On days when the moon is full, its vibration, its feel, is very different than on other days. For a spiritual seeker, this day is like a boon from nature. Earlier, Guru Pournami was among the most important festive occasions in the country. Over time, it got relegated to the background due to ignorance and so fewer people were aware of its great significance. However, it is now coming back slowly into prominence with more seekers looking for spiritual guidance.
Guru Pournami is the day the first guru was born. Once upon a time, Shiva attained and went into intense ecstatic dance on the Himalayas. When we say Shiva, in the yogic culture, we do not refer to him as a god. He is seen as the Adiyogi, or the first yogi. When his ecstasy became beyond movement, he became still. When it allowed him some movement, he danced wildly. People saw that he was experiencing something that they were unable to fathom. They came, waited and left because Shiva was oblivious of other people’s presence.
Seven people hung on. These seven people were insistent that they must learn from him. Shiva ignored them. They pleaded, “We want to know what you know.” Shiva dismissed them, “The way you are, you are not going to know, ever. You need to prepare. Tremendous amount of preparation is needed for this. This is not entertainment.”
So they started preparing -- for days, weeks, months and years… Shiva chose to ignore them. One full moon day, after 84 years of sadhana, when the sun was shifting from the northern to southern run – which in this tradition is known as Dakshinayana – Adiyogi looked at these seven people. They had become shining receptacles of knowing. They were absolutely ripe to receive.
Shiva could no longer ignore them. They grabbed his attention. He watched them closely for the next 28 days. When the next full moon arose, he decided to become a guru. Adiyogi transformed himself into Adi Guru. He turned south to shed his grace upon their race and the transmission of yogic science started. Because he turned south, when Shiva or the Adiyogi sits as a teacher, we call him Dakshinamurthy. The first guru was born on that day. That day is referred to as Guru Pournami.
Guru Pournami specifically is a day where there is a possibility to be receptive to the particular dimension which we refer to as the Guru -- not that it is not available on other days; the guru’s grace always is.
You don’t seek a guru first of all. You create a deep longing to know – a guru will happen to you. You don’t seek, going about choosing who is a better guru. You just create a deep longing. What you call as guru will happen to you because guru is not a person. A guru is a certain space, a certain energy. It can only happen to you. It is not somebody you meet. It is not somebody that you shake hands with. It is not somebody that you bow down to. It is not somebody to whom you go and beg for this or that. That space, that energy which you refer to as guru will happen to you. It will overwhelm you. It will destroy you the way you are so that you will become unbound – the way the Creator intended you to be.
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