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 the procedure for keeping a sacred fast — from the morning sankalpa (vow), the deity's puja, the discipline of the fast through the day, the katha (vrat story) and aarti, to the paran (breaking of the fast) at its proper time. Each vrat has its own food rules: most allow phalahar (fruits, milk, sabudana, kuttu and singhara flour, samak rice, with sendha namak only), some are kept nirjala (without even water, like Karwa Chauth), and a few carry one defining rule — no grains on Ekadashi, nothing sour on the Santoshi Mata vrat, no salt on the Ravivar vrat.
Pick a Dev or Devi to see the complete vidhi of their vrat — the day, the fast type, what you can eat and what to avoid, the paran rule, mantra, katha and aarti — and use the linked samagri checklist where one exists. A vrat is bhakti and self-restraint, never hardship: children, the elderly, pregnant women and the unwell should keep a softened form, and family traditions (parampara) always come first.