Original text
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः । गुरुरेव परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥ ५८ ॥ अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जनशलाकया । चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥ ५९ ॥ अखण्डमण्डलाकारं व्याप्तं येन चराचरम् । तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥ ६० ॥ ॥ श्रीस्कन्दपुराण, उत्तरखण्ड, गुरुगीता ॥
Transliteration
Gururbrahma gururvishnurgururdevo maheshvarah Gurureva param brahma tasmai shrigurave namah ||58|| Ajnanatimirandhasya jnananjanashalakaya Chakshurunmilitam yena tasmai shrigurave namah ||59|| Akhandamandalakaram vyaptam yena characharam Tatpadam darshitam yena tasmai shrigurave namah ||60||
From the Guru Gita
This is one of the most often-spoken Sanskrit verses in India, said by students before a lesson, by musicians and dancers before a performance, and by everyone on Guru Purnima. Its source is the Guru Gita, a dialogue between Shiva and Parvati that its colophons place in the Uttarakhanda of the Skanda Purana. Parvati asks how a person can reach the highest, and Shiva, calling it a secret he has told no one before, answers by teaching the greatness of the guru. In the text it is verse 58, and it is followed directly by the two verses given here.
What the verses say
- Verse 58: "The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vishnu, the guru is the god Maheshvara; the guru alone is the supreme Brahman. To that revered guru, salutation." The teacher is likened to the three functions of the divine: Brahma creates understanding, Vishnu sustains it, and Shiva destroys ignorance. Then the verse goes beyond all three. The text has gurur eva param Brahma, "the guru alone is the supreme". The version most people say, guruh sakshat parabrahma, "the guru is the supreme made visible", carries the same meaning.
- Verse 59: "Salutation to the guru who, with the needle of the collyrium of knowledge, opened the eyes of one blinded by the darkness of ignorance." The image is medical. Collyrium (anjana) was applied to the eye with a fine stick to heal it. The teacher is a healer of sight.
- Verse 60: "Salutation to the guru who showed me that state by which this unbroken circle of the moving and unmoving universe is pervaded." The teacher's final gift is not information but a vision of the whole.
Gu and ru
A few verses earlier (44–45) the Guru Gita gives its own reading of the word guru: gu-kara is darkness and ru-kara is light, so the guru is the Brahman that devours ignorance. In another line, gu is the disease of worldly existence and ru is what stops it. This is a devotional etymology, not a grammarian's, since the word guru originally means "heavy" or "weighty". But it is the one every Indian student hears, and it explains the darkness-and-light image of verse 59.
When it is said
It is said at the start of study, music or dance practice, and recitals; on Guru Purnima (Ashadha Purnima, also called Vyasa Purnima, honouring Vyasa as the first teacher); on Teachers' Day; and at the beginning of satsang and spiritual discourses. Many recite the three verses daily in honour of their own teacher, whether a spiritual guide, a parent or a schoolteacher. Traditionally the verse is said with hands folded, bowing at the last words, tasmai Shri gurave namah.
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