222 ------------------------ OM Sri Gurubyo Namaha Om Sri Ganeshaya Namaha Sri Brihaspathi Vaara Pooja Katha

Perform Sri Vishnu/Sri Siva Bhagvan Pooja Perform Sri Guru Bhagvan Pooja General Guidelines for performing worship 1) Dietary discipline Those aspirants who have taken the sankalpa to perform the pooja would undertake the following dietary discipline. Food should be taken twice a day on Thursday. Once it should be proper meal and once it could be palaharam (Tiffin). The meal should essentially be yellow in color, like in the case of lemon rice or some rice with turmeric added to it to make it yellow. 2) Articles for the worship Yellow samandhi flower, Yellow banana, milk, Sandal power, Pottu Kadalai (in Tamizh) or Putnalu (telugu equivalent for roasted dal) (in Telugu) or Putnai Dhal & then Jaggery. 3) Image/ Photo and other important details This pooja should be done with devotional frame of mind. Performing this pooja would yield knowledge, wealth, progeny, and peace in family affairs, happiness and other such sought after human desires.

First the photo or image of Sri Vishnu Bhagvan (like Sri Venkatachalapathy) has to kept as symbol for worshipping the all-pervading Lord Shri Hari. Put Deepak in front of the image or photo of Lord Hari and Agarbathi or incense stick. Before proceeding to read and/or listen to the story of Sri Guru Bhagvan’ leelas, the Putnalu (telugu equivalent for roasted dal) Dhal and some Jaggery has to be held in the each of the worshipper’s right hand. After finishing the reading of the story, the Putnalu (telugu equivalent for roasted dal) dhal and jaggery may be temporarily placed in some small cup or vessel and the devotees should proceed to do Naivedhyam with yellow banana and milk. Then as per the tradition if there is Banana tree available the putnal dhal and the jaggery may be offered at the base of the tree along with some water. For those who do not have the banana tree near them, they may offer the same in a separate vessel along with water, mentally chanting “Sri Gurubyo Namaha”. It is very important to mention here that the goal of this whole ritualistic exercise is to be mentally be devoted to Sri Guru Bhagvan. He or She, who does so, reaps very good fruits for their sincere action. Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha Katha

The Noble King There was once a Kingdom ruled by a noble and just King. He was very charitable in nature. He often involved himself in serving the poor people of his Kingdom, by performing Anna Dhanam and Vastra Dhanam. Besides this he also performed Brihaspati Vaara Pooja. Unfortunately his wife did not like any of the charitable activities and his attitude. One day the King left his palace on a hunting expedition. Then Sri Guru Bhagvan assumed the form of a Sanyaasi and begged for food at the Queen’s door. The Queen appeared before the Lord and she started voicing his protest against charitable work like offering “Biksha”. She said “ I don’t like this Bhiksha, Dhaanam, Dharmam, etc. It is all the King’s doing. If only there was no money he wouldn’t involve himself and others in such wasteful work. I would rather wish all this wealth disappeared” To this Sri Guru Bhagvan replied “Everyone seems to want wealth and good fortune, but why do you want to repulse them away?” Queen said “ I don’t want any of this money, wealth, food grains, etc. It is only because of their presence do I suffer from the need to maintain them” (by preventing King from his charitable work). Having heard the Queen’s hot headed reply, Shri Guru Bhagvan in the form of a Sanyaasi said “ Okay then, let what you wish come to pass. On Thursdays you may choose to die your clothes (laundry/dry cleaning) & let the King shave his hair. By doing so within a matter of seven weeks all your wealth would leave you” The Queen’s transformation Due to Lord’s Maya this came to happen. The King was no longer a King. Instead he and his wife struggled to make their means meet their ends. As a result the erstwhile King had

to leave his Kingdom and go to another land and work as a woodcutter. Meanwhile one day, due to the lack of basic food amenities to cook, the Queen send her servant maid to her sister’s place to borrow some rice. The servant maid did as told and when she arrived at Queen’s sister’s house, she found the Queen’s sister deeply engrossed in the worship of Shri Guru Bhagvan. As a result she did not talk to the Queen’s servant maid. The maid went back to the Queen and reported, “Your sister was too busy to even talk to me. Hence I had to come back, without any alternative.” Once the Queen’s sister completed her worship, she herself came to the Queen and enquired as to what had happened? To this the Queen revealed her tale of woe and about the extreme poverty that plagues their family. After listening to this, the sister advised the Queen to undertake the Sri Guru Bhagvan Pooja, for a period of 7 Thursdays. The Queen did so and by Lord’s grace she discovered that she had recovered all her lost wealth and other amenities. At that point of recovery, the Queen wondered as to what could be done with all this wealth and riches. Then Queen’s servant maid humbly offered a suggestion to the Queen “ If you don’t want all this wealth and riches to forsake you again, please undertake some charitable work. You could do Dhaanam, Dharmam, build buildings, hospitals, temples, conduct marriages for poor unmarried girls and many such noble things.” The Queen got inspired by this timely advice given by her servant maid and also due to her miserable recent past, she whole heartedly decided to perform various charitable work. All this happened during the time the King had left the town in search of employment and his working as a woodcutter in a distant land. So it was matter of time that Queen’s anxiety levels would increase beyond control. She prayed to Shri Guru Bhagvan for the return of her husband in a safe and sound manner, from his job quest. The Bhagvan then appeared on one night in the dream of the “woodcutter” King and said “Your wife is deeply anxious awaiting your return to your homeland. So start immediately and relive her of her anxiety” Hearing this the King began to ponder on his current and past state of affairs and got depressed, thinking about his misfortune. At that juncture the gracious Shri Guru Bhagvan appeared in the form of a Saadhu before the “woodcutter” King and said as follows “Why do you keep worrying? If you begin worshipping Shri Guru Bhagvan all your lost wealth and mental calmness would be recovered again” To this the King replied “But I do not have money, so how shall I do the pooja?” Then the Saadhu said, “Undertake the Guru Vaara Vratha and every week you shall see your financial status improve. For this you must first hear the Katha about Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha”. So saying Shri Guru Bhagvan in the form of a Saadhu, narrated the story related to the performance of Shri Guru Vaara Vratha.

Core Story - Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha Katha: Story of the Brahmin and his family In a village there once lived a poor Brahmin family without any children. The Brahmin’s wife led an unclean and impious life. She always dressed in unclean clothes, without any devotion to God and she used to eat before having bath. Thus she was a constant source of concern to her husband. After some years the couple gave birth to a lovely girl. This girl unlike her mother grew up to be a devout soul. She would wake up early every day and perform pooja of Shri Hari Vishnu. She used to also do Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha with great devotion and sincerity. After completing her pooja, she would wash and clean the vessels used in the pooja. She would then go to her school. On the way to the school she would playfully drop grains on the road and when she used to return from the school in the evening the grains would have all turned into gold! She would then gather up the golden grains from the road and once at home, she would put them on a “jalladai” (perforated plate – colander) and separate the dust particles from the gold particles. This used to be her favorite pastime. One fine day when this girl was thus separating dust, sand and gravel from gold particles on a colander, a young prince who was riding on his horse near the girl’s house happened to see this astonishing activity, of this beautiful girl. He felt very attracted to her. As a result he was constantly thinking about her. He could hardly eat and sleep properly as a result. The young prince’s father noticed this abnormal behavior of his son and enquired, “Did anybody insult you or offend you? Why are you behaving thus?” The prince replied “Father, she who playfully puts golden grains on a colander in a bid to separate them from sand and gravel, has captivated my heart. I shall marry her only” His father was amused. “ Is there one such amazing girl? If so where is she to be found? Without any further delay, I shall perform your marriage with her.” Then the prince informed the minister and other officials the address of the girl. The King immediately sent through his minister, a marriage proposal for his son to wed the Brahmin’s daughter. Soon the marriage also took place. Once the Brahmin’s daughter left her parents house, great poverty stuck the Brahmin’s family. So due to the need of money the Brahmin went to his daughter’s house and got some money from her to maintain himself and his wife. But soon poverty raised its ugly head again. Seeing this bad trend in her parent’s household the girl told to her father. “Dear father please bring my mother here for a few days. I shall make sure my mother wakes up early, bathes and performs Shri Vishnu pooja. Such religious acts would surely put an end to your recurring poverty.” Despite this effort on her part to make her mother lead a pious religious life, the girl noticed to her frustration that her mother would hardly let go of her bad habits. As a result she took the extreme step of putting her mother under a room arrest and forced her to lead a disciplined life. In due course of time her mother started developing religious tendencies and eventually started performing Shri Vishnu

Bhagvan’s pooja early in the morning. After some years of leading a religious life in the earthly plane the Brahmin and his wife attained to heaven. The “Wood-Cutter” King returns to his homeland After having narrated this story filled with high morals to the “woodcutter” King, the Saadhu disappeared. Then the “woodcutter” King resolved to do the pooja and then proceeded to go back to his homeland to meet his wife. On route to his homeland, another King was making “Anna- Dhaanam”, so the “woodcutter” King decided to stay and accept some food. But since the “woodcutter” King was among the last to have appeared at the feast, the local King invited him to his palace. The “woodcutter” King accepted that invitation and went to the palace. Around that time a priceless necklace of the Queen was lost in the palace. Circumstantial evidence unfortunately pointed to the “woodcutter” King as being the culprit; as a result the “woodcutter” King was imprisoned. Totally heart broken the “woodcutter” King was lamenting in the prison “I don’t know what bad actions I might have performed in my past life that I am suffering so much in this life” Having lamented so, he immediately thought of the Saadhu and fell asleep even as he was thinking. He had a dream then, in which the Saadhu appeared and said “Oh King you haven’t performed the Brihaspathi vaara pooja, as you had earlier resolved to do, hence you are undergoing such problems”. Once the “woodcutter” King woke up from his sleep, he remembered his earlier resolve and faithfully performed the Shri Brihaspathi vaara pooja, even though he was in prison. Within a few days, Shri Brihaspathi Bhagvan appeared in the dream of the local King (whose wife lost the precious necklace), and told him “The wood cutter whom you have imprisoned is not guilty, release him immediately” Meanwhile the lost necklace was also found elsewhere, so the King released the “woodcutter” King and handed him ample money, clothes, precious gems and food articles, as a compensatory measure and set him on his original path towards his homeland. When he was nearing his homeland he noticed there were several new constructions like free hospitals, schools, shelters for travelers and free food donation halls etc. Upon enquiry he found out that it was the Queen (his wife) who was responsible for creating and maintaining all these charitable activities and institutions. Meanwhile the Queen began to wonder “if the King, who had earlier left me during tough times, sees all this new found wealth, and suddenly decides not to return to me, what will then become of me?” The King in the meantime entered the palace and in a moment of rashness, remembering his painful past filled with bitter memories of the Queen he tried to assault her. But he was prevented from doing so and was told that her Queen had infact transformed into a noble person. The Queen herself said, “My lord all this wealth is due to the performance of Shri Guru Bhagvan Pooja”. Having heard all this and seen for himself the transformation that had come upon his wife, the King recovered his calm and joyful state of mind and in a spirit of devotion declared “Everyone performs the Shri Brihaspathi Bhagvan pooja only once in a week, but let us perform the pooja thrice per day”. The royal couple then kept performing the pooja sincerely.

The Significance of reading and listening to Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha Katha The King one day left for visiting his sister. On the way he noticed some group of people were sadly carrying a corpse to the cremation ground. As it was that time of the day when the devout King usually reads the Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha Katha. He requested, out of compassion, to that group carrying the corpse “My dear friends, I shall read the Shri Brihaspathi Vratha story, please listen to this auspicious story.” Some section of the people said, “A man has just died, how can we listen in such a situation?” The rest of the people said, “We shall listen, please read”. The King then read aloud the Katha and when the story finished, the corpse came back to life to the surprise of all! Everyone thanked the King from the bottom of their heart and returned with their heart filled with praise for the King and devotion to Shri Guru Bhagvan. After this miraculous incident the King traveled some more distance and came across a field where there were several farmers. The King again requested some of the farmers to listen to the story. But the farmers were not interested in listening. The King then proceeded to go away from the fields. Hardly had he left, the cattle and the farmers all fell down sick with unbearable stomachache. At that time one farmer’s mother came there with their mid-day lunch. Seeing the plight of her sons and others, she anxiously enquired “What happened?” A farmer replied “A man who passed by this way, asked us to listen to some holy story, we refused to hear and as a result we are suffering” Then the mother asked “Where is that man? Which way did he go?” She then went in that direction and brought the King back and requested him to tell the story. The King did so with a pious attitude. Once the story finished everyone felt much better than they ever did in their lives and respectfully bowed down to the King. The King finally reached his sister’s house. The sister gave a grand welcome and respectfully, made all convenient arrangements for her brother to stay with her family. Next day morning, the King enquired “If there is somebody who hasn’t eaten yet, in the morning, please let me know of their whereabouts, I shall have to narrate the story of Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha to them” To this his sister replied “In this land, everyone first finishes eating before they set-out on their daily occupation and activities. So you will have to look elsewhere, not this land” Despite her sister’s observation, the King did find one family where no food had been taken in the morning as yet, mainly due to the fact that one of the family members, a young boy, was severely ill. The King said to the family members “I shall read to you the story of Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha, please listen to this attentively. Good shall happen to you all” They agreed to listen. As soon as the story finished the boy amazingly recovered and everyone was filled with great joy and delight. They adored the King and his strong sense of devotion to Shri Guru Bhagvan. On the day of departure back to his homeland from his sister’s place, the King requested his sister to come with him, for a few days. The sister then went to her mother-in-law to seek her permission to undertake the trip. She told her mother-in-law “My elder brother is asking me to go along with him to his homeland for a short visit. Shall I go?” The

mother-in-law replied “It would be enough if you alone go and not take your child with you. I am very concerned about you taking your child to your brother’s place, since they are childless. I hope you understand what I mean by that” When the sister revealed to her brother than she could only come and not bring her child for certain reasons. The King understood what she meant by that. Extremely upset at this he said “What use is it, if you cannot bring your child with you? You might as well choose to stay back yourself!” Saying so he took leave of her sister’s place and went back to his homeland. Upon reaching his palace, the upset King went to his Queen and sadly said “Due to lack of good merit in this life, we have no children” The Queen upon hearing the whole story from her husband, said in a consoling tone “Shri Brihaspathi Bhagvan has given us all riches and necessities in this life, will he not give us children? Surely He will!” That very night Shri Guru Bhagvan appeared in the King’s dream and revealed that the Queen is pregnant. The joy of the couple knew no bounds; in due course a son was born to them. The King’s sister came to visit them to be a part of the joyous occasion. The King though happy at having seen his sister, still enquired, “Why did you come now, when you could not come earlier?” His sister smilingly replied “Anna am I not the indirect reason for this happy situation that has come to you, now?” Conclusion Thus who ever listens, to the Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha Story and/or reads it and/or performs the Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha pooja, to them everything auspicious will happen. Just like the King and Queen who sincerely worshipped Shri Guru Bhagvan with Shri Brihaspathi Vaara Vratha Pooja, let us also in all sincerity do the same. Shri Gurubyo Namaha Hari Om Tat Sat Shri Bhrihaspathi Vaara Pooja Katha Samaptham Final ritualistic steps in the completion of the pooja (Put putnallu/dhal and jaggery from your right hand into a bowl) (Offer Naivedhyam) (Offer putnallu (telugu equivalent for roasted dal)/jaggery along with water into a vessel) Give Aarathi Subamasthu || Om Shantih Shantih Shantih ||