Chitra Poornima

Yesterday, April 24, was Chitra Pournami or Poornima, the full moon of the month of Chitra (April-May), when the nakshatra Chitra (Virginis) is close to the moon. The week preceding it was full of holy birthdays: Ram Navami, Milad-un-Nabi and Mahavir Jayanti. A spate of New Years came before that, including the holy days of Phalgun Poornima/Panguni Uttaram, sacred as the wedding day of Shiva-Parvati, Kartikeya-Devasena and Rama-Sita. It’s the most exquisite of poornimas because the nakshatra Uttaram is close to the full moon and in a clear sky in that pleasant weather, it’s heartstoppingly lovely: this year’s was especially beautiful, I thought. This phase was also marked by Easter and Holi-Baisakhi. Every faith has had something very dear to celebrate and despite the hatred that some persist in feeding, you cannot help marveling at the fresh promise of renewal and joy that each holy birth heralded for its followers. And exactly a month later it will be Buddha Poornima.

Yesterday was also the birthday of someone very important in the scheme of things: each religion has his equivalent: Chitragupta, the Keeper of Deeds. It is he who keeps the good vs bad register of every birth and it is he, according to ancestral belief, who tallies your positive karma against your negative and declares the result to the Judge on High. It’s interesting that our personal accountant is officially remembered soon after a holy birthday. Was this an ancestral device to reinforce the message after the fasting of Navratas, followed by the feasting of Ram Navami, that we should stay alert about our conduct and not lose momentum?

Chitra Poornima is also sacred to remembering your mothers: austerities on this day are supposed to please them (an early bath, no eating of flesh and at least ten good minutes of sitting down peacefully and praying to be cleansed of emotional toxins: anger, bitterness, revenge, jealousy).

There’s also the legend that Indra, king of the celestials, once managed to offend Brihaspati or Guru and was forced to come down to earth for expiation. He spotted a shivling under a kadamba tree and this struck him as so auspicious that he worshipped it with a golden lotus from a pond nearby. This feeling of piety and repentance in his manas (mind-heart), formalised externally as worship, redeemed him from his sin. The day was Chitra Poornima and the place where his penance was performed and accepted is Madurai. Indra is believed to have built a temple there and even today, in the great Madurai Meenakshi temple, Devendra Puja is observed on Chitra Poornima, while in the grand Vaishnava temples like Tirupati and Azhagarkoil, devotees bathe in the springs in which, says the Brahmanda Purana, every holy river sends its punya on Chitra Poornima.