Guru Purnima falls on Monday, July 21, 2024.
Guru Govind dou khade, kaake laagoon paye
Balihari guru aapki, Govind diyo milaye.”
Meaning:
I face both God and my Guru. Who should I bow to first?
I first bow to my guru because he’s the one who showed me the path to God.
Gurus are equated with God and always regarded as a link between the individual and the divine. Just as the moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun, and glorifies it, all disciples can dazzle like the moon by gaining from their Gurus.
What is Guru Purnima?
The full moon day in the Hindu month of Ashad (July-August) is observed as the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, a day sacred to the memory of the great sage Vyasa. All Hindus are indebted to this ancient saint who detailed the four Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva), wrote the 18 Puranas, the 108 Upanishads, the Mahabharata and the Srimad Bhagavata. Vyasa even taught Dattatreya, who is regarded as the Guru of Gurus.
Significance of Guru Purnima
On this day, all spiritual aspirants and devotees worship Vyasa in honor of his divine personage and all disciples perform a ‘puja’ of their respective spiritual preceptor or ‘Gurudevs’.
It is a good time to begin your spiritual lessons. Traditionally, spiritual seekers commence to intensify their spiritual ‘sadhana’ from this day.
The period ‘Chaturmas’ (“four months”) begins from this day. In the past, wandering spiritual masters and their disciples used to settle down at a place to study and discourse on the Brahma Sutras composed by Vyasa, and engage themselves in Vedantic discussions.
The Role of the Guru
Swami Sivananda asks: “Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the Guru’s role in the evolution of man? It was not without reason that the India of the past carefully tended and kept alive the lamp of Guru-Tattva. It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept of the Guru, adores it and pays homage to it again and again, and thereby re-affirms its belief and allegiance to it.
Jainism
According to Jain traditions, it was on this day, falling at the beginning of CHAUMASAAS” , the four month rainy season retreat, Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, after attaining Kaivalya, made Indrabhuti Gautam, later known as Gautam Swami, a Ganadhara, his first disciple, thus becoming a Guru himself, therefore it is observed in Jainism as Guru Purnima, and is marked special veneration to one’s Gurus and teachers
Buddhism
Traditionally the festival is celebrated by Buddhists in honour of the lord Buddha who gave His first sermon on this day at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India.
In addition to having religious importance, this festival has great importance for Indian academics and scholars. Indian academics celebrate this day by thanking their teachers as well as remembering past teachers and scholars.
Your Inner Guru resides in the throat chakra. It attracts different Gurus in your lifetime to evolve you and show you the path ahead and you get ready for your Higher purpose in life. There is no need to Value any particular Guru but Value his lessons. The Gemstone Yellow Sapphire, 11 mukhi Ekadash Rudra Rudraksha, Trijuti Dattatreya rudraksha and Gauri Shankar Gayatri rudraksha help awaken the Inner Guru to banish the light of darkness in your life.
Yoga
In yogic lore, it is said that on Guru Purnima, Shiva became the Adi Guru. The story says that over 15,000 years ago a Yogi appeared in the Himalayas. People gathered around Him but He showed no movement except ocaasional tears of ecstasy. In time people drifted away and only 7 men stayed on. Days rolled into weeks and the weeks into months, months into years, but the Yogi’s eyes did not fall upon them again.
After 84 years of sadhana, on the summer solstice that marks the advent of Dakshinayana, the earth’s southern run, the yogi looked at them again. These 7 men had become shining receptacles and wonderfully receptive. On the very next full moon day, the yogi turned south and sat as a Guru to these seven men in the form of Lord Dakshinamoorthy. Shiva, became the Adi Guru and expounded the mechanics of life into these seven men. The seven disciples became celebrated as the Saptarishis and took His knowledge across the world.
Thus Guru Purnima holds importance as it opened the possibility for a human being to evolve consciously.
