Legend of Chitra Full Moon

According to Vedic tradition, Brihaspati is the guru or preceptor of Lord Indra, the King of the Gods. Indra disobeyed Brihaspati on one occasion and the guru, in order to teach him a lesson, temporarily gave up his advisor role to Indra. During the period of the guru’s absence, Indra did many evil deeds. When the compassionate guru resumed his duty again, Indra wanted to know what he should do to expiate the wrongs he had done in his guru’s absence. Brihaspati asked Indra to undertake a pilgrimage.

While Indra was on pilgrimage, he suddenly felt the load of sins taken off his shoulders at a place near Madurai in South India. On further investigation Indra discovered a Shiva linga there. He attributed the miracle to this linga and immediately constructed a temple on the site. As Indra proceeded to worship the linga, Lord Shiva himself magically created golden lotuses in a nearby pond. Indra was greatly pleased and blessed. The day on which he thus worshipped the Lord was Chitra poornima or Chitra Full Moon.

In this auspicious Chitra Full Moon day, if you pray with full devotion to God to forgive your sins and resolve to be obedient to your Guru, your wishes will be granted. This is the significance of the above story of Indra. Dattatreya Siva Baba asks everyone to meditate on this story on Chitra Full Moon day.