Guru Poornima is celebrated to pay our homage to the most sacred Guru Veda Vyasa. Guru Vyasa arranged the Vedas in their present order for the benefit of mankind. The Vedas are eternal truths, the creative forces of the cosmos with the will of God behind them. Those truths rightly form the basis of all knowledge and religion.

At the end of the Dwapara Age, these truths were fast disappearing and were being forgotten by man in general. There was no order, no system. It required a great mind which could classify them and make them useful to every genuine scholar or seeker of Truth & Dharma. It was Vyasa who classified the Vedas into Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. Because of this great work, he is called as Veda Vyasa. Vyasa means one who classifies. He is the son of Parasara and the great grandson of Vedic Rishi Vashista, who was a great devotee and a benefactor of mankind. He was also a great teacher. As Vyasa was of dark complexion, he is known as Krishna and because he was born on an island (Dweepa), he was called Dwaipayana.

There are four Vedas – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Saint Vyasa has written the Brahma Sutras, the Epic Mahabharata, Shrimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita. Guru Poornima is also called Vyasa Poornima, a holy day. It should be celebrated with prayer and contrition (repentance for wrongdoings), which alone can clean the heart and not feasting or fasting which only affect the body. It is a full moon day when the moon shines without any hindrance; it is bright, cool and full. The mind of man is compared to the moon for it is as wayward as the moon with its swing from brightness to darkness; on this day, the mind too has to be bright, effulgent and cool.

Vyasa composed the epic Mahabharata to remove the darkness of ignorance, the pettiness, the selfishness, the cowardice of separation from the hearts of men. So only he is called Loka Guru; he is divine effulgence. Vyasa has showed the path but we have to walk on it or traverse it. He has given us a mantra to purify our mind and heart but we have to put it into practice, in day to day living, acquire Shanti and Anugraha, the Grace of God.