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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

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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/

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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

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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

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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

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