Journey towards Guru Purnima and towards self-realisation during Guru Purnima

1.   Meaning of Guru

Kabir says: “The only thing worth doing is to wake up my mind.” The God, the REAL Guru, is inside. The word ‘Guru’ is untranslatable. Neither does the word ‘teacher’ nor the word ‘Master’ have that beauty. In fact, the phenomenon of the Guru is so deeply Indian that no other language of any country is capable of translating it. It is something intrinsically Eastern. The word ‘Guru’ is made of two words, ‘gu’ and ‘ru’. ‘Gu’ means darkness, ‘ru’ means one who dispels it. Guru literally means ‘the light’ or ‘the dispeller of darkness’.

1a. The Guru, the outer Master is simply a mirror so that you can see your face, so that you can see that you also have the same face, the same possibility, the same potential. And once this has settled in your heart, that “I have also the same potential, the same seed”, a great journey has started. You will never be the same again. Looking into the eyes of a living Master, something synchronizes in you, something is triggered in your being - a process has already started.

1b.  The word ‘Guru’ means one who has gravitation, around whom you suddenly feel as if you are being pulled. Param Pujya Swamiji is a tremendous magnet, with only one difference. There is a man who has charisma — you are pulled, but you are pulled towards Him. That is the man of charisma. He may become a great leader, a great politician. Then what is the difference between a charismatic leader and a Guru? The difference is tremendous. The difference is: when you are pulled towards a Guru you suddenly feel that you are being pulled inwards, not outwards.

1c.  When you are pulled towards Param Pujya Swamiji, you have a strange feeling. The feeling is that you are being pulled towards Him and at the same time you are being pulled inwards — a very strange paradoxical phenomenon as the closer you come to your Guru, the closer you come to yourself. The more you become attracted towards the Guru, the more you become independent. The more you become surrendered to the Guru, the more you feel that you have freedom you never had before.

1d.  Remember, if your surrendering gives you freedom, then the man is a Guru, a Master. If your surrendering makes you a slave, makes you a robot — as all the followers of Adolf Hitler were turned into mechanical robots…. They lost their souls; he simply exploited their souls. They lost all their awareness. This happens in the spiritual world also, because these charismatic people are everywhere. So make it a criterion inside: if by the presence of your Guru, of your Master, you are becoming freer and freer, more and more independent; by surrendering, the paradox is happening — that by surrendering you are gaining more willpower, by surrendering you are becoming powerful not impotent — then you are near the Guru.

1e. The Guru is one who pulls you towards himself just to throw you back into your own being. He functions as a mediator; via the Guru, you arrive at your own self. Because you cannot go directly, he helps you via him. But his whole effort is to make you yourself.

1f.   A true Guru will never impose himself upon you. He will never impose his life-style on you. He will never give you any rigid discipline. He will not enforce anything on you, regiment you. He will not try to create soldiers of you. No, he will help you to become yourself. He will help you to be yourself, whatsoever that is. He will help to give you more and more understanding about yourself. You will become more and more centered, rooted, near him. More and more you will feel he has given you back to yourself — that which was lost or forgotten, he has made you aware of it.

1g. That’s what a Satguru does - He gives them back to themselves. They surrender to Him, and He gives it back to them. It is difficult for them to know themselves right now because they have lived in forgetfulness for so long. They need a shock; He gives that shock to them. But He doesn’t give them any discipline. And He doesn’t force His life-style on them, because each person has to find his own life-style and each person is so unique that each person has to live in his own way. Nobody else’s life-style is going to help one. They will become second-rate, secondhand; and God loves only firsthand people. Never be a carbon copy. If somewhere you are forced to become a carbon copy, avoid that place like the plague, escape from there.

1h. Once you find your true Guru and he guides you onto the path of self discovery, then that is the time your true journey has begun.

2.       What is Guru Purnima?

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.

3.       Hindu Legend about Guru Purnima

This was the day, when Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa – author of the Mahabharata – was born to Sage Parashara and a fisherman's daughter Satyavati, thus this day is also celebrated as Vyasa Purnima. Veda Vyasa, did yeoman service to the cause of Vedic studies by gathering all the Vedic hymns extant during his times, dividing them into four parts based on their use in the sacrificial rites, and teaching them to his four chief disciples – Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu. It was this dividing and editing that earned him the honorific "Vyasa" (vyas = to edit, to divide). "He divided the Veda into four, namely Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. The histories and the Puranas are said to be the fifth Veda."

4.    Observance of Guru Purnima

a. The spiritual Gurus are revered on this day by remembering their life and teachings. Vyasa Puja is held at various temples, where floral offerings and symbolic gifts are given away in his honour and that of the cosmic Satguru. The festivities are usually followed by feast for the disciples, where the prasad and charnamrita literally nectar of the feet, the symbolic wash of Guru's feet, which represents his Grace, is distributed. As a day of remembrance towards all Gurus, through whom God grants the grace of knowledge (Jnana) to the disciples, special recitations of the scriptures especially, the Guru Gita, a 216 verse ode to Guru, authored by the Sage, Vyasa himself, are held all day; apart from singing of bhajans, hymns and organising of special kirtan sessions and havan at many places, where devotees from all over gather at the ashrams, matha or place where the seat of Guru, Guru Gaddi exists. 

b.  This day also sees the ritual of paduka pujan, the worship of Guru's sandals, which represent His holy feet and is seen as a way of rededicating to all that a Guru stands for. Disciples also recommit themselves on this day, towards following their teacher's guidance and teachings, for the coming year. A mantra that is particularly used on this day is "Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo Maheshwara, Guru Sakshat Parabrahmah Tasmai Shree Guru Veh Namah". This day is also seen as an occasion when fellow devotees, Guru Bhai (disciple-brother), express their solidarity to one another in their spiritual journey.

5.       Sadhaks preparation for Guru Purnima

a.  A sadhak should have an inbuilt feeling that one is going to pay one’s respects to one’s spiritual mother and guide. That feeling has to come naturally. If the sadhak meditates regularly morning and evening at least for 45 days before Guru Purnima he should be in a reasonably balanced state.

b.  The sadhak should go regularly to the centre for meditation at least fifteen minutes before the start of meditation. He should help in preparing the centre for meditation.

c.  The sadhak should sit silently after preparations have been made and not indulge in idle conversation when inside the centre.

d.   The sadhak should consciously avoid quarrelling with family, friends, strangers and remain in a state of balance always.

e.  The sadhak should pray to Param Pujya Swamiji for maintaining balance and equanimity in life.

f.  The sadhak should have no desire whatsoever, he should not even have the desire of obtaining moksha or liberation.

g.  The sadhak desires peace – he normally says, “I want peace”. To obtain ‘peace’, the sadhak has to let go of ‘I’ – representing ego and ‘want’ representing desire, then you are left with peace. So the sadhak should drop the ego and desire when going for Guru Purnima.

h.  There should be a feeling of 100% Divine Love and Respect towards Param Pujya Swamiji and this should permeate the sadhaks entire being as this love energy emanates from his body.

6.       Acharyas responsibility towards his Guru

a.  The Acharya should encourage all sadhaks to attend the centre for meditation. His approach should be full of inner-feeling (atma bhav) while communicating with the sadhaks.

b. The Acharya should encourage all sadhaks to fill in the Guru Purnima application well in time. He should announce that those who cannot afford to go will also be able to go as there are many sadhaks who provide sponsorship anonymously.

c.  The sadhaks should be reminded to make their bookings well in advance due to the rush for bookings. Bus arrangements can be made if the number of sadhaks who are willing to travel by bus is large.

d.  The Acharya should mark the attendance of sadhaks and ensure that those who are going for Guru Purnima have an attendance of more than 60%.

e.   Under no circumstances should the Acharya favour any sadhak by certifying his attendance as 60% when it is not the case. When the Acharya does this it is a great disservice to his Guru, as the Guru has to cleanse a person who may not be balanced due to inadequate meditation at the centre.

7.       Travelling to the Guru Purnima venue

a.  Before you leave your house for worshipping your spiritual mother, seek blessings from the mother who gave birth to you so that you travel with her protection.

b.  During your journey listen to Param Pujya Swamiji’s discourses, sing bhajans, share your spiritual experiences – by doing this you become full of Swamiji and his chitta comes on to your group and you get the feeling of becoming one with your Guru. The purification process keeps happening when the group keeps their chitta on their Guru.

c.  As you near the venue you will be filled with a feeling of love and brotherhood to all indicating that you have entered Param Pujya Swamiji’s energy field or aura.

8.       Guru Purnima and Self Realisation

a. Once you reach the venue you remain focussed on Param Pujya Swamiji’s consciousness which is present in every atom and article. You can feel the pulsating energy and you complete your registration and enter the huge tent.

b. Within you are feeling nothing but compassion and pure love for your Guru as you soak in the atmosphere.

c. You meet fellow spiritual brothers and sisters and exchange greetings and indulge in small talk but your soul is in direct communion with the super Soul.

d. Early next day is Guru Purnima and you wake up early and sit for group meditation. You are becoming more and more empty and your inner identity is beginning to merge with universal consciousness.

e. The thoughts have completely stopped as Param Pujya Swamiji takes His seat for the commencement of the function. The sadhaks head is bowed down completely paying silent respects to his spiritual guide and Satguru.

f.  As the discourse commences the sadhak goes into a trance as his soul absorbs the message coming from the Satguru.

g. The message is that the best Guru Dakshina which any sadhak can give to his Satguru is to become one with the Satguru and merge with His consciousness.

h. As the sadhak perseveres he sees the light and begins to hear the silence. Light and the sound of silence – that is the Guru and Om connection. The “Brahma naad” – the celestial music; once you hear that there is nothing more beautiful and nothing else left to hear. You will be at total peace with your inner-self listening to celestial music. The outer becomes the inner and nothing else exists, you discover who you ARE, and then there is nothing left to know but eternal peace – THE SOUND OF SILENCE – OM, HARI OM TAT SAT. The divine sound – that is the truth, and you find that only when you have a living Guru to guide you, to show you the light.

i.  Once self-realisation dawns one feels that one had been kept captive by time and that his inherent nature was peace – eternal peace! The feeling then arises that I am peace and peace is me.....one merges with universal peace as everything within becomes, calm, quiet and eternally peaceful and silent.

j.  Like bubbles cannot separate from water, the waves in the ocean cannot be separated from the ocean. They have no identity. They cannot exist. Like that, one realises, everything in the Universe is within God, within the Self. You realise that all that ‘is’, all that will ‘be’ and all that ‘was’, is God. You are filled with bliss and joy and you become aware and a witness to all that is happening in and around you. Your state is that of pure existence – a state of just being.

k. When you look around you will get the feeling of unity, you will realise that everybody is the same – you, the persons sitting around you, Param Pujya Swamiji -everybody is the same – they are you and you are them, there is no difference. You become a part of the whole and the whole becomes a part of you. You realise you are nothing but PURE CONSCIOUSNESS.

JAI BABA SWAMI