A guru (गुरू Sanskrit) is a Hindu religious teacher. It is based on a long line of Hindu philosophical understandings of the importance of knowledge and that the teacher, guru, is the sacred conduit to self-realization. Till today in India and among people of Hindu or Sikh persuasion, the title retains its significant hallowed space.

Guru is also the Sanskrit reference to Brihaspati, a Hindu figure equivalent to the planet the Greeks named Jupiter; in Vedic astrology, Jupiter/Guru/Brihaspati is believed to exert teaching influences. Indeed, in Indian languages like Hindi, 'Thursday' is called either Brihaspativaar or Guruvaar (vaar meaning period or day).

Guru is widely used in contemporary India with the universal meaning of the word "teacher".

In a Western context, the term Guru has extended into anyone who makes religious or philosophical statements and has followers because of this, in some cases with the purpose of what their critics consider exerting domination or receiving inapropriate benefits. In further metaphorical extension it means simply expert.

Guru in Sikhism

The title Guru is extremely fundamental to the religion of the Sikhs. Indeed, the Sikhs carried the meaning of the word to an even greater level of abstraction, while retaining the original usage, to apply to understanding of imparted knowledge through any medium.

Guru Nanak, the first guru of Sikhism, was opposed to the caste system prevalent at his time in India. His followers referred to him as the Guru (teacher). Before his death he designated a new Guru to be his successor and to lead the Sikh community. This procedure was continued, and the tenth and last Guru, Guru Gobind (AD 1666–1708) initiated the Sikh ceremony in AD 1699.

For Sikhs, the Gurus were not in the Christian sense “Sons of God”. Sikhism says we are all the children of God and by deduction, God is our mother/father.

The most important is the Guru Granth Sahib, their holiest book.

See also:

• Sikhism
• The Ten Gurus of Sikhism

"Guru" in a Western culture context and secular views

The Dutch theologist Dr. Reender Kranenborg, member of the board of CESNUR, who specializes in Hinduism and new religious movements at the Free University in Amsterdam, distinguished three types of gurus,

1. the spiritual advisor for higher caste Hindus who also performs traditional rituals and who is not connected to a temple (thus not a priest).
2. the enlightened master who derives his authority from his experience, such as achieving moksha. This type of guru can have Western followers and even Westerners have become one, for example Andrew Cohen.
3. the avatar, a guru who claims to be an incarnation of God, or to be God-like, or an instrument of God, for example Sathya Sai Baba and gurus from the Sant Mat lineage.

The late Dutch professor in psychology of religion Jan van der Lans at the Radboud University Nijmegen has mentioned three dangers when the personal contact between the guru and the disciple is absent.

1. it increases the chance of idealization of the guru by the student (myth making and deification);
2. meditation should be performed under personal support by the the guru to keep emotions under control and to prevent psychological harm;
3. it increases the chance of false mysticism. Mysticsm and critical thinking should go together.

According to van der Lans, the deification of a guru is a traditional element of of Eastern spirituality, but detached from the Eastern cultural element and copied by Westerners, the distinction between the person of the guru and that what he symbolizes is lost and it degenerates into a boundless, uncritical personality cult.

Additional meanings in contemporary western usage

The original meaning has evolved to a broader one. In more recent usage of the word guru, it means anyone who propagates a philosophical or religious belief system independent of an established school of philosophy or religion and attracts and accepts followers because of this, especially when the veracity of the belief system hinges around the reliabiliy of the guru. Sometimes Christians use the word guru as a pejorative label. On the other hand, Kranenborg accepts the word guru for Jesus. Often, dependent on the teachings of the guru, the followers will see the guru as a prophet, saint or avatar. Gurus often claim that they have achieved enlighment, moksha, that their teachings were channeled or that they have received a revelation.

The term guru has also passed into an even wider metaphorical use. In hacker culture, a guru is an expert of legendary proportions. Nearly synonymous with "wizard", but additionally implies a history of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a qualifer) for other experts on other systems, as in VMS guru. (The definition is from Jargon file.)

Attraction by gurus

There are several reasons why people in Western cultures are attracted by gurus. The most common is that people look for the meaning of life and are disillusioned in traditional religions. Gurus provide answers to the meaning of life, often free from the intellectualism of philosophy. Other people who have traditional beliefs seek to intensify their religious life and see a guru who can help her or him with this. Gurus offer a belief system that offers fulfillment and purpose and sometimes promises of a peaceful happy life. Many gurus claim that they can bring people closer to God, facilitate enlightenment, moksha, or nirvana, or can help people to achieve good karma and a correspondingly better next incarnation.

Criticism and assessment of the guru's authenticity

The guru and guruism labels have acquired a rather negative connotation in western countries, especially in France, likely due to the prominence of several self-proclaimed "gurus" in the US and during the 1960s and 1970s "New Age" movement, who used Hindu terminology without necessarily having much in common with mainstream Hinduism. Some of these gurus, were found to be abusing their status and to be charlatans, self-deceived, businessmen pretending to be saints, cult leaders or a combination of this. That label has been extended to any leader seeking to exert his domination over adepts of a secular, religious organization or school of thought, or to receive inappropriate benefits under the pretense of promoting among them a certain belief system. Some countries have enacted legislations that protect individuals with specific vulnerabilities due to physical or psychological deficiencies. Critics of these legislations interpret these measures as limitations of freedom of religion. See French legislation on cult abuses.

The British psychiatry professor Anthony Storr argues in his book Feet of clay - A Study of gurus that gurus (in the non-Hindu usage of the word) share common character traits (e.g. being loners without friends) and that some suffer from a mild form of schizophrenia. He argues that the belief system that gurus hold developed in some cases from a period of psychosis. The belief system was developed during the psychosis to make sense of the guru's own mind and perceptions. This belief system persists after the psychosis has gone away. Storr includes people who are not normally labelled as a guru, such as Ignatius of Loyola, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung.

He also wrote in the book that the gurus who are eloquent are the ones who are more likely to be unreliable and dangerous. The scholar David C. Lane wrote that a charlatan who cons people is not as dangerous as a guru who really believes in his delusions, and that 'bigger' the claims a guru makes, the bigger the chance that he is a charlatan or deluded. The history of various gurus, religions, sects, new religious movements and cults has shown that the question how to assess the authenticity of a guru is difficult, especially when the guru is still young. According to the Bible, Jesus said that one should judge a prophet by his fruits, though it is not not clear whether this rule of the thumb also includes gurus. [3] (http://www.biblebell.org/proph/prophecy1.html) . Some believe that this rule has the drawbacks that one should know what is good and bad in the first place and that one cannot possibly know all acts and their corresponding fruits of a guru.

The Indian skeptic Basava Premanand toured around in the villages of India to educate people by debunking gurus and fakirs whom he considers frauds or self deceived.

Non-Hindu gurus

• Marshall Applewhite leader of Heaven's Gate
• Benjamin Creme
• Shoko Asahara former guru of Aum Shinrikyo
• Madame Blavatsky founder of Theosophy
• Maharaji, born under the name Prem Rawat. Note: Maharaji dropped the title "guru" from his name in 1980s together with other Hindu trappings
• Aleister Crowley
• G. I. Gurdjieff
• U.G.Krishnamurti
• Meher Baba
• Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or Osho
• Swami Roberto
• Adi Da

Other Uses of the word 'Guru'

• There is a 1990s alternative rapper named Guru.
• There is also a 2002 movie titled The Guru.

See also

• Contemporary Hindu Movements
• Charismatic authority
• Sant Mat

External links

Budhism

• Enlightenment: Buddhism Vis-à-Vis Hinduism (http://www.byomakusuma.org/Default.aspx?tabid=38)
• Interview with the Dalai Lama (http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/world-religions/buddhism/dalai-interview.asp)

Hinduism

• Gurus and Saints in Hinduism (http://hinduism.about.com/od/gurussaints/)
• Who is a Guru? (http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa012400.htm)

Skihism

• Guru Nanak (http://www.sikhs.org/guru1.htm)
• Sri Guru Granth Sahib (http://www.srigurugranthsahib.org/)

Other sites

• Understanding the Guru (http://www.yrec.info/contentid-23.html) by Dr. Georg Feuerstein, author of The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice.
• Digital Baba (http://elearn.mtsac.edu/dlane/digitalbaba1.mpg) 3-minute video by David C. Lane showing in the following order Maharaji, Satchitananda, Muktananda, Father Yod, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Sathya Sai Baba, and Yogi Bhajan

Critical sites

• Excerpts on assessing the authenticity of a guru from a book by Dr. David Lane (http://www.geocities.com/eckcult/cultexpose/crucible.html).
• "Ego Death Is Not A Game" (http://www.andrewcohen.org/store/excerpts.asp?itemID=b16), an excerpt from Andrew Cohen's book In Defense of the Guru Principle.
• Ratings of hundreds of gurus by Sarlo (http://www.globalserve.net/~sarlo/Ratings.htm). Sarlo, is a follower of the Guru Osho and also has a corresponding Yahoo! group.
• How to Become a Cult Guru or, You Too Can Induce Mass Suicide (http://www.aspma.com/cults/guru.htm) practical tips for charlatans and con men by Phil Milstein. Satirical website.

Bibliography

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• Aurobindo, Sri, The Foundation of Indian Culture, Pondicherry, 1959
• Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist Bloomsbury publishing, 1998 ISBN 1-58234-034-X
• Deutsch, Alexander M.D. Observations on a sidewalk ashram Archive Gen. Psychiatry 32 (1975) 2, 166-175
• Deutsch, Alexander M.D. Tenacity of Attachment to a cult leader: a psychiatric perspective American Journal of Psychiatry 137 (1980) 12, 1569-1573.
• Deutsch, Alexander M.D. Psychological perspectives on cult leadership, an article that appeared in the book edited by Marc Galanter M.D. (1989) Cults and new religious movements: a report of the committee on psychiatry and religion of the American Psychiatric Association ISBN 0-89042-212-5
• Garden, Mary (http://www.users.bigpond.com/marygarden/) The Serpent Rising: a journey of spiritual seduction (http://www.users.bigpond.com/marygarden/serpent%20rising%2003.htm) - 2003 ISBN 1-8770590-50-1
• Gupta, Dr. Hari Ram. A Life-Sketch of Guru Nanak in Guru Nanak, His Life, Time and Teachings, Edited by Gurmukh Nihal Singh, New Delhi, 1981
• Gurdev Singh, Justice, Perspectives on the Sikh Tradition. Patiala-1986
• Isliwari Prasad, Dr. The Mughal Empire, Allahabad-1974
• Jain, Nirmal Kumar, Sikh Religion and Philosophy. New Delhi- 1979
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• Kovoor, Abraham Dr. Begone Godmen published by Shri Aswin J. Shah Jaico Publishing House, Bombay - 1976
• Kramer, Joel, and Diana Alstad The guru papers: masks of authoritarian power ISBN 1-883319-00-5
• Kranenborg, Reender (Dutch language) Neohindoeïstische bewegingen in Nederland : een encyclopedisch overzicht, published by Kampen Kok cop. 2002 ISBN 9043504939
• Padoux, André The Tantric Guru, in: Tantra in Practice, Ed by David Gordon White, MLBD, New Delhi
• Majumdar, Dr R.C., The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. VI, Bombay-1960
• Mcleod W.H. (ed.). The B40 Janam Sakhi, Guru Nank Dev University, Amritsar, 1980
• Sister Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him, Kolkata: Udbodhan Office, 1993.
• Singh, Jaideva, (Ed.), Ïiva Sútras, The Yoga of Supreme Identity, MLBD, Delhi, 1979
• Storr, Anthony Dr. Feet of clay: a study of gurus 1996 ISBN 0684834952
• Lans, Jan van der Dr. (http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/obits/vanderlans.html) (Dutch language) Volgelingen van de goeroe: Hedendaagse religieuze bewegingen in Nederland (http://www.ksgv.nl/2-18.html), written upon request for the KSGV (http://www.ksgv.nl/KSGV_English.html) published by Ambo, Baarn, 1981 ISBN 9026305214
• Swami Tejasananda, A Short Life of Vivekananda, Kolkata: Advaita Ashram Publication, 1999.