By Kumar Punithavel
[monsoonjournal.com]
In the modern world, every day we see some one comes out and proclaims them selves as a Guru. We see Karate Guru, Gym Guru, Dance Guru, Music Guru to name a few. If one knows the real meaning of Guru then it would be easy to weed away the false ones. Webster English dictionary gives the meaning of the word Guru as, ‘A Hindu spiritual teacher’. In general terms the word Guru in Sanskrit language means teacher. Hence any teacher may be called a Guru. In the original meaning in Sanskrit it was specifically used to denote a spiritual teacher.
In Sanskrit language the word ‘Gu’ stands for darkness, and ‘Ru” stands for light or dispel. Hence the word Guru means dispeller of darkness. An interesting verse in Advayataraka Upanishad states as follows;
The syllable gu means shadows
The syllable ru, he who disperses them,
Because of the power to disperse darkness
The guru is named thus. Verse 5; 14—18.
In the spiritual journey of a person these Guru’s played a very important role. One may ask whether it is important to have a Guru to achieve spiritual knowledge. Gaining spiritual knowledge is by proper discipline. This spiritual exertion towards an intended goal is called Sadhana. It is not about gaining knowledge, but about a way of living. What ever number of manuals one may read it is of no use unless some one teaches the practical aspect.
The analogy can be pursued further. If one wants to learn to drive a vehicle, he goes to a driving school. If the school just sold the person a driving manual, he certainly will feel short changed. Like wise, the practical nature of spirituality can perhaps only be learnt from a guru, a teacher who has himself acquired wisdom from study and practice at the feet of his own master.
These Gurus are one who gives the transcendental knowledge (Vidya) which is the goal of Hindu religion from which the Guru’s hail. In the great liturgical book Bgavat Geeta is a dialog between God who incarnate in the form of Lord Krishna and Arjuna a noble worrier. The discussion and the relationship between the two considered to be expression of the ideal Guru/disciple relationship. In Geeta itself, Lord Krishna speaks of the importance of finding a Guru to Arjuna;
‘Find a wise teacher, honour him,
Ask him your questions, serve him;
Some one who has seen the truth
Will guide you on the path of wisdom’ Ch4; Sl 34
Saint Manickavasagar hails Lord Shiva as his Guru. He sings on the third line of Sivapuranam;
‘Hail, foot of the Guru-pearl that rules Gogali’
Again in his Achopathgam psalm on verse three he sings
‘Me trusting every lie as truth,-plunged in desire of women’s charms,-
He guarded that I perished not with soul perturbed,-the Lord Supreme,
On whose side the Lady dwells! He brought me neigh His jewelled feet,-
‘Twas thus my Guru gave me grace: O rapture! Who so blest as I?’
A Hindu is expected to find a good Guru who will enlighten his path on transcendental knowledge. We see in the life of Lord Buddha the great rebellion of Hindu religion who roamed all over India to find a good Guru. He learned under many Gurus. Once, when he had learned all that could be taught by his Guru Alara, his Guru said to him “Well done Siddhartha, you have reached the same level of concentration that I too have reached. I have nothing more to teach you. You are my equal. Join me in instructing others here who are trying to reach the highest”. When Buddha refused the offer and asked permission to leave his reply was “Siddhartha, you were the best pupil I ever had. I am sorry to see you go. But this is all I can teach you. If you find something superior, please come back and instruct me. May you reach your goal without obstruction”. The above gives the need of a Guru in training a person in spiritual achievement. The spiritual learning is a journey on a lonely path. Guru helps the person with the orientation but it is the duty of that person to go on his journey.
There are also circumstances where the disciples had become the Guru. St. Arulnanthi was the Guru of St. Meykandar’s father. One day when St. Arulnanthi met his disciples’ son St. Meykandar expounding St. Arulnanthy system of philosophy, in his great vanity, asked him, “Define anava (ego). St. Meykandar without even parting his lips pointed his finger at St. Arulnanthi himself. The elder came to his senses immediately: he got over his false ego, and fell at the feet of St. Meykandar and there after became the disciple of his disciples’ son.
One could see it is the role of the Guru to teach transcendental knowledge to the disciples. They are venerated more than the God himself. St. Pathirakiriar the Hindu saint disciple of St. Patinathar attained beatitude before his Guru by worshiping his Guru and no other deity. This clearly shows the important role a Guru occupies in the journey of a seeker.
By virtue of the unique position and control a Guru has on his disciple one cannot over stress the need in selecting a good liberated person as the Guru. Frequently we find many unscrupulous persons making use of the title. Spiritual teachers should have high standards of moral conduct and that followers of Gurus should interpret the behavior of a spiritual teacher by using common sense, and, should not naively use mystical explanations unnecessarily to explain immoral behavior. Nothing should compromise morality. Another point to remember is that the bigger the claim a Guru make, such as the claim to be God, the bigger the chance is that the person is unreliable. Self-proclaimed Gurus are likely to be more unreliable than Gurus with a legitimate lineage.
There are two other categories of people we come across in ones religious aspiration. They are clergy and priests. People have a tendency to call them Guru. Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from Greek term meaning heritage. Clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life to teach or otherwise help spreading the religion’s doctrine and practices. They often deal with life cycle with rituals like naming ceremony, wedding, death etc. They also found to do the temple worship and outside life cycle rituals.
The other one is the priest or priestess is a person having the authority to perform and administer religious rites. Priests are generally believed to have contact with the deities of the religion of their priesthood. This is the reason for the tendency of an average person to respect them. After all is said and done they too are humans and do have the tendency to exploit the situation. These priests were called panda in Indian dialect. After his visit to Kasi Visvanath temple Mahatma Gandhi observed in his auto biography I quote; ‘If any one doubts the infinite mercy of God, let him have a look at these sacred places. How much hypocrisy and irreligion does the Prince of Yogis suffer to be perpetrated in His holy name? He proclaimed long ago “Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap” There is thus hardly any need for God to interfere. He laid down the law and, as it were, retired’.
There was another great King of Yogi’s in the west. I refer to Lord Jesus. I quote from bible Matthew 23; “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Mosses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’. In the last two millenniums much hasn’t changed. We see men of religious order the same in every religion. They cannot be called Gurus.
There are many who do perform miracles. These men and women are also are frequently called Guru. When some one does something which does not fall into the normal intelligent comprehension we tend to call them either miracle or magic. If a divine connotation is given it is called miracle! I do not trivialise the great saints of the past and present. The greatness of these holy men is not the miracles but the guidance they gave to the world. The miracles they performed benefited those who were fortunate to come into contact with them. But their teachings are for ever. Take the case of Lord Jesus. If he made a lame to walk it is of no use for the rest of us. But the Sermon on the Mount has guided many generations and will continue to generations.
There is a tendency to make use of the awe of the devotees to propagate the religion, and trivialize the teachings. It was Lord Jesus who said in Mtt24: 35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away”. One must also note true mystic person don’t go from one place to another blowing the trumpet. Only tricksters and magicians do so. Sathaka or spiritual students should go in search of a Guru and not the other way about. Please remember men flocked to see Lord Jesus and Lord Buddha not them went around looking for disciples. Another interesting fact to remember is that Lord Jesus again and again referred to him self as son of man for he was indeed great and need no authentication by divine linage.
So coming to the original question who is a Guru we may sum up as follows. He is the teacher who guides you in the journey of spirituality to attain transcended state of mind. He is a person to be venerated as much as the God himself. Calling other teachers as Guru is senseless. It is like when an adult male and female agrees to live together and raise a family we call the bond a marriage. But it is wrong to call a marriage when two persons of the same gender agree to live together. It is true in both cases it is joining together, but it will be a case of taking meaning of the word out of context. When two persons of same gender living together it is better to coin a new word so that one could understand the true meaning and differentiate the two situations. The teachers of various subjects’ like tap dancing and pole dancing may be called as achariyas if you must use an East Indian oriental name, certainly not Guru!