Guru Did You Mean Guru?

The word guru means teacher in Sanskrit and other Sanskrit-derived languages like Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati. It originated in a Hindu context and holds a special place in Hinduism, signifying the sacred place of knowledge (vidya) and the imparter of knowledge. The word comes from the sanskrit root "gru" literally meaning heavy, weighty. Another etymology claimed in Hindu scriptures is that of dispeller of darkness (wherein darkness is seen as avidya, lack of knowledge both spiritual and intellectual), 'gu' meaning darkness, and 'ru' meaning dispeller.

The syllable gu means shadows

The syllable ru, he who disperses them,

Because of the power to disperse darkness

the guru is thus named.

Advayataraka Upanishad 14--18, verse 5)

Another popular etymology claims that the syllables gu (गु) and ru (रू), stand for darkness and light, respectively, providing the esoteric meaning that the guru is somebody who leads the disciple from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge 1 2.

In the sense mentioned here above, guru is used more or less interchangeably with "satguru" (literally: true teacher) and satpurusha. Compare also Swami. The disciple of a guru is called sishya or chela. Often a guru lives in an ashram or in a gurukula (the guru's household) together with his disciples. The lineage of a guru, spread by worthy disciples who carry on that guru's particular message, is known as the guru parampara or disciplic succession.

Gurus of several Hindu denominations, including the Surat Shabda Yoga are often referred to as Satgurus.

In the traditional sense, the word guru describes a relationship rather than an absolute and is used as a form of address only by a disciple addressing his master. Some Hindu denominations like BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha hold that a personal relationship with a living guru, revered as the embodiment of God, is essential in seeking moksha. The guru is the one who guides his or her disciple to become a jivanmukta, liberated soul that achieves salvation in his or her lifetime through God-realization.

The role of the guru continues in the original sense of the word in such Hindu traditions as Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and Bhakti schools. Indeed, it is now a standard part of Hinduism (as defined by the six Vedic streams and the Tantric Agamic streams) that a guru is one's spiritual guide on earth. In some more mystical traditions, it is believed that the guru could awaken dormant spiritual knowledge within the pupil, known as shaktipat.

In Hinduism the guru is considered a respected person with saintly qualities who enlightens the mind of his disciple, an educator from whom one receives the initiatory mantra, and one who instructs in rituals and religious ceremonies. The Vishnu Smriti and Manu Smriti regards the teacher, along with the mother and the father as the most venerable gurus (teachers) of an individual.

Some influential gurus in the Hindu tradition (there have been many) include Adi Shankaracharya, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Shri Ramakrishna. Other gurus whose legacy of continuing the Hindu yogic tradition grew in the 20th century were men like Shri Ram Chandra, Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, Shri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sivananda and Swami Chinmayananda. See also the list of Hindu gurus.

In Indian culture not having a guru or a teacher (acharya) was looked down upon as being an orphan, and a sign of misfortune. The word anatha in Sanskrit means "the one without a teacher". An acharya is the giver of gyan (knowledge) in the form of shiksha (instruction). Guru also gives diksha (initiation) that is the spiritual awakening of the disciple by the grace of the Guru. Diksha is also considered to be the procedure of bestowing the divine powers of a Guru to the disciple, through which he progresses continuously on the path of divinity.

The origin of guru can be traced back as far as the early Upanishads, where the conception of the Divine Teacher on earth first manifested from its early Brahmin associations. Indeed, there is an understanding in some sects that if the devotee were presented with the guru and God, first he would pay respects to the guru since the guru had been instrumental in leading him to God. Saints and poets have sung the glory of the guru and the God such as Kabir and Brahmanand:

Kabir

Guru and God both appear before me. To whom should I prostrate?

I bow before Guru who introduced God to me.

Brahmanand

It's my great fortune that I found Satguru, all my doubts are removed.

I bow before Guru. Guru's glory is greater than God's.

Brahmanda Purana

Guru is Shiva sans his three eyes,

Vishnu sans his four arms

Brahma sans his four heads.

He is parama Shiva himself in human form

Adi Shankara, widely considered one of the most important figures of Indian intellectual history, begins his Gurustotram or Verses to the Guru with the following Sanskrit Sloka:

Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara

Guru Sakshath Parambrahma Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha

This means: The teacher is creator Brahma; he is preserver Vishnu; he is also the destroyer Siva and he is the source of the Absolute. I offer all my efforts to that great teacher.

Guru Purnima is the day when the disciple wakes up in his fullness and expresses gratitude. The purpose of the Guru Purnima (or Poornima) celebration is to review the year and see in how much one has progressed in life and to renew one's determination and focus on the progress on the spriritual path.

Guru Puja (literally "worship of the guru") is a practice of making offerings to and requesting inspiration from the guru. Vows and commitments made by the disciple or chela, which might have lost their strength are renewed.

Guru Bhakti (literally "devotion to the guru") is considered important in many schools.

In the Upanishads five signs of sat guru (true guru) are mentioned.

In the presence of the satguru; Knowledge flourishes (Gyana raksha); Sorrow diminishes (Dukha kshaya); Joy wells up without any reason (Sukha aavirbhava); Abundance dawns (Samriddhi); All talents manifest (Sarva samvardhan).

According to the Indologist Georg Feuerstein, the preceptors were traditionally treated with great reverence in correspondence with the perceived identification of the enlightened master with the transcendental Reality and that traditionally, gurus were granted excessive authority and strongly tended to be deified. He writes that, probably to counterbalance this, some Hindu schools began to emphasize that the real teacher is the transcendental Self. ³

The Shiva Samhita, a late medieval text on Hatha yoga, emphasizes the importance of the guru for liberation and asserts that the disciple is supposed to give his all his property and livestock to the guru upon diksha (initiation). ⁴

The Vishnu Smriti and Manu Smriti regards the Acharya (teacher/guru), along with the mother and the father as the most venerable individuals: The mother and father are the first "guru". The spiritual guru is the second.

The importance of finding a true guru is one of the tenants of Hinduism. Lord Krishna says to Arjuna:

Acquire the transcendental knowledge from a Self-realized master by humble reverence, by sincere inquiry, and by service. The wise ones who have realized the Truth will impart the Knowledge to you. (Bhagavad Gita, c4 s34)

The Advaya Taraka Upanishad states that the true teacher is well versed in the Veda, a devotee of Vishnu, free from envy, a knower of yoga and intent on yoga, and always having the nature of yoga. And the text continues by stating that he who is equipped with devotion to the teacher, who is a knower of the Self and possessing above mentioned characteristics is designated as a guru. ⁵

The Mundak Upanishad says to realize the supreme godhead one should surrender himself before the guru who knows the secrets of the Vedas.

The Maitrayaniya Upanishad warns against false teachers who deceive the naive. ⁶

The Kula-Arnava-Tantra states that there are many gurus who rob the disciple's wealth and few that remove the disciple's afflictions. ⁷

Gurus of the Surat Shabda Yoga traditions often are referred to as Satgurus or Sat (True) Gurus.

On the role of the guru, Swami Sivananda asks: "Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the Guru's role in the evolution of man? It was not without reason that the India of the past carefully tended and kept alive the lamp of Guru-Tattva. It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept of the Guru, adores it and pays homage to it again and again, and thereby re-affirms its belief and allegiance to it. For, the true Indian knows that the Guru is the only guarantee for the individual to transcend the bondage of sorrow and death, and experience the Consciousness of the Reality."

Some Hindu gurus have warned against false teachers, have recommended the spiritual seeker to test the guru before accepting him, and have outlined criteria how to distinguish false from genuine ones:

Swami Vivekananda said that there are many incompetent gurus and that a true guru should understand the spirit of the scriptures, have a pure character and be free from sin, and should be selfless without desire for money and fame. ⁸
Mirinalini Mata, a direct disciple of Yogananda, said that a true guru should be humble (Self-Realization Fellowship 1978, Cassette No 2402)
Sathya Sai Baba said in a discourse (Sathya Sai Speaks, vol I, p. 197) that the hunt for rich disciples who can be fleeced has become a tragicomedy, and said in the booklet Sandeha Nivarini that the seeker should test the guru by assessing whether his words are full of wisdom, and whether he puts into practice what he preaches. ⁹

According to the religious scholar Reender Kranenborg (2002), the fact that some people follow false gurus is seen in India as due to their bad karma. ¹⁰

In his Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga (1990), Feuerstein writes that gurus occasionally exploit their followers because only few gurus enjoy full enlightenment. He further writes that many gurus in traditional Hinduism expect unquestioned obedience and constant service and possibly request hefty remuneration for initiation.

Continuing the work of the skeptic Sri Lankan professor Abraham Kovoor, the Indian amateur magician Basava Premanand (who is a former follower of several gurus) toured around in the villages of India to educate people by debunking gurus, godmen, and fakirs whom he considers frauds or self deceived, especially if they claim to perform paranormal feats, or to possess siddhis, or actively promote belief in miracles. The Ghandian rationalist, physicist, and educationalist H. Narasimhaiah founded The Committee to Investigate Miracles and Other Verifiable Superstitions in the 1970s to investigate the claims of miracles performed by gurus and godmen.

Topics in Hinduism

Shruti (primary scriptures):	Vedas \| Upanishads \| Bhagavad Gita \| Itihasa (Ramayana & Mahabharata) \| Agamas
Smriti (other texts):	Tantras \| Sutras \| Puranas \| Brahma Sutras \| Hatha Yoga Pradipika \| Smritis \| Tirukural \| Yoga Sutra
Concepts:	Avatar \| Brahman \| Kosas \| Dharma \| Karma \| Moksha \| Maya \| Ishta-Deva \| Murti \| Reincarnation \| Samsara \| Trimurti \| Turiya \| Guru-shishya tradition
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Traditional practices:	Jyotish \| Ayurveda
Rituals:	Aarti \| Bhajans \| Darshan \| Diksha \| Mantras \| Puja \| Satsang \| Stotras \| Yajna
Gurus and saints:	Shankara \| Ramanuja \| Madhvacharya \| Ramakrishna \| Vivekananda \| Sree Narayana Guru \| Aurobindo \| Ramana Maharshi \| Sivananda \| Chinmayananda \| Sivaya Subramuniyaswami \| Swaminarayan \| A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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Yugas:	Satya Yuga \| Treta Yuga \| Dwapar Yuga \| Kali Yuga
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Guru in Buddhism

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The guru's blessing is the last of the four foundations in Vajrayana Buddhism. In this foundation the disciple can continue in their experiential path on the true nature of reality. The disciple regards the guru as the embodiment of Buddha or a Bodhisattva, and as such he shows devotion and great appreciation toward him.

In the Theravada Buddist tradition, the teacher is a valued and honoured mentor worthy of great respect and a source of inspiration on the path to Enlightenment. In the Tibetan tradition, however, the teacher is viewed as the very root of spiritual realization and the basis of the entire path. Without the teacher, it is asserted, there can be no experience and insight. the guru is to be seen as Buddha. In Tibetan texts, great emphasis is placed upon praising the virtues of the guru. Tantric teachings includes generating visualisations of the guru and making offerings praising the guru. The guru becomes known as the vajra (literaly "diamond") guru, the one who is the source of initiation into the tantric deity. The disciple is asked to enter into a series of vows and commitments that ensure the maintenance of the spiritual link with the understanding that to break this link is a serious downfall.

In tantric Buddhism, a guru is essential for the initiation,practice and guidance along the path. The importance of a guru-disciple relationship, is demonstrated by ritual empowerments or initiations where the student obtains permission to practice a particular tantra.

The Dalai Lama speaking of the importance of the guru, said: "Rely on the teachings to evaluate a guru: Do not have blind faith, but also no blind criticism."

According to the Dalai Lama, the term 'living Buddha' is a translation of the Chinese word 'ho fu'. In Tibetan, the operative word is 'lama' which means 'guru'. A guru is someone who is not necessarily a Buddha but is heavy with knowledge. The term vajra is also used, meaning 'master'.

Guru plays a very special role in Vajrayana (tantric buddhism) as "the way" itself. The guru is perceived as the "state of enlightenment". The Guru is not an individual who initiates a person, but the person's own Buddha nature reflected in the personality of the Guru. In return the disciple is expected to shows great devotion to his guru who he regards as possessing the qualities of a Bodhisattva.

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.

Sikhism comes from the word Sikh, which means a strong and able Guru disciple. The core beliefs of Sikhism are: belief in one God and the teachings of the Ten Gurus, enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.

Guru Nanak, the first guru of Sikhism, was opposed to the caste system prevalent at his time in India and accepted Hindus, Muslims and people from other religions as disciples. 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.

Guru Nanak in speaking about God, says:

There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also True now.

On the importance of guru, Nanak says: Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.

The Gurus of Sikhism

#	Name	Guruship on	Prakash DOB	Date of Demise	Aged	Father	Mother
1	Guru Nanak Dev	15 April 1469	15 April 1469	22 September 1539	69	Mehta Kalu	Mata Tripta
2	Guru Angad Dev	7 September 1539	31 March 1504	29 March 1552	48	Baba Pheru	Mata Ramo
3	Guru Amar Das	25 March 1552	5 May 1479	1 September 1574	95	Tej Bhan Bhalla	Bakht Kaur
4	Guru Ram Das	29 August 1574	24 September 1534	1 September 1581	47	Baba Hari Das	Mata Daya Kaur
5	Guru Arjan Dev	28 August 1581	15 April 1563	30 May 1606	43	Guru Ram Das	Mata Bhani
6	Guru Har Gobind	30 May 1606	19 June 1595	3 March 1644	49	Guru Arjan	Mata Ganga
7	Guru Har Rai	28 February 1644	26 February 1630	6 October 1661	31	Baba Gurditta	Mata Nihal Kaur
8	Guru Har Krishan	6 October 1661	7 July 1656	30 March 1664	8	Guru Har Rai	Mata Krishan Kaur
9	Guru Tegh Bahadur	20 March 1665	1st April 1621	11 November 1675	54	Guru Har Gobind	Mata Nanki
10	Guru Gobind Singh	11 November 1675	22 December 1666	6 October 1708	42	Guru Tegh Bahadur	Mata Gujri

In addition to the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib was made the eleventh perpetual guru of Sikhs. Together they make up the Eleven Gurus of Sikhism

Types of gurus

According to the Deval Smriti there can be eleven kinds of gurus and according to Nama Chintamani there are ten types. According to his function gurus are categorized as

rishi
acharyam
upadhya
kulapati
mantravetta

Vaishnava traditions usually categorize gurus as:

vartma-pradarshaka guru (any person who first shows one the path)
shiksha guru
diksha guru
sannyasa guru (who initiates one into sannyasa order)
caittya guru (God in the heart as Paramatman)

In his book about neo-Hindu movements in the Netherlands, Kranenborg distinguishes four types of gurus in India: ¹¹

the spiritual advisor for higher caste Hindus who also performs traditional rituals and who is not connected to a temple (thus not a priest);
the enlightened master who derives his authority from his experience, such as achieving enlightenment. This type appears in bhakti movements and in tantra and asks for unquestioning obedience and can have Western followers. Westerners even have become one, for example Andrew Cohen, and Isaac Shapiro.
the avatar, a guru who claims to be an incarnation of God, or claims to be God like, such as claiming to be an instrument of God, or who is claimed so by his followers, for example Sathya Sai Baba and gurus from the Sant Mat lineage;
A "guru" in the form of a book i.e. the Guru Granth Sahib in the Sikh religion.

Guru in a Western culture context

As an alternative to established religions, some people in Europe and the USA who were not of East Indian extraction have looked up at spiritual guides and gurus from India to provide answers to the meaning of life and to achieve a more direct experience free from intellectualism and philosophy. Gurus from many denominations traveled to the Western Europe and the USA and established a following. One of the first to do so was Swami Vivekananda who addressed the World Parliament of Religions assembled in Chicago, Illinois in 1893.

In particular during the 1960s and 1970s many gurus acquired groups of young followers in Western Europe and the USA. According to the American sociologist David G. Bromley this was partially due to the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act (United States) in 1965 which permitted Asian gurus entrance to the USA. ¹² According to the Dutch Indologist Albertina Nugteren, the repeal was only one of several factors and a minor one compared with the two most important causes for the surge of all things 'Eastern': the post-war cross-cultural mobility and the general dissatisfaction with established Western values. ¹³ In contrast to the situation in India, these foreign gurus were unusual, new and alien for European and American societies and led sometimes to opposition against groups. One example was ISKCON/Hare Krishna founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966 that made demands on their followers that some considered strong. According to the professor in sociology Stephen A. Kent at the University of Alberta and Kranenborg (1974), one of the reasons why in 1970s young people including hippies turned to gurus was because they found that drugs had opened them for the existence of the transcendental or because they wanted to get high without drugs. ¹⁴ ¹⁵ According to Kent, another reason why this happened so often in the USA then, was because some anti-Vietnam war protesters and political activist became worn out or disillusioned in the possibilities to change society through political means and as an alternative turned to religious means. ¹⁶ See also conversion to NRMs and cults, conversion to Indic religions, theories about joining cults.

Gurus who established a discipleship or that were the spiritual leader of notable organizations in Western countries include:

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche a lama (Tibetan Buddhist religious teacher)
Dalai Lama
Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj, the founder of the Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat, which preaches Raganuga Bhakti, a form of selfless devotion and loving service to Krishna and Radha Rani
Jiddu Krishnamurti groomed to be a world spiritual teacher by the Theosophical Society Adyar but publicly renounced this role in 1929
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi now lives in the Netherlands
Meher Baba who had conspicuous followers
Muktananda
Paramahansa Yogananda settled in the USA and wrote the book Autobiography of a Yogi
Prabhupada who founded ISKCON/Hare Krisna in New York, an organization based on the Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect of Hinduism
Prem Rawat, known as Guru Maharaj Ji until the 1980s. Note: Maharaji dropped the title "guru" from his name in 1980.
Bhagwan/Osho/Rajneesh settled temporarily in the USA
Sathya Sai Baba never went to Europe or the USA but acquired a substantial number of followers there
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev founder of Isha Foundation and the Isha Yoga Centre has a strong volunteer force in India, US and Lebanon
Sri Aurobindo

According to Kranenborg (1984), Jesus fits the Hindu definition and characteristics of a guru. ¹⁷

Assessment and criticism by Western scholars and writers, Indologists, theologians and apostates

The American professor of philosophy David C. Lane proposes a checklist consisting of seven points to assess gurus in his book Exposing Cults: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts the Mystical. ¹⁸ One of his points is that spiritual teachers should have a high standard of moral conduct and that followers of gurus should interpret the behavior of a spiritual teacher following Ockham's razor, using common sense, and not naively use mystical explanations unnecessarily to explain away immoral behavior. Another point Lane makes is that the bigger the claims they make, such as the claims to be God, the bigger the chance that he is unreliable. His fifth point is that self-proclaimed gurus are likely to be more unreliable than gurus with a legitimate lineage.
Highlighting what he sees as the difficulty in understanding the guru from Eastern tradition in Western society, Dr. Georg Feuerstein, a well-known German-American Indologist, and one of the most important Western authorities on Yoga writes in the article Understanding the Guru from his book The Deeper Dimention of Yoga: Theory and practice:"The traditional role of the guru, or spiritual teacher, is not widely understood in the West, even by those professing to practice Yoga or some other Eastern tradition entailing discipleship. w/. Spiritual teachers, by their very nature, swim against the stream of conventional values and pursuits. They are not interested in acquiring and accumulating material wealth or in competing in the marketplace, or in pleasing egos. They are not even about morality. Typically, their message is of a radical nature, asking that we live consciously, inspect our motives, transcend our egoic passions, overcome our intellectual blindness, live peacefully with our fellow humans, and, finally, realize the deepest core of human nature, the Spirit. For those wishing to devote their time and energy to the pursuit of conventional life, this kind of message is revolutionary, subversive, and profoundly disturbing." ¹⁹. In his Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga (1990), Dr. Feuerstein writes that the importation of yoga to the West has raised questions upon the appropriateness of the spiritual discipleship and the legitimacy of spiritual authority. ²⁰
The British psychiatry professor Anthony Storr argues in his book Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus that gurus (in new additional meaning of the word in the West) share common character traits (e.g. being loners) and that some suffer from a mild form of schizophrenia. He argues that gurus who are authoritarian, paranoid, eloquent, or interfere in the private lives of their followers are the ones who are more likely to be unreliable and dangerous and further refers to Eileen Barker's checklist to recognize false gurus. Storr contends that some of them claim special spiritual insights based on personal revelation, offering new ways of spiritual development and paths to salvation. His criticism of gurus include that there is a considerable risk that gurus exploit their followers due to the big authority that have, though he acknowledges the existence of morally superior teachers who refrain from doing so. He holds the view that the idionsyncratic belief systems that some gurus promote were developed during a period of psychosis to make sense of their own minds and perceptions, and that these belief systems persist after the psychosis has gone away. Storr applies the term "guru" to figures as diverse as Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Gurdjieff, Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Jim Jones and David Koresh. ²¹ The Belgian Indologist Koenraad Elst criticized Storr's book for its avoidance of the term prophet instead of guru for several people that Storr treats and asserts that this is possibly due to Storr's pro-Western and pro-Christian cultural bias.
Rob Preece a psychotherapist and a practising Buddhist, writes in The Noble Imperfection, that while the teacher/disciple relationship can be an invaluable and fruitful experience, the process of relating to spiritual teachers also has its hazards. These are the result of naiveté amongst Westerners as to the nature of the guru/devotee relationship and the consequence of a lack of understanding on the part of Eastern teachers as to the nature of Western psychological makeup. Preece introduces the notion of transference to explain the manner in which the guru/disciple relationship develops from a more Western psychological perspective. He writes: "In its simplest sense transference occurs when unconsciously a person endows another with an attribute that actually is projected from within themselves." In developing this concept, Preece writes that when we transfer an inner quality onto another person we may be giving that person a power over us as a consequence of the projection, carrying the potential for great insight and inspiration, but also the potential for great danger: "In giving this power over to someone else they have a certain hold and influence over us it is hard to resist, while we become enthralled or spellbound by the power of the archetype".²²
Some gurus have been perceived by the media and by critical ex-followers to be abusing their status and to be either charlatans, self-deceived, businessmen pretending to be saints, cult leaders or a combination of these. See also allegations by critical ex-followers. According to the professor of religious studies at Dawson College in Quebec, Susan J. Palmer, the word has acquired very negative connotations in France. ²³
The psychiatrist Alexander Deutsch performed a long lasting observation of a small cult called The Family (not to be confused with The Family/Children of God) founded by an American guru called Baba or Jeff in New York in 1972 who increasingly showed schizophrenic behavior. Deutsch observed that his mostly Jewish followers interpreted the guru's pathological mood swings as expressions of different Hindu deities and interpreted his madness as holy madness and his cruel deeds as punishments that they had earned. After the guru had dissolved the cult in 1976 his mental disorder was confirmed by Jeff's retrospective accounts to an author. ²⁴ ²⁵Deutsch also visited the ashram of the guru Sathya Sai Baba in India and noted there that a group of young followers interpreted disconfirming events as tests of faith engineered by the guru or as the guru's divine play, just as Krishna's leelas. ²⁶
Jan van der Lans (1933-2002), a professor of psychology of religion at the Catholic University of Nijmegen wrote in a book about followers of gurus commissioned by the Netherlands based Catholic Study Center for Mental Health about dangers that exist when the personal contact between the guru and the disciple is absent, such as an increased chance of idealization of the guru by the student (myth making and deification), and an increase of the chance of false mysticism. He further argues that the deification of a guru is a traditional element 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 can be lost, resulting in the relationship between the guru and disciple degenerating into a boundless, uncritical personality cult. ²⁷
in their 1993 book The Guru Papers, the authors Diana Alstadt and Joel Kramer reject the guru-disciple tradition because of what they see as its structural defects that include the authoritarian control of the guru over the disciple, that is in their view increased by the guru's encouragement of surrender to him, and assert that gurus are likely to be hypocrites, because to attract and maintain followers, gurus must present themselves as purer and superior than ordinary people and other gurus. ²⁸

Other uses of the word 'Guru'

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.)

There is a 1990s alternative rapper named Guru (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal).
There is also a 2002 movie titled The Guru.

Notable scandals and controversies

Some notable scandals and controversies regarding gurus or the groups that they founded are:

The lifestyle of Osho/Bhagwan/Rajneesh with his 93 Rolls Royces at his disposal (though as a gift from his followers), a bioterrorist attack at The Dalles, Oregon by some of his followers, and his unusual teachings that contradicted both traditional morality and Hindu norms, the group therapy sessions with little restraints, and the liberal sexual freedom that he promoted.
The Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo founded by the guru Shoko Asahara in Japan
Accusations of sexual abuse and false miracles performed by Sathya Sai Baba that resulted in a front page article in the magazine India Today, questions in the British parliament and European parliament, critical TV documentaries produced by the BBC and Danish Radio that were aired in the United Kingdom, Canada, on BBC World, in Denmark and in Australia.

References

^ Bromley, David G., Ph.D. & Anson Shupe, Ph.D., Public Reaction against New Religious Movements article that appeared in Cults and new religious movements: a report of the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the American Psychiatric Association, ed by Marc Galanter, M.D., (1989) ISBN 0-89042-212-5
^ 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 ed 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
^ Feuerstein, Georg Dr. Encyclopedic dictionary of yoga Published by Paragon House 1st ed ion (1990) ISBN 155778244X
^ Feuerstein, Georg Dr. The Deeper Dimension of Yoga: Theory and Practice, Shambhala Publications, released on (2003) ISBN 1570629285
^ Kent, Stephen A. Dr. From slogans to mantras: social protest and religious conversion in the late Vietnam war era Syracuse University press ISBN 0-8156-2923-0 (2001)
^ Kramer, Joel, and Diana Alstad The guru papers: masks of authoritarian power (1993) ISBN 1-883319-00-5
^ Kranenborg, Reender (Dutch language) Zelfverwerkelijking: oosterse religies binnen een westerse subkultuur (En: Self-realization: eastern religions in a Western Sub-culture, published by Kampen Kok (1974)
^ Kranenborg, Reender (Dutch language) Een nieuw licht op de kerk? Bijdragen van nieuwe religieuze bewegingen voor de kerk van vandaag (En: A new perspective on the church? Contributions of new religious movements for today's church), the Hague Boekencentrum (1984) ISBN 9023908090
^ Kranenborg, Reender (Dutch language) Neohindoeïstische bewegingen in Nederland : een encyclopedisch overzicht (En: Neo-Hindu movements in the Nehterlands, published by Kampen Kok cop. (2002) ISBN 9043504939
^ Lane, David C., Exposing Cults: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts the Mystical (1984)
^ Lans, Jan van der Dr. (Dutch language) Volgelingen van de goeroe: Hedendaagse religieuze bewegingen in Nederland, written upon request for the KSGV published by Ambo, Baarn, 1981 ISBN 9026305214
^ Nugteren, Albertina (Tineke) Dr. (Associate professor in the phenomenology and history of Indian religions at the faculty of theology at the university of Tilburg)Tantric Influences in Western Esotericism, article that appeared at a 1997 CESNUR conference and that was published in the book New Religions in a Postmodern World ed by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg RENNER Studies in New religions Aarhus University press, (2003) ISBN 8772887486
^ Palmer, Susan, article in the book NRMs in the 21st Century: legal, political, and social challenges in global perspective ed by Phillip Charles Lucas and Thomas Robbins, (2004) ISBN 0145965772
^ Storr, Anthony Dr. Feet of clay: a study of gurus 1996 ISBN 0684834952
^ Sathya Sai Baba Sandeha Nivarini: Clearance of Spiritual Doubts available online published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust (undated) ISBN 81-7208-010-7
^ Preece, Rob, "The teacher-student relationship" in The Noble Imperfection: The challenge of individuation in Buddhist life, Mudras Publications
^ Swami Vivekananda Karma-yoga and Bhakti-yoga (1937)

Bibliography

Arjun Dev, Guru, Guru Granth Sahib, Amritsar-1604 AD., Rag Bhairo
Aurobindo, Sri, The Foundation of Indian Culture, Pondicherry, 1959
Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist Bloomsbury publishing, 1998 ISBN 1-58234-034-X
Garden, Mary The Serpent Rising: a journey of spiritual seduction - 2003 ISBN 1-8770590-50-1
Gupta, Dr. Hari Ram. A Life-Sketch of Guru Nanak in Guru Nanak, His Life, Time and Teachings, ed by Gurmukh Nihal Singh, New Delhi, 1981
Gurdev Singh, Justice, Perspectives on the Sikh Tradition. Patiala-1986
Holtje, D. (1995). From Light to Sound: The Spiritual Progression. Temecula, CA: MasterPath, Inc. ISBN 1885949006
Isliwari Prasad, Dr. The Mughal Empire, Allahabad-1974
Jain, Nirmal Kumar, Sikh Religion and Philosophy. New Delhi- 1979
Kapur Singh, Parasarprasna or The Baisakhi of Guru Gobind Singh (An Exposition of Sikhism), Jalandhar-1959
Kovoor, Abraham Dr. Begone Godmen published by Shri Aswin J. Shah Jaico Publishing House, Bombay - 1976
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
Mehta, Gita Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, first published in 1979 ISBN 0679754334
Sister Niva, The Master as I Saw Him, Kolkata: Udbodhan Office, 1993.
Olsen, G. (1999). MasterPath: The Divine Science of Light and Sound, (Vol. 1). Temecula, CA: MasterPath, Inc. ISBN 1885949014
Padoux, André The Tantric Guru, in: Tantra in Practice, Ed by David Gordon White, MLBD, New Delhi
Singh, K. (1999). Naam or Word. Blaine, WA: Ruhani Satsang Books. ISBN 0942735943
Singh, Jaideva, (Ed.), Ïiva Sútras, The Yoga of Supreme Identity, MLBD, Delhi, 1979
Swami Tejasananda, A Short Life of Vivekananda, Kolkata: Advaita Ashram Publication, 1999.

External links

Buddhism

Hinduism

Surat Shabda Yoga

Science Of Spirituality
Ruhani Satsang USA
Unity Of Man
Radha Soami Satsang Beas
The Radhasoami tradition: A Critical History of Guru Successorship by David Christopher Lane, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, MSAC
Sant Mat Mation Net
MasterPath

Sikhism

Other sites

Understanding the Guru by Dr. Georg Feuerstein, author of The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice. (2000)
Guruism - a Hindu countermission by Johannes Aagaard of the Denmark based Dialog Center, an organization belonging to the Christian countercult movement
Digital Baba 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
"Ego Death Is Not A Game", an excerpt from Andrew Cohen's book In Defense of the Guru Principle.
Why The Cynicism About Indian Gurus? from Rediff on the net India, March 30 2001 (VNN) — article by Francois Gautier

Sites to assess gurus

Exposing cults: when the skeptical mind confronts the mystical Excerpts on assessing the authenticity of a guru from a book by Dr. David C. Lane, Garland Publishing, Inc. (1994)
Sarlo' Guru Rating Service Ratings of hundreds of gurus by Sarlo. Sarlo is a follower of the guru Osho/Rajneesh/Bhagwan and also has a corresponding Yahoo! group.
The False Guru Test Checklist of 25 points

Critical sites

The Myth of the Totally Enlightened Guru article by John Horgan, requires sign-up
How to Become a Cult Guru or, You Too Can Induce Mass Suicide practical tips for charlatans and con men by Phil Milstein. Satirical website.
Lotus-feet of Clay A Reluctant Mystic Looks At Spiritual Movements by John Wren-Lewis
About Sai Baba and other self-proclaimed Godmen webpage of the Indian Skeptic about gurus and godmen
Prabir Ghosh Gurubusters head of the Science and Rationalists’ Association of India
Personal disempowerment in worshipping gurus: exemplified by the Sathya Sai Baba cult long essay in 8 parts by the critical former follower Robert Priddy

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