Guru Purnima 2027
18 July 2027

Guru Purnima, kept on Ashadh Shukla Purnima, is the day for honouring one’s guru, read in tradition as the one who removes (ru) darkness (gu). It is also called Vyasa Purnima, held to be the birthday of Ved Vyasa, who divided the single Veda into four, composed the eighteen Puranas, and authored the Mahabharata, and is honoured as the adi-guru, the first guru, of Hindu tradition.

Students touch their guru’s feet and offer dakshina as thanks for what they were taught, and many homes read a portion of a text linked to Vyasa or recite the Guru Stotra. The day is also kept in yogic tradition as the day Shiva, as Adiyogi, is held to have taught the first yoga, and by Buddhists as Asalha Puja, the day the Buddha gave his first sermon.

• Image of Ved Vyasa, or of your own guru
• Roli, akshat and a garland
• Flowers
• Dakshina (a coin or cloth)
• A copy of the Bhagavad Gita or Mahabharata
• Sweets

Source: Mahabharata, Adi Parva, and Puranic tradition

Ved Vyasa was born to the sage Parashara and Satyavati on an island in a river, and came to be called Krishna Dvaipayana for his dark complexion and his island birth. He grew to be among the greatest of sages, and found the single Veda too vast for most to hold in memory as it then was.

Vyasa divided the Veda into four, Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva, and taught each to a different disciple, Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu, so that its knowledge could be kept and passed on. He went on to compose the eighteen Puranas and the Mahabharata, the longest epic known.

When Vyasa sought someone to write the Mahabharata as he composed it aloud, Ganesha agreed, but only on the condition that Vyasa never pause in his dictation; Vyasa agreed in turn, but only if Ganesha understood every verse fully before writing it down. Each thus matched the other, and the great epic was composed.

What to do

• Offer dakshina according to your own means, not its size, since the gift’s worth is the gratitude carried in it.
• Read even a few verses of a text linked to Vyasa, since study itself is the day’s first offering to a guru.
• Call or visit a teacher from your own life if your guru is far, and thank them, since the day honours any guru who has taught you.

What to avoid

• Avoid skipping the thanks because it feels unnecessary; tradition keeps this day precisely for gratitude that is otherwise easy to postpone.
• Avoid speaking lightly of any teacher, even in jest, since the day holds every teacher in the same honour as the first guru.

The day is kept across Vaishnava, Shaiva, yogic and Buddhist traditions alike, under different names for the same full moon: Vyasa Purnima in most Hindu homes, Guru Purnima more widely, and Asalha Puja, remembering the Buddha’s first sermon, among Buddhists.

A Purnima falls in the bright half, which has the same month name in the Amanta and Purnimanta calendars (in Purnimanta it closes the month, in Amanta it falls mid-month), so both call this Ashadh Purnima; there is no month-name difference.