The purpose of Guru Poornima is to celebrate our link and association with our guru and master. The specific reason to celebrate Guru Poornima is the connection with the guru element, guru tattwa. This guru element is power, it is not a person. Guru is power.

Sri Swamiji used to tell us many times that the electrical current flows in the wires and it illuminates the bulb. The capacity of the bulb decides how much light will be seen. In a zero watt bulb there will be minimum light, in a twenty watt bulb there will be more, in a forty watt, more, in a sixty watt, more, in a hundred watt bulb even more.

The current is important, because it is the duty of the current to light the bulb. The bulb will only light when a current flows through it.

In the same manner, each one of us is a light bulb but the current is not flowing in our connection. There is a lot of carbon accumulated in the wire, which is called impurity, and it has to be cleaned.

Once the impurity is cleaned, the current will flow into the bulb and the bulb will be illuminated. During Guru Poornima, we try to connect with the energy field of the guru, which is spiritual in nature.

The word guru does not mean teacher or propagator. The word guru means ‘by whose grace we are able to remove the darkness from our life’. By the grace of shakti we can remove the darkness from our life, and that shakti is the guru tattwa.

Guru is the realization of an inner state of purity, harmony and oneness with the inner spirit. The outer person is the catalyst and guide who tells us how to come into contact with that source of inspiration and strength.

That is how we have to understand the concept of guru. The energy of guru is eternal and permanent; it never dies, never decays and never changes.

Rikhiapeeth, Guru Poornima, 23 July 2010

From Yoga Magazine, Issue July 2011, “The Purpose of Guru Poornima”, Sw. Niranjanananda Saraswati