Guru Poornima

Poornima in hindi symbolises the full moon aspect.The day when moon becomes whole again. And GURU is made from 2 root words : Gu stands for ignorance, and Ru stands for destroyer. So what does these two words mean when they come together? Well for one they symbolise a day when we become whole again thru the grace of Guru who destroys our sins in form of ignorance and illuminates our inner being with higher truth and light.

The Guru Poornima is a tribute to all the Gurus of the world...but it is more so in the rememberance of Vyas who is said to have edited the four Vedas, written the 18 Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Srimad Bhagavata. Vyasa even taught Dattatreya, who is regarded as the Guru of Gurus.(As he was born on the full moon day in the month of Aashaada, this day is celebrated as Vyasa-poornima). And also to Gautam the Buddha, who attained enlightenment on this day under a banyan tree in Bodhgaya, and who showed us that we could all become Buddha by destroying our desires.

Sw Shivananda writes, "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. For, the true Indian knows that the Guru is the only guarantee for the individual to transcend the bondage of sorrow and death, and experience the Consciousness of the Reality."

Two very important shlokas showing the place of a guru in hindu parlance are:

1. Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheswara Guru Sakshath Para Brahma Thasmai Shri Gurave Namaha
Guru is all the forms of Brahma, Vishnu & Mahesh: creator, sustainer and destroyer. He is the end and means in itself, he is most high (ParamBrahma)and we bow to such a guru!

2.Dhyaana moolam guror murtih;
Pooja moolam guror padam;
Mantra moolam guror vakyam;
Moksha moolam guror kripa

"The Guru's form should be meditated upon; the feet of the Guru should be worshipped; his words are to be treated as a sacred Mantra; his Grace ensures final liberation".

Such is the importance of guru in our country. So on this auspicious day we should work according to our stage and limit, but we should take stock of the year gone by..how far have we traversed on the path of light or consciousness! Those of us who do not have a guru should look up and take God as their guide and pay homage to them, meditate on their form. For the agnostic friends among us, we should celebrate this day as the day of knowledge....when knowledge sets us free..we come to realise that we can be whatever we desire to be & if we work hard enough for it...that it is our destiny to be happy...The world exists for us, & not we for the world!

The least we can do is to keep the principles behind the day in our mind and try consciously better ourself from the past. In that way we will blossom into full moon and realise our true potential!

Help, not harm.
&
Arise! Awake! & stop not till the goal is reached!