Guru

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In Hindu tradition, a guru is an enlightened, spiritual teacher. The word comes from a Sanskrit word that means "heavy" or "grave," and it is roughly translated as "the venerable." In other words, being a guru is serious business, involving leading people out of the darkness of ignorance.

You don't become a guru by studying or going to school. You become a guru by finding enlightenment. And once you become a guru you don't advertise for students. Students are drawn to you.

Ramakrishna, the great nineteenth-century guru, has written:

Anyone and everyone cannot become a guru. A huge timber floats on the water and can carry animals as well. But a piece of worthless wood sinks, if a man sits on it, and drowns him.

Stories abound about famous gurus. Ramana Maharshi died in 1951 but is remembered because he sat alone on a mountaintop, so absorbed by ultimate consciousness that he neither spoke nor ate. Finally he had to be force-fed by his followers. But his glance alone was said to illuminate those who came to see him, drawing out of them the answers to questions they didn't even know they had.

Generally speaking, a guru will not try to "teach" you anything directly. Unlike Western teachers who try to deliver a body of knowledge, a prospective student of a guru will be asked, "Do you have a question?" The guru is attempting to meet the student at the point of their need.

A popular metaphor is that of the glass and the pitcher of water. The glass represents the student. The pitcher, the guru. The water is spiritual wisdom. If a glass is full of stale water, nothing can be added. First the glass has to be emptied of its contents. Then, and only then, can fresh water be poured. (This lends insight to the contemporary observation, "He is certainly full of himself, isn't he?" Such a person cannot be taught.) If a glass is on the same level as the pitcher, water cannot be poured. So it is expected that the guru will be lifted up to a higher level, or venerated.

This kind of veneration can be abused by unscrupulous gurus. But the authentic wisdom teacher knows that the real guru is within; it is the self. Swami Satchidananda writes:

What you wish to acquire is the way [the guru] lives, the serenity he has.… Ultimately all these forms and names should disappear into a formless and nameless One, who is the Absolute Guru.

Sources: Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991.

Though many spiritual teachers from India settled in the West through the twentieth century, during the 1970s, the term "guru" (or "teacher," the Indian equivalent of "rabbi") first became well known in America and Europe through the rapid growth of Indian movements built around such figures as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Guru Mahara Ji who attracted many thousands of young adult followers. In the process of moving to America and Europe, the guru concept underwent a change.

In traditional Indian religious life, the guru-chela (teacher-pupil) relationship is a very personal one, restricted to a few followers and usually involving strict austerities, religious observances, study of scriptures, and/or yoga exercises. And although many gurus (for example, Satya Sai Baba) have been reputed miracle workers and the subject of numerous anecdotal accounts of supernormal feats, the goal of mysticism, union with the divine, was generally regarded as paramount and miracles merely incidental. That relationship remained the case with most Indian teachers in the West. However, many in the West were unfamiliar with the nature of spiritual guidance offered by gurus and were put off by the absolutist language of obedience used in traditional literature to describe that relationship.

In the wake of the unexpected favorable reception of Swami Vivekananda at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, many eastern spiritual teachers settled in America and developed relatively small followings. Gurus were often associated in the public mind with miracles, even though their teachings emphasized spiritual development. Following World War II and the declaration of Indian independence from Englandin 1948, and especially the opening of the United States to Asian immigration in 1965, a number of gurus developed missions in the West. The pop cultures and mass advertising techniques of postwar America and Europe facilitated the spread of large international movements. Some of the more popular leaders presented a Westernized Hinduism with roots in the nineteenth-century Hindu Renaissance developed in reaction to the critique of colonial powers to abhorrent (to westerners) practices in popular Hinduism. Some of these teachers promised world peace, success in life, achievement, personal relaxation and/or spiritual advancement through simple meditation techniques or prayers, while other Hindu gurus like Swami Muktananda and Satya Sai Baba attracted thousands of followers through "demonstrating" paranormal phenomena.

The transition from the Hindu concept of the family type guru, rather like a local priest and psychoanalyst, teaching a few followers, to the charismatic leader of millions adopting Western movements, represented a significant transition of the guru-chela relationship. In such a setting traditional admonitions to sacrifice everything to the guru in return for spiritual instruction took on a different meaning.

Sources:

Greenfield, Robert. The Spiritual Supermarket. New York: Saturday Review Press/E. P. Dutton, 1975.

Murray, Muz. Seeking the Master; A Guide to the Ashrams of India. Jersey, U.K.: Neville Spearman, 1980.

Uban, Sujan Singh. The Gurus of India. London: Fine Books (Oriental)/New Delhi, India: Sterling Publishers, 1977.