Mannat
Every question on the site tagged Mannat, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
A vow made to a deity to be fulfilled once a specific wish is granted — deliberately delaying its fulfillment despite having the means is understood to invite a Dosha, since the sacred site's own forces enforce the pledge's dignity.
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What are the three main reasons people undertake a pilgrimage?
People go on pilgrimage to fulfill a Mannat (vow made for a specific wish), to follow a regular yearly discipline of visiting a site, or — as a modern trend — merely to create social media content.
What happens when a fulfilled vow (Mannat) is delayed or neglected?
Delaying a pilgrimage for a fulfilled Mannat over minor excuses — while continuing all other leisure activities — creates a Dosha, and the sacred site's own forces penalize the delay: career obstacles, sudden health issues, and susceptibility to subtle or tantric afflictions.
What intention and preparation should precede leaving home for a pilgrimage?
A pilgrimage must be undertaken with pure spiritual intention rather than a tourism mindset, carrying Akshat offered by the household's women or elders to present at the deity's feet, and filling travel time with the destination's spiritual significance rather than idle entertainment.
The energy mechanism of sacrifice: the creature's energy bound to the wish by sankalpa
The speaker says the chief shaktis through whom devotees are helped, in dharma or adharma, are shaktis, and the matter of energy is separate: energy is collected, preserved, projected toward the wish, and then the fruit is obtained. In Bali, he says, the energy of the Jivatma is bound to the energy of the offerer's wishes through the Sankalpa mantra; after the Bali the chief working shakti of that peetha, who accepts and fulfils the wish, receives that energy and it is projected, and the wish is completed, whether it concerns Shatkarma, Paushtik Karma or any other desire. He says a Mannat made beforehand, to offer Bali once the work succeeds, works in exactly the same way.
A dev dosh example: the recurring dream of a box of Bhagavati's clothes, and what it meant
After some time it came repeatedly in his dream that you have kept my box, my clothes were to be kept in it — greatly displeased and angry. Doubt arose in his mind: what could a Bhagavati who is the queen of many brahmandas have to do with a small box? The speaker answers that he brought it with bhaav and she is showing displeasure with bhaav — you show love and she is showing love: what you brought for me you kept for yourself, give it to me. This is her leela.
What does a dream of a boy demanding a lemon for bali mean?
A listener dreamt that a boy of 17 or 18, who was in the house's puja room itself, asked for a lemon for bali; not getting it, he angrily picked up an amla and put it in her mouth saying "Jai Ma Kamakhya, Jai Bagla", and it stuck in her throat. He calls it a very dangerous dream, and reads it as meaning that either this thing was shown to her symbolically beforehand, or she is doing some puja or anushthan in which bali is needed, is compulsory, and she is not giving it — so someone gives it in anger.
For five minutes after the pujan, Datta is petitioned for one's abhisht and for acceptance as a disciple, he being present by the vidhi just performed.
When you have completed this vidhan of pujan, then for the next five minutes, remembering Bhagwan Datta, you will make your request to him for the fulfilment of your abhisht: O Bhagwan Datta, today I have taken you in the form of guru and completed this vidhan; please accept me as your disciple. Bhagwan himself has said that he comes and fulfils the abhisht of whoever contemplates him, the speaker says, and you have invoked him by the full vidhi vidhan, so he is present there for the fulfilment of your abhisht.
Plants bloom to happy music and dry under negative talk
He says this fact you have all seen according to modern science and will have read: if happy music is played near plants they blossom very well, and if something negative is said they dry up. Likewise, the utara we perform, and the mannats people tie on trees and plants — the trees and plants also dry up, so somewhere they carry our energy away.
What should one carry when visiting Kalka Ji?
Asked what to take when going to Kalka Ji on 24 December, the speaker says one should take a rose flower if it can be got and a garland of gudhal flowers for Bhagavati's shringar pujan, the chunri and the garment of shringar, and whatever bhog is offered there. And if 24 December falls on a Saturday, make a nimbu mala with your own hands — of 27 lemons, or 54, or 108, as many as possible — putting marigold flowers in between so it looks more beautiful and attractive. The pujari will put it on, and as long as it remains around Bhagavati's neck a special grace will come to you.
Why did Sai Baba come to be so widely worshipped?
Because of the way it was advertised. The speaker recalls the pamphlets circulated ten or twelve years ago — give this to ten people, and if you did not, something bad happened to that person — and says the Vaibhav Lakshmi vrat katha and the Santoshi Mata vrat were circulated in exactly the same way.
What does it mean to dream of losing or eating prasad?
Asked what it means to see prasad being lost in a dream, he distinguishes between eating the prasad and losing it. If the prasad has been lost, then offer it to the one whose prasad it was — they will receive it, and then you take it. If you see yourself eating it, then too it will be good if you offer it for the one whom you saw.
What should be done about a mannat that remains unfulfilled?
Whatever mannat of Chhinnamastika Mata remains outstanding, and whatever of Shiva ji remains outstanding, complete it, the speaker says. What the mannat is he cannot know — but as it is, complete it as soon as possible. Do not leave a mannat outstanding if the work has been completed.
What should be arranged for someone on whom sawari comes?
Meet some good knowledgeable person, he says, and first of all have a sthan given to them, so that their sthan is properly made and they come in the right way. Fix their day: that instead of coming daily, let it be Purnima, let it be Ashtami, let them come on some one day; and if you wish to hold the darbar on that day, then hold it. Keep their bhog and the place of puja properly. And along with that, do not now have mannat done at your house. If you are asking, he says, then he is telling according to himself; for the rest it is your own wish — he is telling what is the true thing.
Grow the hair for a year or two without letting scissors touch it, men especially
Try growing the hair once, he says. If you are not under some compulsion, not in a service where the hair must be kept short, then grow it: without letting scissors be used, grow your hair for a year or two, and afterwards you may have it cut if you wish. He addresses this especially to men, and to those who are getting no siddhi, having no experience, whose circumstances have become poor and mean, who are always weeping — let those people grow their hair. It is not a matter of a mannat: keep it groomed, try it for a year or two, and within a year and a quarter you will understand, and there will be a difference of earth and sky.
What should someone do who cannot find a knowledgeable person for the Vindhya trikon?
A listener says he was told to do the Vindhya trikon but cannot find any knowledgeable person, and asks for guidance. The speaker says that for performing the Vindhya trikon yatra no one is actually needed — you can do it yourself. Second, if you are not finding any knowledgeable person, then whenever you go to Vindhyachal, make a mannat there before Bhagavati for whatever your distress and difficulty is, and again and again perform her seva puja at home.
Why might a sankalpa of Baglamukhi satnaam fail to complete?
Asked by VK 1209 why the sankalpa of Maa Baglamukhi's satnaam has twice not been completed, the speaker says there can be two causes behind it. The first is that there may be some Mannat of yours which you are not fulfilling — some matter of a god or goddess which you have forgotten; fulfil it and the Sankalpa too will be completed. The second is which antar-Dasha is running according to your birth kundali: especially if Shani Bhagavan's is running, you will progress very slowly in the field of sadhana.
How many lamps should be offered in the guru's name and how many in one's own?
A listener who offers five lamps in the speaker's name and two in his own is told he is doing too many for the speaker. Keep more for yourself and less for me, the speaker says. If you light only two, or are keeping it small, then do five on the last day at most; otherwise in the daily practice keep just one lamp. He says he had spoken of lighting more in a one-day observance, or on the final day; in the nitya practice even one lamp is enough.
One whose name is taken day and night cannot go on ignoring the call
Sometime the whisper will reach the ears of the friend of the poor, of Bhagavati, he says. Taking Prince ji as the illustration: suppose Prince ji is capable of seeing me and capable of hearing me, and I think of him day and night and take his name — Prince, Prince, Prince — for how many days will you ignore it? Whenever you look you will say: this one does not even ask me for anything, every morning he rises, bathes and begins to take my name, daily offers me bhog, daily brings me a gift.
A small mannat, innocence, and repentance with daan-punya should accompany the path
Along with it you should also make a small mannat, the speaker says — that whenever they are freed, O Hanuman ji. But they should be innocent. If there is any fault of theirs, any mistake, then tell them to do repentance there. And secondly, for the sake of their repentance you should do daan-punya and the like outside here as well. If they repent from the heart, their release will come sooner. And the seva-puja of Bhagavati Durga and Hanuman ji in a general way.
Why is the tantra not cut at Mehandipur?
There is a reason behind why it was not cut, he says. People go to Mehandipur, take a sankalp, and then do nothing about it — and they are hardly going to come and tell you that they could not complete the sankalp. Here a man did wrong work for ten years; smoked charas and ganja, drank liquor, did not listen to the people of his house, did not attend to the devi-devatas. Then when the tantra came upon him he seized upon Balaji, and afterwards said that Balaji could not put his tantra right, that there is a lack in Balaji — and never looked at his own lack. Also, he adds, the people of teerth dhaams have themselves become like that, and this is the running time of Kaliyuga, so some difficulty there will be.
It is the Gayasur attitude — sin freely, then take darshan for moksha
He says a man may seize another's wealth, take someone's money, do wrong to someone, do wrong to a girl, and then, when tantra prayoga is done upon him by some enemy, run for refuge to Balaji and complain that Balaji could not do anything. That has become the Gayasur story: Gayasur took the boon, so go on, commit sin, take Gayasur's darshan and you will get moksha. People have understood it so — but Bhagwan too is very clever; he sets right those he sets right, and those who are not set right are not.
What does a dream of an old woman writing "Kali" in her own blood mean?
You are seeing a very dangerous dream, he tells her. Go to a temple and give the puja of Kali ji. There will be some mannat that has not been fulfilled, and so her yogini has come and is showing "Kali" written directly in her own blood — consider how devoted a yogini she is. Go and give the puja of Kali ji.
Can a pashu bali be given for a blessing alone, without any mannat?
There is no need of it in that way, he says. And if there is a wish, if there is some such reason, then only give it — that will be better. What is the need of giving bali for the obtaining of a blessing? He adds that after that karma there is a depletion of energy, a wearing away, and so the energy goes down.
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