Guru Purnima 2022
Today, the 13th of July, is Guru Purnima, the full moon of the Guru, when this quality is at it’s fullest, just like the moon itself.
The term Guru is a bit loaded for us in the west, it’s often appropriated to someone who is an expert in their field, alternatively we may have a very inaccurate perception of how this works, such as portrayals in the media, films and the news.
In its truest sense this existence of Guru is the quality necessary for Yoga, as this is how it is transmitted from one person to another, generation to generation, from age to age, it is the catalyst for Yoga. This quality of the Guru does not always occur via an embodied person, but it is an occurrence of this principle.
Another feature of modern life is the veneration of contained knowledge, although this is present in the Guru Chela (what we think of as the teacher and student) relationship, in their essence Yoga and Tantra arise as a lived state of being, coming from a direct transmission.
It is as much about coming into contact with a teacher or an experience, as it is about what they actually say or what can be measured. In many ways we can understand this in the occasions where just being in someones company we experience certain qualities, whether it’s humour, interest, joy or whatever.
This is what occurs in the presence of the Guru, only this is encountering qualities, a state of being that is more sublime yet profound
For many people this is integral in their practice of Yoga that there is an encounter, an experience, which changes everything, Yoga is known, something of that state is communicated to them in a wordless and formless way.
The word Guru arises from two root Sanskrit words, Guna and Rupa, form and seeing, so the Guru leads the Chela to experience this lived reality in an altogether different way, so that this is lived and known as the supreme reality, the essence of life itself.
It is thanks to this transmission over millennia that we know Yoga, it is thanks to Guru that this exists.
If you have an earnest study of Yoga, this quality has appeared in some way for you. Any of us who recognise this, will be deeply appreciative of this essence of Guru having entered one’s life.
So on this Guru Purnima, we can recognise and venerate this endless lineage through which we know Yoga. The Guru that is seen and the Guru which remains unseen.
It is understood that any practice done on this day, meditation, mantra etc will be magnified by this quality, so may you have the opportunity to do this, to encounter and venerate this quality today.
Om Guruve Namaha!
