Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrat (Friday) - Vrat Vidhi
Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrat (Friday) माँ लक्ष्मी
The Friday vrat of Maa Vaibhav Lakshmi - for prosperity, kept as a sankalpa of 11 or 21 Fridays.
Vrat mantra
ॐ श्रीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः
Om Shreem Mahalakshmyai Namah
What you can eat - and what to avoid
You can have
- Evening meal after puja: kheer first (the vrat bhog), then sattvik food
- Fruits and fresh fruit juices
- Milk, curd, paneer, butter, ghee
- Sabudana - khichdi, kheer or vada
- Kuttu (buckwheat) and singhara flour rotis / puris
- Samak (barnyard millet) rice
- Makhana, dry fruits and nuts
- Potato, sweet potato, arbi - cooked with sendha namak
- Sendha namak (rock salt) only
- Tea, coffee or coconut water in moderation
✗ Avoid
- All grains - wheat, rice, semolina (sooji), besan, oats
- Pulses and legumes - dal, chana, rajma, soy
- Regular table / sea salt (use only sendha namak)
- Onion and garlic
- Non-vegetarian food and eggs
- Alcohol and tobacco
- Heavy spices - keep to jeera, kali mirch, green chilli
Step-by-step vrat vidhi
Sankalpa - the vrat morning
Wake early, bathe and wear clean clothes. With water, akshat and a flower in the right palm, state your name, the vrat (Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrat (Friday)), its count if it is a series, and your prayer - then release the water.
Morning puja
Bathe, clean the puja place, and take the sankalpa stating the number of Fridays (11 or 21). Remember "Jai Maa Lakshmi" through the day.
Keep the fast through the day
Keep the fast as prescribed - day fast · evening puja then one meal (kheer first). Spend free moments in japa of "Om Shreem Mahalakshmyai Namah", and keep the mind sattvik: no anger, gossip or harsh speech.
Katha & evening puja
In the evening set a chowki with a red cloth, place the Shri Yantra and a gold/silver ornament or coin in a thali with akshat, worship with lotus/red flowers, read the Vaibhav Lakshmi katha and sing the aarti; offer kheer bhog.
Paran - breaking the fast
After the Friday evening puja, katha and aarti - eat kheer first, then the meal.
Daan & prasad
Share the prasad with everyone present and give some daan (food, fruit or dakshina) as per capacity - the vrat is completed by giving.
Special rules for this vrat
- Keep the count of Fridays exactly as per sankalpa; if a Friday is missed (travel, impurity), extend by one.
- The udyapan on the final Friday: worship as usual and gift the vrat katha book (or kumkum-supari) to 7, 11 or 21 women.
- Cleanliness of the home is essential - Lakshmi resides where there is shuddhata.
Family and regional traditions (parampara) vary - where yours differs, follow your parampara. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and anyone unwell or on medication should keep a softened vrat (fruit and milk) or skip it - a vrat is bhakti and restraint, never hardship to the body.
Choose another vrat
What is a Vrat Vidhi?
A vrat vidhi is how to keep a sacred fast: morning sankalpa, the deity's puja, the day's food discipline, the katha and aarti, and paran at the right time. Most vrats allow phalahar (fruits, milk, sabudana, kuttu, singhara, samak, sendha namak). Some are nirjala. Ekadashi drops grain; Santoshi Mata drops sour food; Ravivar vrat drops salt.
A vrat is bhakti and restraint, not hardship. Children, the elderly, pregnant women and the unwell should soften the fast. Parampara comes first. Pick a Dev or Devi for the day, fast type, food rules, paran, mantra, katha and aarti.
This is not a full puja manual. Worship steps are Puja Vidhi. Gather items from Puja Samagri. Read the story on Vrat Katha.
