Guru Purnima, the birthday of Veda Vyasa, was celebrated with traditional enthusiasm and religious fervour across Prakasam district on Friday.
Devotees thronged temples dedicated to Sai Baba and other spiritual gurus from dawn in keeping with the religious practice to honour sage Vyasa, who had compiled the four Vedas.
Amid chanting of Vedic hymns by priests led Mattampalli Dakshinamurthy, idol of Adiguru Dattatreya, an incarnation of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, was installed at the Santhapeta Saibaba temple on the full moon day of the holy month of ‘Ashadam’.
Students sought blessings from their teachers in city schools on the occasion.
Devotees waited in serpentine queues at the famous Sai Baba temple at Pernamitta and N.G. Padu on the occasion. ‘Pada Darshan’ was allowed at the Sai Baba temple at Lawyerpet here after performance of ‘abhishekam’ to the idol.
Devotees also made a beeline to the Pelluru Sai Baba temple with a life-size idol chiselled from a marble procured from Italy by sculptor Rajiv Harish Talim, grandson of Balaji Wasanth Talim, who had sculpted the idol in Shirdi. A ‘Pallaki Seva’ was organised on the occasion as also ‘bhajans’ and community feasts.
Our Rajahmundry Special Correspondent adds
Gaiety and fervour marked Guru Purnima (also called as Vyasa Purnima) in East Godavari district on Friday. Apart from felicitating gurus and scholars, most of the devotees conducted special pujas, harathi, annadanam at Sri Shirdi Saibaba temples in the district .
Godavari Punnami Harathi (along with daily harathi) was conducted in a rich way on the banks of the river at Pushkara Ghat on Friday night. The Sirpada Vallabha Dattatreya temple at Pithapuram buzzed with spiritual activity from Thursday evening.
Our Kakinada Staff Reporter adds
Calling upon the people not to go by the caste but to give importance to the character of the individuals, Swami Paripoornananda of Sreepeetham here on Friday said that it was important for every individual to follow the footsteps of their ‘Guru,’ which would help them getting self-realisation.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of ‘Guru Purnima’ celebrations in Sreepeetham, the seer said that four great personalities — Dakshina Murthy, Dattatreya, Veda Vyasa and Adi Sankaracharya — were being revered as gurus by the Hindus. “Among the four, Veda Vyasa is considered as the first one to preserve literature in the written form,” he said.
