V – Vrata

As per wiki, Vrata is used to signify “a religious practice to carry out certain obligations with a view to achieve divine blessing for fulfillment of one or several desires. Vrata, a Sanskrit word , means to vow or to promise.” There are many ways of doing it, the one I know about and follow involves worship & fasting. The first vrata I did was the Maha Shivratri one for Lord Shiva. He is my favourite God; I am a fan of his entire family! :-D. Anyways, the first time I did it, it was all from a fun perspective. I was in class 9 I guess. My mom, grandma, grandpa, dad, aunty.. everyone was doing it, so I thought I would also do it. For Maha Shivratri fast, you are supposed to worship Lord Shiva, read the vrata katha (religious story hailing the deity and importance of that vrata), and observe a partial fasting. There is a carnival which happens on that day near the temple in our ancestral village so we go there as well. 

That first time, I abstained from eating food with grains and all, but the entire day I kept munching on nuts which my mom gave. Notice that I didn't mention fruits; they are healthy so nuts instead.. a very very partial and custom made fasting! ;-). It was not much of abstinence but more of eating only. To add here, what I have seen at our homes is fasting involves more eating and not less eating; 1) people eat more the night before since they have fast the next day, 2) on the day of the fast, you have preparations with loads of pure ghee and fatty stuff like potato halwa and 3) Next day again, people have heavy breakfast as the after-affect.  

As I grew, I learnt a little more on the significance of fasting. Again, with my love for Shiva, I did Solah Solmwar Vratas (Fast where you fast for 16 consecutive Mondays and do the last one on the 17th to finish it.. ) Initially I would pray for something and try to bribe God saying I will do the Solah somwar vratas if he gives it to me. Best thing is, the bribe would work; he would give it to me and so I would then do the vrata as promised. Though I do believe that he would have done that all by himself without the bribe as well.. he is the generous one.. what with all the 'vardaans' he kept on granting to everyone! Here I am a little superstitious as well – I believe that I should not ask anything directly for me.. it can be for my family and friends. Like those special powers that superheroes have.. can't use it for your own gain ;-D

When I do these fasts, I get a little ritualistic as well but then its mostly based on what I can do. For example, during my Engg days since I was staying at my aunt's home, I was a stickler for having all the things for Puja like supari, white thread, moli, banana, milk, honey, etc. If even one thing was missing, I would go buy it and then do the puja. As I started my professional life, time became a luxury so slowly I started loosening up a bit knowing that God is all encompassing and forgiving. See how necessity pushed me towards a more carefree attitude here and more liberal view on God. :-D But I still am a stickler to few non-negotiable things like a Puja, reading the vrat katha*, making some offerings and special puja on the 17th monday. There are some Vrats that I always do - karwa chauth, mahi chauth, hoi and some other (4 chauth's in a year and 2 other ones that we are supposed to do for our husband and kids. I know how biased our society is, not asking husbands to do anything like this but I still believe on what I should do and follow it)

As I have learnt more and grown up a little more, I have come to realize that these are just rituals/habits that our ancestors followed so that we dedicate a day to worshiping and praying without worrying about the normal day to day activities. From what I understand, the objective is :

1) to pray and think of God a little more and thank him for his blessings

2) to avoid Tamsic food (they are supposed to bring in negative thoughts)

3) for good health** (controlled eating to cleanse your system)

* Amu do you remember the Solahsomwar vrata katha when I did it at your home. You had laughed so much reading all those words like 'Praan-nath', 'Priyatama', etc.. in the book :-) I think about you every time I do this fast.

**This is one of the major reasons I do fast now.. ;-)