Guru Poornima: A day to commemorate our gurus

It’s a conscious human effort taken to respect all the great gurus who lived on this planet Earth. Many tend to misunderstand this as a religious approach. Honouring the guru can never be religious. In fact the very word ‘Guru’ is a combination of ‘Gu’ means darkness and ‘Ru’ means removal of darkness. Guru is not a physical body or a human presence. It’s a power which enabled us to remove the ignorance and darkness to make progress in every aspect of life. That is the reason in every culture and religion this day is celebrated as a great opportunity to show gratitude and respect to gurus and is considered as the most auspicious occasion to remember our gurus and their teachings.

I would like to insist through this article that the real power of guru is their teachings. Many people are very good in doing the rituals with great reverence to their guru. They tend to forget that true respect is not by remembering them once in a year but by following their valuable teachings throughouttheir life.

The five great teachings

It’s been a practice for more than seven thousand years on this spiritual land to respect great gurus who have shared their knowledge to empower the practitioner because the real joy of a guru is only when he sees his follower experiencing the benefits of their teachings. This is possible only by committing to the practice of his guru. So, on this auspicious day, let’s take an oath to commit ourselves to practice the best teachings of every guru. I would like to share five teachings which one has to follow on this day as a mark of respect and gratitude to all our gurus:

The highest teaching of any real guru is to make you realise that the power to remove the darkness in always within you. It’s not to say that the gurus have all the power but to make us understand that the real guru is within us.

It is not easy to understand that the guru we need to change our lives is outside us but within us. No one is in charge of your life, health and happiness other than you. You need to take responsibility rather than the ability to understand or accumulate knowledge.

A real guru never insisted us to live a powerful life but to live a peaceful life. For example Yoga Vasishtam by Sri Vasistar is not to gain power but to attain peace, the fundamental source of liberation. To attain peace, it’s important to raise your energy not about new learning but to forgive people and past experiences to live a new life. As a human being, one may have so many people in their mind with bad experiences. On this Guru Poornima day, it is time for you to understand that you will really have the strength to forgive others.

The real guru says that we forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness but because we deserve peace. This makes you understand that with this quality and ability, you will have all the power to heal the past for a beautiful future. Failing to understand the need of forgiveness, no one can stop the fact that the past will steal the beautiful present and a great future.

The next biggest teaching is to make you understand that no matter how bad the situation is fear nothing because everything has to change. We use the word ‘kaala’, the medicine for everything. In other words, time heals everything.

Power with you is the only power by which you can change your destiny

All these teachings are valid only when you understand the ultimate truth. I want everybody to realise that every guru wants the entire humanity to understand that unless you realise the self, you cannot understand the power of yourself.

The solution for every problem is not outside you, but within you. God is the solution for all the problems and god is already within you. The highest teaching of every guru including the Adi guru, Lord Shiva remains the same. They insist that nothing will take care of you when you are sick. The real sickness is the mental fear, not the physical sickness. The only solution to live in a condition where you can enjoy every moment of your presence and experience progress in every aspect of life is to realise the truth that no power can help a person who is not able to help himself. No one can help their own self unless they realise the power of their own self. That’s the ultimate teaching of Guru which we need to remember on Guru Poornima as a respect to all the Gurus.

Always tell yourself that you are blessed to be born as a human and really blessed to have a guru and above all for having the ability to live as per the teachings of your guru. Always remember the eternal truth that the power within you is the only power by which you can change your destiny.

Wishing you a life full of peace, success and happiness!!

Atmayogi Shri AasaanjiAham Brahmasmi !