Once every few years, the Hindu lunar calendar adds an entire extra month to stay in sync with the solar year — and unlike an ordinary leap day tucked quietly into February, this leap month arrives with its own name, its own scriptures, and its own devotee: Purushottam Maas. It is a tradition that thrives in the Bay Area too.

Purushottam — “the Supreme Person” — is one of Lord Vishnu’s own names. The month is named directly after Him — and in the Gaudiya Vaishnava understanding, Vishnu is Krishna’s own plenary expansion, so devotion offered to Purushottam this month reaches the same Supreme Person devotees glorify the rest of the year as Krishna.

Why an Extra Month Even Exists

The Hindu calendar tracks both the moon (for months) and the sun (for the year), and the two drift out of sync by about eleven days annually. Every two to three years, an entire extra lunar month — Adhik Maas, “the additional month” — is inserted to correct the drift. Unlike a regular month, it carries no sankranti (no solar transition falls within it), which by tradition left it without a presiding deity.

The Month No Deity Would Claim — Until Vishnu Did

According to the Puranic tradition (Skanda Purana and Padma Purana), this “extra” month was once considered inauspicious — unclaimed, ill-omened, avoided for weddings and new ventures. No deity would accept lordship over it. Lord Vishnu, in His form as Purushottam, took pity on the month and adopted it as His own, naming it after Himself and declaring that sincere devotion performed during it yields merit exceeding all twelve ordinary months combined.

To book a home kirtan Bay Area session for Purushottam Maas Adhik Maas, choose a date in the Calendly widget above or send a WhatsApp message — our team travels to you.

This is a genuinely striking piece of theology: a month everyone else rejected became, by Vishnu’s own choice, the single most spiritually potent stretch of time in the entire calendar.

“No deity would accept lordship over the extra month — until Vishnu, in His form as Purushottam, took pity and adopted it as His own, declaring that devotion performed during it yields merit exceeding all twelve ordinary months combined.”

— Skanda Purana / Padma Purana tradition

Why Bhajan Carries Special Weight This Month

An unclaimed month is also an unclaimed calendar. Every ordinary month has its own presiding deity, its own sankranti, its own set of festivals and obligations already scheduled into it. Purushottam Maas has none of that — no fixed rituals it “owes” anyone. What fills that empty space, by design, is bhajan: japa, kirtan, hearing the Gita and Bhagavatam, offered simply because Vishnu adopted the month out of mercy, not duty. That’s the real reason the tradition holds this month’s devotion yields merit beyond the other twelve — the practice isn’t competing with a packed ritual calendar the way it does the rest of the year. It’s the one month where remembering the Lord is close to the only thing actually being asked of you, and doing it — however modestly — is understood to please Him and draw His mercy in a way ordinary months rarely match.

What Purushottam Maas Is For

Devotees use the month for intensified practice — reading the Srimad Bhagavatam or Bhagavad Gita cover to cover, keeping additional fasts, chanting extra rounds, and undertaking charity. None of this requires anything elaborate; the tradition holds that ordinary practices, sustained through this month, simply carry more weight than usual.

What a Purushottam Maas Satsang Actually Looks Like

In practice, most of this intensified devotion doesn’t happen alone — it happens in satsang, a gathering built around three things. It opens with kirtan, call-and-response chanting that gets the room singing together rather than just listening. From there it moves into pravachan — a short, accessible class on a chapter or theme from the Bhagavad Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam, usually tied back to why this particular month exists and what it’s asking of the people sitting in the room. The evening closes the way it opened, with kirtan building into arati — lamps offered together, the whole gathering on its feet. Kirtan opens the heart, pravachan gives the mind something to actually hold onto, and the closing kirtan and arati bring both back together. This three-part rhythm — chant, hear, chant again — is the same shape Purushottam Maas satsangs have followed for generations, and it’s exactly what a home kirtan evening recreates in your own living room.

How Devotees Traditionally Observe the Month

Because Purushottam Maas has no fixed month of its own — it can land in different seasons depending on when the lunar drift calls for it — its observances travel with the devotee rather than with a calendar date. The best-known practice is a month-long reading of the Purushottam Maas Mahatmya, a cycle of stories from the Puranas told in daily installments, often one chapter recited aloud each evening by a family or a small satsang group, so the full narrative unfolds across the entire month rather than in one sitting. Many households also observe a simplified diet for the month — often avoiding a specific grain or reducing meals to twice a day — paired with daily lamp offerings and extra rounds of japa. Charity during Purushottam Maas traditionally takes a specific form too: giving items connected to comfort and shelter — cloth, food, an umbrella, a water vessel — to those in need, on the understanding that what’s given during this month is received directly by Vishnu Himself.

None of these practices require a temple or a priest to lead them. A family reading one chapter of the Mahatmya together after dinner, or setting aside a portion of a meal to give away, is itself the month’s discipline — modest, repeatable, and squarely in the spirit of a month built around remembrance rather than ritual obligation.

Bring a Purushottam Maas Kirtan Into Your Own Home

When Purushottam Maas falls, ISKCON of Silicon Valley can bring live kirtan directly into your home for the occasion — 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 Radhey Shyam, Hare Krishna and Hare Ram, mridanga and kartals building into energetic Braj rasiya-style singing and dance
• Katha — the story of why Krishna adopted this month as His own, and what makes it different from the other twelve
• 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 a Purushottam Maas home kirtan session →

Check Availability & Book Your Evening

A month this potent deserves more than a quiet evening alone — live kirtan turns one of its days into a full communal celebration. 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 Honors What Others Overlooked

The Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition ISKCON belongs to takes seriously the idea that Krishna’s mercy reaches even what the rest of the world considers unclaimed or inauspicious — Purushottam Maas is a living example of that principle. ISKCON, founded in 1966 by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, carries this tradition forward. 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 Purushottam Maas Kirtan at Your Home

Whether you’ve kept extra vows through Adhik Maas before or you’re learning about it for the first time, ISKCON of Silicon Valley can bring the celebration to you and make it one to remember. Our devotees have led hundreds of home kirtan evenings across the Bay Area; see the energy for yourself on Instagram →

Book a Purushottam Maas kirtan and katha session at your home →

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

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Frequently Asked Questions

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.