Akshaya tritiya is an auspicious Vedic festival celebrated all through out India.
According to Vedic calendar (panchanga),
When the Sun and Moon are exalted in Aries & Taurus, an auspicious yoga of Akshaya Tritiya forms. It falls on the third tithi (lunar day) of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of the month of Vaisakha. The day is considered auspicious by Hindus and Jains in many regions of India for new ventures, marriages, expensive investments such as gold or other property, and any new beginnings.
It's forms an auspicious Dhan Yoga / Laxmi Yoga and it is a tradition in India to buy Gold on this day.
It is believed that this day is so auspicious that anything that is done on this day cannot give bad results. The benefits of doing a good deed on this day are immense.
Birth of Bhagavati Devi Annapoorna:
Annapoorna Devi is an avatar of Goddess Parvati. She is the Goddess of nourishment and food. It is said that Goddess Annapoorna was born on the day of Akshaya Tritiya.
The story goes that one day Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati had an argument on the physical material world that everything in this cosmos is Maya and it is an illusion. Mata Parvati disagreed and got furious. To show the importance of Maya to lord Shiva, she disappeared saying she wanted to see how the world will survive without her (i.e Maya)
With Parvati's disappearance, the world was deprived of food, and there occurred a famine. Shiva's followers begged him for food; even the Gods were forced to beg for food, but could not find any food. Finally, Shiva and his followers came to know that there was only one kitchen on earth, in the city of Varanasi (Kashi), where food was still available.
Shiva went to Kashi to beg for food. To his surprise, the kitchen was owned by his wife Parvati, but in the form of Annapurna. She wore celestial purple and brown garments, which were lightly adorned with ornaments. She was seated on a throne, with a bowl of Akshaya Patra serving and distributed food to the starving gods and hungry inhabitants of the earth. Annapurna offered her food as alms to Shiva and made him realize that as Brahman, Shiva might have outgrown hunger; but his followers and the world had not.
How Akshaya Tritiya got its name : A story from Mahabharata.
During their exile, the Pandava princes were famished due to lack of food and resources.
Their wife, Draupadi was pained by this as she could not extend her hospitality to her guests with such limited resources.
Yudhishthira, who was the eldest, prayed to Lord Surya, who gave him this bowl, which would remain full till Draupadi served all of their guests. During Sage Durvasa's visit, Lord Krishna made this bowl invincible for Draupadi so that the magical bowl called Akshaya Patra would always remain full with food of their choice, even as to satiate the whole universe if required.
Other legends from vedic scriptures (Puranas) :
Lord Parashuram Jayanti :
It is believed that Lord Vishnu's 6th avatar Lord Parashurama took their incarnation on earth. Hence Akshaya Tritiya is also celebrated as Parashuram Jayanti.
Lord Parashurama is associated with Venus, the planet of wealth, comfort, luxury and love. 6th Avatar of Vishnu also indicates planet Venus as it is understood that numerical frequency of planet Venus is 6 in vedic numerology. Worshipping Lord Vishnu's Parashuram Avatar is said to shower all forms of wealth and abundance.
Vedvyas Rishi and Lord Ganesha write Mahabharata :
Another legend says that Maharishi Veda Vyasa recited Mahabharata to Lord Ganesha and on this day, lord Ganesha wrote the whole epic on Mahabharata.
The Mahabharata, authored by Sage Veda Vyasa, is one of the largest books ever composed in world literature. He is said to have witnessed everything that happened during the Mahabharata. Vyasa was instructed by Lord Brahma to recall this epic story of how good wins over evil.
To create such a masterpiece, a scribe was needed. It required someone intelligent enough to be able to transpose complex information. Brahma recommended Ganesha for his super-intelligence and super-fast ability to get things done. Ganesha accepted the task on one condition. When Vedavyasa began this legendary tale of two rival families, he could stop narrating only when the entire book was finished. If the sage were to stop before this, Ganesha would put his pen down and the task would end.
Whenever Vedavyasa needed a few moments to gather his thoughts, he narrated a difficult stanza—one which would make Ganesha stop and think for a moment or two. Writing at such high speed caused Ganesha’s pen to stop working, but rather than disrupt the smooth flow which had developed between the two, Ganesha broke off one of his tusks and continued writing. This frantic pace continued until the last word was spoken. The entire project took three long years to complete.
The sage knew that Ganesha would have no trouble transcribing at such a fast pace, but questioned whether he would be able to convey the entire story at such speed. To find the momentum that would suit both narrator and writer, Vedavyasa told Ganesha that he wanted each and every couplet to be fully understood by him and not just simply recorded. Ganesha agreed and work began on writing the one-hundred thousand stanzas of the poem.
The descending of holy river Ganga from heavens:
The heavenly river Ganga descended down to earth on Akshaya Tritiya.
Stories from puranas revolves around King Bhagiratha. He was a descendant of King Sagar who had 60,000 sons. These sons once went out in the search of their father’s missing horse and mistakenly blamed sage Kapila who had been meditating for ages. The sage could not control his anger and burnt them into ashes with the rays of his eyes. Ever since then, their souls kept wandering. To provide salvation to his ancestors’ souls and wash their sins, Bhagiratha prayed to Lord Shiva to send river Ganga to earth. Hence, Lord Shiva granted the wish, controlled the river’s flow with his hair and Ganga came to the earth with a mild flow washing the sins of Bhagiratha’s ancestors.
Visiting Gangotri and Yamunotri temples on this day during Abhijit muhurat on Akshaya Tritiya is considered to wash off all sins of many lifetimes.
Lord Kubera also recieved the position of God of wealth on the day of Akshaya Tritiya.
Krishna and Sudama's undying friendship and devotion:
Another story from Srimad Bhagavatam says that Krishna's childhood friend Sudama who was poor and miserable visited Krishna in Dwarka, upon his visit, On the day of Akshaya Tritiya, Sudama who came from a poor background went to meet Lord Krishna to seek financial help. All he had was a handful of flattened rice (poha) to offer. When Sudama reached Lord Krishna’s palace, he was treated like a God and was taken aback by the heart-warming welcome. Sudama’s heart was so full that he could not ask for anything else. However, when he returned home, he found his small hut replaced by a palace. Lord Krishna blessed his friend with everything he could have ever asked for. He was gifted immeasurable wealth as a boon for his devotion towards the divine godhead.
Kubera becomes the God of Wealth:
Kubera, being born to sage Vishrama and his first wife, received all the wealth and ruled Lanka. Later, Kubera’shalf-brother Ravana along with his siblings won the entire kingdom with the help of Brahma’s boon offered to them after years of long prayers. Thrown away from Lanka, Kubera was helpless and sought help from his grandf ather Pulastya – who advised him to worship Lord Shiva. Impressed by Kubera’s prayers, Lord Shiva blessed him with all the wealth and made him the custodian of wealth and prosperity along with Goddess Lakshmi.
Anyone who worships lord kubera and goddess laxmi on this day gains windfall and becomes wealthy and abundant in all financial aspects.
Such is the significance of this auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya. I hope you all will make use of this tithi and welcome infinite abundance into your lives.
Happy Akshaya Tritiya - 2022