Guru Purnima
The annual celebration of Guru in all forms and phenomena. A night of gratitude and recognition of all the light bearers in our lives. On the night of the brightest of full moons, we bathe in the light of Soma Chandra, as we extend the same to all we recognize as guru.
“On this July full moon night, we will gather for puja and offer up a boon, that in its granting, brings us greater evolution and through us, benefits the world.”
गुरु पूर्णिमा
gu - ignorance + ru - remover
pūrṇimā - full moon night
SPIRITUAL meaning of Guru
Guru is a Sanskrit word and has a dual meaning, one meaning is an embodied teacher, literally a remover of ignorance, and simultaneously, it means heavy or with gravity of importance.
Guru is an honorific title a student can extend to their chosen teacher. The teacher is an embodied vehicle for knowledge with the purpose of removing ignorance.
Ignorance comes from knowing and ignoring the truth of what we know. The embodied teacher is there to help the student to awaken the knowledge from within.
Note: Forgetting vs Ignoring
A part of being human is the ability to forget, which allows us to enjoy the experience of recognizing, having revelations along the way! This forgetting is by design, because it allows us to fall in love & we love a good love story: )
SECULAR meaning of Guru
In a broader sense, the word guru can be understood to be anyone or anything that helps us to evolve.
As human beings, we also have free will, which allows you to design your path. Once the body is free of the backlog of stresses, clarity & ease of Being can begin to emerge.
&
as Vedic Meditators, we can be all-inclusive, which is what we mean by Cosmic!
With regular practice, alignment with cosmic intelligence occurs naturally.
What is a Boon & why is it important?
Merriam Webster defines a boon as timely benefit or blessing.
Every year, as a Vedic Meditator, you have to opportunity to celebrate Guru Purnima and surrender your boon. It may be written on paper or offered silently in your heart.
The boon, itself, is also a way to see how much you have grown from year to year.
In our tradition, we want to consider your greatest progression and growth and how it might benefit the greatest number of people through us.
Once written or decided, offer it into the fire of Knowledge.
As part of my offering to you, I will svāhā your boons at the Kumbha Mela 2025 at Prayagraj, Bharat.
svāhā स्वाहा //soha སྭཱཧཱ་
Learn more about my fundraiser and plans for Kumbh Mela.
Option to Advance Your Practice
Guru Purnima is also a wonderful time to get your first Advanced Meditation Technique. The Advanced techniques help you to enhance your experience of RITAM, that fertile ground just out of the Absolute Field of Being, with more and more conscious receptivity.
Inquire about your first Advanced Technique.
*Prerequisite for the Advanced Technique is at least one year of regular practice.
With Love & Jai Guru Deva!
SJ
#GuruPurnima #Guru #purnima
Inspired from an post originally published Jul 19, 2021.
As we approach Guru Purnima, a night of celebration and recognition of all Gurus, it is important to understand what Guru means. This year I will be spending Guru Purnima in Sedona on retreat with my teacher, Thom Knoles, and many lovely colleagues and students of Vedic Meditation.