Here comes the sun

In the Bhakti tradition, the personal aspect of divinity is where practitioners direct their spiritual endeavours through devotional songs, offering items of worship, sacred mantras and of course their time and energy.

Over 500 years ago, the personification of this divinity appeared in the form of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, who came to offer the people of this world the rare opportunity to understand and realise the deeper truths of Bhakti.

What sets Sri Chaitanya apart is his magnanimity, he was giving away something so valuable without considering who was qualified, who deserved or even desired; anybody that came within his proximity was bestowed with divine grace.

Every year, we honour and celebrate this divine appearance through a festival called ‘Gaura Purnima’, because it falls on the full moon day, and although ‘Purnima’ is a sanskrit word which means full moon, this particular full moon is a unique one, where we celebrate and remember the rising sun of Sri Chaitanya.

Just like the sun distributes light and warmth to everyone without considering whether they deserve or desire it, without considering their caste, ethnicity, race or religion, Sri Chaitanya distributes the light of divine grace to everyone.

So when you see the full moon shining bright this week, take a moment to remember, as George Harrison sings in his famous song, ‘Here comes the sun’.