By Gwen Burdick<\/h5>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/guru-purnima-2-300x300.jpg\")
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<\/h5>\n<\/h5>\n“Everything in the world has come out of one Divine Being, the sacred fire.\u00a0 The sages are the direct manifestation of that fire.\u00a0 No one understands them.\u00a0 No one talks to them.\u00a0 No one walks with them.\u00a0 They live in their own world and yet, driven by intense compassion, they descend and walk among human beings.\u00a0 They are kind and ever-engaged in guiding those who are in search of the Divine Experience.\u00a0 When you have a real desire to see them, they come to you in the flesh.\u00a0 Don’t waste your time running here and there: they are always with you; they are your real companions.” – Swami Rama as quoted by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait in At the Eleventh Hour <\/u><\/p>\n
Guru Purnima<\/em>, the highest holiday in the Vedic tradition, is celebrated yearly on the first full moon after the summer solstice in the month of Ashad<\/em>, usually our July, and corresponds to the beginning of the rainy season.\u00a0 The Sanskrit word Guru<\/em> means remover of darkness and Purnima<\/em> is the full moon day of the lunation cycle.\u00a0 On this day scholars, academics and students\u00a0from a variety of\u00a0spiritual lineages gather in fellowship, known as satsang<\/em>, to honor and express gratitude for the wisdom\u00a0teachings and past and present\u00a0teachers that have inspired, guided, and protected everyone.\u00a0 All forms of worship are said to be a thousand times more powerful on Guru Purnima.<\/p>\n Yoga and its sister Vedic sciences have been taught to sincere seekers by authentic teachers for thousands of years, one-on-one, in an unbroken fashion as an oral tradition.\u00a0Saints and sages have lived throughout history, coming to teach the same message to diverse people,\u00a0speaking diverse languages,\u00a0and teaching in diverse ways.\u00a0Considered by many to be the most necessary part of life and the greatest gift,\u00a0the Sat Guru,<\/em> or Enlightened Master,\u00a0is the embodiment of the three Gods of the Universe:\u00a0 Lord Brahma the Creator, Lord Vishnu the Sustainer and Lord Shiva the Destroyer.\u00a0\u00a0Further, the Guru principle\u00a0is available to us\u00a0through the\u00a0written word of the sacred texts, as\u00a0the ancient seers stored this wisdom in the language of various scriptures.\u00a0 It is the hope that, through God’s grace,\u00a0the lamp of knowledge is lit within each of us, the darkness of ignorance\u00a0is removed, and that\u00a0we may have a direct personal experience of our own Divinity.<\/p>\n Traditional ceremonies and festivities\u00a0on\u00a0Guru Purnima\u00a0normally include kirtan<\/em>\u00a0(chanting), havan<\/em> (a fire ceremony where prayers are offered) and prasad<\/em> (a food offering, usually kheer,\u00a0a sweet rice pudding).\u00a0 On this important\u00a0day, disciples not only recommit to their own spiritual path, but brother and sister-disciples recommit to each other as well\u00a0in solidarity on their spiritual journeys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Teacher Appreciation Day By Gwen Burdick “Everything in the world has come out of one Divine Being, the sacred fire.\u00a0 The sages are the direct manifestation of that fire.\u00a0 No one understands them.\u00a0 No one talks to them.\u00a0 No one walks with them.\u00a0 They live in their own world and yet, driven by intense compassion, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,107],"tags":[33,123],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3625"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5963,"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625\/revisions\/5963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theyogasanctuary.biz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}