Annually, at the full moon in Cancer/Capricorn Hindus around the world celebrate the Guru.   For those who have a beloved guru, it is a time to propitiate and thank your guru with a puja and/or chanting mantra.  Here at the Gayatri Temple, we will be doing a Dattatreya Yajna indoors using the new nonsmoky method.   

 
You may know, as Namadeva Acharya and other gurus have taught, that the guru is a principle not a person and is called the upaguru in Sanskrit.  As he said in "The Ancient Power of Sanskrit Mantra and Ceremony, Vol. I":  It is true that this principle may operate through flesh and blood people of high spiritual attainment.  . . . The true guru is a principle that resides in your own heart and will lead you, as and when you are ready, on your spiritual journey of many winding paths."  He also taught that "there is a small chakra, the guru chakra, located on the underside of the Sahasrara Chakra at the crown of the head." This small chakra will act in concert with the Crown Chakra to send energy down the spine until, in one lifetime or another, it reaches the base of the spine, and we become seekers.  It is also possible for an advanced guru to activate the guru chakra to speed things up for both individuals and groups.

"Some rare people throughout history evolve to a state where they can become True Gurus.  The nature of our ego is such that during its development, the mind can take it in a direction where it is able to contain and use increasing amounts of the energy coming down from the Guru Chakra.  Some such beings come to embody the energy and the guru principle," becoming gurus in the flesh.  Guru, which means dispeller of darkness, is a job.  There are others who may have high attainment but then choose to spend a solitary life in meditation.  While the Earth and humanity benefit from their spiritual work, they do not work with individuals and teach.  The guru's job is to lead the struggling souls, by their own best optimum path, to the divine goal of liberation.  The True Guru will be in tune with all kinds of people on every spiritual level and be able to guide them on their paths.   

Jupiter is the Guru planet.  As Certified Mantra Instructor and intuitive astrologer, Jill Jardine writes in her newsletter that "Jupiter went into Gemini on June 11th, shining light on new potentials for the coming year, and releasing the heaviness of Jupiter in Taurus which seemed to emphasize lack in the past year."  To increase the benefit from this transition, chant the last mantra in the Mantras of the Month.  Jupiter is a planet of expansion and will help us in our spiritual and material pursuits.