Vrat Nu Fal

The Promise of Results

In our tradition, every Puja, Vrat, ritual, and sacred reading is said to bear some fruit. We perform many of these Vrats and Pujas — and yet, most who do them never seem to obtain the results described in the Mahatmya (glory narrative) or the Phal Shruti (declaration of fruits). Somewhere, tucked into a corner, lies the condition: "with Shraddha (faith)." And so, when the promised result does not arrive, we console ourselves: perhaps the faith was insufficient. That way the faithful are persuaded.

The Inner Dimension

Ultimately, everything comes down to subjectivity. Karma Kanda (ritual practice) is visible from outside — one can inspect whether all the proper materials were used, whether the procedure was followed correctly. But the inner reality? Who else can know that? And that is precisely why, even after performing all the outer rites, we find ourselves standing before the same questions: the sincerity of the heart, the depth of inner Shraddha, the faith on the unseen.

Victory and defeat, fame and disgrace, joy and sorrow, success and failure — these do not come equally to everyone. Nor do they appear proportionate to one's effort. Every effect must have a cause — this principle of causation sits deep within our minds. When we see wet soil, we trace it to rain, and no one invokes an invisible force in between. But for the fruits of Dharma, we must take refuge in something inner and something unseen.

Our scientific mind searches for the Kasmat — the "why," the "from where," the "what caused it" — behind everything. And when it cannot find one, it calls the event an Akasmat — an accident.

Chocolates and School

Can we take these promised fruits of Vrats, reading, and Puja more seriously than a child being told, "Go to nursery school and you will get a chocolate"? The child is not sent to school for the chocolate. And it is not as though school is the only place to get a chocolate. But when does the child come to understand this distinction?

The Inner Transformation of Arjuna

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, during the great Mahabharata war, Bhagwan Himself delivered the teachings of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna. And what was the visible result? Of the eleven Akshauhini armies on the Kaurava side and the mere seven on the Pandava side, did even one Akshauhini — or even a single Maharathi, Rathi, or Ardha-Rathi — switch sides and join the Pandavas? No. Outwardly, it appears that the Gita produced no result at all.

And yet, the transformation that occurred was within Arjuna. It was personal. It was internal. It was a shift in Drishti — in vision, in perspective — and that shift was what mattered. This is the fruit we must learn to welcome: the inner transformation that comes through Pujan (worship), Archan (offering), Shravan (listening), Satsang (holy company), and Sad-vanchan (sacred reading.)

The Honest Prayer

When we look at the fruits promised in our Pauranik (ancient) Vrat traditions — wealth, prosperity, grain, property, learning, power, glory, heavenly pleasures, sons and grandsons, public honour, royal recognition — and compare them to the small, simple acts prescribed, the promised returns seem wildly out of proportion.

In this disproportion, we see one of two things:

1: aggressive marketing.

2: our own boundless greed.

As sincere seekers, may we be saved from both — that is the prayer of this Adhik Maas.