Twice a month, on the eleventh day after each new and full moon, a huge number of Hindu households quietly skip grains and beans for a day. If your family keeps this practice — Ekadasi — you already observe one of the oldest, most consistently kept fasting traditions in the entire Vedic calendar here in the Bay Area. What fewer people are told: the fast itself was never the point. It’s the doorway. What actually pleases the Lord on this day — and multiplies whatever merit the fast carries — is what you do with your voice: chanting His names, hearing His pastimes, sitting in kirtan. A kirtan program at home on Ekadasi evening is one of the most natural expressions of this observance.

Why the Eleventh Day

The Puranas describe Ekadasi as a sacred energy — in some tellings personified as Ekadasi Devi, born from Lord Vishnu’s own being to help Him defeat a demon named Mura. Pleased with her, Vishnu granted her a permanent boon: that fasting and worshipping Him on this day would purify the soul and free the observer from accumulated karma more effectively than almost any other single practice available. Since then, the eleventh lunar day — waxing and waning, twice every month, twenty-four times a year — has carried this significance.

The Fast Prepares You. Bhajan Is What Pleases the Lord.

The grain-and-bean restriction isn’t the point of Ekadasi — it’s scaffolding. Traditional Vaishnava understanding holds that grains and beans, on this specific day, harbor subtle karmic reactions that interfere with focused remembrance of Krishna. Strip those away, and the mind has less pulling it toward routine appetite and more room for actual devotion. But that room has to be filled with something, and the tradition is specific about what: extra japa, hearing Krishna’s pastimes, and above all, kirtan. A vrata kept as pure abstention, with no corresponding rise in remembrance and glorification of the Lord, is understood to fall short of what Ekadasi is actually for. The fast creates the space; bhajan is what the space is for.

The Incalculable Merit of Kirtan on Ekadasi

Ask what actually pleases Krishna on Ekadasi, and the tradition doesn’t point first to the empty plate — it points to the chanting. The Srimad Bhagavatam (11.5.32) identifies sankirtana — congregational chanting of the Lord’s names — as the single most effective spiritual process for this age, above austerity, ritual, or renunciation. Ekadasi is a day already understood, in Puranic tradition, to multiply the result of whatever devotional activity is performed on it. Put the two together: the process scripture already calls the most powerful available, performed on the day already understood to amplify devotional results — arriving at its most concentrated point.

“In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.”

— Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.32

Krishna’s own tradition goes further still on what chanting accomplishes in this age — not as one option among several, but as the actual means:

“In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.”

— Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi-lila 17.21

This is the real reason Ekadasi carries the weight it does — not the empty stomach by itself, but a day the tradition treats as uniquely receptive, met with the one process it calls unfailing in this age. A devotee who keeps the fast without a corresponding rise in glorifying the Lord has kept the form without reaching for what the day actually offers: direct access to Krishna’s mercy, and Radha and Krishna’s pleasure, through the Holy Name. This is why, in ISKCON temples worldwide, Ekadasi is rarely just a quiet fast kept alone — it’s typically the day with the fullest kirtan program of the week.

Not All Ekadasis Are the Same

Each of the twenty-four Ekadasis across the year carries its own name and its own story, most traced to a specific chapter of the Puranas narrated as a dialogue explaining that Ekadasi’s particular benefit:

• Nirjala Ekadasi — observed without even water, in the peak of early summer. Tradition holds it carries the combined merit of all twenty-three other Ekadasis, for those unable to keep the rest of the year’s observances.
• Mokshada Ekadasi — falling in the month of Margashirsha/Kartik, the day tradition holds the Bhagavad Gita itself was spoken by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, also marked as Gita Jayanti. Learn more about Kartik month, when several major Ekadasis fall →
• Vaikuntha Ekadasi / Putrada Ekadasi — observed in winter, associated in South Indian temples with the opening of the Vaikuntha Dwaram, a gateway believed to grant a direct glimpse of the spiritual world.
• Kamada, Varuthini, Mohini, Apara, Nirjala, Yogini, Sayana, Kamika, Pavitropana, Annada, Parshva, Indira, Pashankusha, Rama, Utthana, Utpanna, Saphala, Putrada, Shat-tila, Jaya, Vijaya, Amalaki, Papamochani — the remaining Ekadasis round out the full lunar year, each linked to a Puranic story of a devotee who observed it and was freed from a specific difficulty, from poverty to a lingering curse.

Check the current programs page for the next Ekadasi’s exact date and any special observance →

The Practical Details: Fasting Forms and Parana Timing

These specifics matter less than what you do with the space they create, but briefly: observance ranges from a full fast (nirjala — no food or water, reserved for a few Ekadasis and experienced observers) to fasting from grains and beans only (the most common form, permitting fruits, nuts, dairy, and substitutes like buckwheat or water chestnut flour) to a single once-a-day meal for those easing into the practice. The fast is broken the next morning — Dwadashi, the twelfth lunar day — within a specific window after sunrise; most panchangs and temple calendars publish exact parana times for each Ekadasi. Whatever form you keep, the point stays the same: use the space it opens for hearing, chanting, and remembering Krishna.

Bring an Ekadasi Kirtan Into Your Own Home

ISKCON of Silicon Valley can bring live kirtan directly into your Ekadasi observance — a free 2-hour program built around

Families in San Jose, Fremont, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and Milpitas have hosted ISKCON kirtan evenings at home — our devotees travel to you.

• Kirtan — the Braj Vrindavan mood carried through Hare Krishna and Hare Ram, mridanga and kartals building into energetic Braj rasiya-style singing and dance
• Katha — the story behind that particular Ekadasi and why the day carries the significance it does
• Arati with dance — the evening’s high point, bringing kids and elders into the same current

Devotees bring the instruments and lead the chanting; you bring your family, your community, your own home — no cost to host. Not sure what to expect? See a clip below, or see more real footage from past home kirtan sessions on our Instagram →

Book an Ekadasi home kirtan session →

Check Availability & Book Your Evening

If you’re already fasting and making space for the Lord on Ekadasi, live kirtan is how that space actually reaches Him — turning a quiet personal vow into congregational glorification, with Radha and Krishna’s names filling your home. Learn what kirtan is and how it works →

Want to host this kind of evening at your home? Choose a date below — our kirtan team will travel to you.

A Tradition That Keeps This Day Twice Every Month

The Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition ISKCON belongs to treats Ekadasi as one of its most consistent devotional disciplines — every temple, every devotee, twice a month, without exception. ISKCON, founded in 1966 by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, carries this practice forward at every one of its centers worldwide. ISKCON is recognized globally as a leading institution for Gaudiya Vaishnava practice, and ISKCON of Silicon Valley has served the Bay Area’s devotional community for over 50 years.

Host Ekadasi Kirtan at Your Home

Whether you’ve kept Ekadasi twice a month for years or you’re learning about it for the first time, ISKCON of Silicon Valley can bring the observance to you and make it a full devotional evening. Our devotees have led hundreds of home kirtan evenings across the Bay Area; see the energy for yourself on Instagram →

Book an Ekadasi kirtan and katha session at your home →

Prefer to join a celebration at the temple instead? See the current Ekadasi program schedule at ISKCON of Silicon Valley →

Contact ISKCON of Silicon Valley →

Frequently Asked Questions

Looking for a kirtan for a specific life occasion? See Health & Healing Kirtan.

Gaurav Verma

Kirtan Volunteer · ISKCON Silicon Valley

Gaurav has been leading bhajans and kirtans in Bay Area homes for more than 10 years. He teaches harmonium for kirtan on YouTube, shares bhajan albums on SoundCloud, and coordinates the Vrindavan Mellows home kirtan service across the San Francisco Bay Area.