Varalakshmi Vrat

In Sanatan tradition, worship, fasting, and devotion hold special significance. Through the worship of various deities, people constantly strive to attain religious, spiritual, and material prosperity. Varalakshmi Vrat is one such important festival, celebrated to seek the blessings and grace of Goddess Lakshmi. Married women especially observe this fast to gain wealth, property, and prosperity. Varalakshmi Vrat is celebrated with great enthusiasm and joy in some southern Indian states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This festival is observed on the last Friday of the Shukla Paksha (waxing phase) in the month of Shravan (July-August).

Worship Method

On the day of Varalakshmi Vrat, wake up in the morning, complete your daily routine, and take a bath to purify yourself. Wear clean clothes and take a vow to observe the fast. First, place a red cloth on a stool and install an idol or picture of Goddess Lakshmi. Next to the stool, place a clay pot (Kalash). Paint the Kalash with sandalwood paste. Fill it with raw rice, coins, turmeric, and leaves, and draw a 'Swastika' symbol on it. Finally, tie mango leaves around the Kalash and cover it with a turmeric-coated coconut. Offer flowers, fruits, rice, dhatura, kumkum, milk, curd, and Panchamrit to Goddess Lakshmi. Perform the offering (bhog), do the aarti, and read the story of Goddess Lakshmi or recite the Sri Suktam. Pray for your happiness and prosperity. Women tie yellow threads on their wrists and exchange prasad and sweets (like boiled beans, pongal, and jaggery-based sweets). Keep fasting throughout the day, and in the evening, after the aarti, eat fruits and other light foods. If possible, feed poor children and donate necessary items to them. Doing this pleases Goddess Lakshmi, and she blesses her devotees with special grace.

Significance of Varalakshmi Vrat

Varalakshmi Vrat is an important religious ritual. In this ritual, devotees worship Goddess Lakshmi with devotion. Through this ritual, women receive wealth, prosperity, courage, wisdom, and the divine blessings of Goddess Lakshmi. There are no strict rules for observing this fast. Even simple worship with devotion is enough for Goddess Lakshmi to bless her devotees. Varalakshmi Vrat is mainly a way to show devotion to Goddess Lakshmi and seek her blessings, with the aim of attaining prosperity and happiness in life.