Today, 29 July 2026, India celebrates Guru Purnima, the “full moon honoring teachers”—a day dedicated to expressing gratitude to all those who have helped illuminate our path.
It is an opportunity to pause, look back and acknowledge the people who have kindled within us the flame of curiosity, inquiry and awareness. They are the ones who have helped the flower of our consciousness blossom. 🌸
But who are our teachers?
Sometimes they are the people who have accompanied us along our journey: a teacher, a therapist or a mentor. They are the ones who, with a powerful impulse, shake us out of our spiritual slumber. Their lessons are not always gentle or easy to accept. They may come through an uncomfortable truth, a conflict, a separation or a difficult experience.
More often, however, our teachers are the people who stand beside us every day: our family, our children, our partner and our friends. Frequently without realizing it, they teach us patience, listening, courage and love. They know how to find the right words when we need them, support us when we are struggling and help restore our confidence when we have lost it.
Let us remember that we, too, are teachers for someone else. Perhaps without even knowing it, through a word, a smile, an act of kindness, a courageous choice or simply through the example of our lives. Whenever we live with greater awareness, we can become a light for those who walk beside us.
Every teacher has, in turn, been a student of someone else, part of an invisible lineage connecting us to the great sages and teachers of humanity. Through their words, their actions and their example, a light continues to be passed from one generation to the next.
This lineage is alive in the present—in the people we meet, in the relationships that transform us and in the lessons life offers us each day.
Let us take a moment to acknowledge and thank those who have guided us, awakened us and helped us grow through difficult times. Let us give thanks both to the teachers we have already recognized and to those whose importance we may only come to understand later.
Happy Guru Purnima to all, with the wish that we, too, may become a light for someone else. ✨
And you—who do you feel has kindled a light within you or taught you something important this year? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Bernard and Angie
