Guru

A guru (गुरू Sanskrit) is a teacher in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Based on a long line of philosophical understandings of the importance of knowledge, guru is seen in these religions as a sacred conduit, or a way to self-realization. In India and among people of Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh belief, the title retains a hallowed meaning.

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

Related Topics:
Deval Smriti - Nama Chintamani

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• rishi
• acharyam
• upadhya
• kulapati
• mantravetta

Vaishnava traditions usually categorize gurus as:

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• 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: {{ref|Kraneborg2002}}

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• 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.