गुरूचरित्र - प्रस्तावना

गुरूचरित्र हे मराठीतील एक प्रभावशाली धार्मिक पुस्तक आहे. १५ व्या- १६ व्या शतकात श्री. सरस्वती गंगाधर स्वामींनी हे पुस्तक लिहीले. या पुस्तकात स्वामी नरसिंह सरस्वती यांचे चरीत्र, त्यांचे तत्वज्ञान, आणि त्यांच्याबद्दलच्या पौराणिक कथा आहेत. या पुस्तकात उर्दु आणि पर्शियन शब्द टाळून संस्कृत शब्द वापरलेले आहेत. गुरुचरित्र हिंदू लोकांत फार पवित्र ग्रंथ मानतात. सर्व दत्त भक्त या ग्रंथाचे मार्गशीर्ष महिन्यात येणार्‍या पौर्णिमेपासून आठ दिवस आधी पारायण करतात, आणि पौर्णिमेच्या दिवशी, उद्यापन करतात. मार्गशीर्ष महिन्यातील पौर्णिमा दत्तजयंती होय.
ह्या ग्रंथाला पवित्र वेद समजतात, म्हणून या ग्रंथाचे पारायण कठोर नियमाने करावे. याचे नियम या ग्रंथातच दिलेले आहेत. हा ग्रंथ सात दिवसांच्या सप्ताहातच किंवा तीन दिवसातच पूर्ण करावा असा नियम आहे.

Shri GuruCharitra is the most influential book written in Marathi. Written by Shri saraswati Gangadhar, the 15th-16th Century poet. The book is as holy to Datta Sampradaya devotees, as Quoran is to Muslims or Bible is to Christians. The book has mainly the life story of Shri Narasimha Saraswati, his philosophy and some mythology stories. The book is important from the point of view of history as well since it depicts the stories or events which took place around the 14th Century. The language is Marathi of the 14-15th Century, but without any Urdu or Persian words. Shri saraswati Gangadhar made sure that there are no words taken from Urdu or Persian, but only from Sanskrit. However, this does not make this book any terse. It is far simpler to understand and follow. This shows the power of the poet and his command over the Marathi language. Moreover, this poet's mother tongue is Kannda and not Marathi!
Gurucharitra has been very influential on the Maharashtrian culture, especially the Brahmin community due to its philosophy.
This book has utmost importance in Datta Sampradaya and they consider this as their "ved".