Guru Purnima is very important and very precious day for devotees of Guru. There is no life without Guru (teacher). Everything that you study, every experience that you get is through Guru. Every occupation has a Guru. But these Gurus are different. They are called teachers in their respective fields. They teach knowledge necessary for worldly existence. The person who teaches you Japanese, is your Japanese Guru. If someone teaches you driving, he is your Guru for driving.

These teachers who teach knowledge required for worldly existence are different from Sadguru. Sadguru is a Spiritual Master who teaches you about the Supreme Truth (Sat). He bestows upon the disciple the Supreme Knowledge or the ultimate knowledge. He is one who shows the divine light. Since he gives you Supreme Knowledge, you must call him as Sadguru. You must say ‘Sadgurubhyo Namaha’.

Now, what is Sadguru’s Guru called? The teacher who imparted this Supreme Knowledge to Sadguru is Paramaguru. For all of you, Jayalakshmi Mata is Paramaguru

Paramaguru would have had a teacher who taught Him the Supreme Knowledge. That is Parameshti-guru. Parameshti-guru’s teacher is Parampara-guru. His Guru is Paratpara-Guru. This is the hierarchy of Guru or Guru lineage. This Guru lineage stops with the Paratpara Guru. He is Maha Vishnu, Maha Shiva, Maha Brahma. He is Dattatreya.

For being the Spiritual Guru for even the celestials (Devatas), Datta is addressed as Deva Guru. He is called Deva Devottama, Devata Sarvabhouma. He is Paratpara-guru, Paramaguru and Adi Guru. He is there from the beginning of the creation. He is formless. He is all-pervasive. He controls all. He is Hiranyagarbha, who protects everyone in his belly. He appears as ‘Angushta Matra’ – as big as a thumb. When you ponder on this, you will know the significance behind Guru Purnima worship.

Why is Guru Purnima addressed as Vyasa Purnima? Because, we are also in Vyasa’s lineage and Sri Krishna’s lineage. When Swamiji sits on the altar for discourse or bhajan, we call it as Vyasa Peetham. It means Maharishi Vyasa has come. He is the base for us. There are many in his lineage.

Guru Gita says that Shiva is Guru. Although such Guru is all-pervading and formless, He manifests with a gross body in order to uplift the embodied humans. He is visible in both gross and subtle forms. Subtly, He exists in all living beings. He is there in all of you. He is there in both movable and immovable objects. He is in stone. He is in birds.

Now comes the question- why are we born? What is the purpose of our life? Did we take birth merely to study, work, marry, earn money, have children and die? No. We were born to understand ourselves. This is the real purpose behind our human birth. Understanding who were truly are is true achievement. We have taken refuge in Sadguru solely because we are keen to understand ourselves. This is known as atma-jnana.

Worldly attachments are responsible for our future births. Cutting attachments and bondages reduces the number of future births and quickly takes us towards liberation. Many claim that after retirement, they only want to focus on their spiritual growth and get involved in offering services at ashram. But when a grand child is born in the family, again they fall into the trap called attachment. They are unable to stay away from the child. They abandon their earlier plans.

There is one Swamiji’s bhajan ‘janmaniki moolamu korikalandi’- it explains how desires lead towards future re-births. Now that you have come to Swamiji and are seeking higher knowledge, learn to detach from desires. The sacred text Bhaja Govindam entirely teaches this.

- Guru Purnima California July 2014