July Festivals

Guru Purnima

The full moon day of Ashadh is well known all over the country as 'Guru Vyas or Ashadh Purnima'. This festival dates back to time immemorial. This auspicious day is set apart for the veneration and worship of the Guru. In ancient days the students or brahmcharis used to get their education in Ashrams and Gurukuls. The students would worship their teachers on this day and pay them their Gurudakshina (fee and presents) according to their means and capacity. The devotees and disciples fast on this day and worship their gurus for seeking their blessings.

About Ved Vyas

Sage Ved Vyas was born several thousand years ago, to an illustrious Sage named Parashar and a humble, tribal fisherwoman named Satyavati. Sage Ved Vyas retold the teachings of the Veda through a massive poem called the Mahabharata.

Further, he collected ancient history of India, parables, passages on morality and instructions on piety in very readable and accessible texts called the Puranas. In the course of time, this literature proliferated and today the 18 major Puranas alone have approximately 4 million verses. So vast is the magnitude of Hindu literature that can be traced to the spiritual lineage of Sage Vyas that he is remembered in the Hindu tradition as 'vishaalabuddhi' or one of great intelligence, one who lit the lamp of wisdom with the oil of Mahabharat.

Significantly, one of his most influential texts on Hindu theology and philosophy is a very short work containing just about 550 short sentences. This text is called Brahmasootr and it is so profound that it has invited dozens of commentaries and explanations. It is said that once Ved Vyas went into meditation in the middle of a shallow stream to see mankind's future, while numerous wise men and disciples waited at the banks for him to come out of his spiritual state.

When Sage Vyas merged from his meditative state, he uttered two sentences - 'Women will be superior to men, and Shudras (i.e., artisans and laborers) will be superior to the priests'. The assembled crowd was perplexed and he explained - "Because of their conceit and arrogance, men in general will abandon the path of Dharm while women will not do so in their humility and dedication.

It is believed that Sage Vyas is immortal and he never died. Witnessing the destruction and violence in the society of his times, he retreated to a place named Vyassthali in Haryana, where he is still said to exist.

People undertake a pilgrimage to this site to offer him respects. In particular, in all schools of Hindu spirituality, he is a role model for his students, the very embodiment of wisdom and knowledge. Students show their reverence for their Teachers in many ways - one is by celebrating the Guru Vyas Poornima.

Students typically are expected to walk behind their teachers, sit behind them in the audience, speak in a voice softer than their teacher. While walking behind the Guru, if he sees a door ahead, the student is expected to run to his teacher's front and open the door for him. He must not eat in the presence of his teacher, smoking and drinking alcohol is therefore out of question. The student does not sit while his teacher stands. If only one seat is available, the student offers it to his teacher. If the teacher enters the student's room, the latter must rise to greet him.