Guru Purnima is a day when mankind pays homage to the greatest of spiritual doctors, Sage Vyasa. Vyasa is the greatest of such doctor; for he put together the Vedas and composed the Puranas and the Mahabharata and gave humanity the Bhagavatam. He is the primal Guru for all who walk in the Path of God. He planted the seed of theism and nurtured it, through Sruti, Smriti, Shastras and the Mahabharata. He gave the world the Gita and the Brahma sutras, the idea of the immanent Atma, the story of the Divine Leela, the secret of this changeful Creation. He belonged to about 3800 B.C.; he was the great-grandson of the sage Vashistha, the son of Parashara and the father of that celebrated gem among rishis, Suka. His life-story is a series of miracles, a Divine saga. He came from Vasudeva, announced the Leela of Vasudeva to all and finally, got merged in Vasudeva. He established the era of Namaparayana (repeating and discoursing, on Lord’s Name) and made all aware of the sweetness of the Name of the Lord, which evokes His Form and His Grace. (SSS Vol.2) 27-7-1961

The greatest of Gurus was Sage Vyasa

The Yadavas were attached to Krishna through a sense of worldly belonging. He was their kinsmen, they felt, and this feeling did not save them from total destruction. The Gopis felt they were His, not that He was theirs. So they were recipients of His Grace. When the ideas of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ disappear, man’s only thoughts are of ‘Thee’ and ‘Thine.’ He then finds only ‘Thee’ everywhere and thus achieves the Vision of Unity.

The fully worth-while Guru must facilitate that Vision of Unity without the discords and divisions that ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ engender in the mind of man. Such a Guru was the sage Vyasa. (SSS Vol.14), 9-7-1979

This day is celebrated as Vyasa Purnima, the full moon day dedicated to the memory of sage Vyasa. (SSS Vol.18) 2-7-1985.

This day is also called Vyasa Purnima, a day when mankind offers him the gratitude he deserves. ‘Vyaso Narayano Harih’: Vyasa is the Lord Narayana, Hari. Narayana, the Lord Himself, came as a man called Vyasa, to collate the Vedas and teach man the path towards God. He has made the path plain and easy to climb. (SSS Vol.14), 9-7-1979

There is nothing specially related to Sage Vyasa which makes this day attached to his name. He was not born on this day nor did he ‘leave’ on this day; it is just dedicated to his memory and to the worship of all Gurus. For Vyasa is the Adiguru, the Mulaguru Guru - God is the only Sadguru: the significance of Guru Purnima (the. first and the source of all spiritual teachers). He recognised and declared the Truth in a variety of ways and helped in opening the inner eye of man. He described in beautiful simple, clear terms the Glory of the Lord and of the means of attaining Him. He saw that unless the Mind is negated or destroyed, the Lord will not be manifest. He prescribed the paths by which this could be done. So he is the Lokaguru (world teacher), the Paramaguru (greatest teacher). He collected the hymns, collated them and put them into the Four Vedas; he assembled the later Vedic literature and composed the Brahma sutras (aphorisms on Supreme Reality) to expound the philosophy that was inherent in it. He wrote the Mahabharata, which includes the universal specific, the Bhagavad Gita.

Then, when he was sunk in sadness, in spite of all this knowledge and scholarship and teaching, Narada advised him to sing the glory of the personalised aspect of Godhead, to waken the emotions and guide them Godward through bhakti. That gave him and the world great joy and peace, for Vyasa then wrote the Bhagavata. (SSS Vol.2) 17-7-1962

There are four full moon days holier than the rest in the Hindu calendar--the full moon which occurs in the month of Vaisakha, Ashada, Shravana and Magha. Guru Purnima is in the month of Ashada. On this day, the day when the moon (the presiding deity of the mind) is full circle and the moonlight cool, pleasant and clear, Sage Vyasa completed the composition of the immortal scripture, the Brahma sutra. Sutra means string. He revealed that the Brahma principle interpenetrates and holds together the many in the ONE. That principle does not wax or wane, it is Purna and it projects Purna, in spite of that projection. The passing cloud cannot act on that fullness. This was what Vyasa, the Guru taught mankind. (SSS Vol.18) 2-7-1985.