5th July 2020
Today is Gurupurnima.
The birthday of the Supreme Guru Vedavyasa. Vedavyasa who categorised the Vedas in a specific way.
We celebrate the birthday of Bhagavan Vyasa who authored the Mahabharata, the Brahmasutra, the eighteen Puranas and so on as the day of paying homage to the lineage of Gurus. The Sadguru is the one who dispels the darkness of ignorance and showers the light of knowledge.
In our life there is the need for many teachers. We rely on teachers with various qualifications to pick up different kinds of knowledge. The mother, father and Guru are God. We must perceive God in the mother, father and Guru. The mother is the first Guru. The throbs of love of the mother’s mind are the first lessons.
The child begins by learning everything from the mother. It is able to perceive God in her.
Afterwards it learns many things from the father. Then it takes lessons from teachers. It looks up to teachers also as God. It thus comes to perceive God in everyone. The Indian culture is one that teaches us to perceive God in everything, sentient and insentient. We may have a lot of gurus. The one who takes us to God is the Supreme Guru. It is not easy to obtain Gurus who lead humans to the Supreme State, like the Saptarshis, the seven sages, who transformed Ratnakara into Valmiki. That requires the grace of good deeds performed over lifetimes.
It is difficult to know the invisible divine power. The naked eyes do not have the power to stand the power of the dazzling light of the sun. The same sunlight becomes appreciable when it gets reflected by the moon and appears as soft and beautiful moonlight. Like that, the God that cannot be known by the physical senses assumes the Guru-form that can be perceived by all. God descends to our plane to teach us. Amma, who is embracing us and absorbing our karma and burdens of sins today, is a perfect example of this. We shall pay obeisance to the entire tradition of Gurus.
We shall pray together for the world’s wellbeing. Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu.
with lots of Love and Prayers,
Swami Purnamritananda Puri,
General Secretary,
Mata Amritanandamayi Math.
