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        Sankaram Sankaracharyam Kesavam Badarayanam;

        Sutra-Bhashya-Kritau Vande Bhagavantau Punah Punah

        I adore Lord Siva, Lord Vishnu, Bhagavan Vyasa and Sri Sankaracharya. I again and again prostrate to Sri Vyasa who wrote the Vedanta Sutras, and to Sri Sankaracharya who wrote the commentaries thereon (Guru Vandanam).

        India is going through an identity crisis. Thanks to the Islam-Embracing, Christianity-Coveting and Hindu-Hating Psuedo-Secular Anti-National policy of the Government of India, our nation today presents a general picture of cultural, ethical and spiritual malnutrition if not starvation. Vast sections of our population have lost all touch with the strengthening, invigorating and purifying traditions of our timeless culture rooted in SANATHANA DHARMA. This is sad enough. But what is worse and sadder still is that we have failed, mainly on account of deliberately designed Government policies, to get ourselves ethically and spiritually re-nourished and re-strengthened by our own consciously chosen socio-political actions, consequent upon the attainment of our Independence as a free nation during the last six decades. The current malady in our society, if allowed to grow unchecked and uncontrolled, will only lead this country to a deeper quagmire of irretrievable chaos, turmoil and confusion.

MAHARISHI VEDA VYASA

According to the Hindu calendar, 29 July, 2007 was the Guru Poornima Day. During the last one week thousands of Hindu institutions in the field of education, culture and religion in India and abroad have celebrated the Guru Poornima Day. What is the significance of Guru Poornima Day? The full-moon day in the month of ASHADA is the most auspicious and holy day of Guru-Poornima. On this Ashada Poornima Day, sacred to the memory of the great sage SRI VYASA BHAGAVAN or Sri Krishna Dvaipayana, Sannyasins(Saints, Sages and Rishis) settle at some place to study, to do Vedantic Vichara, and discourse on the thrice-blessed Brahma Sutras composed by Maharshi Vyasa. What is the greatness of Shri. Veda-Vyasa? Shri Veda-Vyasa has rendered everlasting service to all humanity by editing the four Vedas, writing the eighteen Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata. We can repay our deep debt of gratitude to him only by devoted and constant study of his works and practice of his teachings imparted for the regeneration of humanity in this Kali Yuga. In honour of this divine Maharishi, all Sadhakas and devotees perform VYASA PUJA on this Guru Poornima Day. On this sacred day, aspirants worship their Guru. On this holy day, Mahatmas and Sadhus are honoured and entertained, and acts of charity are undertaken by all Grihastas with deep faith, devotion and sincerity. Chaturmasa for Sannyasins begins from this Guru Poornima Day. Sannyasins stay in one place during this period (the rainy season) for four months, study the Brahma Sutras, and practice meditation. This tradition has been going on in India for countless centuries.

       The concept of the GURU – SISHYA PARAMPARA in Indian Culture has always been an important aspect of education or learning in India from times immemorial. In ancient India, when a child reached the seventh year, he was put under the tutelage of a suitable GURU. He moved into the GURU'S ashram or house and stayed with him for the next few years acquiring in-depth knowledge. In the Indian tradition, any disciple paying respect to his elders through Abhivandan introduced himself not as his father's son, but as belonging to so and so GURUKULA house or tradition.

        The Guru's duty was not only to teach the student a specific subject, but also to develop the overall personality of the student. The Guru tried to develop the student's character, versatility, confidence, strength and overall vision of life. The ideal Guru was supposed to be the best friend of the student. He was supposed to be a friend, philosopher and guide! Ideally in the Guru-Shishya parampara, the relationship was unconditional — nothing was asked for in return as a pre-condition other than the acceptance of the shishya as a student! Acquisition of knowledge was helped in a value-rich environment with focus on the development of the entire self.

The process of learning, as we understand from the Upanishads, was a journey in which the teacher took the disciple, from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from the known to the unknown and from the concrete to the abstract. The Guru made him struggle through a process of questioning and reasoning to arrive at theories that were validated, corroborated or rejected and then encouraged the disciple to search for answers by steering him in the right direction.         The Guru's mission appears to have been two-fold. The first and most important concern of the Guru was to awaken, elevate and transform the Sishya (seeker). The second and final purpose of the Guru was paradoxically to help the Sishya to transcend this state of complete dependence on the Guru, which dependence the Guru himself had taken such pains to foster. The final leap of realizing his true identity with God was exclusively the Sishya's job.         In this parampara, the learning process determined the Guru-Shishya relationship. Acquisition of knowledge in a value-rich environment was undertaken in a formal framework under the Gurukula system, where the Shishya surrendered himself to the Guru. All learners, irrespective of their background, were equal under the constant supervision and tutelage of the guru. Rabindranath Tagore attempted to emulate the Gurukula system in his experiment at SHANTINIKETAN.

Prof. Prema Pandurangan

       Thus our great SANATHANA DHARMA tradition has been enriched by the GURU-SISHYA relationship. Lord Rama's greatness lay in His relationship with His most loyal disciple HANUMAN who taught the essence of RAMANAMAMRITIM. Lord Krishna gave us the Bhagavad Gita, thanks to his devoted and most trusted disciple Arjuna. Saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gave to the world Swami Vivekananda who in turn gave to the world the Ramakrishna Mission, embodying the soul of India. Saint Thyagaraja, an avatar of Sage Valmiki, composed hundreds of soulful Krithis in praise of God. Two Krithis, in particular, refer to the GURU'S role in guiding the seeker on the right path. “Guru leka” in 'Gowrimanohari' raga is a Krithi in which the Saint of Thiruvaiyar sings how one who is trapped in the jungle of desire, can come out of it with help of the right GURU. Saint Thyagaraja says however learned and good a person might be, life would be meaningless without the guidance of a Satguru. In another Krithi, “Sri Naradamuni Gururaya ganti” in 'Bhairavi' raga, Thyagaraja explains how “Satguru Smaranam” helps one in getting rid of ignorance. The GURU is both light and fire. He shows the way out of darkness and is himself the fire that destroys ignorance and falsehood. GURU is God and God is GURU. They are one and the same person with this difference that GURU is pratyaksha God in flesh and blood and God is the product of self – realization to which a disciple attains by the help of the human GOD, namely GURU.

Master (Mathaji) Shi Kuany Seng with Smt Girija Seshadri

Let us draw our inspiration from the soaring words of Swamy Vivekananda who painted the relationship between the GURU and his SISHYA in words of transcendental beauty and wisdom: ''The GURU must be worshiped as GOD. He is God, nothing less than that. The GURU is the bright mask which God wears in order to come to us. As we look steadily on, gradually the mask falls off and God is revealed. He is the embodiment of the BLISS DIVINE, the personification of the highest knowledge and the giver of the greatest beatitude, who is pure, perfect, one without a second, eternal beyond pleasure and pain, beyond all thought and all qualifications, transcendental. Such is in reality the Guru. No wonder the disciple looks upon him as God himself and trusts him, reveres him, obeys him, follows him unquestioningly. This is the relation between the Guru and the disciple''.   An outstanding educational institution deriving its inspiration from Sanathan Dharma and Hindutuva is JAIGOPAL GARODIA HINDU VIDYALAYA MATRICULATION HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL in West Mambalam in Chennai. The Principal of this School is Smt.Girija Seshadri who is an outstanding leader who has built up and shaped this great institution for more than twenty - five years. This School is celeberating GURU POORNIMA DAY on Saturday, the 4th August 2007. Most Venerable Master (Mathaji) Shi Kuany Seng, The Abbot of Kuan-Im-Bodhi Sattva, Thailand and Prof. Prema Pandurangan, the Acharya of the Gokul Dham Mutt are going to adorn the GURUPEETAM and bless the teachers, students and public. Most Venerable Master Kuany Seng has recently has been declared as the greatest Mahayana Bhikkhuni of Thailand at the Outstanding Women in Buddhism Awards ceremony at the United Nations in March 2007.

        What is the historical significance of Guru-Sishya Parampara? The greatest Empires of India, which once were the greatest seats of power, wealth and culture in the world, were all founded on GURUKRIPA. It will not be too much to say that there could not have been a Mauryan Empire without Chanakya, a Maratha Empire without Samarth Ramadas, a Vijayanagar Empire without Vidyaranya, and a Tanjore Kingdom without Govinda Deekshathar. It is only due to our inert complacency towards Sanathana Dharma that they all got destroyed.

        No aspirant, seeker, or jignasi can gain his Atmasamrajya without the Guru's compassionate blessings. To conclude in the words of Adi Sankara.

        Trust yourself wholly to the lotus feet of the Guru,

        Freed from the shackles of samsara,

        With your senses and mind controlled in this manner,

        You will see God residing in your heart

        (Adisankaracharya-Bhajagovindam 31)