Guru Purnima

[Guest guest]

Thanks Dirk-ji...

A little more on Guru Purnima below...

Jai Gurudev!!!

Love,

Joyce

-

Dirk Haueter

Thursday, July 21, 2005 9:17 AM

Guru Purnima

Dear friends,

Today is the full moon day celebrated as Guru Purnima in honor of the

fullness of the teacher. This is the rememberence that a long

journey is made easier by asking directions from someone that knows

the way. Wishing you all a great Guru Purnima day.

Love,

Dirk

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Significance of The Holy Guru-Purnima DayBySwami Sivananda

http://www.divyajivan.org/articles/siva/gurupurnima_signi.htm

Sankaram Sankaracharyam Kesavam Badarayanam;Sutra-Bhashya-Kritau Vande Bhagavantau Punah Punah

I adore Lord Siva, Lord Vishnu, Bhagavan Vyasa and Sri Sankaracharya.

I again and again prostrate to Sri Vyasa who wrote the Vedanta

Sutras, and to Sri Sankaracharya who wrote the commentaries thereon

(Guru Vandanam).

The full-moon day in the month of Ashada is the extremely auspicious

and holy day of Guru-Purnima. On this Ashada Purnima Day, sacred to

the memory of the great sage Sri Vyasa Bhagavan or Sri Krishna

Dvaipayana, Sannyasins settle at some place to study, do Vedantic

Vichara, and discourse on the thrice-blessed Brahma Sutras composed

by Maharshi Vyasa. Sri Veda-Vyasa has done unforgettable service to

all humanity for all time by editing the four Vedas, writing the

eighteen Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata. We can attempt

to repay this deep debt of gratitude we owe him only by constant

study of his works and practice of his teachings imparted for the

regeneration of humanity in the iron age or Kali Yuga. In honour of

this divine personage, all Sadhakas and devotees perform Vyasa Puja

on this day; aspirants worship their Guru. Mahatmas and Sadhus are

honoured and entertained, and acts of charity done by all Grihastis

with deep faith and sincerity. Chaturmasa for Sannyasins begins from

this day. Sannyasins stay in one place during the rainy season for

four months, study the Brahma Sutras, and practise meditation.

Significance Of The Guru-Purnima Day

Mark fully the deep significance of this great day. Ashada Purnima

heralds the Chaturmasa, or the setting in of the eagerly awaited

rains. The water, drawn up and stored as clouds in the hot summer,

now manifests in plentiful showers that usher in the advent of fresh

life everywhere. Even so do you all begin seriously to put into

actual working all the theory and philosophy that you have stored up

in you through patient study. Commence practical spiritual Sadhana

right from this day. Generate fresh waves of spirituality. Let all

that you have read, heard, seen and learnt become, through Sadhana,

transformed into a continuous outpouring of universal love, ceaseless

loving service and continuous prayer and worship of the Lord seated in

all beings.

Live on milk and fruits on this day and practise rigorous Japa and

Dhyana. Study the Brahma Sutras and do some lakhs of Japa (Anushthana

or Purascharana) of your Guru Mantra or Ishta Mantra, during the

Chaturmasa. You will be highly benefited.

As the day of Guru-Puja or worship of one’s preceptor this is a day of

pure joy to the sincere aspirant. Thrilled by the expectation of

offering his reverent homage to the beloved Guru, aspirant awaits

this occasion with eagerness and devotion. It is the Guru alone that

breaks the binding cords of attachment and releases the aspirant from

the trammels of earthly existence. The Sruti says: “To that

high-souled aspirant, whose devotion to the Lord is great and whose

devotion to his Guru is as great as that to the Lord, these secrets

explained, become illuminated.” Guru is Brahman or Isvara Himself. He

guides and inspires you from the innermost core of your being. He is

everywhere.

Behold The Entire Universe As Guru-Svarupa

Have a new angle of vision. Behold the entire universe as

Guru-Svarupa. See the guiding hand, the awakening voice, the

illumining touch of the Guru in every object in this Creation. The

whole world will now stand transformed before your changed vision.

The Virat Guru will reveal all the precious secrets of life and

bestow wisdom. The Supreme Guru, manifest in visible Nature, will

teach you the most valuable lessons of life. Worship daily this Guru

of Gurus, the Guru who taught even Avadhuta Dattatreya. The silent

all-enduring earth with its lofty forbearance, the shady

fruit-bearing tree with its willing self-sacrifice, the mighty Banyan

tree (Pipal) reposing with patience in the tiny seed, the dripping

drops whose persistence wears away the rocks, the planets and the

seasons with their orderly punctuality and regularity are divine

Gurus to him who will look, listen and receive.

Purify And Progress

Become a personification of receptivity. Empty yourself of your petty

ego-sense. All the treasures locked up in the bosom of Nature will

become yours! You will have progress and perfection in an amazingly

short time. Become pure and unattached as the mountain breeze. As the

river flows continuously, steadily and constantly towards its goal,

the ocean, by moving every moment of your life towards the Supreme

State of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, let all your thoughts, all your

words, all your actions be directed only towards the Goal.

The moon shines by reflecting the dazzling light of the sun. It is the

full-moon of Purnima-Day that reflects in full splendour the glorious

light of the sun. It glorifies the sun. Purify yourself through the

fire of service and Sadhana, and like the full moon, reflect the

glorious Light of the Atman. Become the full reflectors of Brahmic

splendour, the Light of lights. Make this your goal, to become a

living witness to Divinity, the brilliant Sun of suns!

Tat Tvam Asi

Brahman or the Supreme Self alone is real. He is the Soul of all. He

is All in all. He is the Essence of this universe. He is the Unity

that never admits of a duality under all the varieties and

diversities of nature. Thou art this immortal, all-pervading,

all-blissful Brahman. Thou art That—Tat Tvam Asi. Realise this and be

free.

Remember the four important verses of the Brahma Sutras: (i) Atha-Ato

Brahma-Jijnasa—Now, therefore, the enquiry into Brahman. (ii)

Janmadyasya Yatah—From which proceed the origin, etc. (iii)

Sastra-Yonitvat—The scriptures being the means of right knowledge.

(iv) Tat Tu Samanvayat—But that because It is the main support.

Now sing: Jaya Guru Siva Guru Hari Guru Ram, Jagad-Guru

Param Guru Sat-Guru Syam.

Remember and adore Sri Vyasa and the Brahma-Vidya Gurus. May their

blessings be upon you all! May you all cut asunder the knot of Avidya

and shine as blessed Jivanmuktas, shedding peace, joy and light

everywhere!

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And another one which I received in my email box...also by Swami Sivananda...

GURU PURNIMA(H.H. Sri Swami Sivananda)Guru Purnima is a day pregnant

with deep significance and important importfor humanity today. To the

orthodox Hindu, it implies a reverent worship ofthe spiritual

preceptor and the commencement of a serious study of thescriptures.

Guru Purnima falls on the full-moon day of the month of

Ashada.Sannyasins stop their wanderings and take up a fixed abode on

the sacred dayto commence a four-month period of intense study and

meditation.It is a peculiar genius of Hinduism to have made all

personalities, allcelebrations, sacred places and sacred days to

stand for and vividlyrepresent some lofty ideal. Guru Purnima is not

an exception. The very dayis an indication of the ideal which you are

to attain. Purnima or the fullmoon is that stage when the moon

receives to the fullest extent the dazzlinglight of the sun and

reflects it perfectly. It is at the zenith of itsluminosity. Now the

moon is believed to have emanated from the mind portionof the Cosmic

Being or the Purusha-chandrama manaso jathah-thus runs

thePurusha-sukta. The sun is always regarded by the devout Hindu to

be avisible representative of the Deity or the Paramatman. Thus it is

thissupreme ideal of fully reflecting the divine splendor that is

aimed atthrough the surrender to and worship of the spiritual guide

and the study ofand meditation upon the truths of the scripture that

Guru Purnima implies.The human mind, being thoroughly purified

through the service of the Guruand assimilation of scriptures,

becomes perfectly serene and calm and thenfaithfully reflects the

Atman-even as the moon during Purnima. The mind ofman has the closest

interconnection with the moon.Vividly keep before your mind this

spiritual significance of Guru Purnima.Just as the wandering

Sannyasin does, even so let your mind cease it'swandering in the

diverse pathways of this world of delusion. Let it getfixed upon a

single object or Lakshya. Plunge in Sadhana from today.Even as the

individual, the race and the nation too have to put intopractice this

ideal. It is failure to do this that has brought the entirehumanity

today on the verge of self-destruction. To the race the Guru

isrepresented by the entire galaxy of saints and sages, the holy men

and themen of God that have graced and illumined the centuries and

generations pastas well as present. The sum total of these saints and

their spiritualhierarchy is the Guru for the race. The entire range of

their life-redeemingteachings constitutes the Guru Vakya or the Guru

Upadesh for the race. ThisGuru and this Upadesh have been forgotten

by the racial mind, nay; it hasbecome deliberately neglected and set

aside. The saints and their teachingshave been shelved away as

archaic antiquities. Their voice of Truth,universal love, unity and

brotherhood has become drowned by the rush anduproar of a scientific

age. The mind of man is thoroughly agitated andtossed about by the

forces of commercial greed and materialistic power. Sucha mind can

hardly reflect the splendor and radiance of the Atman. The truespirit

of Guru Purnima alone can save the humanity from dangerousperversions

of secular science.The human race must settle down now for a sincere

hearing of and reflectionover the admonitions of the great sages and

the teachers of the world. It isthe Supreme Guru of Gurus, the

Almighty Being that speaks and works throughthese spiritual men of

God. Let the humanity make up for past neglect andhearken with

earnestness and care to this universal Gurupadesh. Then indeedthe

real Divine Purnima will cast its soft radiance of peace and bliss

uponthis earth. Then it is that humanity will attain its Purnima and

perfectlyreflect the radiant dazzling light of the Supreme Divine

Being, who is intruth the Sun of suns.Blessed selves! Study therefore

with diligence and Bhava the lives of thegreat ones. Again and again

recall their spiritual teachings. Try to emulatethem. Walk in their

footsteps. Follow their lofty Upadesh and teachings.Daily read some

elevating scripture without fail. Pray to the Supreme, GuruBhagawan

Veda Vyasa and begin spiritual Sadhana. Do not postpone. Timeflies,

life shortens rapidly. Death may come at any moment. Hasten theadvent

of bright Purnima in your lives. To live in the light of

Guru'steachings, to faithfully become the very embodiment of His

Upadesh is agrand Gurudakshina for him.May this sacred land pay this

homage to its Guru and attain the Purnima ofher spiritual splendor so

that she may once again scatter the soft radianceof Atmic Light upon

all the nations of the world! May the entire humanitysoon be

illuminated with the Jyoti of a Purna Chandrodaya of

Indianspirituality!! All glory to the Brahma Vidya Gurus!!!