07-01-2004, 10:20 PM
Came via email:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On Friday July 02, 04' is the full-moon night in the
month of Ashadh in the Hindu calendar, when we will
celebrate the birthday of Sage Veda Vyasa.
-------------------------------------
<b>Significance of Guru Purnima</b>
OM! Salutations to Veda Vyasa,
the descendent of Vasistha Muni
and the sinless grandson of Shakti.
Salutations to the son of Parashar,
To the father of Sukadeva,
To him who is an repository of spiritual austerities
||
Salutations to Vyasa, an incarnation of Vishnu.
Salutations to Vishnu in the form of Vyasa!
Salutations to him who is a repository of Brahman and
the Vedic lore
Repeated prostrations to the descendant of Sage
Vasistha ||
Salutations to Vyasa, who is Brahma with one head
Who is Vishnu with two arms
Who is Shiva without the third eye.
Prostrations to Bhagavan Badarayana, the teacher of
Vedanta ||
[Traditional verses in praise of Veda Vyasa, loosely
translated]
On Friday July 02, 04' is the full-moon night in the
month of Ashadh in the Hindu calendar, when we will
celebrate the birthday of Sage Veda Vyasa. Therefore,
this day is called Vyasa Purnima, where the word
Purnima means `full-moon night'. Since Veda Vyasa was
an exemplary teacher (=Guru), his birthday is also
celebrated as `Guru Purnima' or the Teacher's night,
and traditional Hindus honor their teachers this day
every year.
Sage Veda Vyasa was born several thousand years ago,
to an illustrious Sage named Parashar and a humble,
tribal fisherwoman named Satyavati. His mixed
parentage is reflected clearly in his life, which he
devoted to assimilate the settled, so-called civilized
populations with the tribal and marginalized groups of
the Indian society.
Worried that mankind was forgetting the message of
God, he labored to collect, compile and arrange the
Revelation into four texts named the Vedas and taught
them to his four students. Even to this day, the major
texts of Vedic literature are being transmitted orally
without much alteration by devoted scholars in India,
though the tradition today is in great danger of
extinction. The magnitude of this task may be judged
from the fact that even the surviving Vedic literature
is about 8 times the length of the Bible.
However, as a Sanskrit proverb goes, `The Veda Speaks
Like a King', because the Vedas are very difficult to
understand. Sage Veda Vyasa was concerned that the
ordinary people might be left out if this propagation
of the divine teachings occurred only through the
Vedas. Therefore, out of compassion, he retold the
teachings of the Vedas through a massive poem called
the Mahabharata, which today has almost 100,000 verses
and is one of the longest poems in the world being
eight times in length to Illiad and Odyssey combined.
This poem is called the fifth Veda in the Hindu
tradition. Within the Mahabharata is embedded the
Bhagavad Gita, a short text of 700 verses which forms
the bedrock of modern Hinduism.
Further, he collected ancient history of India,
parables, passages on morality and instructions on
piety in very readable and accessible texts called the
Puranas. While the Veda `speaks like a King', the
proverb goes that `the Purana speaks like a friend'.
He taught the Purana to his own son, Shukadeva. In the
course of time, this literature proliferated and today
the 18 major Puranas alone have approximately 4
million verses. So vast is the magnitude of Hindu
literature that can be traced to the spiritual lineage
of Sage Vyasa that he is remembered in the Hindu
tradition as `vishaalabuddhi' or one of great
intelligence, one who lit the lamp of wisdom with the
oil of Mahabharata. Hindu texts further declare that
even the mere remants of Vyasa's wisdom are
sufficient to encompass the entire Universe.
Significantly, one of his most influential texts on
Hindu theology and philosophy is a very short work
containing just about 550 short sentences. This text
is called Brahmasutra and it is so profound that it
has invited dozens of commentaries and explanations.
For the last over 1000 years, few Hindu thinkers have
started their own school of philosophy without first
writing a commentary on the Brahmasutra. And today,
most surviving Hindu spiritual traditions trace their
origin to Sage Veda Vyasa, who is uniformly considered
the founding Guru of their respective spiritual
lineages via different lines of succession.
Despite all his wisdom, Sage Vyasa never lost sight of
the over-arching importance of ethics and morality in
our lives. This fact is recognized in the Hindu
tradition through a Sanskrit verse which reads `In the
18 Puranas, Vyasa has said two things. The first is
that virtue and piety means doing good to others. The
second is that sin is to hurt others'. Towards the
end of the Mahabharata, he exclaims that if human
beings tread the path of Dharma, pursue desires and
wealth in a legitimate manner, salvation would result
automatically. The primacy that he gives to Dharma, or
the Hindu notion of piety, duty and virtue is
exemplified in another story that occurs in the Vishnu
Purana. It is said that once Veda Vyasa went into
meditation in the middle of a shallow stream to see
mankind's future, while numerous wise men and
disciples waited at the banks for him to come out of
his spiritual state. When Sage Vyasa merged from his
meditative state, he uttered two sentences â `Women
will be superior to men, and Shudras (i.e., artisans
and laborers) will be superior to the priests'. The
assembled crowd was perplexed and he explained â
"Because of their conceit and arrogance, men in
general will abandon the path of Dharma while women
will not do so in their humility and dedication.
Similarly, amongst men, priests will become arrogant,
while the humble laborer will continue to practice
virtue and piety as a result of which he will become
more exalted in the eyes of God."
It is believed that Sage Vyasa is immortal and he
never died. Witnessing the destruction and violence in
the society of his times, he retreated to a place
named Vyasasthali in the Indian state of Haryana,
where he is still said to exist. Even today, Hindu
monks and laypersons undertake a pilgrimage to this
site to offer him respects and benefit from his
spiritual presence.
The word `Guru' itself means `remover of darkness and
ignorance'. The Hindu tradition gives much more
importance to personal instruction than to books. The
Hindu revelation, the Vedas, itself is called `Shruti'
or that which is heard (from God and from teacher). We
Hindus do not believe that God inscribed his
commandments in writing for us and handed them over to
us. Rather, inspired Sages and Saints heard His Voice
within their hearts, and then narrated it to others.
And the recitation of Vedas continues to this day,
through an unbroken chain of teachers and students.
Hindus believe that through his example, personal
insight, original thinking and experience, the Guru
infuses the teaching or instruction with a life. The
teaching or knowledge becomes alive only through the
Guru, and mere bookish knowledge is not as useful as a
teacher's instruction. In particular, in all schools
of Hindu spirituality, the role of one's Guru is
considered indispensable to achieving the final goal.
He is a role model for his students, the very
embodiment of wisdom and knowledge. Hindu scriptures
therefore emphasize that we should approach a teacher
for acquiring knowledge instead of just picking up a
book.
Hindus show their reverence for their Teachers in many
ways â one is by celebrating the Vyasa Purnima.
Students typically are expected to walk behind their
teachers, sit behind them in the audience, speak in a
voice softer than their teacher. While walking behind
the Guru, if he sees a door ahead, the student is
expected to run to his teacher's front and open the
door for him. He must not eat in the presence of his
teacher, smoking and drinking alcohol is therefore out
of question. The student does not sit while his
teacher stands. If only one seat is available, the
student offers it to his teacher. If the teacher
enters the student's room, the latter must rise to
greet him. A picture of a lifelong teacher must be
placed along with icons of gods in the student's
personal shrine in his home.
This does not mean that the Hindu tradition encourages
an uncritical and unquestioning reliance on one's
teacher. Rather, as a verse in the Mahabharata says â
"A student completes ¼ of his learning when he hears
his teacher, ½ of his learning when he questions his
teacher to clear his doubts, ¾ of the learning when he
reflects himself on the knowledge he has gained. And
finally, his learning is complete when he teaches what
he has learned himself, to others"
Hindu tradition is replete with touching narratives
of the respectful and affectionate relationship
between teachers and their disciples. Numerous hymns
written by grateful students praise the role of their
Guru in opening their eyes to truth, and in preventing
them from drowning in the quicksand of ignorance and
delusion.
A description of the Guru-disciple relationship in the
Hindu tradition cannot be complete without giving a
summary of the teacher's parting message to his
students, taken from the Hindu text Taittiriya
Upanishad â
"Dear Students,
"Speak the truth, and tread the path of righteousness.
Never neglect study in your life.
Give gifts to your teachers (so that he who taught you
may never live in want).
Do not sever the thread of procreation.
Never become negligent in the pursuit of truth.
Never become negligent in the practice of Dharma.
Never become negligent towards your own welfare.
Never become negligent towards the welfare of others.
Never become negligent towards self-study, and
teaching what you have learnt to others.
Never neglect your duties towards gods and towards
your elders.
Worship your mother as God. Worship your father as
God. Worship your Teacher as God. Worship any worthy
and needy person who arrives unexpectedly at your
doorstep as God.
You should adopt only good habits from me. Do not
follow me when I have been wrong. And whenever you
come across another teacher who is worthy of request,
offer a seat to him with reverence.
Practice charity with faith, not without faith. Give
with humility, dignity, trepidation and
understanding...
This is indeed the dictate of Dharma. This is indeed
the hidden teaching of the Vedasâ¦"
Worthy students must never forget this instruction.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On Friday July 02, 04' is the full-moon night in the
month of Ashadh in the Hindu calendar, when we will
celebrate the birthday of Sage Veda Vyasa.
-------------------------------------
<b>Significance of Guru Purnima</b>
OM! Salutations to Veda Vyasa,
the descendent of Vasistha Muni
and the sinless grandson of Shakti.
Salutations to the son of Parashar,
To the father of Sukadeva,
To him who is an repository of spiritual austerities
||
Salutations to Vyasa, an incarnation of Vishnu.
Salutations to Vishnu in the form of Vyasa!
Salutations to him who is a repository of Brahman and
the Vedic lore
Repeated prostrations to the descendant of Sage
Vasistha ||
Salutations to Vyasa, who is Brahma with one head
Who is Vishnu with two arms
Who is Shiva without the third eye.
Prostrations to Bhagavan Badarayana, the teacher of
Vedanta ||
[Traditional verses in praise of Veda Vyasa, loosely
translated]
On Friday July 02, 04' is the full-moon night in the
month of Ashadh in the Hindu calendar, when we will
celebrate the birthday of Sage Veda Vyasa. Therefore,
this day is called Vyasa Purnima, where the word
Purnima means `full-moon night'. Since Veda Vyasa was
an exemplary teacher (=Guru), his birthday is also
celebrated as `Guru Purnima' or the Teacher's night,
and traditional Hindus honor their teachers this day
every year.
Sage Veda Vyasa was born several thousand years ago,
to an illustrious Sage named Parashar and a humble,
tribal fisherwoman named Satyavati. His mixed
parentage is reflected clearly in his life, which he
devoted to assimilate the settled, so-called civilized
populations with the tribal and marginalized groups of
the Indian society.
Worried that mankind was forgetting the message of
God, he labored to collect, compile and arrange the
Revelation into four texts named the Vedas and taught
them to his four students. Even to this day, the major
texts of Vedic literature are being transmitted orally
without much alteration by devoted scholars in India,
though the tradition today is in great danger of
extinction. The magnitude of this task may be judged
from the fact that even the surviving Vedic literature
is about 8 times the length of the Bible.
However, as a Sanskrit proverb goes, `The Veda Speaks
Like a King', because the Vedas are very difficult to
understand. Sage Veda Vyasa was concerned that the
ordinary people might be left out if this propagation
of the divine teachings occurred only through the
Vedas. Therefore, out of compassion, he retold the
teachings of the Vedas through a massive poem called
the Mahabharata, which today has almost 100,000 verses
and is one of the longest poems in the world being
eight times in length to Illiad and Odyssey combined.
This poem is called the fifth Veda in the Hindu
tradition. Within the Mahabharata is embedded the
Bhagavad Gita, a short text of 700 verses which forms
the bedrock of modern Hinduism.
Further, he collected ancient history of India,
parables, passages on morality and instructions on
piety in very readable and accessible texts called the
Puranas. While the Veda `speaks like a King', the
proverb goes that `the Purana speaks like a friend'.
He taught the Purana to his own son, Shukadeva. In the
course of time, this literature proliferated and today
the 18 major Puranas alone have approximately 4
million verses. So vast is the magnitude of Hindu
literature that can be traced to the spiritual lineage
of Sage Vyasa that he is remembered in the Hindu
tradition as `vishaalabuddhi' or one of great
intelligence, one who lit the lamp of wisdom with the
oil of Mahabharata. Hindu texts further declare that
even the mere remants of Vyasa's wisdom are
sufficient to encompass the entire Universe.
Significantly, one of his most influential texts on
Hindu theology and philosophy is a very short work
containing just about 550 short sentences. This text
is called Brahmasutra and it is so profound that it
has invited dozens of commentaries and explanations.
For the last over 1000 years, few Hindu thinkers have
started their own school of philosophy without first
writing a commentary on the Brahmasutra. And today,
most surviving Hindu spiritual traditions trace their
origin to Sage Veda Vyasa, who is uniformly considered
the founding Guru of their respective spiritual
lineages via different lines of succession.
Despite all his wisdom, Sage Vyasa never lost sight of
the over-arching importance of ethics and morality in
our lives. This fact is recognized in the Hindu
tradition through a Sanskrit verse which reads `In the
18 Puranas, Vyasa has said two things. The first is
that virtue and piety means doing good to others. The
second is that sin is to hurt others'. Towards the
end of the Mahabharata, he exclaims that if human
beings tread the path of Dharma, pursue desires and
wealth in a legitimate manner, salvation would result
automatically. The primacy that he gives to Dharma, or
the Hindu notion of piety, duty and virtue is
exemplified in another story that occurs in the Vishnu
Purana. It is said that once Veda Vyasa went into
meditation in the middle of a shallow stream to see
mankind's future, while numerous wise men and
disciples waited at the banks for him to come out of
his spiritual state. When Sage Vyasa merged from his
meditative state, he uttered two sentences â `Women
will be superior to men, and Shudras (i.e., artisans
and laborers) will be superior to the priests'. The
assembled crowd was perplexed and he explained â
"Because of their conceit and arrogance, men in
general will abandon the path of Dharma while women
will not do so in their humility and dedication.
Similarly, amongst men, priests will become arrogant,
while the humble laborer will continue to practice
virtue and piety as a result of which he will become
more exalted in the eyes of God."
It is believed that Sage Vyasa is immortal and he
never died. Witnessing the destruction and violence in
the society of his times, he retreated to a place
named Vyasasthali in the Indian state of Haryana,
where he is still said to exist. Even today, Hindu
monks and laypersons undertake a pilgrimage to this
site to offer him respects and benefit from his
spiritual presence.
The word `Guru' itself means `remover of darkness and
ignorance'. The Hindu tradition gives much more
importance to personal instruction than to books. The
Hindu revelation, the Vedas, itself is called `Shruti'
or that which is heard (from God and from teacher). We
Hindus do not believe that God inscribed his
commandments in writing for us and handed them over to
us. Rather, inspired Sages and Saints heard His Voice
within their hearts, and then narrated it to others.
And the recitation of Vedas continues to this day,
through an unbroken chain of teachers and students.
Hindus believe that through his example, personal
insight, original thinking and experience, the Guru
infuses the teaching or instruction with a life. The
teaching or knowledge becomes alive only through the
Guru, and mere bookish knowledge is not as useful as a
teacher's instruction. In particular, in all schools
of Hindu spirituality, the role of one's Guru is
considered indispensable to achieving the final goal.
He is a role model for his students, the very
embodiment of wisdom and knowledge. Hindu scriptures
therefore emphasize that we should approach a teacher
for acquiring knowledge instead of just picking up a
book.
Hindus show their reverence for their Teachers in many
ways â one is by celebrating the Vyasa Purnima.
Students typically are expected to walk behind their
teachers, sit behind them in the audience, speak in a
voice softer than their teacher. While walking behind
the Guru, if he sees a door ahead, the student is
expected to run to his teacher's front and open the
door for him. He must not eat in the presence of his
teacher, smoking and drinking alcohol is therefore out
of question. The student does not sit while his
teacher stands. If only one seat is available, the
student offers it to his teacher. If the teacher
enters the student's room, the latter must rise to
greet him. A picture of a lifelong teacher must be
placed along with icons of gods in the student's
personal shrine in his home.
This does not mean that the Hindu tradition encourages
an uncritical and unquestioning reliance on one's
teacher. Rather, as a verse in the Mahabharata says â
"A student completes ¼ of his learning when he hears
his teacher, ½ of his learning when he questions his
teacher to clear his doubts, ¾ of the learning when he
reflects himself on the knowledge he has gained. And
finally, his learning is complete when he teaches what
he has learned himself, to others"
Hindu tradition is replete with touching narratives
of the respectful and affectionate relationship
between teachers and their disciples. Numerous hymns
written by grateful students praise the role of their
Guru in opening their eyes to truth, and in preventing
them from drowning in the quicksand of ignorance and
delusion.
A description of the Guru-disciple relationship in the
Hindu tradition cannot be complete without giving a
summary of the teacher's parting message to his
students, taken from the Hindu text Taittiriya
Upanishad â
"Dear Students,
"Speak the truth, and tread the path of righteousness.
Never neglect study in your life.
Give gifts to your teachers (so that he who taught you
may never live in want).
Do not sever the thread of procreation.
Never become negligent in the pursuit of truth.
Never become negligent in the practice of Dharma.
Never become negligent towards your own welfare.
Never become negligent towards the welfare of others.
Never become negligent towards self-study, and
teaching what you have learnt to others.
Never neglect your duties towards gods and towards
your elders.
Worship your mother as God. Worship your father as
God. Worship your Teacher as God. Worship any worthy
and needy person who arrives unexpectedly at your
doorstep as God.
You should adopt only good habits from me. Do not
follow me when I have been wrong. And whenever you
come across another teacher who is worthy of request,
offer a seat to him with reverence.
Practice charity with faith, not without faith. Give
with humility, dignity, trepidation and
understanding...
This is indeed the dictate of Dharma. This is indeed
the hidden teaching of the Vedasâ¦"
Worthy students must never forget this instruction.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->