6 July 2024 – Gurupurnima is the festival of spirituality, a celebration of guru tattva. Gurupurnima is also a remembrance of the day when the sun's rays touched the Earth for the very first time. As in every year, Vishwaguru Paramhans Sri Swami Maheshwaranadaji will celebrate Gurupurnima day in India, but devotees from Europe always get a special grace from him for that occasion, with a Gurupurnima celebration in Europe. This time it was at Mahaprabhudip Ashram in Strilky where a three-week seminar is currently going on. 

Gurudev makes Gurupurnima possible in Europe with his love for his disciples, he gave the precious opportunity to all to have guru darshan and also the traditional puja that sannyasins and disciples perform on that day to their teachers. Gurupurnima is a new beginning, a day when each disciple hands over the fruits of their sadhana to the guru and prays for blessings for the next spiritual year.

After guru puja, performed by Mahamandaleshwar Swami Vivekpuri, Swami Avatar Puri and all present sannyasins, Vishwaguruji was greeted by a large number of his disciples, waiting in a long line in the sun with great excitement and love for darshan and blessing. It was a special day filled with grace and the special relationship and love between Gurudev and his students.

“The guru principle is the eternally valid principle for the development of consciousness that leads creation from unreality to reality, from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. In its purest form, this cosmic principle manifests and reveals itself on Earth as a divine incarnation or a spiritual Master. The only one worthy of our complete trust is the BRAHMANISHTHA SHROTRIYA SATGURU who has already trodden the path and reached the goal. Only the Sataguru knows the direction and how he is able to help us in every situation. God is everywhere; nevertheless, we must seek our path to God in our consciousness, whilst simultaneously holding tightly onto a piece of string that is guiding us. In Sanskrit this “guiding string” is called Guru.”

Extract from the book 'The Hidden Power in Humans – Chakras and Kundalini' by Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda