On Guru Purnima, we honor the sage Vyasa, for his service to
humanity, and the Guru, for their service in our development.
Vyasa is not a household name, yet his efforts touch
everyone of us who study the science of Yoga.
Once upon a time, sages received knowledge directly from the
Divine. They then taught (remember this
was an oral tradition) all of this knowledge to their students. Collectively, this knowledge is known as The
Vedas. Imagine, if you will, trying to
memorize (after only hearing) all of the telephone numbers in New York
City. Vyasa recognized that humanity was
becoming unable to accurately remember the Vedas, so he categorized them into
more manageable pieces. Not that he made
it easy, just easier—instead of learning the all the numbers in NYC at once,
learning instead by area code. This is
all well and good, but a good many of us haven’t even begun to study the Vedas
yet.
The ancients were a smart people, and they understood that
the population at large weren’t ready to study the Vedas directly, so a
specific class of literature (The Epics) arose which taught all of the lessons
of the Vedas in the form of stories, easier to memorize and assimilate into
daily life. Only two works make up this
category: The Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The Mahabharata was composed by Vyasa (it was actually
written down by Ganesha, who, the story goes, broke off one of his tusks to
write with while Vyasa chanted). At 100,000 verses it is the longest epic poem
known to man. The whole work may not be
a household name, but a portion of it, some 700 or so verses which occur
roughly in the middle, is widely known: The Bhagavad Gita. The definitive discourse on Yoga spoken
directly from an avatar of The Divine to Arjuna.
Although Vyasa does not appear in the Gita, he is the reason
we have record of it. King Dhritarashtra
was blind. He was not able to see the
great war between his sons and his nephews (Arjuna and his 4 brothers). Vyasa granted the king’s advisor, Sanjaya,
divine sight, so he could see all the action and relate it to the king as it
happened. It is because of this gift that the Bhagavad Gita, the conversation
between Krishna and Arjuna, was revealed to all of humanity.
This brings us to Guru, who is also celebrated along with
Vyasa. A Guru is not the workaday yoga
teacher in every studio next to every Starbucks. The Guru is the total driver of one’s
spiritual development, whose words are taken with the same weight as the words
of the Divine. The word “Guru” comes
from “Gu,” darkness, and “Ru,” one that dispels. The Guru is the one who dispels the darkness.
The belief is that even though we are all a direct extension of the divine, and
carry the entirety of this knowledge with in us, we have forgotten our true
nature. It is only by the light of
another that we are able to recognize the Truth that we carry with us. The Guru pulls back the veil of ignorance
which covers our eyes.
Don’t have a Guru? No problem! Swami Sivananada counsels taking a saint or
your conception of the Divine Lord as your Guru—learn and abide by their
teachings. It is no so much the physical
form that matters, it is the student’s faith and devotion which matters.
David Life writes “The Guru is no one person, it is a force.
A force which is operating all around us and in us. It is up to us whether we are open to what it
is trying to teach us.”
On Guru Purnima, Swami Sivananda encourages us to:
“Generate fresh waves of
spirituality. Lat all that you have read, heard, seen and learnt become
transformed, through sadhana, into a continuous outpouring of universal love,
ceaseless loving service, and continuous prayer and worship of the Lord seated
in all beings…The best form of worship of the Guru is to follow his teachings,
to shine as the very embodiment of his teachings, and to propagate his glory
and his message” (Sivananda. Hindu Fasts
and Festivals pp. 15, 18)
Om bolo sat Guru Bhagavan Ki Jai!
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