Monday fasts kept through the whole month. Kanwar pilgrims carrying Ganga water for miles on foot. Shiva temples packed before dawn. If Shravan means devotion to Lord Shiva in your family, you’re keeping one of the most widely observed monthly vows in the entire Hindu calendar here in the Bay Area. A kirtan at home during this Shravan month brings the Jhulana Yatra swing festival spirit into your own living room.

What’s worth knowing: the Vaishnava tradition doesn’t see this as separate from its own devotion at all. It holds Shiva in a position most people never learn about.

What Vaishnava Scripture Actually Says About Shiva

This isn’t a workaround or a modern accommodation. The Srimad Bhagavatam (12.13.16) states directly: “Just as the Ganga is the greatest of all rivers, and the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead the supreme among all deities, so Lord Shambhu [Shiva] is the greatest of Vaishnavas.” Not a lesser figure orbiting the Supreme — the single greatest devotee of Vishnu in existence. Shravan Somvar vrats, Kanwar Yatra, every Monday fast kept with sincerity this month is, in this reading, devotion modeled directly on Shiva’s own.

“Just as the Ganga is the greatest of all rivers, and the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead the supreme among all deities, so Lord Shambhu [Shiva] is the greatest of Vaishnavas.”

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

— Srimad Bhagavatam 12.13.16

The Krishna Festival Hidden Inside Shravan: Jhulana Yatra

What fewer people know is that Shravan carries its own major Krishna celebration: Jhulana Yatra, the swing festival. For several days, Radha and Krishna’s deities are gently swung on a beautifully decorated swing while devotees sing kirtan around them — a tender, playful pastime that Vaishnava temples worldwide, including ISKCON’s, celebrate with real festivity during this exact month. Shravan’s monsoon rains and cooling breezes are themselves part of the mood; the swing mirrors the season.

Kanwar Yatra: The Pilgrimage Behind the Fasts

Alongside the Monday fasts, Shravan carries one of the most physically demanding pilgrimages in the Hindu calendar. Kanwariyas — pilgrims dressed in saffron — travel on foot to a sacred river, most commonly the Ganga at Haridwar or Gaumukh, fill two pots with river water, and hang them from a decorated bamboo pole called a kanwar, carried balanced across the shoulders. Some walk for days, entire routes lined with rest camps set up by local communities offering food and water to passing pilgrims free of charge. The water itself is never set down on the ground for the length of the journey — tradition holds it must stay elevated the whole way — and it’s ultimately offered at a Shiva temple back home, often timed to land on a Shravan Monday or Shivratri. It’s a vow built entirely around endurance and intention: the water itself is simple river water, and what makes it sacred is the discipline of the walk that carries it.

The Women’s Vrats of Shravan: Solah Somvar and Mangala Gauri

Two of Shravan’s most widely kept observances are specifically women’s vrats, carried forward generation to generation more by mothers and grandmothers than by any temple calendar. Solah Somvar Vrat — sixteen consecutive Mondays, often beginning in Shravan — is traditionally kept by unmarried women praying for a good marriage and by married women praying for their husband’s long life and wellbeing, each Monday marked by a simplified diet and an evening puja to Shiva and Parvati together. Mangala Gauri Vrat runs alongside it on Shravan’s Tuesdays, observed mainly by newly married women in their first few years of marriage, honoring Gauri (Parvati) specifically for marital harmony and the health of the household. Neither vrat requires a temple visit to keep properly — both are traditionally observed with a home altar, a diya, and whatever time in the evening a family can set aside together.

Shravan closes on its full-moon day, Shravan Purnima — the same day widely observed as Raksha Bandhan, the tying of the protective thread between brother and sister. It’s a fitting bookend to a month already built around vows and protection, and it carries its own direct Krishna connection: the Mahabharata’s account of Draupadi tying a strip of cloth around Krishna’s bleeding finger, a gesture He later repaid many times over.

Naga Panchami: The Other Major Shravan Observance

Falling on the fifth day of Shravan’s bright fortnight, Naga Panchami is the month’s other widely kept festival, dedicated to snake deities considered guardians of the household and the harvest. Families offer milk, turmeric, and flowers at snake idols or anthills believed to house serpents, and in many regions avoid digging or plowing the earth on this day out of respect for the creatures living in it. The observance is also tied to protection from Rahu-Ketu related astrological doshas in traditional belief, which is part of why it’s kept so consistently even in households that observe little else through the rest of the year. Like the Monday fasts and Kanwar Yatra, it adds to the same picture: Shravan isn’t one observance but a month layered with several, each carrying its own story and its own quiet discipline.

Bring a Shravan Kirtan Into Your Own Home

Alongside your own Somvar fasts or Kanwar Yatra observance, ISKCON of Silicon Valley can bring live kirtan directly into your Shravan gathering — 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 Jhulana Yatra and Shiva’s own position as the greatest of Vaishnavas
• Arati with dance — the evening’s high point, bringing kids and elders into the same devotional 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 Shravan home kirtan session →

Check Availability & Book Your Evening

If your Mondays this month already involve fasting and temple visits, an evening of live kirtan adds a different current to the same month’s devotion. 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 Shiva’s Own Devotion

The Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition ISKCON belongs to has never treated reverence for Shiva as separate from or in tension with devotion to Krishna — scripture itself places him at the very summit of Vaishnava devotees. ISKCON, founded in 1966 by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, carries this understanding 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 Shravan Kirtan at Your Home This Season

Whether you’re deep into a month of Somvar fasts or discovering Jhulana Yatra for the first time, ISKCON of Silicon Valley can bring the celebration to you. Our devotees have led hundreds of home kirtan evenings across the Bay Area; see the energy for yourself on Instagram →

Book a Shravan kirtan and katha session at your home →

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

Contact ISKCON of Silicon Valley →

Frequently Asked Questions