बृहस्पतिवार व्रत कथा

How the fast is kept
On Thursday morning, bathe, wear yellow clothes, think of Vishnu ji and Brihaspati dev, and take the vow of the fast.
Pour water at the root of a banana plant and worship Vishnu ji with chana dal, jaggery and raisins, and light a lamp.
Read or listen to this story with a calm mind; people do not get up or talk in the middle of the katha.
In the evening, do the aarti and share the prasad. As your health allows, eat one yellow meal that day.

The story
Long ago in Bharat there ruled a mighty and generous king. Every day he helped the poor and the Brahmins. But his queen did not like this. She did no puja, gave nothing in charity, and stopped the king from giving too.

One day the king had gone to the forest to hunt. Just then Brihaspati dev came to the palace dressed as a sadhu and asked for alms. The queen refused and said, “Maharaj, I am tired of all this charity. Tell me a way for all our wealth to be lost, so that I can live in peace.”

The sadhu explained, “Devi, who is ever unhappy with wealth and children? If you have too much, feed the hungry, build water stalls and rest houses, and pay for the weddings of daughters of poor families. Your good name will spread.” But the queen would not agree. She said, “I do not want wealth that I must keep handing out to everyone.” Then the sadhu said, “If this is your wish, then on Thursdays plaster the house, wash your hair with yellow clay, and wash clothes. Then all your wealth will go.” Saying this, the sadhu vanished.

The queen did just that. Only three Thursdays had passed when all their wealth and comfort was gone. The family began to long even for food. Then the king said, “Everyone here knows me; I cannot do small work here. I will go to another land.” In the other land he began to cut wood in the forest and sell it in the town.

Back home, the queen and her maid spent their days in hardship. Once they had no food for seven days. The queen sent the maid to her rich sister in a nearby town. That day was a Thursday, and the sister was listening to the vrat katha, so she gave the maid no answer. The maid came back hurt.

When the katha was over, the sister came to the queen herself and said, “Sister, in the middle of the katha one does not get up or speak, so I stayed silent. Tell me, what is the matter?” The queen’s eyes filled with tears, and she told her about going hungry for seven days. Her sister said, “Brihaspati dev is very kind. Just look inside the house; there may be some grain.” The maid went in and truly found a pot full of grain. Then, at the maid’s urging, the queen asked her sister how to keep the fast. Her sister said, “Worship Vishnu ji at the root of a banana plant with chana dal and raisins, light a lamp, listen to the katha, and eat yellow food.”

The next Thursday the queen and the maid kept the fast. They picked up chana and jaggery from the stable and worshipped Vishnu ji at the root of a banana plant. They worried about where yellow food would come from, and just then Brihaspati dev came as an ordinary man and gave the maid two plates of yellow food. Both bowed to the Lord and ate. After that they kept the fast every Thursday, and slowly wealth and grain came back to the house. When the queen grew lazy again, the maid advised her, “Use this wealth to feed the hungry and for good works.” The queen listened, and began to build gardens, ponds, wells and rest houses.

Meanwhile, in the other land, the king sat sadly in the forest one Thursday. Just then Brihaspati dev came as a sadhu and asked what troubled him. Weeping, the king told his story. The sadhu said, “Your queen disrespected Brihaspati dev on a Thursday; that is why this happened. Now tell the katha on Thursdays and share chana and raisins as prasad.” The king said that selling wood did not leave him even that much. The sadhu said, “On Thursday, go and sell your wood. That day you will get twice your usual money.” It happened just so, and the king bought chana and jaggery and kept the fast.

But the next Thursday the king forgot to keep the fast. That day the king of that town had arranged a great feast and had said that no one should light a kitchen fire at home. The king, now a woodcutter, arrived late, so the town’s king took him into the palace to feed him. Just then the queen of that palace saw that her necklace was missing from the peg where it hung. She suspected the woodcutter of theft and had him put in prison.

In prison, the king remembered the sadhu from the forest. Brihaspati dev appeared and said, “You did not tell the katha; that is why this trouble came. On Thursday you will find four paise at the prison door. Use them for the puja.” On Thursday he found four paise, told the katha and shared the prasad. That same night Brihaspati dev said to the town’s king in a dream, “The man you have locked up is innocent, and he is a king himself. The queen’s necklace is hanging on that same peg.” In the morning the necklace was found on the peg. The king asked the woodcutter’s forgiveness and sent him off with clothes and jewels fit for a king.

When he came near his own town, the king was amazed. There were new gardens, ponds, wells, temples and rest houses. People told him the queen and her maid had built them. The king was surprised, and angry too. The king asked the queen where this wealth had come from, and the queen told him the whole story of the Thursday fast. Then the king decided he would fast every day and tell the katha three times a day. From then on he always kept some chana dal tied in his dupatta.

May Vishnu ji and Brihaspati dev keep generosity, faith and good sense in every heart.
Bolo Brihaspati dev ki Jai! Bhagwan Vishnu ki Jai!