Adhyaya 62

Chapter 62 teaches the supreme observance for the intercalary month, Puruṣottama (Adhika Māsa): the Ekādaśī vow called Kamalā-nāma. It opens with inquiries about the month’s presiding deity, daily disciplines, ritual bathing, recitation, the method of worship, dietary rules, and the relative merit of japa performed at home, by a river, near Tulasī, and before Viṣṇu. The vrata-rules are then set within a narrative: the son of a disgraced brāhmaṇa wanders and reaches Prayāga/Triveṇī during Puruṣottama, associates with sages at Harimitra’s hermitage, and observes Ekādaśī in their company. At midnight Lakṣmī (Kamalā/Padmā) appears, praises the vow’s power, grants prosperity and continuity of lineage, and stresses that śravaṇa—listening to sacred accounts—purifies. The chapter concludes with a concise Ekādaśī procedure: mantra, fasting, night vigil, bathing the deity, feeding brāhmaṇas, and the proper timing of pāraṇa, promising attainment of Viṣṇu’s abode and release from sin.