Wednesday 4 June 2008

शिव व्रत

Offerings: Monday is the day of Shiva. The god's favourite colour is white. He likes white flowers, white clothes and a white seat. Even his home is amidst the snow-covered gleaming white peaks of the Himalayas. When offering a puja to the god, do it with white flowers and white sweets for the naivedyam .

Ritual: Shiva's devotees should observe a strict fast on Mondays, eating only after sunset. Unlike other fasts, one cannot eat in the afternoon and skip the evening meal. A rudra abhishek (ritual bath amidst chanting of mantras ) should be offered to the Shivalinga in the home shrine. During the puja , a specific number of bilva leaves must be offered to the Shivalinga. In the evening, a naivedyam of rice and curds should be offered.

However, unlike usual practice, this naivedyam cannot be eaten as prasad . It should instead be taken to a Shiva temple and given to the priest or offered to a cow. Occasionally, a Brahmin or a married woman should be invited for meals. Devotees should chant the mantra Om Namah Shivay throughout the day.

Special Mondays: If it is not possible to observe a fast every Monday, one should at least observe a fast on the Mondays in the month of Shravan. These days are especially auspicious.

Sixteen Mondays: If you are seeking something specific from the God, it is advisable to observe a vrat (religious ritual) of 16 Mondays. Observed in honour of Lord Shiva, it can be started on any Monday of the bright fortnight of the months of Vaishakh, Shravan, Kartik or Magh. A fast is observed on next 16 Mondays and the udyapan of the vrat (conclusion) is performed on the 17th Monday.

Every Monday, a detailed puja is performed with 16 offerings. Although the devotee is allowed to eat food cooked without salt, crystal sugar or thick sweet roti (bread), many observe a strict fast. A naivedyam of crystal sugar or roti (thick sweet bread) is prepared for Lord Shiva. Before offering it to the god, the naivedyam is divided into three parts. One part is offered to the god, one part is distributed amongst friends and relatives and the third part is eaten by the devotee. On the 17th Monday, the devotee offers a mahapuja to Shiva at a Shiva temple. Flowers of golden champak, bilva, lotus, bakuli and punnag are essential for this puja .

Naivedyam: Sweet rotis are made of 5 kg of wheat flour, one and quarter kilogram of clarified butter and one and quarter kilogram of jaggery. These are roasted on fire fuelled by cow dung cakes. One third of the rotis are offered to the Shivalingam in the temple, one third are distributed as prasad and one third are distributed amongst relatives during meals.

Vrat for Jagannath: During the month of Chaitra, the Somvar vrat is observed for Lord Jagannath. A person who has been on a pilgrimage to Jagannath Puri or whose family member has undertaken this pilgrimage can observe it. Devotees observe a fast and, in the evening, Lord Jagannath is ritually worshipped. A naivedyam is offered and the prasad is eaten. The devotee can then break the fast.

You have to fast till evening and do Puja. You should not eat onions, garlic, nonveg etc. In the evening you can take the Prasadam after offering it to God. You can recite Shiva manasa puja slokam and Shivanandalahari. Read the somavar vrat katha .

One who observes this vratam would get to enjoy many pleasures in this world and finally would reach the kailAsham.

The moon observed this vratam and got his "moonness". He saluted the Lord gauri- shankara and requested that this vratam be called soma vAra vratam (One of the names of the moon is soma. One of the name of Lord shiva with goddess umA is also soma) and whoever follows this vratam should get their wishes materialised by the grace of the Lord and finally should get the liberation. God granted the boon.

Long ago a princess called sIman^thini was observing this vratam regularly. Then two young boys cunningly came as if they were a married couple. The princess worshiped them. The young boys really became male and female couple !

The austerous sage vaShiShTa got the chaste arun^thadhi as his wife. One gets blessed by the shiva-shakti on observing this vratam sincerely

Rituals to be followed for the Monday fast:

The Monday fast is upto the third phase. During the fast phalahar (fasting food) can be eaten. There is no hard and fast rule except that there should be only one meal eaten on that day and worship or puja of Shiva and Parvati is to be done.

There are three types of Monday fast.

1).Simple every Monday fast. 2).Som pradosh fast 3).16 weeks Monday fast.

The rituals are same for all the three fasting. After doing the Shiva puja the story must be read or heard. The stories of Pradosh fast and 16 Mondays are separate and are given here.

see for it in the link http://www.s-a-i.info/assoc_change/…

see for solah somvar katha in the link :

http://satyamshivamsundaram.blogspo…

in hindi and english version of katha u see in the link below :

http://www.indif.com/nri/kathas/Som…

in hindi u can also see the link http://www.bhaktisangeet.com/vratka…

u can see vratha vidhi,aarthi,katha in hindi in the link http://www.onlinemandir.com/day1.ht…

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you ajay for giving every details of somvar vrats vidhies. I almost knew nothing of it and i'm really thankful to you for sharing this knowledge with every one. My shivji's blessing bestow upon u.

Nitin said...

thank you for writing about the fast. My lord shiv is soo great that even you chant his name once in your life you will not go to hell no matter how much wrong things have u done in the past . Keep on educating people about my lord. His blessings will be on you forever...

Unknown said...

can i take fruit and water????

SJ said...

whats the exact process of 17Th mnday ritual?? Please help

Unknown said...


Very nice way of writing. Amazing content written by the author. Keep posting like that
Performed somvaar puja online

Soumya said...

I m doing vart for my son and I HV ccompleted 9mondays and on 16 th Monday my son is having operation for which I did vart so I can't do pooja becoz I'll be in hospital so shall I do only fasting and perform pooja along with fasting next Monday ??? Plz reply me

Unknown said...

What if I missed one day going mandir ?

Unknown said...

Can we eat rajgira ladoo during Monday vrat

Yuvraj Singh said...

Thanks for giving meaningful information about 'Solah Somvar Vrat' that is dedicated to
Lord Shiva
.