Kartika Masa Snana (Taking River Bath in Kartika Month)

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It is well known and accepted that one should not perform any activity without taking a bath. However, just applying soap vigorously to the body only exercise one’s muscles and does not merit being called a bath in the true sense of the word. Such meaningless action will only add fragrance to the body, but not make it suitable for performing pious and religious actions.

 

Many religious works provide us with plenty of facts about the proper procedure for taking a bath. Acharya Madhva has compiled these references in his work called ‘sadAchAra smruti’ and provided additional interesting facts to specify how one should take a bath. The essence of his teaching is that one should focus on his antaryAmi (the form of the Lord within oneself) and make a sankalpa (resolution taken before the commencement of any religious activity) taking into account the current time and location and take a bath with the full belief that he is performing an abhishekha (ceremonial ablution) to his antaryAmi with water from the holy ganga. The Acharya has very thoughtfully provided details of all the mantras (chants) and dhyAna shlokas (ceremonial invocations) to be uttered on this occasion.

 

Our religious works and purANas provide details of several types of baths like those taken under difficult circumstances, baths taken on ceremonial occasions, special baths taken during certain holy months etc. Discussing these details in depth would result in a special article by itself! The most well-known amongst these baths are those undertaken during the Hindu lunar months of VaishAkha, AshADha, kArtIka and mArgashira. This article focusses on certain facts and practices essential to the bath taken during the month of kArtIka.

 

The period from the full moon day in the month of AshvIja to the full moon day in kArtIka is identified as the duration for taking ceremonial baths called “kArtIka snAna”. In this period, one should wake up early and go to the banks of a holy river at the crack of dawn, perform a sankalpa and take a dip in the river. Next, one should offer an arghya (water offered in the two palms held together) to the Lord with the following mantra “namah kamalanAbhAya namaste jalashAyine; namastestu hrIshikesha gRuhANarghyam namostu te” which roughly means “Salutations KamalanAbha, salutations jalashAyi, salutations Hrishikesha, please accept my arghya; salutations to you once again”. Please note that kamalanAbha (the one having a lotus in His navel), jalashAyi (the one sleeping in the ocean), Hrishikesha (controller of all indriyas or sensory organs) are all well known names of Lord

Vishnu.

 

Later one should take a bath uttering the following mantra “kArtikEham kariShyAmi prAtah snAnam janArdhana; prItyartham tava devesha dAmodara mAya saha; dhyAtvAham tvAm cha devesha jaleasmin snAtumudyatah; tava prasAdAtpApam me damodara vinashyatu” (“O Lord Janardhana, I am taking a holy morning bath in the month of kartika. I am doing this only to please you Lord Damodara and your divine consort Maya devi. I am concentrating on you as I take my bath in this water. O Lord Damodara, may my sins be destroyed by your grace”)

 

Next one should offer 2 arghyas to Lord Hari along with His consort Radha with the following mantras “nitya naimittike krishnakArthike pApanAshane; gRuhANArghyam maya dattam rAdhaya sahito hare” and “vratinah kArtika mAsi snAtasya vidhivanmana gRuhANArghyam maya dattam rAdhaya sahito hare” (the actual meaning of the mantras is not important, it roughly means “O Lord Hari, please accept the arghya offered by me to you and your divine consort Radha in accordance with the religious guidelines, in order to destroy my sins”).

 

Our shAstras attach a lot of merit to baths taken in holy places like the banks of the ganga river, Pushakara, PrayAg, kurukshetra, danDa tIrtha (a famous stream that Acharya Madhva created with his danDa or stick). But what should one do if there is no river close by? Well, one should look for other alternatives prescribed by shAtras like rivulets, streams or wells. If nothing is available then one should at least take a bath in one’s one home. But this should be done at the crack of dawn and with the understanding that one is bathing in a holy spot.

 

There is a famous story in the life history of bhAvi-samIra (the next Vayudevaru) Sri Vadiraja swamiji which highlights the months during which one undertake special baths in rivers, and the consequences of not doing so. A brahma-rAkshasa (a type of ogre) used to confront travellers with a specific question, “AkAmavai ko na snAtah?” He was cursed to be an ogre until somebody answered it correctly. A wrong answer would make the traveller the ogre’s meal. Nobody could answer this weird question and so everybody travelling on that route ended up becoming the ogre’s prey. Once Sri Vadiraja, who was known for his sharp intellect and quick wit, travelled on that route and was confronted by the ogre with the same question. He immediately replied “ranDhA putrah tvam na snAtah!”. The answer was correct and the ogre was liberated. Now let us see what the weird question and the sharp answer

meant! “A kA mA vai” stand for AshADha , kArtIka, mArgashira and vaishAkha. Hence the question “Who does not take a bath in the holy months of AshADha , kArtIka, mArgashira and vaishAkha?” Vadiraja’s reply implied that only cursed people like the ogre did not take such holy baths. Since the reply was correct, the ogre was liberated.

As the name itself indicates, ‘puNya-snAna’ is a bath that fetches a lot of puNya (merit), so one should perform it as much as possible in the allowed duration. However, if one is unable to take a bath throughout the month, then an effort should be made to at least do so during the last three days in the month – shukla trayodashi, chaturdashi and pUrNima (shukla trayodashi is the thirteenth day in the bright half of kArtIka, chaturdashi is the fourteenth day and pUrNima is the Full moon day).

 

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