Guru Purnima

Guru Purnima

Guru Purnima is celebrated every year on the full moon date of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh month. Guru Purnima is a festival celebrated in India to honor our spiritual or academic gurus, to worship them and to pay respect to them. In true sense, it is the Guru who properly guides his disciples and inspires them to move forward. The word Guru is made up of two letters – ‘Gu’ means darkness and ‘Ru’ means light. Thus, Guru means a guide who leads from darkness to light. Gurus play an important role in the life of all of us . In such a situation, it is believed that we should maintain a feeling of gratitude towards the gurus who have made an important contribution in teaching us. The festival of Guru Purnima is celebrated to show devotion towards the Guru.

Reason for giving superior status to Guru

According to mythological belief, Guru Purnima is considered the birthday of Ved Vyas ji. Who composed Mahabharata. Due to his birthday it is also called Vyas Purnima. It is said in the scriptures that Vyas ji had classified the four Vedas, hence his name was Ved Vyas. Gurus are recognized because they are sources of knowledge, direction, and inspiration. Guru provides us guidance in life, inspires thoughts and creates confidence in our inner self. In the Vedas and Shastras, Guru is considered superior to God, that is why it is said that-

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara.

Guru Sakshat Parabrahma, Tasmai Shri Guruve Namah.

Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu and Guru is Lord Shankar. Guru is the ultimate Supreme Being. I salute such a guru.

Attainment of God is not possible without the blessings of Guru. Only by the grace of Guru a person attains salvation. Kabir Das ji in his couplet has said that Guru should be worshiped before Shri Hari –

Guru Govind Dou Khade, Kake Lagu Panya.

Balihari Guru aapne , Govind Diyo bataye .

That is, if Guru and Govind (God) are standing together then who should bow first – Guru or Govind?

Then in the next line, while replying , he writes that if such a situation arises, then you should pay obeisance at the feet of the Guru, because it is only through his knowledge that you are getting the privilege of seeing Govind.

Guru bin gyaan na upajai, Guru bin milai na mosh.

Guru bin lakhai na satya ko, Guru bin mitai na dosh.

In this couplet, Kabirdas has told the common people that it is impossible to attain knowledge without a Guru.

Unless one receives the grace of the Guru, any person wanders in the darkness of ignorance and remains tied in the bonds of illusion and delusion, he does not attain salvation (Mosh). Without a Guru, he does not know the difference between truth and false, does not know what is right and wrong.

Story

There is a religious belief that when Ved Vyas ji was in his childhood, he requested his mother Satyavati and father Parashar ji to have darshan of the Lord. Since Vyas ji was in his childhood, his mother refused him to do so. Vyas ji was determined, on his repeated requests, his mother ordered him to go to the forest and do penance and also told him to come back if he missed home. After receiving mother's permission, Vyas ji went to the forest for penance and there he performed very difficult penance. Due to the effect of this penance, Vedvyas ji became proficient in Sanskrit language and he gained good proficiency in this language. With the influence of this knowledge, Ved Vyas ji composed Mahabharata, 18 Puranas and Brahma Sutra. He classified the four Vedas, hence he became famous by the name of Vedvyas. This tradition of worshiping Guru has been going on since Vyas ji attained knowledge through hard penance and by the grace of God.

The festival of Gurupurnima reflects the importance of the Guru-disciple relationship and the importance of worshiping and serving an ideal Guru for the attainment of knowledge. On this day, Guru is honored through pujas, ceremonies and seminars etc. organized in his memory. Along with this, students and disciples are inspired to acquire the knowledge taught by the Guru and adopt his ideals and guidance. Through this festival, people understand the importance of the ideals and knowledge of the Gurus and get the signal to implement their teachings in their lives.