Chitra Pournami.

The Day of Chitragupta: In Hinduism, Chitragupta is the assistant of lord Yama. He is the record keeper of good and bad deeds or karmas of human beings on earth. It is believed that when a person dies, Chitragupta immediately makes a thorough check of the list of bad and good karmas of the person and passes the message to Lord Yama for final decision on the soul of the person.

The name Chitragupta also signifies the hidden (gupta) pictures (Chitra) of deeds of every human on earth. On this day, when the Sun and Moon create powerful energy around earth plane, the effect on humans are said to be profound. The concept of Chitragupta being vigil on the activities of humans on Earth is to tell humans on Earth not to commit any sin, especially on such an auspicious day. This will help in preserving goodness of mind and good will in the hearts of people by urging them to commit to good actions only.

Invoke Chitragupta’s blessings and erase your negative Karmic records.

Legend of Chitragupta: Once lord Indra and his teacher Brihaspati had an argument and Indra ignored his teacher’s advice. Thereafter, Brihaspati became reticent and refrained from advising Indra. Indra began to commit many mistakes. After his long absence, Brihaspati returned and asked Indra to make a pilgrimage to Earth to lessen the burden of his sins. After coming to Earth, he realized that he had been redeemed of his sins and thought Lord Shiva to have absolved him of bad karmas. Indra found a Shiva linga and began to pray with a golden lotus on the day of Chitra Pournami.

Worshipping Chitragupta: Special puja is arranged in temples on this day such as the Chitragupta temple in Kanchipuram, Airavateshwarar temple in Darasuram, Chandra Mouliswar temple in Thiruvakkarai and others. When you pray to God for the purpose of dissolving your past sins with sincerity and devotion, your prayers will be answered. With your prayer to the higher energy, you also resolve not to commit acts, which are considered as sins in our society. Thus your urge and willingness to cleanse your Karmas which stand as obstruction in your way for fulfillment of your desires take you closer to God, to seek blessings for being forgiven.

Ways to dissolve your karma: The essence of worship on this day is the sincere effort to liberate yourself from the clutches of negative energies.

Various ways to dissolve karma: On this day, you can meditate on the story of Indra and his Guru Brihaspati.
Worship Shiva or Chitragupta with incense, camphor, flowers.
Feed gomathas, poor and the needy.

When you go to Holy Kailash, before starting the Parikrama or Girivalam, there is a small 8×8 temple with a big bell in the entrance.

All Yatris ring the bell, enter the temple, go around it doing the same thrice. Its called Yama Dwar. Its said, every time you ring the bell & go round, Lord Chitragupta notes down your details and erases all past sins, making you clean.