GuruPurnima

Sri Gurubhyo Namah

                Matru devobhava  , pitru devobhava,  Acharya Devobhava is what our Vedic texts say. Meaning that the after mother and father it’s the teacher who must be worshipped. A teacher must be respected and treated as an equivalent to God. In Sanatana Dharma teacher is called “GURU”. Well “Guru” has become a ubiquitous word these days. People use the word Guru in various contexts, but actually the word “Guru” has the following meaning. In Guru Gita it is said that

“Gukaraschandhakarastu rukaarastannirodhakrut | 

Andhakaravinaasitwaat gururityabhideeyate ||”

        “Gu” Kara means the darkness and “Ru” Kara means the remover of the darkness. On account of the power of removing darkness, the teacher is known by the significant name “Guru”. 

Ignorance is darkness, it’s the state where we do not know anything and the person who brings us out of this darkness and shows us light is the Guru. 

The importance of a teacher is all the more important when it comes to the spiritual path. Everyone , everyone in the spiritual path has and needs a “Guru”. In   Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna emphasizes the importance of Guru .In the fourth chapter of Gita Lord Says

tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah 

meaning :

For knowledge we have got to go to the right person, one who has actually seen or experienced the Absolute Truth. Unless we find such a person who has actually seen the Absolute Truth or who has in his experience what is Absolute Truth, there is very little chance of our spiritual advancement. 

Krishna himself stood as a Guru  to Arjuna and gave Bhagawad Gita to this world .Hence we say “Krishnam vande Jagadgurum”. 

Bhakta Kabir Das says  “if my Guru and the Almighty come and stand before me , I would bow o the Guru first ,because it’s my Guru who showed me the Almighty”. 

In this article,I am using the word guru more or less interchangeably with satguru  . The disciple of a guru is called a śhishya. The lineage of a guru, spread by disciples who carry on the guru’s message, is known as the guru parampara, or disciplic succession.

Do I need to tell the importance of a teacher in non spiritual things.Take any education/occupation/skill there will be a teacher for almost everyone .In Telugu there is a quote “guruvu leni vidya guddi vidya”which means any education is blind without a teacher. That says all. 

In Sanatana Dharma , we observe the Ashadha Suddha Poornima (the full moon day in the month of Ashdha) as Guru Poornima/Guru Purnima. On this day the disciples,thank their Gurus,perform Guru Pooja and seek blessings from the Guru. Guru Purnima happens to be the Birthday of Shri VedaVyasa a very important person in our Guru Parampara. 

Veda Vyasa was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself .

Bhagawan Vedavyasa

Vyasaya Vishnu Roopaya, Vyasa Roopaya Vishnave |
Namove Bhrama Nithaye, Vasishtaya Namo Namaha:||

Meaning: Salutation to Vyas who is in the form of Vishnu and Vishnu who is in the form of Vyas and one who is the treasure house of the Vedas. Salutation to one who was born in the noble family of Vasishta. The honour of being equal to Vishnu belonged to Maharushi Vyas.

                Veda Vyasa’s contribution to Sanatan Dharma is immense , he did the veda vibhag i.e. he classified the Vedam as Rig Veda ,Yajur Veda ,Sama Veda and Atharvana Veda. Then he gave 18 Puranas and then he gave us Maha Bharatam /Maha Bharat .Then he gave us Brahma Sutras,Sri mad Bhagavatam ,Devi Bhagavatam … the list is long.It’s not possible tell about Bhagwan VedaVyasa in one post.

In order remember that great rishi and also worship our Gurus we have Guru purnima .The beauty in Sanatan Dharma is that ,the month in which Guru Purnima comes is a soonya maasa which means there will not be any muhurtams/muharat ( auspicious days and times ) for marriages or any othr events. Such is the respect our ancestors had for Gurus. This year Guru Purnima is on 25 th of July .On that day we should be performing Guru Pooja , incase one does not have time for an elaborated Guru Pooja , one should at least remember the lotus feet of his Guru/teacher/master  and bow to those lotus feet and seek blessings.

 

Samardha Sadguru charanara vindabhyaan namah