Guru Purnima falls on the full moon in July–a day for honoring one’s guru. Sage Vyasa is author of some of India’s greatest scriptures and was the first to be honored on this day. Also, on this day in history Shiva gave the cream of his teachings to seven sages who had the capacity to receive it, and it is the anniversary of when the Buddha gave his first sermon for spiritual emancipation at Deer Park in Sarnath.
The term guru has been bandied about much in the west: we have wall-street gurus, if someone is a specialist in any area he may be called a guru in his field. In India a professor or any teacher may have this broad distinction of being one’s guru. Gu meaning darkness, ru is light or interpreted to mean the remover of darkness; therefore guru may be anyone who enlightens you, lifting you out of ignorance. In addition to this generic usage, there is the specialized knowledge of Self-realization; one who imparts wisdom or knowledge in this area is known as a guru, the meaning now takes on greater gravitas. Just as you might go beyond undergraduate university classes to a master’s or doctorate degree, one is given a special advisor in graduate school who guides the advanced student into higher, more specific knowledge. When this occurs spiritually, and the aspirant is ready for the last mile of God-realization, then a Sat Guru comes into the devotee’s life.
A Sat Guru has become a spiritual master himself, or else he or she could not guide another. One may have many teachers in life, however God sends a specific teacher to take one all the way to Himself. Here in the West we pride ourselves on individuality, but in the area of Self-realization the true guru is absolutely needed to guide one surely, and has the power to awaken an aspirant with his own superconsciousness–imparting a spiritual seed that matures into fruition of full realization. I have taken university classes in which the intelligence of the professor conveyed, not only in words but through who they are, that created an excitement of life-energy in the brain, feeling new territory being opened up as to an explorer just setting foot in newly found lands. The occasional professor who inspires students like this serves the mind of the student as a guru. The spiritual guru does this and much more for the awakening soul.
When I first met my Gurudev, Mother Hamilton, she transmitted a spiritual power that lifted me far beyond what anything or anyone had done before. She taught me the methods for liberating my soul from darkness of separation, she was the example in thought, word and deed of what I was striving for in my own life. She did not ask for, nor would it had been useful, for me to become a carbon copy of herself–she wanted me to stand on my own two feet. Yet, I was in need of learning fundamental principles she taught; more than that I gradually attuned myself to her superconscious mind. This is the kind of power and subtlety that requires a true guru. For, if ego is in charge of the guru, how can following such a one make you transcend ego? A guru can only be an open door to God-realization if they have that realization themselves–not just occasionally have a spiritual experience, but to be a real guru one needs to be established in his oneness with God. This requires a rarity in this world; a fully realized soul.
When I look up the ladder of our guru-lineage I am in awe of what I see. My own dear Mother, Master–Paramhansa Yogananda, Sri Yukteswarji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Babaji and Jesus–it is a blindingly blessed lineage of realized Beings that have gone before us to blaze an unmistakable path to the Infinite. Mother was also the recipient of another fully realized Being, Papa Ramdas. And for me Swami Satchidanandaji played a pivotal role in realizing God. What gratitude comes to me in thinking of these divinely illumined souls; it humbles me to dust.
The supreme Master Jesus was the example for all of us to follow:
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13)
We are not here to rise up in hierarchies, to attain name and fame for ego’s sake–we are here to serve one another. We are the products of humble servants of God. In order to honor them on this special Guru Purnima Day we may emulate those who have gone before us to the full. Even as Babaji demonstrated for Lahiri Mahasaya:
“No sooner had I passed the ascetic than my astounded eye fell on Babaji. He was kneeling in front of a matted-haired anchorite.
“‘Guruji!’ I hastened to his side. ‘Sir, what are you doing here?’
“‘I am washing the feet of this renunciate, and then I shall clean his cooking utensils.’ Babaji smiled at me like a little child; I knew he was intimating that he wanted me to criticize no one, but to see the Lord as residing equally in all body-temples, whether of superior or inferior men. The great guru added, ‘By serving wise and ignorant sadhus, I am learning the greatest of virtues, pleasing to God above all others—humility.’”
We may not be prompted to literally wash the feet of others, not because we are afraid of what they would think or due to our own pride, but God does not need us to be so literal. However, we may look to serve others with equal humility and surrender, just as Jesus or Babaji. We have been given a gift beyond measure in having living examples in our guru-lineage, and saints from around the world. We have been given the very highest methods for realizing God, and we have been shown examples of who and what we should be in God. We need those examples, and along the way we need encouragement. We may find both in the exchange between our beloved Param Para-Gurus:
“Angelic guru, as you have already favored mankind by resurrecting the lost Kriya art, will you not increase that benefit by relaxing the strict requirements for discipleship?’ I gazed beseechingly at Babaji. ‘I pray that you permit me to communicate Kriya to all seekers, even though at first they cannot vow themselves to complete inner renunciation. The tortured men and women of the world, pursued by the threefold suffering, need special encouragement. They may never attempt the road to freedom if Kriya initiation be withheld from them.’
“‘Be it so. The divine wish has been expressed through you.’ With these simple words, the merciful guru banished the rigorous safeguards that for ages had hidden Kriya from the world. ‘Give Kriya freely to all who humbly ask for help.’
“After a silence, Babaji added, ‘Repeat to each of your disciples this majestic promise from the Bhagavad Gita: “Swalpamasya dharmasya, trayata mahato bhoyat”—“Even a little bit of the practice of this religion will save you from dire fears and colossal sufferings.”’
What we may have done to deserve such grace from these truly great spiritual masters one cannot say? It is said that grace is by definition is undeserved. Perhaps that is true. Surely the love and constancy I received from my Guru was more than I could give to her at the time; therefore you would have to say that all she gave me was definitely undeserved. The greatest gift we can give our beautiful lineage, as well as the inspiration and grace we have received from so many saints the world over, is to strive with all of our hearts, our strength, minds and souls for attaining that most blessed state of consciousness wherein we know we are no longer separate individuals living in darkness, but that we have boldly stepped into the light, and find the same light radiating in us that is so clearly seen in our guru-lineage. This is the greatest way to honor Guru Purnima Day.
May the great blessings of God and Gurus on this special day ever grace you with a deep seated desire to realize God, and fulfill their greatest wish for you, that you know God and be immersed in the infinite Divine Consciousness–now and always. Have a blessed day.
Picture: Full moon of Guru Purnima Day, tree of life and birds of heaven.
