-from Amma’s Gurupurnima message
Guru Purnima is a reminder to find our purnatvam—our fullness—within. Looking through the small windows of our mind, we come to wrong conclusions about ourselves and the world. The guru is the most noble and trusted friend who awakens us to the reality that, “I am not this small entity (body, mind and the intellect); I am the infinite, as pervasive as the sky. I am fullness itself.”
No one knows how much time we have remaining in this human birth. Death is just a step behind each one of us. This precious birth should not be squandered away in short-lived pleasures. Before us is a golden opportunity to achieve the true goal of human birth. We should make proper use of this birth to deeply inquire into our true essence and understand the real source of peace and happiness.
God is like infinite sunlight. However, we will not be able to kindle our kitchen fire with this. The guru’s companionship is the matchstick needed to kindle this fire in the disciple. The guru’s presence will enable us to grow in a practical way.
Currently, we are bound in chains by our likes and dislikes. It will not do if we say we will try to overcome them later. Even if we try to loosen our grip on our suitcase to save ourselves from drowning, we will not be able to loosen our grip if our fingers are frozen. It is the same with our likes and dislikes. We all have godliness within. It is only the unwanted aspects of ourselves that the guru is taking away. But it is these very unwanted aspects that we are hugging onto so tightly. Thus, it becomes difficult to bring out the beautiful sculpture that is hidden within us.
The word for “disciple” in Sanskrit is sishya. The meaning of the term sishya is “He who is fit to be taught, who is fit to be disciplined.” A sishya is he who becomes the offering himself. The disciple should have the complete awareness that whatever the guru does is for his upliftment and good. Some may wonder whether such blind obedience to the guru is a kind of slavery. The truth is that the disciple is already enslaved to his own latent tendencies and ego. What the guru does is to rescue him from the bondage of that slavery.
The guru is like a booster rocket. Caught in many attachments, we are like satellites constantly circling around, caught in the gravitational field of the earth. The booster rocket that is the guru frees us from these bonds.
– — Excerpts from Amma’s Gurupurnima message -27 Jul 2018, Amritapuri
Earlier in the morning when Amma came to the stage, Ashram dog Bhakti was already waiting there. Seeing Amma she started hauling waving her tail. Amma’s padapuja was performed and she gave her message on Gurupurnima. She also led all singing a bhajan ‘bhajo re bhajo’ and asking everyone to dance to the tune. Afterwards, Amma started giving darshan to the devotees. Many got mantras from Amma on this day. Darshan went on till 5 pm.