Today Is Guru Poornima

'Guru brahma, guru vishnu gurur devo maheshwarah!

Guru sakshaat parabrahmam tasmai shri Guruve namah'!!

The purpose of the Guru purnima celebration is to turn back and review andsee in this last one year how much one has progressed in life. For a seeker,Guru purnima is a day of significance. It is the day to review one’sprogress on the spiritual path and renew one’s determination and focus onthe goal. As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the vastness of one’s own self.”

Today is Guru Poornima a very auspicious day,when we remember and thank our guru's for all the progress we have made until this day.Guru means one who removes the darkness,'gu' means darkness and 'ru' means one who removes the darkness.So a guru is one who brings us to light from dark.Let us on this day pray for spiritual progress and be greatful for the grace and blessings showered on us over the last one year and take fresh resolutions for spiritual progress.

This day is very important and special for the spiritual seeker.On this day,the grace, blessings endowed by the Guru is a thousand times more than any other day it is said.

The full moon day in the Hindu month of Ashad (July-August) is observed as the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, a day sacred to the memory of the great sage Vyasa. All Hindus are indebted to this ancient saint who 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.

Swami Sivananda asks: "Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the Guru's role in the evolution of man? 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."

"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".

The period 'Chaturmas' ("four months") begins from this day. In the past, wandering spiritual masters and their disciples used to settle down at a place to study and discourse on the Brahma Sutras composed by Vyasa, and engage themselves in Vedantic discussions.

We have all heard about Sage Narada. He is a very great Bhakta, intensely devoted to Sriman Narayana and always singing His sacred names. In his previous birth, he was the son of a poor widow, who was serving saints. Through their holy association, the young boy got God-vision and in his next birth, he became a great and ardent devotee of Narayana and a saviour of mankind. This single episode is sufficient to prove the greatness of Guru-Bhakthi-Para-Bhakthi is supreme devotion to God (Guru). The devotee should have absolute faith in the infinite mercy of the Guru and un¬shakable confidence in His grace. .

This day is celebrated every year to express gratitude unto the Guru Principle. Of course, even this celebration in gratitude to the Guru is done for the seeker's spiritual progress, since the Guru is a manifest form of The Lord Himself. The Guru Principle is a thousand times more active on this day than on any other through out the year. Under the pretext of this celebration, the festival provides an unmatchable opportunity to progress spiritually through service and sacrifice unto the Truth. That is why seekers and Disciple participate in this mission for the Truth with all their body, wealth and mind.

A seeker, by definition, is one who makes daily efforts with the motivation of spiritual progress and with spiritual progress occurring, irrespective of his religion of birth and path of spiritual practice.

The real disciple remembers his Guru every moment and strives to do spiritual practice regularly. Even so, this day is especially celebrated for the following reasons:
Seekers celebrate Gurupournima to express gratitude to the Guru. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude and sincere and earnest pranams to all my teachers and seek their blessings .

Jai Gurudev!!!