The guru is one who opens the door to the limitless possibilities within his disciple, due to which the person transcends his limitations and becomes a part of the infinite Universe. There must be a guru in everyone’s life. If you don’t have one, seek one out with devotion. And once you meet him, bow down and surrender your ego at his feet. It is only when a seed gets mixed with the soil that it becomes a tree. The disciple should from then on follow the teachings of the guru and live accordingly.
As soon as the disciple comes in the aura of an enlightened Master, he too starts getting illumined inside; it is as if a lit lamp is lighting up many unlit lamps. The guru tattva, element; hisgrace, energy, speech start flowing within the disciple. The guru is not a body, it is an element which is present in the whole universe. My guru may be different from your guru at the physical level but the guru tattva is the same.
The relationship between a guru and disciple is a spiritual one, beyond the physical. Guru Purnima is the day to take initiation from the guru, strengthen your sadhana and imbibe his teachings.
No one but the guru can remove the darkness in the mind. He is the one who teaches how to live and shows the path of liberation. It is said: ‘Hari ruthe guru thaur hai, guru ruthe nahi thaur’, meaning when Hari, the Divine, gets angry, you can take refugein the guru, but if the guru were to get angry, you cannot find refuge anywhere.
In the glory of the guru, it is said, ‘Gururdevo Gururdharmo, Guru Nishtha Param Tapa, Guru Parataram Nasti, Trivaram Kathyami Te’ – the guru is god, guru is religion, loyalty to the guru is the ultimate religion.
There is nothing more than the guru. Vishnu incarnate Krishn, too, studied under a guru – Rishi Sandipani; Ayodhya prince Ram too receives knowledge from one – Rishi Vasishth. On Guru Purnima, Shiv in the form of Dakshinamurti, imparted knowledge of the Vedas to the four Manasputras of Brahma; this day also marks the birth anniversary of Sage Ved Vyas, the author of the epic, Mahabharat, hence,it is also known as Vyas Purnima in his honour.
Guru Purnima falls on the full moon of the month of Ashadha. It is followed by the rainy season. Tradition has it that after receiving guru jnana on the full moon, sadhaks stay in one place for four months and do their sadhana, so that the jnana they have received becomes a part of their lives. The four months following Guru Purnima are very suitable for spiritual practice, because they are neither too hot nor too cold.
We all are born to touch great heights of consciousness, and this is not possible without a guru. He imparts all types of jnana to his disciple and with his words, removes all his doubts from time to time. So, the disciple, on his part, should never let go of the Guru’s hand, once he has accepted him as his master.