Guru
The Initiator; Spiritual Preceptor or Mentor; Cult Leader
No other word has so many emotion
- laden overtones in the Hindu faith as “Guru.” What it means depends upon the importance attached to it by the particular belief system. Curiously the Vedas has no place for this very
important concept of later Hinduism. In the Upanishads, which is the first systemic discourse of the process of teaching that gurus’ use in transmitting
spiritual knowledge, there are many episodes of transmission of knowledge and awakenings but no great fuss about the role of the guru is made. Considering how important the guru is to Indian culture and how the word has migrated across cultures and languages to become a commonality in the vocabulary of mankind, it is somewhat strange to realize that the guru was not always such a dominant feature of the spiritual and cultural landscape of the Hindus. In the Vedas we never encounter the word and in the Upanishads infrequently, and never in terms of such reverence as it is currently used. They were texts concerned with direct revelation, with the nature of seers and the divine word. It was only later, much later, that the necessity of a guru, indeed its nonnegotiable character, became part of the Hindu psyche.
It is also interesting to note that the first great Indian historical guru figure was Chanakya, mentor to the emperor Chandragupta Maurya, a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but not, by any means, a spiritual exemplar. The attitude of total control he demonstrated over the life of his disciple however spilled over into religious circles and remains a disturbing constant even today.
Initially a guru was merely somebody who initiated you into the life spiritual after which you were more or less left on your own. The story of Buddha is one such example; nobody makes a fuss about who was his guru. This reflected the norms of the time. About one thousand five hundred back however there grew up a new trend of thought, which held that the spiritual life could never come to full and complete fruition unless the person was initiated with the living word of power by the guru. This rapidly became the dominant motif of all the various faiths that made up the mosaic of Hinduism. No matter their differences in theology and outlook, the unparalleled importance of the guru was never seriously doubted. This was especially true after the great tsunami of bhakti began to overpower India from the 10th century inwards. For the bhakti poets the guru was the real father, the real giver of life for they alone could initiate them into the love of God. Thus arose the famous formulation
Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo Maheshwara
Gurusakshat Parabrahma
Tasmeye Shri Guruev Namaha
Or - The Guru is Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahdeva
The guru is indeed the very Brahman
I reverence that mighty Guru
Considering the change in stature of the guru, mystics going so far as to say that the guru is to be reverenced before god for without the guru you would never have found Him, it was inevitable that there was a special day marked off in the Hindu festival calendar to celebrate their importance. This is the great day of Guru Purnima. It is hardly ever mentioned in anthologies of festivals but in sheer impact and import to the collective consciousness of the people it is certainly one of the most important days of the year. For ashrams and maths and all the spiritual centers it is certainly and obviously a great day but the festival has some of its greatest members and celebrants from the community of the performing arts. The guru in those fields is held in no less reverence than a purely religious guru and in many cases there is no difference as the arts are regarded as spiritual practice anyway. As a very pleasant consequence the day is now marked with a great many dance and classical music performances allover the country and even in the places where thee Inndian Diaspora has reached. De facto if not de jure, Guru Purnima has become one of the most important expressions of the Hindu cultural ethos.
Along with the primary guru who initiates you into the spiritual life and thus forms the most important human relationship you can ever have there are many Upa-gurus or little gurus. These can be other humans, beasts or even natural features of the world you inhabit. Anything or anybody that causes a shift in perception and consciousness qualifies to become an Upa-guru. Upa-gurus are thus theoretically endless but there can be only One Guru.