Guru Purnima

Guru Purnima is the day when one expresses his gratitude to his Guru.

Osho says that a guru is the one who liberates us and with whom we are in deep love, faith and reverence. A guru is a presence. Through him one gets the first glimpse of divinity. A guru creates, transforms and gives a new birth to a seeker so that with complete trust one can follow his guru while traveling through many unknown paths and doors and opening many unknown locks. Speaking on the significance of a guru, Osho says that a guru’s blessing is a vital phenomenon. Through a guru one can look into his own future and can be aware of his own destiny. Through him one starts coming up like a seed trying to sprout towards the sky.

In Osho’s own words:

“Guru means one who has gravitation, around whom you suddenly feel as if you are being pulled. The guru is a tremendous magnet, with only one' difference. There is a man who has charisma -- you are pulled, but you are pulled towards him. That is the man of charisma. He may become a great leader, a great politician. Adolf Hitler has that charisma; millions of people are pulled towards him. Then what is the difference between a charismatic leader and a guru? The difference is tremendous. The difference is: when you are pulled towards a guru you suddenly feel that you are being pulled inwards, not outwards.

When you are pulled towards Kabir, Nanak, Buddha, you have a strange feeling. The feeling is that you are being pulled towards them and at the same time you are being pulled inwards -- a very strange paradoxical phenomenon

at the closer you come to your guru, the closer you come yourself. The more you become attracted towards the guru, the more you become independent. The more you become surrendered to the guru, the more you feel that you have freedom you never had before.

So it is a very subtle difference. Remember it. If you are Pulled towards a man and that pull creates a slavery, that an is not the guru. That man may have charisma, may have magnetic power -- maybe his great intelligence, his physical beauty, or his sheer vitality pulls you -- but you will be going away from yourself. It will be an infatuation. You will be obsessed with this man, and you will be off your center.”