Guru Purnima is called the day of the Master, but it is actually the day of the Devotee. It is the New Year for a spiritual seeker.

There are three types of people who come to the Master:

• The Student
• The Disciple, and
• The Devotee

A student goes to a teacher and learns something, gets some information and then he walks out of the school. There is no more information to be given or taken. A student collects information, but information is not knowledge, it is not wisdom. If just by having a lot of information one's life would change then that information is not just information, because information alone cannot effect a big change.

Then there is the disciple. The disciple follows the example of the Master. But the disciple is with the Master for the sake of learning wisdom, for the sake of improving his life, for the sake of attaining enlightenment. He has a purpose, a cause, so he is not just collecting information but he is trying to look a little deeper. He is trying to bring a transformation in his life. He wants to make sense out of his life. That is a disciple. A disciple is still centered around himself. So disciples take some time of their own. According to their capacity they grow, and one day they may get enlightened.

Then there is a devotee. A devotee is not there even for wisdom. He is simply rejoicing in love. He has fallen in deep love with the Master, with the Infinity, with God. He does not care whether he gets enlightened or not. He doesn’t care whether he learns a lot of knowledge or not. But that very moment and every moment, he is immersed in Divine love and that is enough for him or her. A devotee is very rare to find.

Students are all over, disciples are a few, but the devotees are rare.

It is nothing great to become God or be God. Whether you want or not, all of you are already Gods. A stone is also God, you are also a God, and everything is God. There is nothing great in wanting to become God because God is already there. But it is great to become a devotee. Do you see this?

Everything, whether you want it or not is already God. But where love has flowered totally, that is a devotee. Attraction is everywhere, love is somewhere, but devotion is again rare.

Devotion is very beautiful.

A student comes to a Master or Guru with tears in his eyes because there are so many problems. And when he leaves, then also he is carrying tears in his eyes, but the quality of the tear is different. It is of gratitude. Still tears flow, but they are tears of gratitude; of love. It is so beautiful to cry in love. One who has cried even once in love, knows the taste of what surrender is, and what devotion is, and the entire creation rejoices this. The entire creation is longing for only one thing, transformed tears; from salty tears to sweet tears (of love).

One of Buddha’s disciples named Sariputra got enlightened. When he got enlightened, Buddha told him, 'Now you go ahead, go into the world and teach. Carry on my work'.

Now Sariputra left Buddha but he was crying and crying and crying. People asked him, 'You are enlightened now, why are you crying?'

He said, 'Who cares about this enlightenment, it could have waited. I didn’t even bother about it, neither did I ask for it. The joy of being at the feet of Buddha was so great, being a devotee was so great that now I am missing it. I would have preferred that to this enlightenment'.

There is no separation, there is no difference, there is no distance, yet it has a different flavor, a different joy, that is a devotee. A devotee will never fall, he cannot fall. There is no chance for it.

Guru Purnima is the day of full moon. The full moon reminds you of how full life has become with the love, and with the wisdom. So this day is for the devotee to rejoice in his or her devotion.