Akshaya Navami Fasting
Amla tree sis divine as per the puranas. According to our ancestors one will get endless virtue by praying to Amla tree
Many communities celrbrate Akshaya Navami on the 9th day after Deepaali and pray to Amala tree. People believe that Akshya Navami will gets you self realisation. Its virtous to do bhajans and keertans, charity and penance at this time.
Bhavishya, Skanda, Padma and Vishnu puranas says this day one should worship Amla tree and Shri Maha Vishnu. People who worship Amla tree this day fast until the puja is done then eat under the shade of the Amla tree. Legend says it will take away all of the sins and deceases will be gone if one does this.
Amla tree is considered as form of Shri Maha Vishnu.
Bhagwan Shiva tells Kartikeya that Amla tree is form of Shri Maha Vishnu says Padma Purana. Praying and worshipping Amla tree gives the same virtue as doing Godanam (donating cows).
Shri Maha Vishnu is worshipped as Damodara under the Amla Tree. People pray for children, happiness and prosperity. People along with familiessit under the shade of the tree and eat food. Then donate food, money etc to Brahmins for the completion of the worship.
Beliefs about this fasting
On this day Maharshi Chyavana ate the Amla and because of that he got his youth back so it is recommended to eat an Amla. legend says by doing circumambulations to Amla tree on this day of Kartika Shukla Paksha Navami one can get rid of all diceases and sins.
On this day Shri Maha Vishnu resides in Amla. That is why worshipping Amla tree in this will increase wealth. It is said that Shir Maha Lakshmi worships Shri Maha Vishnu as Amla tree and Bhagwan Shiva as the Amla and eats under the shade of the tree.
Also it is believed that Shri Krishna circumambulated 3 Amla forests before killing Kamsa. That is why lakhs of Krishna devotees circumambulate Maduura / Brindavanam on this day.
On the day of Kartika Pournami, people put pices of Amla in the bucket of hotwater and take bath with it. According to Ayurveda it is good for the skin.
Vedas, puranas and upanishads have plenty of stories like this that make us feel like things will happen magically if we follow these practies. But what we need to understand from these stories is that they lets us know the importance of the things like the Amla which is medicinal and we should have that in our backyard. They keeps up reminding about the importance of the things so that we can use them when we need them and keep them available.
Listerning to these stories reguarly lets us understand that by doing these things one can get healthy physically and mentally and health is wealth, isn;t it?
