What is Adhik Maas?

Adhik maas is celebrated as a sacred month. During adhik maas people perform extra mala pradakshinas, pilgrimages, scriptural reading and parayans. Adhik maas is also known as purushottam maas or as mal maas in hindi among the people. Adhik Maas 2023 date is from 18thJuly 2023 to 16th Aug 2023. This additional time unit known as adhik maas is of approximately 30 days.  So in 2023, there are thirteen months in Hindu Lunar calendar apart from the normal 12 months.

The concept of adhik maas is unique to the traditional Hindu lunar calendars based on the cycles of the Moon. A lunar month is around 29.5 days long. Now, a solar month, that is the usual calendar, is 30 to 31 days. The lunar year consists of 354 solar days and the solar year consists of 365 days. So, as years pass by each lunar month starts earlier to the corresponding solar month. There is a difference of 11 days between the lunar and solar year. In every two or three solar years the difference between the two calendars becomes a full month or around 29 days. To compensate and get the two calendars similar an extra month known as adhik maas is added. Vasishta Siddhanta, a treatise of Sage Vasishta, says that the Adhik Maas occurs after every 32 months, 16 days and 8 Ghadis. A Ghadi is 24 minutes.

Adhika Maas Significance

During the period of adhik maas, people perform various types of religious rituals such as keeping fast, recitation of religious scriptures, mantras, prayers, performing various types of puja’s and havans. Fasts(full day, half day, weekly, fortnight, full month) are observed as per the tolerance capacity of individuals. These may be of complete fasting with liquids only or without liquids, fasting only with fruits or keeping fast with one-time vegetarian food.

• Persons performing good deeds/satkarma in adhik maas conquer their indriyas/senses and they totally come out of punar janam i.e. cycle of rebirth and also their miseries are eradicated.
• Performing penances knowingly or unknowingly in this adhik maas in any form imbues spiritual merit.
• Any graha dosh or specific dosh nivaran puja performed in adhik maas to rectify the horoscope gives ten times better result to the individual.

Individuals observe this sacred month, which arrives after every thirty-two months, by performing scriptural reading and parayans i.e holding a katha series of a sacred text. During the entire month of adhik maas, patha of Hindu shastra such as shrimad Devi Bhagavat, shrimad bhagwat puran, shri vishnu puran, Bhavishyottar Purana etc are carried out by vamtantra sadhaks. These religious rituals are capable of washing away all the sins of people accumulated during this life and past life.

What are the Benefits of Purushottam Maas Vrat?

Keeping fast during this auspicious adhik maas month gives manifold benefits. Some of them listed below:

• Keeping fast during adhik maas is equivalent to performing a hundred yagnas, which acts as a path to the attainment of complete bliss, delight, and peace.
• The purpose of adhik maas vrat as per vamtantra is to propitiate deity to achieve and fulfill his desires, to bring the divine grace and blessing, gaining back lost health and wealth, begetting offspring, divine help and assistance during the difficult period in one’s life.
• Adhik maas vrat eliminates all the sins of people accumulated during this life and past life.