The Hindu Festival Of Guru Purnima
Celebrating The Birth Of Krishna Dwaipayana, Known As Veda Vyasa
Jul 2, 2009
Purnima, the full moon day, in the Hindu month of Ashadha, is celebrated as Guru Purnima. In 2009, this occasion falls on July 7 according to the western calendar.
Guru refers to spiritual preceptor. Most Hindus would have Gurus with whom they are associated for life. Usually the association is a family association and continues for generations. On Guru Purnima the devotees pay obeisance to their Gurus as thanksgiving for guiding them through the travails of life and towards spiritual liberation.
This gratitude and indebtedness should be felt all the time. However this particular day has been chosen to give ritualistic expression to this feeling because it is the birth anniversary of Sage Veda Vyasa, who is regarded as the greatest Guru of all.
Sage Veda Vyasa
In Hinduism, the Guru is regarded as the intercessor between the devotee and God. Veda Vyasa is regarded as the intercessor for all humanity for all time to come because of the spiritual works that he left behind.
Veda Vyasa was born as Krishna Dwaipayana. He received the name of Veda Vyasa after he compiled the learning of the Vedic age into the four Vedas. Later he wrote the epic, the Mahabharata, in which he put down the sermon given by Krishna to Arjun at the battlefield of Kurukshetra. This sermon, known as the Bhagvad Gita, is regarded as one of the pillars of Hinduism.
Not satisfied with his works till then, Vyasa composed the Bhagavata Purana . This is regarded by Hindus as the most sacred of its scriptures. For thousands of years Hindus have derived succor from this scripture to overcome the fear of death by understanding the transience of life and to move towards the ultimate union with divinity.
Dattatreya
One of Sage Veda Vyasa’s disciples was Dattatreya. Like Vyasa, Dattatreya is worshipped as an incarnation of God and like Vyasa he has made an eternal mark as a teacher and is therefore regarded as a Guru of the Gurus.
The greatness of Dattatreya lies in the fact that he never called himself a teacher and always introduced himself as a student. The Canto 11 of the Bhagavata Purana narrates a discourse between King Yadu and Dattatreya in which Dattatreya lists his 24 teachers and what he learned from them. The teachers of Dattatreya included Mother Earth, the waters of the ocean, the wind, the sun, the moon, honey bees, fish, vulture and a prostitute. From the earth he learned patience. Humans have scarred the earth but the earth has borne the travails without complaining. This discourse goes on through the 24 teachers.
The Greatness Of The Guru
Hindus equate the position of the Guru with that of God. One of the popular prayers from the Guru Gita expressing this translates as “The Guru is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Guru is God incarnate. I offer salutations to this Guru.” The Guru Gita is a part of the Skanda Purana, which was also written by Veda Vyasa. It is a discourse between Shiva and Parvati in which Shiva describes the characteristics of a Guru.
The saint Kabir goes one step further by raising the pedestal of the Guru above that of God. In one of his famous couplets he asks “Both God and my Guru are standing here, to whom should I pay obeisance first?” The reply is “The Guru is the greater one for he has shown the path to God.”
There is no uniform way of celebrating Guru Purnima and the rituals differ from place to place. But the spirit is the same. Another verse from the Guru Gita elucidates this spirit. “The Guru’s form should be meditated upon; the feet of the Guru should be worshiped; his words are to be treated as a sacred mantra; his grace ensures final liberation.”
Sources:
- Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 11; Accessed from Srimadbhagavatam.org
- Kabir’s Couplets, Schools Poems That I Can’t Forget, Accessed from Poems2Remember.Blogspot.com
