Guru

A guru is a teacher or spiritual guide, particularly in Hindu, Sikh, or Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The word derives from a Sanskrit term that means "profound," "dense," or "heavy." However, a popular folk etymology for the term breaks it into its component syllables in order to propose that the distinctive function of the guru is to lead devotees or disciples from darkness (gu) to light (ru).

A religious guru usually offers individual and group instruction that supplements what can be found in published or otherwise publicly available sources of information. He or she is likely to serve devoted followers in some combination of capacities that are tailored to fit individual needs and that include the practical and the inspirational as well as the informative dimensions of teaching. Practical advice from a guru, as from a sports coach or similar adviser, is likely to extend into the areas of diet, relationships, patterns of work and rest, and personal religious practice. Inspiration may be conveyed by example from the way the guru lives, or from songs and stories the guru shares.

Many of the roles typically embodied by religious gurus in Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist traditions are similar to the functions performed by spiritual directors or confessors in Roman Catholic Christianity. Gurus are what social theorist Max Weber called types of religious virtuosi. As such, a guru may offer more than one level of initiation to followers and may scale the pedagogical process to suit the various levels of initiates. In such instances, the teachings and practices fitted to a disciple at one level may be considerably different from those assumed to be appropriate for another level. Hence the guru and his or her community will be involved in secrecy as a consequence of organizing instruction around the varying levels or gradations of initiation.

A traditional Hindu text that has become universally popular in the modern world—the Bhagavad G?t? —exemplifies these themes. It is a classic model of the secret dialogue between a guru (Krishna) and a disciple (Arjuna), in this case prompted by a major crisis in the life of the disciple. In the space of eighteen short chapters, Krishna discloses to the perplexed Arjuna by means of speech and induced visions the esoteric (hidden or private) meanings of terms that are widely and popularly familiar within Hindu tradition, overlooked spiritual dimensions within himself, and the unforeseen profundity of his guru. Arjuna becomes transformed by the initiatory power of the conversation represented in the G?t?. Similar stories about guru-disciple encounters are an integral part of Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist spiritual lore.

Spiritual traffic between India and North America over the last century brought many sorts of gurus to the New World. Some of them were more like bishops or popes than spiritual directors or confessors in their claims to spiritual authority. Others were attractively charismatic, and a few were so prone to excesses in their style of living and teaching that they generated public scandal. Moreover, several of the imported gurus designated Western successors. By the end of the twentieth century, the term and the phenomenon are well on the way to becoming indigenous aspects of American religion.

See alsoBhagavad G?t?; Hinduism; Sikhism; Tibetan Buddhism.

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Gene R. Thursby