New Delhi: The widely celebrated Guru Purnima festival is celebrated on 13th July this year. Also known as Vyas Purnima – the day is dedicated to pay homage to your Guru or a revered spiritual entity. Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa or Veda Vyasa, who wrote the epic Mahabharata, was born on Guru Purnima, so it is also his birth anniversary.
Guru Purnima is celebrated in different ways in the country. On the full moon day, known as Purnima according to the Hindu calendar of the month of Ashadha, on Guru Purnima, devotees worship the guru or teacher on this day, thanking him for all knowledge and life-lessons.
The day is celebrated with utmost enthusiasm by Buddhists as it is believed that Gautam Buddha, after denouncing worldly attachments and becoming enlightened, gave his first sermon on this day at Sarnath. Apart from this, it is also said that on this day, Lord Shiva became the Adi Guru – the first Guru and imparted knowledge to the Saptarishis.
Guru Purnima has great significance for Jains as well. On this day, the 24th Tirthankara – Mahavira – made Gautam Swami (formerly known as Indrabhuti Gautam) his first disciple. He thus became a guru and hence this day is celebrated as Guru Purnima.
Guru Purnima is a day to pay tribute to the selfless contribution of the Guru. Interestingly, the Sanskrit word guru itself means one who removes ignorance (gu means ignorance and ru means remover).
In India, the Guru-Shishya bond is viewed as a pure relationship that helps the student to achieve greater heights. The Sanskrit shloka – parent parent guru daivam – clearly explains the role of a teacher in comparison to God. In India, the teacher is called a guru (the one who sows the seeds of knowledge and dispels darkness).
On this day students thank their teachers for nurturing values, ethics and inculcating a sense of right and wrong besides imparting education.
In ancient India, parents entrusted the responsibility of their children to the guru as they knew that only a teacher could help the child develop holistically. A beautiful bond between teacher and student was witnessed in the Guru-Shishya tradition, splendidly woven into the social fabric.
Apart from this, the importance of Guru is clearly established in our great Indian epic Ramayana and Mahabharata also.
The bond shared by Sage Vishwamitra and Lord Rama or Arjuna and Dronacharya is classic specimens of the Guru Shishiya Parampara.
Happy Guru Purnima to all!