Have you thanked your guru lately?

On July 12, the Boone-based Art of Living Retreat Center is welcoming one and all to celebrate Guru Purnima, an Indian holiday devoted to teachers.

“Basically, ‘guru’ means ‘teacher,’ a spiritual teacher,” Art of Living Center event media coordinator Sejal Shah said, “and ‘purnima’ means ‘full moon.’”

Like the moon waxing into fullness, Shah explained, so can one’s spirituality within. As such, Guru Purnima is a festival dedicated to teachers, wherein students express their gratitude and respect.

“Guru is a principle — an element, a quality, inside you,” spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said in a news release. “It is not limited to a body or a form. Establishing connection with this principle is the source of greatest strength.”

“That is the significance of Guru Purnima,” Shah said.

Shankar is currently visiting the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, where he’s guiding a weeklong silence retreat that started Tuesday, July 8.

Per the Indian national calendar, Guru Purnima is celebrated on the first full moon day of a particular month. This year, it falls on July 12 on the Western calendar, and all are invited to celebrate at the Boone retreat centre.