Kartik Mahatmya Adhyay 1 and 2: Gunavati and Satyabhama's Past Life

These are chapters 1 and 2 of the Kartik Mahatmya, which comes in the Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purana. Queen Satyabhama asks Lord Krishna what merit made her his beloved. He tells her about her past life as Gunavati, a Brahmin's daughter who kept the Kartik vow until her last breath.

Listen in the video: hear this chapter in Hindi on our YouTube channel. The full list is on the Kartik Mahatmya Katha page.

संक्षेप में: सत्यभामा ने श्रीकृष्ण से अपने पूर्वजन्म का पुण्य पूछा। पढ़िए गुणवती की कथा, जिसने जीवन भर कार्तिक व्रत निभाया। पूरा लेख हिंदी में पढ़ें →

The story

In the holy forest of Naimisharanya, eighty-eight thousand rishis sat with Shaunak. Suta offered to tell them the katha of Kartik. He said that merely hearing it destroys sin and leads a person at the end to the abode of Lord Vishnu. Lord Krishna himself, he said, first told it to Satyabhama.

One day in Dwarka, after Devarshi Narada had taken his leave, Satyabhama sat thinking happily. Among the sixteen thousand queens she was the dearest to the Lord, and the kalpavriksha of heaven stood in her own courtyard. She folded her hands and asked him what gift, what vow, what merit from her last birth had brought her this. She also asked who her parents had been.

Krishna smiled and led her to that same tree. He had brought it from Indra's realm on Garuda for her sake, after Indra refused it and fought a fierce battle with Garuda. In its shade he began. At the end of the Satya Yuga, in the city of Mayapuri, now called Haridwar, lived a learned Brahmin named Devasharma of the Atri gotra. He knew the Vedas, worshipped the Sun and honoured every guest as a form of God. In his old age a daughter was born to him, and she was named Gunavati. He had no son, so he married her to his dear disciple Chandra and kept Chandra at home like a son.

One day Devasharma and Chandra went to the forest at the foot of the Himalaya to gather kusha and samidha for the yajna. Deep in the woods a terrible demon stood before them. They froze in fear and he took both their lives. Because they had worshipped the Sun all their lives, the attendants of Lord Vishnu came with a divine vimana and carried them to Vaikuntha with honour. Here Krishna told Satyabhama that whoever truly worships the Sun, Shiva, Ganesha, the Devi or Vishnu reaches him alone. He is one, he said, and is worshipped in five forms.

Chapter 2 returns to Mayapuri. When Gunavati heard the news she wept bitterly and fell unconscious. When she woke she wiped her tears and decided that her first duty was the peace of her father and husband. She sold everything in the house and performed their shraddha properly with the money. Then she lived simply in the same city and gave her life to Lord Vishnu. She kept every Ekadashi and, year after year, the full Kartik vow.

One Kartik she had a high fever and her body was very weak. Even so, she went to the Ganga for her dawn bath. The water was bitterly cold. She stepped in shivering, and there her life left her. At that moment the attendants of Lord Vishnu came down with a divine vimana and took her to Vaikuntha.

Long after, when adharma grew on earth, Brahma and the gods prayed to the Lord. He took birth as Sri Krishna, and his attendants came with him as Yadavas. Devasharma became Satrajit, Satyabhama's father. Chandra was born as Akrura. And Gunavati, Krishna said, was Satyabhama herself. She had planted tulsi at his temple door, so the kalpavriksha stood in her courtyard. She had offered lamps in Kartik, so she had this beauty and fortune. She had offered him the fruit of her vow, so she became his beloved.

Krishna added that japa, tapa, yajna and charity put together do not equal even a sixteenth part of the merit of the Kartik vow. Hearing the story of her past life, Satyabhama was filled with joy and bowed at his feet.

The teaching of this chapter

True devotion is never wasted. Gunavati had no wealth and no one to lean on. What she had was her vow and her lamp, and in this katha those took her to the Lord.

The chapter's lesson is a small and steady one. In Kartik, light a lamp near the tulsi every evening.

What the chapter prescribes for Kartik

Krishna names these acts as dear to him. According to the chapter, they free a person from the bond of birth and death.

• Bathing at brahma muhurta in Kartik, when the Sun is in Tula, and keeping the vow
• Keeping every Ekadashi
• Staying awake in night vigil
• Offering lamps
• Serving and protecting the tulsi
• Sweeping the temple
• Drawing a swastik at the door
• Worshipping Lord Vishnu

Frequently asked questions

Who was Gunavati?
She was the daughter of Devasharma, a Brahmin of Mayapuri, and the wife of his disciple Chandra. Krishna reveals that she was Satyabhama in her past life.

How did Gunavati die?
She had a high fever during Kartik but still went for her dawn bath in the Ganga. Her life left her in the cold water, and Lord Vishnu's attendants took her to Vaikuntha.

Who did Devasharma and Chandra become in the next birth?
Devasharma became Satrajit, the father of Satyabhama, and Chandra was born as Akrura.

Why was the kalpavriksha in Satyabhama's courtyard?
Krishna tells her it is because she planted tulsi at the door of his temple in her past life.

Next chapter: Adhyay 3: Why Kartik Is Best and the Theft of the Vedas