By : Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Spiritual Leader, Global Humanitarian, Peace Ambassador and Founder, Art of Living.
(Follow Sri Sri on Twitter @Srisri)
Guru tattva is the principal, the wisdom. Guru is a tattva – an element, a quality inside you. It is not limited to a body or a form. There is a story that happened 5000 years ago when Lord Krishna sent Uddhava, who was his close friend and a very wise man, to the Gopis and Gopas, who were full of devotion. Uddhava went to give them some wisdom, to talk about liberation, but none of them was interested in listening to that. They all said, “No, tell us some story about Lord Krishna, tell us what is happening in Dwarka, where he is. We don’t want to hear all this wisdom; you can keep that to yourself. But tell us what news you have of Lord Krishna? We don’t care about wisdom; we are happy with longing and we are happy with love. So, let’s sing and dance”. That’s all they wanted to do. This is how love makes you crazy. That’s when all the boundaries drop; you feel one with everyone around, and one with the whole universe – and that’s called- ‘Guru tattva’.
Devotion is your nature. When you rest in your own nature, there is no conflict. But usually we feel a conflict. We feel bad about a negative quality we have or something that we did. A Master is one who lifts these burdens from you that you yourself cannot carry — and kindles in you devotional love. Offer everything to the Master — your anger, your frustration, all your bad feelings and good feelings. Your negativity pulls you down. Your positive qualities bring pride and arrogance in you. Your whole life becomes a big weight. When you offer it all, you become free. You become light like a flower. You can again smile and rejoice in the moment. What remains in you is pure love.
From ages, this knowledge and wisdom have been passed on to this world. On Guru Purnima, we express our gratitude and gratefulness to the tradition of all the Masters of the past. It’s the day we celebrate knowledge and the love together. Mind is connected with moon, and full moon is a symbol of completion, celebration, or pinnacle. Ask for whatever you want and it will be bestowed. The highest and best desire is to ask for knowledge and freedom. Ultimately, happiness cannot be bought by money. Comfort is a small thing. But there are only two things that will be asked, and that make life more fruitful – how much love have you given? And how much knowledge have you taken? What goes with you is knowledge. What gets imprinted in the consciousness is knowledge. Knowledge is not what you read in a book, but it is awareness. How much awareness you have gained? How much broadness in your mind has come up? And in giving, how much love have you given back to the world. So, those who want higher knowledge will go deeper into it. It is like the ocean. Some people take a walk along the beach and they get good oxygen, fresh air and they are happy with that. Others would put their feet in the water and feel that scintillating impact of the ocean. Some others go surfing or scuba-diving and they find corals and precious things. So, it’s up to you – if you want to take a walk on the beach or go for a swim or go deeper.
And there is not a single person on this planet who is not a spiritual seeker because everybody is seeking peace, love and happiness, and this is what spirit is. So, Guru Purnima is the day when the disciple wakes up in his/her fullness. More gratefulness and gratitude means more grace. More grace means more happiness, more knowledge. On this significant day repose on the vastness of your own self, review your progress on the spiritual path, renew your focus on the goal, and resolve what you want to do in the coming year.
