·
the Spiritual Guru,
the author and the compiler of the great Hindu religious texts – the ‘Puranas’.
·
the ancient Indian Sanskrit
epic – the ‘Mahabharata’.
·
the 700-verse Hindu
scripture – the ‘Bhagavad Gita.
Ved
Vyas is central to Hindu religion and traditions because of his literary contribution
to Hinduism which laid the foundation and defined the Hindu religion. Guru
Purnima is dedicated to Ved Vyas as it celebrates his birthday.
Guru
Purnima is celebrated on the ‘Purnima’ the full-moon day of the ‘Ashadh’ month
of the Hindu Calendar’, which falls in the month of July.
Guru
Purnima is celebrated by spiritual organizations all over India. The
organization’s spiritual head’s teachings are preached and cultural programs
are held along with ‘bhajan samarohs’ in the respective organizations.
Disciples offer flowers and sweets to their ‘Gurus’ on this day in a ceremonious
manner which in itself is an interesting event. The spiritually-inclined also begin
their spiritual-lessons and ‘sadhana’ rather rigorously on this day.
The
ideal places to visit on Guru Purnima which give you insights into this ancient
tradition are:
·
The Ashrams of
Rishikesh
·
The Ashrams of
Haridwar
·
The Ashrams of Mathura
These
three being the main places where Guru Purnima is celebrated elaborately and on
a grand scale, other places to visit are:
- Belur Math - the worldwide headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission near Kolkata – capital of West Bengal State in India.
Pix courtesy: wikipedia; antaryamin.wordpress.
