Guru Puja ~ Ritual Worship of Guru

Guru Puja is also known as Vyasa Puja. It occurs once per year on the full moon in the month of Ashadha (June–July) in the Hindu calendar. Legend has it that the first one was done for Veda Vyasa who is also known as Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. He is called Veda Vyasa because he classified (Vyasa) the Vedas into four parts. Before him the Veda was one running poem. He split it into four parts as Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda.

It so happens that there are many sects which celebrate the Vyasa Puja or Guru Puja where the authority of the sect is honored as if he was the original Vyasa. In some sects this evolved into a daily ritual of worshp with ceremonial articles, where the authority is treated on par with a deity. Some sects still do the time-honored procedure of holding guru puja once per year, where the current authority of the sect is given the honor of sitting on a special seat which is prepared for the original Vyasa but which is given to the current authority with the idea that this person currently represents Veda Vyasa.

The original Vyasa is accredited as the author of the four Vedas, the Brahma sutra, the 18 principal Puranas and the Mahabharata. He is also accredited as being the author of other books like the subsidiary puranas which are known as Upapuranas.

The Upanishads are extracts from the four Vedas. Hence, he is the author of the Upanishads as well.

This original Vyasa is listed as the son of Parashar Muni and Satyavati. He lived in the time of Krishna and was the biological grandfather of the Kauravas and Pandavas. He is rated as an incarnation of Krishna. As a favor to King Dhrtarashtra, he give Sanjaya mystic vision to perceive everything which occurred at the Battle of Kurukshetra.