Tretayug – Akshay Tritiya

One of the 3 and half Mahurats (auspicious time)…

A day when Treta Yug began…

A day when Bhagwaan Rishabhdev broke His year long fast by drinking sugarcane juice through his cupped hands (Varshi Tap Paarna)…

The day when Bhagwaan Vyas started dictating Mahabharat to Bhagwaan Ganesha… 

The day when farmers in India start the farming work for the monsoon season by decorating their cattle and worshipping their fields (Bhoomi Pujan)…

A day when Maa Ganga descended on Mother Earth…

The day when Lord Parshuram was born…

At the beginning, I mentioned that its is one of the 3 and half mahurats, auspicious time to begin anything new. Akshay Tritaya alongwith Dusshara, Gudhi Padwa and Kartik Poornima (half day) are considered as the most auspicious days to begin a new venture. Akshay Tritiya day falls on the 3rd day of the bright half (shukla paksha) of Vaishakha of the lunar month. (It falls in later half of April or first half of may according to western calendar). The whole day is a day to acquire wisdom, think and begin anew.

“Akshay’ means one which never diminishes. Tritiya means the third day. So it is believed that anything that we acquire or begin on this day, will never be diminished.

It is also considered as the birthday of Goddess Annapurna (the Goddess of Food). She too is worshipped today.

The Bengalis worship Lord Ganesha and Laxmiji and begin their new audit year, this day. It is called “Halkhata” in the local language.

Bhagwaan Rishabhdev, the first Tirthankar of the Jains, broke his fast on this day. A year long fast! I always wondered how they could do it. But this is “Tap”, ( the readiness to bear both pain and happiness, not to be delighted in one’s happiness and not to be bogged down in distress). Also, they (24 Tirthankara’s) in their pursuit of finding the truth about oneself, sometimes got lost in themselves and forgot to partake food. The fire within, for this pursuit was so hot that it engulfed all other worldly desires. This pursuit of truth has always been, is and will always be “Akshay”.

Mahabharat, the great epic, was started to be written today. It has covered all relations and all topics under the Sun. There is an episode before the Mahabharata was started to be written. When Bhagwaan Vyas asked Ganesha, the God of wisdom, to write his dictation, Ganesha said that it would be possible only on one condition that Vyas would not stop once he starts dictating. Bhagwaan Vyas readily agreed and put forth his condition that Ganesha will understand what is being told and then write it down. And so it is said that Vyas would speak a few sentences which were difficult to interpret for Ganesha and would take a break. The truthulness behind the episode is difficult to be adjudged, but this conveys to us the greatness of Bhagwaan Vyas. The Mahabharat in it’s true sense is a book of undiminished “akshay” wisdom.

Mother Ganga descending upon the earth is one of the most beautiful glacial phenomenon, an human can envisage and see happening in his own lifetime. Bhagirath, the great King, was able to do this. It’s an engineering marvel. Even today, people go upto ‘Gomukh’, the caves from where Ganga appears, but the exact place of Her origin is still unknown. The flow of Ganga is continuous and divine. The divinity within Her waters is something which will never be diminished “Akshay”.

On this most auspicious day of Akshay Tritiya, I wish all my readers a very Happy Akshay Tritiya.

May Goddess Annapurna bless every field with lots of crops and every kitchen with unlimited and delicious meals.

May Bhagwaan Rishabhdev bless us all with the zeal and enthusiasm in our unending pursuit of eternal truth.

May Bhagwan Vyas and Ganeshji bless everyone with undiminishing wisdom.

May the ever flowing Ganga cleanse our bodies and minds and fill them with divine thoughts.