Swami Satchidananda honoring the Light of Truth in all.
Each year on Guru Poornima, we turn our hearts in deep gratitude to the Guru—the one who awakens the Light of Truth within us. It is a time of honoring not only our own teacher, but the entire lineage of saints, sages, and realized beings who have guided humanity from darkness to light across all times and traditions.
In the Integral Yoga tradition, this day holds special meaning. Sri Swami Satchidananda—known lovingly as Gurudev—embodied the essence of the Guru: one who removes the veil of ignorance not through dogma or conversion, but through compassion, clarity, and the silent transmission of Truth.
His vision was vast, rooted in the ancient streams of Yoga and blossoming into a universal message of peace, love, and unity. He saw no contradiction between devotion to the Divine Mother and reverence for Christ; no barrier between the wisdom of the Upanishads and the teachings of the Torah or the Qur’an. All rivers, he said, flow to the same ocean.
Decades ago, long before interfaith dialogue became a global movement, Gurudev created sacred forms that honored every path while pointing to the One Light behind all names and forms. The Integral Yoga All Faiths Yantra, and later the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS), were not just visionary designs or architectural marvels—they were spiritual revelations. They arose from his direct experience of the cosmic unity underlying all life and offered humanity a living altar of harmony.
Though these forms are widely known and admired today, they rest upon a deeper foundation—one rooted in the esoteric traditions of Yoga and the divine archetype of the Sacred Feminine. Over the past year, this magazine’s Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey series has explored those roots, from the Bhuvaneshvari mantra to the mystical power of the Yantra. In an upcoming final installment, we’ll return to these sacred symbols and show how they flowered into the interfaith vision at the heart of Integral Yoga.
For now, as we honor the Guru in our lives and in our hearts, let us remember that the greatest offering we can make is to live the Truth we’ve been shown—to become peace, to become love, to become light. As Gurudev often reminded us:
“The Guru doesn’t give you anything new. The Guru simply helps you remove what is not you. What remains is your own True Self.”
This Guru Poornima, may we offer our gratitude not only through words and rituals, but by walking the path with steadiness, humility, and joy. Let the light we’ve received continue to illuminate the world—through our thoughts, our service, and our silent remembrance of the One who lit the lamp within.
