Guru Purnima 2004

additional letter and passage from Guru Granth Sahib

Swami Veda Bharati

Minneapolis, Minnesota

On certain sacred days a divine wave, one of innumerable ones, passes through the mind of humanity.  “Those who have ear they hear.”  One endowed with eyes sees, the blind one remains unaware (Rg-Veda).

May you hear, may you see the Guru Wave, as it passes through your very soul, like an ocean wave washing over a mind-sea rock, following its own rhythm and melody.

The full moon of the Guru Day rises not in the external sky.  It is the fullness of tranquillity and wisdom that the mind-the moon within-attains.  When ‘I’ is forgotten the fullness becomes manifest.

Here I present to you a page from the Guru Granth Sabhib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs (which literally means ‘disciples’).  The Venerable Book of the Gurus.  The Venerable book that is the Guru.  2004 is the celebration of the 40^th anniversary of its compilation.  (Do read reverently H. H. Swami Rama’s rendering of this work).  It extols the Guru, through its 6000 psalms, as no other work does.

Those who wish to understand the mystery that is the Guru should read (1) Guru-Gita, (2) Guru Granth Sahib, (3) Child-saint Jnaneshwara’s Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, and (4) St. Paul’s Epistles about his Guru the Christ. Then recall fondly and serenely what we saw and heard of our own Gurudeva.  It is n those moments of lovingness will the glorious wave of the Guru force lift you to the realm of calm meditation where the interior full moon is ascendant.

May an understanding of the mystery of the Guru dawn on your consciousness in the coming year.  Surrender the ‘I’ and ‘He” will become ‘you’.

Blessings in Service of Gurudeva

Swami Veda Bharati

Guru is all-capable, shoreless is Guru

Fortunate is s/he who sees visage of the Guru.

Guru is the doer, Guru the cause of all that is done

Guru’s initiation alone is the all true one.

Outside of Guru there is naught,

one adopted by the Guru, whatever he seeks he finds.

Guru is the sacred place for pilgrimage

Guru the wish-fulfilling sheltering heavenly tree

Guru is the fulfiller of all one’s mind’s desire.

Guru the giver, he grants initiation into God’s Name

and the whole world is liberated, readeemed;

one is redeemed from all of worldly cycles.

Guru is all-powerful, Guru is formless,

Guru is high, unreachable, transcending shores.

Guru’s glory is fathomless –

what can a narrator narrate?

Not in a single breath, nor in the swallow of a mouthful

is the Guru forgotten, for,

Guru himself is the fruitful force, fruit-bearing form.

The like of the Guru none other is seen;

in all eight watches of day and night

does (the disciple) remain engaged in japa.

Only at His glance of Grace does one find

the True Name, the Treasure of goodness.

Guru and Supreme Lord is one and the same,

He dwells pervading within all.

Those who have earned fortune from before

they alone (receive opportunity to) meditate

on the Name.

Says Nanak: one who has surrendered,

taken refuge in the Guru

neither dies, nor comes, nor goes.

— Guru Granth Sahib

You may also wish to read the transcript from the 2004 Guru Purnima celebration.