Guru Purnima for Kids: Why We Honour Teachers

Most Indian children know Teachers’ Day, which involves cards and a school assembly. Rather fewer know Guru Purnima, which is older, quieter and considerably more interesting, because it asks a question worth asking: what is a teacher actually for?

What the day is

Guru Purnima falls on the full moon of the month of Ashadha, usually in July. It honours Veda Vyasa, traditionally regarded as the compiler of the Vedas and the author of the Mahabharata, and through him every teacher in the long chain that follows. It is observed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains alike, which tells you something about how widely the underlying idea is shared.

What the word actually means

This is the part children remember. Guru is often explained as being made of two parts: gu, darkness, and ru, that which removes. The teacher, in this reading, is not someone who fills you up with information but someone who takes away what is blocking your sight.

That distinction is worth drawing out with a child, because it changes what a teacher is for. A teacher who hands you facts has given you something you could have looked up. A teacher who removes a confusion you did not know you had has done something you could not do alone.

A teacher does not add light to a room. They open the shutters that were keeping it out.

The shloka of the day

The verse chanted on Guru Purnima is Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu, which names the teacher as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in turn, and finally as the supreme reality itself. It is two lines and easy enough for a five-year-old.

The satisfying part to explain is why the teacher gets all three names. Brahma creates, Vishnu sustains, Shiva dissolves what needs to go. A teacher creates something in you that was not there, keeps it alive through practice, and clears away what was mistaken in your understanding. Children accept that reasoning readily, and it makes the verse mean something rather than simply sounding grand.

Who counts as a guru

Worth widening for a child. The tradition is clear that a teacher is anyone from whom you genuinely learn, which certainly includes school teachers, and also includes a grandmother who taught you to cook, a coach, an older cousin who taught you to swim, and a parent.

The Taittiriya Upanishad puts the teacher alongside mother, father and guest in its four reverences, matru devo bhava, pitru devo bhava, acharya devo bhava, atithi devo bhava. That grouping is the point: the people who shaped you deserve the same regard, whether or not they were paid to do it.

The story of Ekalavya

For older children, Guru Purnima is a good day to tell this one, because it complicates things usefully. Ekalavya, refused as a student by Drona, builds a clay image of him and teaches himself by practising before it, becoming an archer greater than Arjuna. Drona, discovering this, asks for his thumb as the traditional teacher’s fee, and Ekalavya gives it without hesitation.

It is not a comfortable story and should not be presented as one. It shows extraordinary devotion and an extraordinary abuse of it in the same scene. Children asked what they think of Drona’s request generally have strong and well-reasoned opinions, which is a far better use of the day than a card.

Marking it well

The traditional observance is simple: greet your teachers, thank them properly, and if possible learn something new on the day. Some families begin a child’s formal learning of something, a verse, an instrument, a text, on Guru Purnima.

A worthwhile addition is to have a child think of three people who taught them something that mattered, and say what it was. It is a small exercise and it tends to produce answers that surprise the adults in the room.

Our classes are built on this relationship, small live batches where a mentor knows each child by name and teaches meaning rather than dictation. If that is the kind of learning you want for your child, we would be glad to welcome you to a free trial class.