Happy Guru Purnima: The Original Teacher’s Day! (July 2014)

Warmest greetings on Guru Purnima! Guru Purnima is an auspicious festival that is celebrated throughout the Dharmic world on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Ashadh (or July-August). In the current year, 2014, the festival falls on July 12th. The festival is traditionally celebrated in memory of the illustrious sage and guru, Vyasa. Sri Vyasa is widely credited as the sage that split the primordial single Veda into the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Atharva, and Sama) we know today. The split was done to better facilitate the learning of the knowledge contained in the Vedas. Sage Vyasa is also credited as the author of the 18 Puranas, Mahabharata, and Srimad Bhagavatam. It should be noted that sage Vyasa’s disciples have carried on his legacy of scholarship to this day.

On the day of Guru Purnima, students may choose to fast or take a vow of silence to purify the mind, body, and soul. Students visit their local temples, gurukuls, ashrams, and educational institutions to perform puja, bhajan/kirtan and have a feast in honour of sage Vyasa as well as their local gurus and teachers.

One of the key rituals practiced during the festival is Padhpujan in which students kneel to the lotus feet of their guru/teacher, wash and dry the feet, and offer flower petals, vermilion, and chandan. The students perform this humbling act to seek the blessings of their guru. This act of devotion may seem awkward or appear to be sycophancy to the untrained eye, but with a proper explanation, this misconception can be dispelled. One must remember that according to Dharmic culture, knowledge is sought from the lotus feet of a great guru and knowledge is divine. So by worshipping divine knowledge at the source (lotus feet) should not seem awkward.

To further strengthen the notion presented above, allow me to narrate a great scene from the Ramayana where Raavan is lying on the ground dying after being defeated by Sri Ram. At this point, Sri Ram tells his brother Lakshman to go and learn the principles of statecraft from Raavan before he dies (as Raavan was universally recognized as a Polymath of the highest order). Lakshman went to Raavan and stood by his head but was not able to leverage any knowledge. Sri Ram asked Lakshman whether or not he stood at Raavan’s feet or by his head and Lakshman replied that he stood at Raavan’s head. Sri Ram smiled and explained to his brother that knowledge is divine and to seek this gift, one must be humble and kneel at the lotus feet of the guru. Low and behold, when Lakshman knelt at Raavan’s feet, the great Polymath began teaching Lakshman until his last breath. There are some very deep lessons that we, today’s Hindus/Buddhists/Sikhs/Jains, can learn from this story: 1) Respect and value knowledge as it is divine, 2) Respect the giver of knowledge, 3) One must be humble when asking for the gift of knowledge, and 4) Regardless of who the source of knowledge is, take it in a gracious manner.

In the present context, the world finds itself at a crossroads with modernity where information technology is redefining the way we learn and teach. It would be most fascinating to see how a country like India (synonymous with knowledge) under Narendra Modi’s leadership will tackle this challenge. I propose a challenge to the Dharmic family: Can we all come together and take the best from the ancient gurukul system and the best from modern technology to create state-of-the-art learning modules?

On behalf of The Chakra team,
Abhaya Shanker Dube