When is Guru Purnima?
The answer
Sunday, 18 July 2027
The full moon kept for one's teacher.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Ashadha Shukla Purnima
Read the ordinary way: the day whose SUNRISE this tithi is running at.
And after that
Thursday, 6 July 2028
Ashadha Shukla Purnima
Wednesday, 25 July 2029
Ashadha Shukla Purnima
How this date is worked out
A festival is a position, not a date. The lunar month is named by the sidereal sign the Sun stands in at the new moon that opens it, and the tithi is the Moon's distance from the Sun in twelve-degree steps. Both come from the same ephemeris this site casts birth charts with.
North India reckons a month from full moon to full moon, so the dark fortnight carries the next month's name — the same day is Shravana Krishna Tritiya in Pune and Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in Delhi. These dates use the northern reckoning, and the tithi is printed above so there is nothing to take on trust.
Why it is kept
The full moon of Ashadha — Vedavyasa's birthday, which is why its real name is Vyasa Purnima. Vyasa divided one Veda into four, wrote the Mahabharata and composed the eighteen Puranas; the tradition calls him the first guru, the first to arrange knowledge and hand it on. In the Buddhist tradition it is the day the Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath. It is also the second day of the Chaturmas, where the sannyasis' four months in one place begin.
The story behind it
Vyasa's birth
Krishna Dvaipayana, son of Parashara and Satyavati — dark, and born on an island, hence the name. He left for austerity as soon as he was born.
Dividing the Veda
Seeing the Kali Yuga coming, he split one vast Veda into four — Rig, Yajur, Sama, Atharva — so that ordinary memory could hold it. That is where Vedavyasa comes from.
The Mahabharata
He composed the Mahabharata and Ganesha wrote it down, on condition that the pen would not stop — to which Vyasa added that Ganesha would not write a line he had not understood.
The first sermon
In the other tradition this is the day the Buddha gave his first teaching at Sarnath to five disciples — the turning of the wheel.
What guru means
Gu is darkness, ru is the one who removes it. The day is about that act, not about a person.
What to keep ready
- A picture of the guru, or the paduka
- Yellow flowers, yellow cloth, a yellow sweet
- A coconut, fruit and dakshina
- A picture of Vyasa, for the Vyasa puja
- Sandal, akshat, roli, kalava
- A ghee lamp and incense
- Your own book, or whatever stands for what you are learning
- The Guru Gita or the Guru Stotra
How the puja is done
1
Bathe and resolve
Bathe and wear clean clothes. Vyasa is worshipped first and your own guru after — which is why it is called Vyasa puja.
2
Vyasa puja
White cloth on a chowki, Vyasa's picture on it. Sandal, akshat, yellow flowers, incense and lamp.
3
Guru puja
If the guru is present, wash the feet, put the tilak, garland them and give dakshina. If not, do the same before the picture or the paduka.
4
The mantra
Gurur Brahma gurur Vishnu gurur devo Maheshwarah, then the Guru Gita or the Guru Stotra.
5
Giving and serving
Grain, cloth or a book. Teaching a student and serving a teacher both count today.
6
The resolve
A resolve to learn one thing is taken today — the tradition treats that as the real dakshina.
What to do
- Worship Vyasa first and your own guru after — the day is named Vyasa Purnima.
- A guru is not only one who gave initiation; anyone who taught you — a teacher, a parent — belongs in today's remembering.
- Give dakshina as you can, but do not arrive empty-handed; one does not stand before a guru with nothing.
- Take a resolve to learn or read one thing — the tradition calls that the real dakshina.
- The Chaturmas has begun; taking a four-month rule today belongs to this date.
What not to do
- No sharp or comparing words about a guru today.
- No meat, no drink, no tamasik food.
- No foot touches the guru's picture or paduka — nor a book.
- No cutting of hair or nails on the purnima.
- Do not turn dakshina into a bargain or a display; the tradition counts that as a fault.
The aarti
Guru Vandana
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः।
गुरुः साक्षात् परब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥
अखण्डमण्डलाकारं व्याप्तं येन चराचरम्।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥
अज्ञान तिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जन शलाकया।
चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥
स्थावरं जंगमं व्याप्तं यत्किंचित्सचराचरम्।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥
जय गुरुदेव हरे, स्वामी जय गुरुदेव हरे।
अज्ञान अंधकार को, तुम ही दूर करे॥
व्यास रूप में आए, वेद चार किए।
ज्ञान की धारा बाँटी, जग उपकार किए॥
गुरु की आरती जो नर गावे, ज्ञान का दीप जलावे।
मन का तम मिट जावे, सद्गति को पावे॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.