Krishna felt very bad and was worrying himself thinking as to why he suffers like an ordinary man even though he is the avathar of Lord  Vishnu . 

   

He decided to find out the truth so that he gets rid of his bad name . So he went  again to the same place with his friends . There he saw the footsteps of a horse and he followed it . After going some distance he saw a dead horse and the dead body of Prasenan.  Krishna felt sorry for the death of his friend, but the  gem was not there. He saw foot trace of a lion besides the body. He came to the conclusion that the lion had killed his friend and the horse, and had taken the gem. He started following the lions foot trace . After crossing some distance he saw the lions dead body. There he found the foot prints of a bear. He could not find the gem near the lion also . Then he followed the bears footsteps which finally ended near a cave. 

   

At this stage Krishna stopped all his friends and he went alone inside the cave. He walked a small distance where he saw a beautiful girl ( Jambavathy who is Jambavan's daughter ) swinging in a cradle and the gem was hanging in the centre of the cradle. Immediately Krishna sang a song  about the  story of Prasenan, the lion, and the bear which brought the gem decorating the cradle. 

    

The girl understood the story .  On seeing the beauty of Krishna she fell in love with him and gave the gem to him. She told Krishna to immediately leave the place with the gem or else her father (Jambavan ) will kill him. On hearing this Krishna immediately blew his Sankh . On hearing the sound (Jambavan ) the bear came in roaring and shouted "who are you? How you came inside my cave ? Before Krishna could open his mouth,  the bear started fighting with him. In the meantime all the friends who were waiting for Krishna outside the cave thought that he was dead as he did not come back even after so many days. So they returned to Dwaraka.

    Krishna and Jambavan fought for 21 days . Both were fighting in full power and strength even after 21 days. Jambavan started thinking about his previous birth and understood  that this beautiful and powerful person  could only be " Lord MahaVishnu ". Then he realised his mistake. He immediately  surrendered  to Krishna and returned the gem.  He regreted for his mistake and requested him to accept his daughter Jambavathi as his wife. Krishna accepted Jambavathi and went to Dwaraka. He met Sathrajith and returned the gem to him after telling everything. Sathrajith regretted for his mistake. He gave back the gem to Krishna  requested him to accept his daughter Sathyabama . Krishna accepted Sathyabama but not  the gem.

   

Three other people Sathathanva, Akrurar, and  Krithavarmar were not happy about the marriage of Krishna and Sathyabama. They were very angry with Sathrajith. They decided to steal the gem. One night when Krishna was away from Dwaraka, they all planed and killed Sathrajith and  took  the gem. 

Krishna on hearing this returned to Dwaraka with Balarama. After hearing Krishna's arrival in Dwaraka , Sathathanva tried to give the gem to  Akrurar and Kiruthavarmar. They being scared of Krishna refused to  take it. Since they refused, Sathathanva threw the gem to Akrurar and went away in his horse. Krishna  caught Sathathanva and killed him, but the gem was not with him. He came empty handed. On seeing Krishna with empty hand, everybody ( who were not aware of the facts ) scolded Krishna and blamed him for killing innocent Sathathanva. Krishna felt very ashamed. He was worried and wept to himself. 

     

After some days Narada, the Deva Rishi came to Dwaraka , saw Krishna and asked him the reason for his sad face . Krishna told everything to Narada. Narada using his divine power found that all these were the evil effect of seeing the cresant moon on Badrapada sukla chathurthi by Krishna. He told this to Krishna . He adviced Krishna to keep upvaas on sankatahara chathurthi and do  pooja for Ganapathi in the evening duly giving arkkiya to  chandra (moon). He emphasised that it is only  Ganapathy who can solve all his problems and  give him peace. Krishna followed  Narada's advice and did the pooja sincerely . Ganapathy appeared before him and blessed him that he will be  free from all his worries and problems very soon . Krishna also prayed Ganesa that whoever see the creasant moon on Badrapada sukla chathurthi day , should be relieved by the evil effects if they do pooja for Ganapathy in krishna patksha chathurthi. Ganesa happily agreed to this.

   

After some days Akrurar came to Yadhava's court room and explained the truth and returned the gem to Krishna. Krishna took it and he  was very happy as he got relieved from all the worries and bad names .  Everybody was happy and peaceful .

  

So coming to a conclusion do not see the cresant moon on sukla paksha chathurthi in the month of Badrapada. Observe upavaas on krishna patsha chathurthi, do puja in the evening, give arkya to chandra and complete the  pooja happily. Be happy always with out any worries.  

 Subam