July2nd Full Moon
In the Vedic Calendar of India, the Full Moon that falls in the Vedic month of ‘Ashada’ is celebrated as the auspicious holiday for one’s teachers ‘Guru,’ called Guru Purnima or ‘The Remover of Darkness Full Moon.’ This day, all over India, honors one’s spiritual teachers and other teachers with gifts and thanks.
It is an act of grace when a teacher enters a person’s life, as a teacher’s role is to bring in knowledge and wisdom, thus dispelling the darkness of ignorance.
This knowledge and wisdom can come from teaching life skills, or it can come from lived experience. Regardless, all are meant for upliftment and ultimately salvation- teaching livelihood and how to live a life.
The Broader Sense
In a sense, the world is also our teacher and so are all we meet. I can not think of one thing that isn’t our teacher actually.
If we make ourselves available to it, each interaction and relationship brings with it lessons to unpack for the unfolding of inner-knowledge.
What is getting triggered by something or someone, then just an act of exposing where growth and learning are needed in our lives?
This is where we can connect to the phrase ‘we are all walking each other home.’
Life is a process of unfolding, unfolding to our greatest potential and highest good. And that whatever comes to us is exactly what is needed (though not always understood within the confines of our desired results.) We must each learn to trust and be present in the ‘Now.’ Because in the now, all is available.
The Guru is Within
Regardless of whether a physicalized spiritual master is present in our lives, each of us must awaken to the Guru within. This ‘Guru within’ is out conscience, the guiding light within each of us, our gut, our intuition. The more we learn to listen and open ourselves up to being directed by this inner force of wisdom, the more of a fulfilled life we will live. It is through the ‘Guru Tattva’ or the Guru within, which is the essence of the Guru principle that is physicalized in a spiritual master, that must rise up in each one of us.
A special thing to note is the definition of Guru. Guru’s rough translation is the remover of darkness, the methodology of doing this is imparting wisdom. Now, Guru is not the bestower of wisdom or bestower of light, but the remover of its opposite. Why is this? Sanskrit most profoundly and accurately chose the remover of darkness because the light is innately within us all. Light or wisdom or knowledge, in the spiritual sense resides within all of us, all of creation. This light has just been covered with the sense of separation, ego, etc as ‘darkness.’ When these are removed, what shines forth is ones true nature. This nature has never left us, just gets muddied up by our forgetfulness of this innate nature.
A Celebration with an Origin Date lost in Antiquity
The amazing thing about this holiday, is there is no origin date for it, so we have no idea for how many thousands of years it has been celebrated. At least 5-6 thousand years. The earliest story connected to this holiday is that of the yoga tradition. It is said on this date the first teachings of yoga were imparted or gifted.
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