What is Guru Purnima? Why is Guru Purnima considered so auspicious across the world? How did the festivities of Guru Purnima originate from?
There are multiple stories associated with Guru Purnima as per Yogic, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. As per Yogic tradition Lord Shiva become the first Guru, the Adi Guru and shared his wisdom with humanity of this day. As per Hindu tradition, on this day Ved Vyasa imparted his knowledge of Vedas with his disciples hence this day is also called as the Vyasa Purnima to celebrate the birth anniversary of lord Vyasa and as per Buddhism, Buddha performed his first sermon in Sarnath on this day and Mahavira (one of the Tirthankaras) found his first follower on this day.
Guru Purnima: The Guiding Light
Meaning of the word Guru
The word Guru consists of two words ‘Gu’ and ‘Ru’. ‘Gu’ refers to ignorance/darkness and ‘Ru’ means destroyer. So, Guru is the one who is guiding us to move past darkness in life. Guru means ‘Removal of ignorance’ and Purnima refers to ‘Full moon’.
Why do we celebrate the Guru Purnima?
The moon on Guru Purnima is also called the large, darkness dispelling moon. Hence Guru Purnima is one of the most auspicious days to seek or begin our journey of soul searching or soul purpose for our Karmic and Spiritual growth in life. The one who helps us in this Journey is our Guru. This day marks a new year for every seeker and a day of fulfilment for one seeking wisdom or knowledge (also called the Dhanya Purnima).
Significance of Guru Purnima
Though Purnima is part of every month of the year, but the Purnima in Ashadh month is celebrated as Guru Purnima. After summer solstice (the longest day in Northern hemisphere) when the sun starts moving in the south direction, is celebrated as Guru Purnima because Moon will be in the Jupiter (Sagittarius) on this day. This creates a guiding force and energy in the cosmos and to sync up with the Guru’s energy of guidance, we celebrate the festival of Guru Purnima to celebrate this cosmic alignment. This is a good day to start anything new or auspicious and also to start with anything new in terms of learning and development in our lives.
Significance of a Guru in our lives
Being born as a human born is the most gifted experience where everyone of us has the ability to learn and share the knowledge imparted by our Guru’s. It is only wise to make the most of this day and this life experience. May this Guru Purnima, help each
one of us and everyone around us to start on the journey our soul is seeking and helps us progress from illusions to truth and ignorance to wisdom and from light to darkness with the help of our Guru and improve the quality of our lives and those around us with the knowledge that we are gathering in every passing moment.
Different forms of Guru
The biggest gratitude to all our Gurus on this occasion of Guru Purnima. We are fortunate enough to experience this guidance in different forms and people and being directed to this path in this lifetime. Gratitude to all our parents, ancestors, teachers, friends, even our planets and all the experiences that helped us to come to this point and helped us meet our Guru in this form too. Gratitude to even the not so good people who helped us learn more important lessons in life and taught us to develop faith and gratitude towards life and made us better human beings and made us who we are today.