The Guru Challenge E-Book

• Herausgeber: Edition Hamouda
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 299

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Indian Gurus remain an important issue in the contemporary world and affect politics, culture and commerce alike. This spiritual/economic figure has become a worldwide phenomenon, signalling that syncretism is taking place on a global scale. At the same time, the concept of the guru will remain a constant challenge to ideas of enlightenment and democracy. The present book focusses on this challenge presenting contributions from an interdisciplinary perspective. German, Indian and American scholars have explored guruism in tradition, economy and Jungian psychology as well as in contemporary literature, travel writing and film. Individual studies of gurus such as Ramana Maharshi or Osho/Bhagvan, but also Gandhi and Tolstoi furthermore illustrate the spiritual globalization that has been taking place over the last century.

Leseprobe

Contents

Elmar Schenkel

The Guru Challenge. Introduction

Traditions

Sadananda Das

The Place of the Guru in the Non-dual Śaiva Philosophy of Kaśhmir

Harald Wiese

Marketing for Gurus – Gleaned from Premodern Indian Texts

Modern Gurus

Finn Harder

Guruless Guruness, or Ramana Maharshi among his Devotees

Oliver Hahn

Osho – the Anti-Guru

Media

Al Collins / Elaine Molchanov

Carl Gustav Jung’s Guru: The Symbol as Inner Authority

Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Guru under the Lens: From Narayan's

The Guide

to

Guide

Stefan Lampadius

Gurus in Contemporary Literary Fiction

East/West Encounters

Nadine Menzel

Leo N. Tolstoy’s

The Kingdom of God Is Within You

(1894) as Inspiration for Mahatma Gandhi

Elmar Schenkel

Western Pilgrims, Indian Gurus I: 1900-1960s

Elmar Schenkel

Western Pilgrims, Indian Gurus II: 1960s to Today

Contributors

The Guru Challenge. Introduction

Elmar Schenkel

The attraction of Eastern gurus may have weakened over the last two decades, possibly because of a seeming increase of charlatanism, deception, and commercial interests among them. Nowadays, mentioning Indian gurus may raise people’s eyebrows and make them mumble words about countless Rolls Royces, sexual abuse and fake miracles. At the same time, the term “guru” has been taken over by CEOs, spin-doctors, or financial experts, thus diluting the spiritual contents. As George Mikes pointed out in How to be a Guru: “The word guru, when applied to a European, has an ironic or even derogatory […] ring.” (Mikes 1)

While this negative connotation may dominate in the West, many individuals still seek a guru, which will – more often than not – lead them to India. Once in the “Promised Land,” they will find that gurus still enjoy great authority there, though even in their ancient homeland a critical view seems to be on the rise as well. On a global scale, however, the phrase “Rush Hour of the Gods”, launched in 1967 (MacFarland), may still be valid. As Meera Nanda has claimed, there is a return to ritualism, mythology, and idol worship despite economic prosperity in India: “[…] a great many Indians of all religious faiths are taking their gods with them into the new economy.” (Nanda 2009, 62). There are good reasons why we should look critically into these movements, which are part of what one might call spiritual globalization, a process that paradoxically, according to Nanda, makes India more Hindu. This process is inextricably bound up with the global trade of many other commodities of a more material nature. English writer G.K. Chesterton was aware of these phenomena as early as the 1930s when he wrote: “For another process is going on, parallel to the process of the connexion of routes, and it is the disconnexion of ideas” (Chesterton 66) and remarked that “a division accompanies such unification” (Chesterton 68).

‘Guru,’ in the sense of ‘teacher,’ as someone who knows and can instruct, who has experience and is therefore ‘old’ and respected (cf. Bäumer 20) represents a concept with different connotations in the East and the West, much like, on average, the roles of the teacher in schools and universities are different in both hemispheres. Hence, when Indians and Westerners talk about gurus, they might have a different view of the teacher in mind. Undoubtedly, as Sudhir Kakar has shown, the question of the guru has to be contextualized in the different social models prevailing in India and the West(Kakar 2006). Whereas in India, the teacher/guru is part of a larger familylike group, looking after the welfare of the individual, in the West, the teachers’ authority has been under constant attack since individuals are meant to be educated towards freedom and autonomy, which is seen as a prerequisite for a democratic society. Such challenge to authority, criticism and suspicion are much more part of a teacher’s reality in the West than in the East where reverence and obedience belong to a relationship that preserves some of these traditional values in spite of globalization and discontinuity elsewhere. To some extent, the ancient Laws of Manu are still echoing in Indian culture, which claim that “it is wrong to censor your teacher even if your teacher is wrong.” (Baggini 11) Related to this complex difference between East and West (if I may use this old-fashioned shibboleth in a broad sense) is the difference between sage/guru and philosopher as it is perceived in the West. In India, or other Eastern cultures, this difference is not maintained or even sought; instead, the boundaries are very much blurred (ibid. 24). With a globalized culture, such distinctions, if still valid, have to be argued for and can no longer be taken for granted. Practical wisdom and insight, even faith and religious positions are now often seen on the same level as what the West has called philosophy as a secular process of thinking and debating and for which it has endowed chairs at universities and colleges. Yet there is a universal trend, enhanced by the circulation of ideas and spiritualities as commodities, to give more weight to useful thinking or practical wisdom, which may or may not have a philosophical underpinning. The Western take on gurus thus encompasses also a broadened view of thinking and its relationship with practice and embodyment, which has been missing so much in Western education and in philosophy since Descartes. Thinkers such as Nietzsche, an advocate of the body, or Bergson and Gebser have for this very reason had difficulty entering the canon. While this explain to some extent why Westerners have gone on pilgrimage to the East – theoretically since Romanticism, practically since the late 19th century (see e.g., Halbfass) – we still have to look at the place of gurus in Indian societies in order to gauge to what extent one myth encounters another and how both are transformed in the encounter.

This is not the place to give an outline of the history of gurus in Indian history, which reaches back into the Upanishadic/Vedic past (cf. Bäumer). Etymologies are varied, but the Sanskrit word, according to Storr, means “heavy” (Storr xi) and designates a person “who brings light out of darkness” (Copley 5). For the purpose of our book, we can join Storr in calling gurus “teachers who claim special knowledge of the meaning of life, and who therefore feel entitled to tell others how life should be lived” (Storr xi). If we settle for this kind of “spiritual teacher” we find that gurus are certainly not restricted to India. As Peter Washington pointed out, gurus were born in the 19th and 20th centuries in different hemispheres – e.g., Madame Blavatsky, George I. Gurdjieff, and Pjotr D. Ouspensky, Rudolf Steiner and many others were to follow. Yet the decisive impetus came from India. If one were to exaggerate one could call 1893 the year of the globalization of the Indian guru. The occasion was the World Parliament of Religion which convened at the Columbia Exhibition in Chicago. Here Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism from India and with it the concept of the guru to the West, while other spiritual teachers came to the fore, including Zen Buddhists and Theosophists. After the 1960s there was a renaissance of the guru: “It was above all the 1960s reaction against materialist aims and goals which introduced Westerners on a large scale to seek out the more spiritual approaches long advocated in the East – and which rocketed the Gurus into international prominence.” (Mitchiner 19)

In addition to the watering down of the original meaning, the ‘guru’ in the traditional sense of ‘spiritual teacher’ has come under heavy fire. Too many stories of corruption and sexual misbehaviour have emerged from guru settings like swarms of nasty mosquitoes. This may be due to an inherent set of characteristics, which skeptics, be they Indian or Western, have long noted. Psychologist Anthony Storr lists them up in his study of cults and gurus: gurus tend to be intolerant of criticism, elitist and anti-democratic; they will never be friends with their followers but remain dominant, they do not discuss, but rather impose ideas. They are also compelled to keep up a charismatic front, often under a veil of authenticity and mystery; in other words, mystification is part of their make-up (Storr xiii-xv). Sometimes gurus end up living in luxury, and this is related to their enjoyment of power (ibid. xvi). Storr’s may be a psychological view from the West seeing gurus in a rather shady world reigned by the master’s narcissism and the disciples’ weakness and malleability. Indian views can be very different, and certainly throughout tradition the guru has had much more seriousness and spiritual weight than this view might suggest. There is perhaps no other religion that has produced as many types of holy persons as Hinduism with its ascetics, Swamis, Yogis, Siddhas, Sannyasis, or Gurus. The Indian Guru, however, holds a special position for a number of reasons. From the very beginning, the image and “profession” of the Guru has not primarily rested on the search for truth: he or she is not a philosopher in the Western sense. Rather they are keepers of religious values and norms, and they have a privileged access to arcane spiritual knowledge. They can also act as advisors to individuals and families and thus they do not necessarily deviate from the norms of caste and society as a whole. Obviously, all these positions lose their value in a completely different society, such as the United States. Vedic rituals certainly throw a different light on those who practice them abroad, outside Hindu culture. They become amalgamated with local traditions, such as Wicca, or even turn into wellness rituals at Pilates sessions. Individuals may nevertheless draw personal strength from these traditions even though they are alienated and have been completely transformed and adapted to the needs of Europeans and other non-Hindu-cultures. Are gurus in the West or for Westerners then a threat to democracy and individualism? Not necessarily. John Mitchiner even remarked a self-empowerment of individuals through the role of the guru. Outside caste society they may well have this effect, as he notes: “The turning of Westerners to the Guru cults represents more than anything else a defiant reaffirmation of individualism and of the permanent and absolute value of the value of the individual.” (Mitchiner 19) Given that doubt, skepticism, or a scientific approach are ruled out in the relationship between disciples and gurus, this optimistic view seems problematic nowadays.

Furthermore, guru devotion in India is quite different from that in the West. In India, it is the well-to do individuals who can afford not to be confined to their family sage but can range across the country or even the globe to find the right kind of guru for their problems. By means of the media, “gurus and their spiritual products can now travel far and wide”, which also has the effect of cutting the personal ties that had connected gurus with their devotees (Warrier 48). Travelling from guru to guru also has become a recent feature. Maya Warrier therefore suggests focusing not so much on faith and the guru, but on the biographies of guru seekers (Warrier 49).

Guru studies have increased over the last 30-40 years and yet questions and issues keep arising. Why is this so and why add another volume, to this debate? The topic, as can be seen from some of the above views invites interdisciplinary perspectives – psychology, Indology, history of religion, literary criticism, sociology, or political science. Gurus and charismatic persons remain an important issue in the contemporary media world and affect politics and commerce. And they have become a global phenomenon, from the start, signaling that syncretism and synthesis may be on the move, with adverse forces accompanying this very process. Vivekananda as well as Steiner, Gurdjieff as well as Sai Baba could pride themselves on an international following. Indian gurus have attracted people from all over the world to the subcontinent, but have also become avid travellers themselves, establishing headquarters and meditation centres across the continents. Even the anti-gurus, the two Krishnamurtis (Jiddu and Uppaluri Gopala) or Osho have become very powerful gurus themselves, as if to prove the impossibility of not becoming a guru: being believed, as George Mikes once wrote, can cause immense tragedies (Mikes 2). And La Rochefoucauld might add: “It is easier to be wise for others than yourself.” Gurus will remain a constant challenge to ideas of enlightenment and democracy, in which the individual asserts him-or herself vis-à-vis political or spiritual issues. They will also remain a challenge to anyone trying to live the right kind of life.

This struggle has fascinated us (a group of mainly literary / cultural studies scholars) and paved the way to a conference held in 2016 at Leipzig University. Speakers came from the fields of Indology, English literature and cultural studies, psychology, religious studies, philosophy, Slavic studies, economics, and media studies. Though these fields are extensive, we were not able to cover certain issues which are equally important in guru studies. Thus, the political role of gurus and the increasing importance of female gurus could not be addressed sufficiently, and there are certainly other phenomena ranging from history to sociology that were not covered. Jacob Copeman’s and Aya Ikegame’s The Guru in South Asia e.g. should be consulted for these areas. But we hope that the proceedings to be found in the present volume can at least inspire readers to further explore this fascinating topic.

The first section is devoted to traditional views and roles of gurus in India and to more recent gurus whose teaching and following has been fuelled by globalization.

Before we start doubting and criticizing notions of modern guruism, we should take a look at the original meanings and functions of guruship. These traditional views of the Guru are reflected in Sadananda Das’ contribution ongurus in tradition, especially in Kashmir Śaivism. Das reminds us of the original meanings not only of the word but the social and spiritual function of a guru: “It is the guru who reveals the true meaning of life, as a master, teacher, guide, spiritual preceptor, parent and more. He is the eye opener and remover of ignorance for his disciples. He is Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.”

A completely different dimension of guruship is outlined in Harald Wiese’s observations on the role of marketing and economy relating to “guru-disciple businesses.” This entails a new look at traditional structures encompassing patronage, discipleship, and sectarian set-ups. What happens if one applies the famous 4 P, i.e., product, place, price, and promotion to these social patterns? Price, for instance, is reflected in the policies of alms begging or gift collections after teaching. Communicating wisdom in philosophical or metaphysical debates can be subsumed under the P of promotion. Wiese looks at old Indian texts and provides a fresh perspective on gurus by using marketing terminology and thus elucidates patterns of the material foundation of the disciple-guru relationship.

Finn Harder takes the reader to a world historically closer to ours by looking at one of the most famous gurus in India and the West: Sri Ramana Maharshi. The “saint of Arunachala,” in Tamil Nadu returned to everyday reality after a long period of silence and meditation and began to attract visitors and disciples from all over the world. Two ashrams were built and he became a guru without having gone through a formal initiation. Harder highlights the role he played for people looking for spiritual guidance and a teaching to help them overcome duality – a role that necessarily also involved and involves misconceptions and misunderstandings, which seems to be part of a guru’s collateral effect.

A much more controversial guru is discussed by Oliver Hahn in his essay on Osho/Bhagwan/Rajneesh. Osho appears to be a most versatile figure combining Indian wisdom and Western philosophy in a hereto unheard-of intensity. Destroying and deconstructing conventions of thinking in East and West, he regarded nothing as sacred and belonged to those gurus who rejected guruship, while eventually turning into an authoritarian guru himself. The anti-guru, or guru for capitalism, provoked endless scandals in India and the US due to his positions on sexuality as well as his shameless display of wealth. Osho can be regarded as a typical representative of a modern type of Indian master or guru who inspired thousands in their spiritual quest – but also cunningly used his knowledge and charisma to gain fame, wealth, and glory. At the same time, his unorthodox attitudes alienated him from mainstream guru patterns and have permitted him to remain a strong influence long after his death in 1990.

In the second section, we examine the various ways in which the media can process and produce gurus: how literary work and a movie make use of the spiritual teacher and how a renowned psychologist mediates between inside and outside by turning an inner experience into a guru-like voice.

Stefan Lampadius explores the representation of gurus in contemporary literary fiction by some Anglophone writers of Indian origin: Sudhir Kakar’s Ecstasy, Amulya Malladi’s Song of the Cuckoo Bird, or Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games. Questions of national identity, tradition and globalization as well as gender roles become apparent around the guru as focus. Gender roles and stereotypes are indeed questioned when female gurus appear to take over the role of the male spiritual teacher that have been cherished for so many centuries, though not without exceptions. At all events, female guruhood seems to be an emerging religious and cultural phenomenon with a global echo, while fiction is a good indicator of the sheer variety of gurus in the present situation. They may appear as traditional relics or as rebels and liberators, as political figures, or as spiritual guides in a disoriented world.

Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn discusses the film adaptation of R. K. Narayan’s novel The Guide (1958), which she considers as an illuminating text for exploring “the guru as a cultural figure that combines Indian spiritual learning with a global outlook.” In stark contrast to Narayan’s subtlety, however, the film based on his story leaves little to our imagination and was hence labeled “Misguided Guide” by the writer. Yet the 1965 film turned out to be the director’s greatest success story. What, we can now ask, does it take to transform an award-winning work of Indian literature into one of the most popular films of the 1960s? Even more urgently, what does this transmedia product reveal about the manner in which the figure of the “guru” could be represented for readers of Indian English literature in contrast to mainstream Hindi cinema audiences?

Al Collins and Elaine Molchanov take a psychological look at the role of the guru in and for one individual, the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung, who was familiar with the Indian concept of the guru, wrote in his Red Book about visions that confronted him with his own inner guru. In the figure of Philemon, he visualized a spiritual guide that had an effect on his personal and scientific life around 1914. The two psychologists focus on Jung’s conflict between spiritual authority and individual conscience and his effort in harmonizing both. The guru archetype embodied by Philemon also played out in Jung’s life and self-understanding as a dialogue with the unconscious through symbols. The article is also a study of how this process is turned into a work of dream literature.

Of course, Jung’s treatment of the guru within is also the result of an encounter between East and West. The last section will focus on this experience in more depth. Nadine Menzel studies the relationship between a Russian writer, who increasingly turned into a guru for the rest of the world, and an Indian guru, whose activities led to the downfall of British India. Gandhi discovered Tolstoy in the 1890s and they exchanged letters about their shared belief in non-violence, the right way of life, love, political resistance, and Christianity.

The paper is centered around Tolstoy’s treatise The Kingdom of God Is Within You, which had such a tremendous impact on Gandhi. This is a case study of the influence of an unorthodox Christian writer and teacher on a Hindu guru, thus exemplifying new channels of ideas and practices in an emerging global network.

Elmar Schenkel looks at movements in his two-part essay on Western travel writers seeking spirituality in India. The conflict between spiritual authority and Western individualism and democratic spirit permeates much of this writing, from 1900 to the present. Schenkel offers a survey of travellers from Hermann Hesse to the Beatles, from Allen Ginsberg to more recent pilgrims such as Geoffrey Moorhouse or Helen Klitsies. Gurus in focus are Maharishi Maharesh, Sai Baba, Osho, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in Pondicherry. Travel writing often overlaps with fiction and thus the gurus are partly documented figures, partly dreamt of or figments of visions. They certainly remain strongly present as potential guides, in spite of the scandals surrounding them. All these essays go to show that gurus, whether those working within a hallowed tradition or those rebelling and establishing new ways of spiritual guidance, have to be taken seriously in the world market of spiritual messages and certainly need to be constantly scrutinized by critical readers and practitioners. Above all, they testify to the increasing dynamics between syncretism and anti-syncretism (Stewart and Shaw) now characterizing global religious politics.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank those who have contributed to make this book possible – for their patience and cooperative spirit. My thanks also go to my co-organizers of the 2016 conference on “The Guru Challenge” in Leipzig, Stefan Welz and Stefan Lampadius. Stefan Lampadius also compiled a comprehensive bibliography that was of great use to all of us.

Further, I would like to thank the publisher Fayçal Hamouda, for his patience and benevolence in publishing this electronic version, which was also made possible by a grant from the English Department at Leipzig University. As always, I am indebted to Katja Brunsch (Leipzig) for helping with corrections and especially to Tamara Braunstein (Brooklyn, NY) for polishing our English with so much expertise and idealism. May this be a further step for future guru studies, or for any of those fields where charisma meets psychology, literature, and politics.

Bibliography

Bäumer, Bettina. “Der Guru in der indischen Tradition”, in Trika. Grundthemen des kaschmirischen Śivaismus. Hrsg. und übersetzt von Ernst Fürlinger. Innsbruck-Wien: Tyrolia Verlag, 2003, 20-34.

Copeman, Jacob and Aya Ikegama, eds. The Guru in South Asia. New Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012.

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. All Is Grist. Essays. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1932.

Copley, Antony, ed. Gurus and their Followers. New Religious Reform Movementsin Colonial India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Mikes, George. How to be a Guru. London: Penguin, 1986.

Mitchiner, John. Guru. The Search for Enlightenment. Delhi: Penguin, 1992.

Nanda, Meera. The God Market. How globalization is making India more Hindu. Noida: Random House India, 2009.

Stewart, Charles and Rosalind Shaw. Syncretism / Anti-syncretism. The politics of religious synthesis. London/New York: Routledge, 2003.

Storr, Anthony. Feet of Clay. A Study of Gurus. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Warrier, Maya. “Guru Choice and Spiritual Seeking in Contemporary India”. International Journal of Hindu Studies 7, 1-3 (2003), 31-54.

Traditions

The Place of the Guru in the Non-dual Śaiva Philosophy of Kaśhmir

Sadananda Das

Abstract

The concept of guru is pervasive in all Hindu traditions and even goes beyond that. Starting from the Upaniadic period up to the present time the term retains its importance in all areas, may it be religious, spiritual, academic, or otherwise. The word guru enjoys a very high respect in all Indian traditions than any other word. It has a cluster of meanings with significance, which is beyond that of the English translation ‘teacher’. Guru reveals the true meaning of life. He is the ideal in one´s life. He is master, teacher, guide, spiritual preceptor, father, mother, and everything. He is the guru. He is the eye-opener. He is the ignorance remover. He is Lord Brahmā, Viu and Śiva.

The guru plays a significant role in the non-dual Kashmir Śaiva tradition. One of the important texts of Kashmir Śaivism, ‘The Śiva Sūtras’ contain a sūtra which says, “The guru is the means (for spiritual realization)”, (gururupāya II.6.). He is the means and the goal. In this tradition, the guru is identified with the divine power of grace (gururvā pārameśvarī anugrāhikā śakti). He is the direct embodiment of the divine power. ‘The Spanda Kārikā’ (IV.1), another important text mentions a prayer in the following words: “I offer my homage to that wonderful teaching of my guru which serves as a boat in crossing the fathomless ocean of doubts…” Mālinīvijaya Tantra another great source of Kashmir Śaivism also praises guru and says he is equal to Śiva who manifests the power of the mantra. (sa gururmatsama prokto mantravīry-aprakāśaka).

This paper aims at discussing the role of the guru in Kashmir Śaivism and unfolding his importance in this tradition.

Introduction

The term guru is a very significant one in Indian tradition from the Vedic-Upaniadic period. In India it has an age-old tradition in different spiritual, religious and philosophical schools as well as in other areas. Starting from the Vedas and Upaniads throughout the Tantra, Āgama, and Bhakti period up to the present day the role of a guru has been an important one.1 Therefore, there is no word like ‘guru’ which gets more respect and honour. It is a simple word whose meaning is derived from specific traditions and cultural contexts. It is currently and commonly applied to people of different types, including Hindu priests and educators, spiritual preceptors, and teachers of all sorts. Such spiritual teachers are all called guru even though they may be engaged in many different types of spiritual education such as teaching music and dance as spiritual traditions. According to Joel Mlecko

The individual guru as a religious teacher plays an important role in the transmission and development of Hindu religious tradetion, from the passing on of religious knowledge to being himself a locus for worship... For Hindus, religion is manifested or embodied in the continuing, successive presence of the guru. It is the guru who reveals the meaning of life; he is the immediate, incarnate exemplar in life, and as such, the guru is an inspirational source for the Hindu (Mlecko, 33).

As I mentioned earlier, the guru tradition goes back to the Vedic-Upaniadic period and is still very much alive in present day India. The reason for the importance of a guru may be because the Indian tradition has always given importance to the oral rather than written form of academic as well as religious or spiritual teachings. Therefore, the Vedas are not regarded as written scriptures but revelation. They are regarded as śruti, i.e., that which is heard and transmitted through the words of a guru to his disciple and to his pupils and so on. Later, the Tantric doctrines, though written down, were transmitted orally as well“ by a deity to a first master and then transmitted in the same oral fashion to initiates alone, through a succession of masters (guruparamparā), to succeeding generations of believers or adepts” (Padoux, 41).

Tantric texts which contain such teachings were written in the form of a dialogue (savāda), between a deity and a human disciple, or between two divinities speaking in mythical times - one asking questions, the other revealing orally his/her answers or teachings. In some Tantric/Āgamic texts there is a dialogue between Śiva and his consort Pārvatī, sometimes Bhairava and his consort Bhairavī, sometimes Īśvara and Śrīdevī, or Umā and Maheśvara. In some other texts ancient seers like Sanatkumara, Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana, Nārada, Agastya, Savartta and Vasiha are asking questions and Lord Tārakāntaka having bowed to Maheśvara explains them the Tantra2.

Definition/Etymology of Guurruu :

The word guru has entered the English lexicon a long time ago. We hear it being used so loosely these days that one wonders what is the traditional meaning/understanding of this word. Therefore, let me discuss the etymology and the definition of the word guru here from the traditional point of view.

The term guru has been defined in different ways:

As a religious teacher: with combination of spirituality and priesthood in Hindu religious tradition (

kulaguru

or

kulapurohita

).

As preceptor: who performs the sacred thread ceremony, teaches sacred rites and meditation, and right conduct and behaviour is known as

guru

(

gāti upanīya sandhyopāsanācārādīni karmāi uadiśati, upanetā, sandhyopāsanādyupadeā ca

)

3

.

As a spiritual preceptor: with transcendental awareness, who initiates a disciple into a particular spiritual tradition, (

dīkāguru

).

A guru is one who swallows the ignorance (of all kinds) and teaches dharma (duty, law etc), giratyajñāna (g- nigirae, to swallow); gātyupadiśati dharmam, (g- śabde, to speak, to praise, to sound)4.

A guru is one who dispels ignorance and destroys avidyā (illusion) as the ‘internal check’ the supreme Being, and thus one who is praised by all beings is a guru, (girati ajñānam antaryāmirūpeāvidyā nāśayatītyartha. gīryate stūyate jīvanikarairiti vā).

One who imparts knowledge of Vedic and other texts to the gods like Indra and others and is glorified by the divinities, gandharvas and human beings, is called a guru, ‘gāti upadiśati vedādiśāstrāi indrādidevebhya iti yadvā gīryate stūyate devagandharvamanuādibhi’5. In this case it is the supreme Lord who imparts knowledge to the gods, siddhas, and human beings.

Technically a guru is one who performs purificatory ceremonies over a boy and instructs him in the Vedas6.

Manusmti (ca. 2nd cent B.C to 2nd cent. A.D) (II.142) defines guru in the following words:

“The Brahmin who performs the rites beginning with the ceremony of impregnation according to rule and nourishes with food is called ‘Elder’ (guru, venerable)” (Tr. Olivele, 2007)7.

Kemarāja (ca. Late 10th cent A.D) in his commentary to the sūtra 2.6 in the Śiva Sūtras (ca. 9th cent. AD) defines the term guru as one who teaches the Reality or Truth. “gāti upadiśati tāttvikam artham iti guru”.

The seventeenth, the last Ullāsa (chapter) of Kulārava Tantra (unknown date, but certainly earlier than 15th cent.) gives an interesting derivation of the word guru. The revered Goddess asks about the significance of the term guru including many other words. In this context, the Lord while replying to her throws a flood of light on the height of this significant word in the following verses:

namaste nātha bhagavan śivāya gururūpie,

vidyāvatārasasiddhyai svīktānekavigraha. (3)

gakāra siddhida prokto repha pāpasya dāhaka,

ukāro viurityuktas tritayātmā guru para. (8)

gakāro jñānasampattī rephastatra prakāśaka,

ukāra śivatādātmya gururityabhidhīyate. (9)

guśabdastvandhakāra syāt ruśabdastannirodhaka,

andhakāranirodhatvādgururityabhidhīyate.(7)

guhyāgamātmatattvāndhanaddhānā bodhanādapi,

rudrādidevarūpatvād gururityabhidhīyate. (10)

Homage to You Oh Lord, to Śiva in the form of the Guru, who assumes many forms for the purpose of the manifesttation and the fulfilment of the supreme Knowledge.

The letter ‘ga’ signifies giver of perfection, and the letter ‘ra’ burns sins. The letter ‘u’ is the form of Viu. Thus, one who combines all the three in himself is the supreme guru.

The letter ‘ga’ denotes wealth of wisdom and ‘ra’ the illuminator of it. The letter ‘u’ denotes union with Śiva. Thus, one who possesses all these in himself is known as the guru.

The letter ‘gu’ denotes darkness, and ‘ru’ that obstructs it. One who obstructs darkness (of ignorance) is known as guru.

Because he brings understanding to those who are blind to the Truth of the Self and of the Āgamas that are secret, guhya, and because he is the form of gods like Rudra and other divinities, he is known as guru.

While defining other characteristics of a teacher, the same Tantra (17.11-15) also discusses various other words such as ācārya, ārādhya, deśika and svāmī which are commonly used in the sense of teacher or master (guru) and explains their meanings in the following verses:

svayamācarate śiyānācāre sthāpayatyapi,

ācinotīha śāstrārthānācāryastena kathyate.

carācarasamāsannamadhyāpayati ya svayam,

yamādiyodasiddhatvādācārya iti kathyate.

ātmabhāvapradānāttu rāgadveādivarjjanāt,

dhyānaikanihacittatvādārādhya iti kathyate.

devatārūpadhāritvācchiyānugrahakāraāt,

karuāmayamūrttitvāddeśika kathita priye.

svāntaśāntisamunmīlatparatattvārthacintanāt,

mithyājñānavihīnatvāt svāmīti kathita priye.

He conducts, ācarate, according to the Norm of Truth and establishes his disciples in it − the ācāra; and he assembles, ācinoti, the various connotations of the śāstras; therefore, he is called the ācārya.

He who himself teaches all that come to him − moving and unmoving, carācara − and who is perfect in yoga of yama etc. is called ācārya.

Because he gives the consciousness of Self, ātmabhāva, because he has rejected likes and dislikes, rāgadvea, and because his mind is centred solely in meditation, dhyāna, he is called ārādhya.

Because he wears the form of the deity, devatā, because he bestows grace on the disciple, śiya, and because he is the embodiment of compassion, karuā, he is called deśika.

Because he exudes his inner, svānta, peace, and deliberates on the supreme truth, and because he is devoid of false knowings, mithyā-jñāna, he is called svāmī. (Tr. A. Avalon).

As an adjective, guru means heavy or weighty. This meaning is another connotation of guru. Because he is heavy or weighty with his knowledge and experience, therefore he is known as guru.

The Lord as the first Guru:

In Mahābhārata (13. 135.65; 13. 17.129) the supreme Lord is called guru. His universal form is narrated in the verse below:

ādidevo mahādevo deveśo devabhd guru,

sahasramūrddhā devendra sarvadevamayo guru,

sahasravāhu sarvāga śaraya sarvalokakt.8

The primeval and the supreme Lord, the Lord of gods is called guru. He is having innumerable heads, arms and limbs, the refuge of all, the creator of all the worlds and who is the form of all deities.

The Yogasūtra of Patañjali (ca. 2nd – 4th cent. A.D) (I.26) describes the Lord (Īśvara) to be the first guru and to be the guru of the ancient gurus.

The sūtra says - “sa ea pūrveāmapi guru kālenānavacchedāt”.

He is the master of ancient ones (gurus). For He is not limited by time.

The commentary (vtti) further explains it as:

“pūrve hi gurava kālenāvacchidyante yatrāvacchedārthena kālo nopāvartate sa ea pūrveāmapi guru…”

Indeed, the ancient masters were limited in time. Where the time as a factor of limitation does not exist, there He is the master of even the ancient ones.

After the Vedic and Upaniadic tradition, Tāntric and Āgamic traditions have given the most important place to guru and consider him to be divine. The highest wisdom, the spiritual truth and liberation can come only from the mouth of the guru (gurumukhāt). All such esoteric teachings are given orally to a worthy disciple whom the guru considers worthy of getting this knowledge and who can keep it secret.

The esoteric transmission of doctrine by the guru to his chosen disciple includes the (necessarily oral) transmission of a mantra that is believed to be all-powerful, superhuman in nature: only someone endowed with superhuman powers can have access to and transmit such a power. This is a further reason why the Tantric guru is regarded as divine (Padoux, 41).

In this tradition, the guru is not viewed as a mere teacher but as a means (upāya) of spiritual realization. In this aspect “it is not only his guidance and his knowledge for which he is venerated, but his very person as the embodiment of divine power (śakti)” (Bäumer, 346).

He transmits the bīja- (mantra), the seed of the divine to his disciple and uplifts him to the highest consciousness. In the Śaiva system the Lord is regarded as the first guru. He in the form of the guru descends to this earth in order to impart knowledge and uplift his disciples.

The Śiva Sūtras (2.6), one of the important and old sources of Kashmir Śaivism, mentions a sūtra saying “The Guru is the means” (gururupāya) to spiritual realization. While commenting on the sūtra, Kemarāja describes guru as one who teaches the essential Truth (g