Celebrate the gift of a smile on Guru Purnima

July 8, 2009

DNAWednesday, July 8, 2009; by Preetha S Kumar

Bangalore: Gurus are often equated with God in our country and Hindus attach utmost importance to spiritual gurus. Guru Purnima, a day sacred to the memory of the great sage Vyasa, is observed on the full moon day in the Hindu month of Ashad (July-August). Sage Vyasa edited the four Vedas, wrote the 18 Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Srimad Bhagavata. Vyasa even taught Dattatreya, who is regarded as the Guru of Gurus.

Guru Purnima is of profound importance to farmers, for it indicates the setting in of the much-needed rains in the fields. Many say, it is also a good time to begin your spiritual lessons.

The period Chaturmas ("four months") begins from this day. All the Hindu seers settle down at a place to study and discourse on the Brahma Sutras composed by Vyasa, and engage themselves in Vedantic discussions and they are said to be following the Chaturmas Vrat.

On this day, all spiritual aspirants and devotees perform a puja of their respective spiritual preceptor or Gurudevsand worship him. "We celebrate this day with great fervour, performing pujas at home and worshipping Sai baba as he is our spiritual guru," says Radha Sainath, a school teacher.

In Sanskrit, it's Vyas Purnima and devotees in large numbers offer worship at various temples and shrines including Mutts and Ashrams in the city to mark this auspicious day. "At the Sai temple in Malleshwaram, we carry out a procession, do annadanam and in the evening, we have various cultural programmes to mark this occasion. It happens in all guru temples, be it the Sai Baba temple, Dattatreya temple or the Nityananda temple," says Vinesh Betrabet, a photographer.

Kantesh, a student says, "It is also an occasion to express respect and gratitude to teachers." He adds that many people also believe in making offerings in cash and kind on this day.

"This day is to commemorate the gurus or teachers. In our Billava community, we celebrate this day in the honour of our spiritual leader Sri Narayana Guru Swami. We do bhajans, keertans at home and also at all guru mandirs and ashrams," says PK Ratnakar, a retired bank manager.

Sakshi Batra, a journalist, says that in ancient times, every family had a spiritual guru who would guide them. This guru, she says, is much in sync with the higher power. "I, on this day, thank my guru, which is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,offer prayers to all the gurus who came prior to Sri Sri and then pray to the present guru," she says.

Sakshi adds that in the evening, they havea practice of holding satsangs. "As a devotee, I would offer everything I have, whether it is positive or negative. I will surrender everything to my guru because he has taken care of it and guided me through everything.Guru Purnima is a day when you should ask your teacher to give you this power, this unwavering faith and devotion to the divine.

And as Sakshi sums it up: "All gifts and offerings aside, the best thing you can offer your Guru on this day is a smile that explains you feel secure and carefree under his guidance."

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