Guest guest Posted July 22, 2002 Report Share Posted July 22, 2002 Namah Shivaya, Guru Purnima is Wednesday the 24th. I don't know much about it and I was wondering if anyone knows if there are any specific forms of worship that should performed on this day. I would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. I love Amma sooo much and want to be able to properly worship Her on this auspicious day celebrating our most beloved Amma:~) Even if you don't know exactly what is supposed to be done but have your own form of worship that you perform I would love to hear about that also. Om Amriteswarayai Namaha! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 Amma's Guru Poornima Message: July 5th 2001 "Darling Children, "All my children must be celebrating Guru Poornima today. Didn't you celebrate a similar Guru Poornima last year? Since that day until today, there must have been many lessons to reflect upon and imbibe. And there has been enough time also. There are innumerable lessons in the book of life, lessons that can never be exhausted. 'Have I learnt well the lessons that need to be learnt? Do I know all there is to know?' Guru Poornima reminds us to make such inquiries and answer them. "The Guru is an embodiment of all the knowledge contained in the great book of life. The guru-shishya (master-disciple) relationship is the stream in which the depth of that knowledge and the sweetness of love commingle. "The disciple is on a journey in search of supreme knowledge. The Satguru (Self-Realized Master), on the other hand, has completed the journey and is serene and unruffled, resting in the abode of the Self. He or She is aware that the beloved disciple may falter and stumble, overpowered by the challenges thrown up by the mind and testing circumstances. To prevent this, the Guru will shower on the disciple rays of unmotivated love and causeless compassion, for the Guru loves the disciple like his or her own child. Holding this son or daughter by the hand, the Guru leads the way, offering both support and protection. "The mind is inadequate for and incapable of measuring the depth of the guru-shishya relationship. An unsullied heart is required for that. "Children, Amma always says that the present moment is the most important. This is because the guru-shishya relationship can be cemented only here and now, at the present moment. The beauty of the Self and supreme love emanating from the august presence of the Guru are available only here and now. Guru Poornima expresses the yearning of the mind that thirsts to drink in that beauty and love. "Just as the radiance of the full moon transforms night into day, the presence of the Guru dispels the darkness within the disciple's heart. The Guru elevates the disciple to the state of supreme bliss by giving him the strength and discrimination to transcend the limitations of the mind. And the disciple, understanding the Guru's infinite compassion, offers himself or herself completely at the feet of the Master in utter gratitude, knowing that he or she can never repay the debt to the Master. Guru Poornima symbolizes this poignant relationship. "The disciple who has totally surrendered himself or herself thinks 'I am nothing, I am nobody. You are everything.' The disciple-hood awakens in one who has this attitude of humility, and the Guru's grace flows into such a person. May my children develop the maturity of mind and humility to deserve and receive that Grace." Amritapuri.org Page updated on September 16, 2001 . © Mata Amritanandamayi Math. MAM ................................................................. Guru Purnima Mantra: GururBrahmaa GururVishnuhu, GururDevo Maheshwaraha, GururSakshaat Param Brahma, Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha. The enlightened Guru is no other than Brahmaa the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Guru is truly the Almighty Brahaman; our salutations to Him, the Divine Spiritual Master. http://dalsabzi.tripod.com/Language_Festivals/guru_purnima.htm .................................................... Bhagwan Ved Vyas The day of full moon, Purnima, in the month of Ashadh is traditionally celebrated as Guru Purnima by Hindus. Also known as Vyas Purnima, the day is celebrated in remembrance and veneration to sage Ved Vyas. He is the Adi (original) Guru of the Hindu Dharma, who classified the Vedas, wrote the eighteen Puranas and the Mahabharat. On this day, the Guru is offered Pujan (worship)by the disciples. First we shall consider the role of a Guru in life. The Need of a Guru The Sanskrit root "Gu" means darkness or ignorance. "Ru" denotes the remover of that darkness. Therefore one who removes darkness of our ignorance is a Guru. Only he who removes our ultimate darkness, known as Maya, and who inspires and guides us on to the path of God-realization is the true Guru. Students also refer to their school teacher or college lecturer as guru. The connotation of the word guru in this case is one who imparts temporal knowledge (Apara Vidya) and is thus accordingly offered respect. A spiritual aspirant, no matter how brilliant, can never attain such knowledge by his own endeavor. This is stipulated in the Shrimad Bhagwatam in which Jadbharat reveals to king Rahugan: "O Rahugan! One cannot attain knowledge of Atma and Paramatma by performing penance, sacrifices, renunciation, Vedic study or worshipping deities of water, fire or the sun. But when the dust from the feet of a satpurush (God-realized Guru) sprinkles on our heads, then we can surely attain this knowledge." In essence, one can only attain salvation by serving the satpurush. Treading the path to God-realization by one's own efforts is likened by the Katha Upanishad as walking on a razor's edge. Adi Shankaracharya echoes a similar injunction: "If a person, despite possessing: a handsome, disease-free body, fame, a mountain of wealth, and even if he has studied the Vedas and all other scriptures, and has himself composed many scriptures, but has not surrendered himself at the feet of a Guru, then he has achieved nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing." The Guru plays a vital role in boosting the aspirant frequently, when he loses track, becomes despondent or simply runs out of steam. The aspirant is thus better able to obey the Guru if he understands the Guru's glory. Glory of the Guru The Hindu shastras have hailed such a Guru immeasurably: Skanda Purana - Guru Gita A famous verse known by heart by all Hindu children glorifies the Guru: Gurubrahma Guruvishnu Gururdevo Maheshwaraha | Guruhu sakshaat Parambrahman tasmai Shrigurave namaha || "The guru is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva), veneration to the Guru who is Parabrahman manifest." The second line of the couplet does not literally mean that the Guru becomes Parabrahman - God, rather he is venerated as if God is manifesting through him. This is subtly illustrated by another famous verse known to all Hindus: Guru Govind donu khade, kisko laagu paay, Balihari Gurudevaki jinhe Govind diyo bataay. The Guru and Govind -God, are present before me, to whom shall I bow down first? Glory to the Guru since he showed me Govind. Apart from guiding the aspirant on the path to God-realization, the Guru throws light on the profound meanings of the vast array of scriptural knowledge. Hence the Mundaka Upanishad calls such a Guru "Shrotriya" - knower of the true meanings of the scriptures. Adi Shankaracharya forbids an aspirant in endeavoring to decipher the meanings without a Guru. In his commentary on a Mantra (1/2/13) of the Mundaka Upanishad, he says: "Even if one possesses knowledge of the scriptures, he should not attempt to delve into their meanings by himself. He should obtain the knowledge of Brahman only through the Guru." In their treatises, other Acharyas, such as Ramanuj and Nimbark have considered the Guru mandatory in God-realization. The Guru in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya In accordance with the injunctions from shastras of Hindu Dharma cited above, Bhagwan Swaminarayan too considers the Guru as foremost; to be venerated as one venerates God. In His Vachanamrutam He uses the terms Sadhu and Satpurush synonymously for the true Guru. Gadhada III.27: "The scriptures advocate five attributes of: Nishkam, Nirlobh, Nirman, Niswad and Nisneha for a sadhu. The sadhu in whom one observes such attributes has a constant rapport with God. Therefore one should have immutable faith in his words, and by his words should realize the knowledge of God." Gadhada III.26: "The sadhu who lives in a way in which he subdues his indriyas and antahkaran, but is not subdued by them, who engages in God-related activities only, strictly observes the Panch Vartamans, believes himself as being Brahman and worships Lord Purushottam, can be known neither as a human being nor a deva, since neither man nor deva possess such attributes. Therefore such a sadhu, though a human being, deserves to be worshipped at par with God." Finally, how should an aspirant serve such a Guru? Serving the Guru Again the scriptures guide the aspirant: (1) Shvetashvatara Upanishad (6/23) : Advocates worship to the Guru in the same manner as the deity - God, to attain all there is to attain on the path of God-realization: Yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau | Tasyaite kathitaa hi arthaaha prakashante mahatmanaha || (2) Bhagavad Gita (4/34) : The disciple should humbly pose questions to the Guru and please him by serving him. He will then impart the knowledge of God, so ordain the wise sages. (3) Shrimad Bhagvatam : Bhagwan Rushabhdeva advocates his sons: Obeying the Anuvrutti - unvoiced wishes - of God and Guru is devotion. (4 ) Vachanamrutam (Vadtal 5) : The aspirant should offer equal and intensely loving service to God and His sadhu. Then, despite being the lowest type of devotee who is destined to become a great-devotee after either two births or four births or ten births or even a hundred births, he can become a great devotee in this birth. Such is the fruit of serving God and His sadhu equally." The phrase "great devotee" signifies moksha-salvation. Therefore on the day of Guru Purnima, disciples introspect, and resolve to offer pujan and reverence to the Guru in mind, action and speech; implicitly obey his unvoiced wishes, commands, serving him as one would God and lauding his glory and redemptive attributes. Every year, the Guru Purnima Festival, in the presence of Pramukh Swami Maharaj is celebrated with devotion and enthusiasm at Bochasan Mandir. An assembly from 8.30 am to 12.00 noon is held wherein bhajans and discourses by senior sadhus emphasize and sing the glory of the Guru. The festival is finally crowned with Swamishri's blessings and darshan - where thousands offer their reverence by filing past Swamishri. http://www.swaminarayan.org/festivals/gurupurnima/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 Namah Shivaya dear Siblings in Amma, Our Amma's Madison children enjoyed a wonderful guru purnima puja last night led by Amma's darling son and brahmachari Ashok, who, by Amma's grace, is in our city for some special training on a new piece of equipment used at AIMS Hospital. In his satsang message, he discussed the meaning of guru purnima. What stood out, is that this is the time to reflect upon our relationship with our guru. What have we learned? What do we want to learn? He told Amma's story about the bird in flies into a house and perches happily. The person in the house tries to get the bird to go out, for its own good, but to do that, has to beat on the walls and really shake things up. Finally, when the bird is flying all around and lands on the door, the person carefully makes just the right move and the bird flies out to where it must live to survive. May we all embrace the shaking up of our lives that our Satguru bestows on us for our own good. Wishing you all a fruitful reflection on Amma. Bowing to Her feet, premarupa Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 Usually a puja (Hindu worship ritual) is done to the guru. If you didn't know the details of a puja, you could say the 100 names of Ammachi and offer a flower or flower petal for each name and then sing the Arati song (Bhajanamritam Vol 1, p. 123 I think; also on one of the tapes...which one?...I am not near my pile of tapes to find it now). If you have a terrible time with the Sanskrit, read the English translation of the 100 names. Another tradition that is fairly common is that devotees write songs in praise of the guru and sing them for other devotees on that day. Another common custom is for people to share stories about the guru, especially ones others may not know. This is not even a formally planned thing. It just happens. In this modern age, I expect this would involve showing old photographs with the story associated with them as well. (Are there such things related to Ammachi or are photos only the purview of the official photographers? Well, that would be their contribution.) It's a very big deal to have the guru physically present with you on Guru Purnima. No doubt some of the stories people will share would be about times when they were with Ammachi on Guru Purnima. Aikya Ammachi, "jon_m_108" <jon_mohr@h...> wrote: > Namah Shivaya, > Guru Purnima is Wednesday the 24th. I don't know much about it and I > was wondering if anyone knows if there are any specific forms of > worship that should performed on this day. > > I would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. I love Amma sooo > much and want to be able to properly worship Her on this auspicious > day celebrating our most beloved Amma:~) > > Even if you don't know exactly what is supposed to be done but have > your own form of worship that you perform I would love to hear about > that also. > > Om Amriteswarayai Namaha! > Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 Thanks for the advice Aikya. I expecially like the idea of writing songs in praise of Amma:~) I had planned on performing a puja and saying in tha 108 names of Amma(in English:~))but I wasn't sure if there was something else that might be done on this day. I'm still very new to this and am trying to play catch up as fast as I can. I've known about Amma for several years now and even saw Her once 3 yrs ago but did not become serious until last summer and now I have completely and totally fallen in love with Her. I live in Wisconsin so I went to the Chicago and Fairfield programs, which just wasn't enough!!! I wanted sooooooooo bad to finish the rest of the tour but money and circumstances wouldn't allow, oh well Ann Arbor, Mi in the fall isn't to far away!! But anyway I was talking to a TM/Amma devotee who lived in Fairfield they said that the higher ups at the TM college wrote Amma a letter saying they did not want Her coming to Mt. PLeasant and if She did come that they would not allow anyone from the organiztion to go to Her programs. How obsurd is that! Anyway I don't want to offend anyone so that's all I'll say on that. Thanks again for the advice:o) In Amma's Love Jon Ammachi, "aikya" <aikya> wrote: > Usually a puja (Hindu worship ritual) is done to the guru. If you > didn't know the details of a puja, you could say the 100 names of > Ammachi and offer a flower or flower petal for each name and then > sing the Arati song (Bhajanamritam Vol 1, p. 123 I think; also on one > of the tapes...which one?...I am not near my pile of tapes to find it > now). If you have a terrible time with the Sanskrit, read the > English translation of the 100 names. > > Another tradition that is fairly common is that devotees write songs > in praise of the guru and sing them for other devotees on that day. > > Another common custom is for people to share stories about the guru, > especially ones others may not know. This is not even a formally > planned thing. It just happens. In this modern age, I expect this > would involve showing old photographs with the story associated with > them as well. (Are there such things related to Ammachi or are > photos only the purview of the official photographers? Well, that > would be their contribution.) > > It's a very big deal to have the guru physically present with you on > Guru Purnima. No doubt some of the stories people will share would > be about times when they were with Ammachi on Guru Purnima. > > > > Aikya > > Ammachi, "jon_m_108" <jon_mohr@h...> wrote: > > Namah Shivaya, > > Guru Purnima is Wednesday the 24th. I don't know much about it and > I > > was wondering if anyone knows if there are any specific forms of > > worship that should performed on this day. > > > > I would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. I love Amma sooo > > much and want to be able to properly worship Her on this auspicious > > day celebrating our most beloved Amma:~) > > > > Even if you don't know exactly what is supposed to be done but have > > your own form of worship that you perform I would love to hear > about > > that also. > > > > Om Amriteswarayai Namaha! > > Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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