GURU AND TEACHER

GURU AND TEACHER

Different views – a collection.

Difference Between a Guru and a Teacher

A teacher takes responsibility of your growth
A Guru makes you responsible for your growth
 
A teacher gives you things you do not have and require
A Guru takes away things you have and do not require
 
A teacher answers your questions
A Guru questions your answers
 
A teacher helps you get out of the maze
A Guru destroys the maze
 
A teacher requires obedience and discipline from the pupil
A Guru requires trust and humility from the pupil
 
A teacher clothes you and prepares you for the outer journey
A Guru strips you naked and prepares you for the inner journey
 
A teacher is a guide on the path
A Guru is a pointer to the way
 
A teacher sends you on the road to success
A Guru sends you on the road to freedom
 
A teacher explains the world and its nature to you
A Guru explains yourself and your nature to you
 
A teacher makes you understand how to move about in the world
A Guru shows you where you stand in relation to the world
 
A teacher gives you knowledge and boosts your ego
A Guru takes away your knowledge and punctures your ego
 
A teacher instructs you
A Guru constructs you
 
A teacher sharpens your mind
A Guru opens your mind
 
A teacher shows you the way to prosperity
A Guru shows the way to serenity
 
A teacher reaches your mind
A Guru touches your soul
 
A teacher gives you knowledge
A Guru makes you wise
 
A teacher gives you maturity
A Guru returns you to innocence
 
A teacher instructs you on how to solve problems
A Guru shows you how to resolve issues
 
A teacher is a systematic thinker
A Guru is a lateral thinker
 
A teacher will punish you with a stick
A Guru will punish you with compassion
 
A teacher is to pupil what a father is to son
A Guru is to pupil what mother is to her child
 
One can always find a teacher
But a Guru has to find and accept you
 
A teacher leads you by the hand
A Guru leads you by example
 
When a teacher finishes with you, you graduate
When a Guru finishes with you, you celebrate
 
When the course is over you are thankful to the teacher
When the discourse is over you are grateful to the Guru

The relationship of guru and disciple depicts the only real way to retrace the truant soul's footsteps back to God. In the beginning it is wise to compare many spiritual paths and teachers, but when the real guru and the real teaching are found, then the restless searching must cease.
The thirsty one should not keep seeking wells, but should go to the best well and daily drink its nectar. That is why in India, in the beginning we seek many until we find the right path, and the right master, and then remain loyal to him through death and eternity, until final emancipation.
We can have many teachers first, but only one guru, and no more teachers afterward. Teachers call those who come to learn from them, students, but a guru calls the spiritual aspirant who comes to him, a disciple. Jesus himself said, "None cometh unto the Father but by Me." This signifies that human souls are mostly truant children of God roaming away from Him in the wilderness of suffering.
Such souls are impelled by the scourge of sorrow to have faint glimpses of their lost home of spiritual blessedness. They begin to long for God, and inwardly pray for a way out of the conundrum of life and then, when the prayers of such errant children become deep and strong enough, God is touched and sends help. It is then that the one Father of all sends a superman on earth to give help to the lost seeking souls.
Such a man, ordained by God to help the individual in response to deep prayer, is not an ordinary teacher, but a guru, or a vehicle, whose body, speech, mind, and spirituality God Himself uses to bring the lost souls back to the home of immortality.
We meet little teachers in the beginning through our vague desires to know truth. But the guru (or preceptor) is the living embodiment of scriptural truths and is the agent of salvation appointed by God in response to a devotee's demands for release from all the bondage of matter. It is very difficult to choose the right path from the many religious paths and varied religious opinions.
Most people, who wander from church to church seeking intellectual inspiration, never find God, for intellectual inspiration is necessary only until one begins to "drink" God. Otherwise, intellectual inspiration, (when it forgets to taste God), is detrimental to Self-realization.
It is more easy to follow a living, breathing, talking man (who lives truth) than to follow mute scriptures. If a saint has reached his goal, whether by the shorter yoga route, or by the long spiritual-prayer way, he experiences actual Self-realization. Anyone following him certainly will reach the goal by using either method.
Unlike ordinary prayers, real prayers, which alone can bring conscious response from God, must be offered in meditation, intensely, for many hours continuously until divine response comes. Usually, there is instantaneous recognition between guru and disciple, but sometimes it takes a long time to remember consciously that past close friendship, or to recall the forgotten memory of past incarnations, so long buried beneath ash-heaps of ignorance.

Defining Teacher and Guru

Guru in Sanskrit
What is the difference between a guru and a teacher?  Nothing.  "Guru" is the Sanskrit word for teacher (shown on the left).  About the only difference is that to many people the word guru implies a teacher of an eastern tradition or particularly a "spiritual master" as in Hinduism and Buddhism.  It can also infer the guru/chela (student) relationship and its dynamics.
Webster defines a teacher as "one who teaches; especially: one whose occupation is to instruct."  No offence to Mr. Webster, but I have found that those who make an occupation of teaching, in the conventional sense, seem to only be able to take one so far.  Hinduism in particular defines the following four stages of the guru principle:
    One's parents who provide one with a body and acquaint one with life and its problems.
    The teachers of schools and universities, the masters of crafts and all others who concern themselves with giving one their mundane education.
    The Spiritual Master, the one who knows the way and explains the sense and purpose of life, the way to self-realization and also shows its dangers and obstacles.  (This is subdivided by some into the siksa and diksa guru designations)
    The cosmic guru, God, that the spiritual master leads us to and as avatar (divine incarnation) is fully enlightened.
The failing of many "Comparative" Teachers
When it comes to the subjects of Religion, Theology and Philosophy, especially when comparing them, most "professional" teachers seem to leave something to be desired.  Albeit, I can only speak from my own
personal experience, but the majority of "professional" teachers I have had in this field have been better at Comparative Religion Bashing.  Instead of displaying the harmony of the messages of the great teachers throughout history, they usually advance the school they were taught or personally believe in, and spend the rest of their time detracting from, or at best, patronizing the other schools of thought.  While this is quite understandable, it is not what one wants in an environment that calls itself "Comparative" whatever.
Pastors and ministers, being the Christian equivalent to Gurus, unfortunately can be some of the worst at the above, but we should be kind before judging them too harshly.  Most seminaries and bible colleges spend more time teaching their own view on theology and don't really promote the idea of independent interpretation.  The intent of these institutions is to propagate their teachings, not to teach their students how to create new ones.  The origin of the problem lies in the egocentric idea that most religions and schools of thought promote in their students that they have the "one and only TRUE way" (emphasis usually implied).  The difficulty is that when one questions their tradition, the assumption becomes that one is implying that their path is not a "true way," when actually the question should be; is it the "one and only?"
A Vedic explanation for "why so many religions?"
Vedic philosophy discusses this very question in an interesting way.  According to the Upanishads, there are 8,400,000 forms of life on this planet and 400,000 are people at different levels of spiritual evolution.
Some are at the beginning of their journey and cannot accept the idea that there may be anything greater than themselves.  These atheists will in time grow to realize a greater power in the universe.  At the beginning of this growth, it may be that they are not intellectually capable of accepting the concept of a single divinity and need a polytheistic view with a separate deity for different aspects.  In time, these students of the universe become aware that these aspects are of a single entity and start to worship that single entity, which many call God.  This is given as the main reason why religion takes on so many forms and yet all lead to the same destination.
Spiritual Evolution and Relationship to Deity
The entire 9th chapter of the Bhagavad-gita discusses this evolution of the soul and God's relationship to the demigods (created beings with specific
functions within creation, worshipped by polytheists as gods).  As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita regarding God, demigods and man's worship of them:
    Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods.  Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.


Bhagavad-gita 4:12 (Prabh)
    As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.  Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires.  But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.  Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary.
Bhagavad-gita 7:21-23a (Prabh)
    Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kunti, but they do so in a wrong way.
Bhagavad-gita 9:23 (Prabh)
Since God is the source of all, then God can use anyone as a teacher and much of the time the best teachers for that particular moment don't even know that they are teaching.  This is what the old expression "out of the mouth of babes" alludes to.  If you think about it, nearly everyone has had the experience where something will be weighing heavily on the mind and with no solution apparent, some stranger on the street or random event will answer the problem or at least inspire the beginnings of a solution.  If your experiences with this are anything like mine, they are proof of the saying, "God works in mysterious ways."
Where the Truth looses to Ego
This egocentric attachment to one's religion also comes in when one is given a revelation or new insight.  This is the most common source of the many denominations that will inevitably appear as time goes on.  When new insights are given, due to ego, they stop being God's message and become the "property" of whomever was God's "mouth-piece."  So in short
order, the "mouth-piece" and their followers feel they now have the new and improved "one and only true way."
These are the fruits of secularism: ego, disharmony and actually a furthering of the distance between our self and God's true nature.  Learn from all that are able to teach and rejoice in the unlimited number of manifestations that God gives us to work with.  Allow yourself to go deeper than the surface and get the nectar from all those who follow God.  For as the Apostle Paul wrote;
    All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Teacher teaches, but the guru changes life
There is a fundamental difference between a teacher and a guru. Teacher is the one who teaches us about the objects and processes of the external world, while guru teaches us the techniques of exploring the reality of our inner being- i.e. self, by which our life changes.Progress in life is possible by learning from a good teacher, but real peace and happiness comes only by learning from an enlightened guru. The word guru in Sanskrit means 'one who removes your darkness or ignorance'.
Scriptures talk elaborately about the qualities of a guru. Guru should be not only well-versed in knowledge, he should also be free from unnecessary desire for external objects, name, fame, etc. Then only can he be focussed on internal knowledge. Another word used for guru is 'Acharya'- "Swayam acharati iti acharya", meaning, one who conducts self as per his preachings is the acharya. The main learning comes from the conduct of a guru.
There are very few gurus who can qualify to be an acharya. The real gurus are all hidden, and the celebrity gurus areseen everywhere. Celebrity gurus talk about futility of wealth, name, fame, etc., but they themselves are not free from desire for these things. Some gurus take away your wealth but not your anger, greed, jealousy, attachments. People who want quick gains fall for them. The only way our life can change for better is by getting correct knowledge. So, one should expect nothing else but knowledge of inner self from a guru. And by following this knowledge one should experience inner happiness.
It is very rare to find a genuine guru. But where do you search for a real guru? The cardinal principle is that when there is an intense desire in you to go inward and search for inner happiness, a guru will automatically come in your life. The knowledge of inner world is presented in our scriptures. But it is not easy to imbibe that knowledge by merely reading their English translation. That is why we need a real guru to interpret this knowledge for us. Sometimes words may have differentintended meaning. You know the real meaning of words only by understanding the communication style of the person. Since correct communication between guru-shishya is essential, it helps to remain in close contact with the guru.
That is possible when you offer to serve the guru in whatever little way a guru may want. That is why acharya upasana is indicated as one of the 20 fundamental spiritual values in Bhagvad Gita. Sewa is an expression of the attitude we have. When devotion is there, it is bound to get expressed. Acharya upasana is an attitude of gratitude to a guru.
Purity of mind is required before the esoteric knowledge of the soul is internalised by us. Otherwise no amount of preaching goes inside. And even if we understand knowledge, it does not create happiness in us. Purity of mind comes only though poonya karma. In the process of serving the guru, we create some poonya karma. The ultimate test of whether correct knowledge is being passed down, or not, lies in the fact that the disciple has to feel greater happiness and peace. The inferiority has to go. One feels the joy of complete freedom after knowing the reality of our soul as sat-chit-ananda.

The Difference between a Teacher and a Guru
There is a BIG difference between a teacher and a guru, or at least a realized guru.  Let's use that as the definition of guru, because there are a lot of fakes.  Have you ever thought about this in your life of spiritual seeking?  Let's look at a few of the differences.
1. A teacher can be a damn good teacher and not be realized and a realized being may not be a great teacher, but they carry force.  The ability to teach or not comes with practice, not inner clarity.
2. A guru will always lead you in the best direction for your Soul and never that of your ego.  As such, if you do not have faith in the guru, their advice will usually be met with harsh criticism.
3.  A guru will say and do whatever it takes to get your Soul to evolve, and at times, that means saying what is needed in the moment to give you a push.  A teacher speaks universal truth.  To a guru, truth becomes relative to what will inspire your quickest growth ad process of learning.
4.  A guru does not truly care about your words of praise or criticism.  A guru stands for dharma alone and does not compromise dharma for any earthly gain.  In other words, they know their shit.  And if that contradicts common notion or thought process, oh well!  True knowing can be known only by a few, not by the masses.
5.  If a guru is taking you to a point of completion of your journey, rest assured you will have conflict along the way.   A teacher is not only not capable of this, but would not want to risk upsetting you or losing you as a client.
6. Gurus in the West will appear much different than Gurus int eh East, but these basic principles can help you tell them apart.
7. A guru does not need to be known as the biggest or best, although to manifest in this realm of existence, will usually come with a deep confidence that can be misconstrued as negative ego.  They work from a place of sincerity and clarity.  There is a difference in ego for the sake of desire and ego for the sake of Divine manifestation.
Just some basic things to think about.  Later, the difference between a guru and an incarnation force.








1. Introduction
What if children were told to educate themselves in modern sciences without any teacher or any access to prior knowledge gained over centuries? What if we had to reinvent the wheel in every walk of life, without having access to knowledge that was already available from authorities in the field? If this were the case, we would spend a lifetime trying to educate ourselves without making much headway or perhaps even going down a wrong path.


In the same way, a guide is very much required in our spiritual journey too. It stands to reason that a guide in any field needs to be an authority in that particular field. According to Spiritual science a person who is an authority in the field of Spirituality is known as a Guru.
There is a saying that in the kingdom of the blind the seeing man is a king. With a highly activated sixth sense, the Guru is the totally ‘seeing’ person in the kingdom of the spiritually blind and ignorant. He is someone who has already walked the spiritual road under the guidance of his Spiritual Guide, and has access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. In this article, we will explain who can be considered a Spiritual Guide or a Guru and His characteristics.
2. Definition of a Guru or an evolved spiritual guide
There are various aspects to the Supreme God Principle. These various aspects of God perform specific functions in the Universe. This is pretty much akin to the government of any country which has various departments to facilitate the smooth governing and functioning of the country as a whole.
Just as we have a department for education in a government, which facilitates teaching of modern sciences throughout the country, the aspect of God that looks after spiritual teaching and spiritual growth in the Universe is known as the Guru. This is known as the unseen or unmanifest Guru or the Teaching Principle of God. The unmanifest Guru pervades the entire Universe and is with us at all times during our life and even after we die. The salient and highlighting feature is that the unmanifest Guru stands
by us throughout our life and slowly lifts us from our worldly life into a spiritual way of life. The Guru guides us according to our spiritual level, i.e. our capacity to imbibe knowledge whether we know it or not, helping us develop skills such as perseverance, dedication, attention to detail, tenacity, compassion etc. through our lives. All these kinds of skills are intrinsic to being a good seeker of God and are vital in sustaining our spiritual journey. For those who are proactively seeking spiritual growth the Guru is more active, guiding them in an unseen form according to what is needed for them.
Out of the entire population of the world, few take up spiritual practice that is universal and beyond the confines of formal, organised religion. Among these, very few people through their spiritual practice (regardless of their religion of birth) attain a spiritual level of over 70%. The unmanifest Guru then works completely through some of these evolved individuals who are then known as the manifest Guru or the Guru in the human form. In other words, a person has to be at least of the 70% spiritual level to qualify as a spiritual guide or a Guru. The Guru in human form acts as a beacon of spiritual knowledge for humanity and is in total alignment with the Universal Mind and Intellect of God
2.1 Literal Meaning of Guru
The word ‘Guru’ is derived from the Sanskrit language and has a deep spiritual meaning. Its two syllables Gu and Ru stand for the following:
Gu denotes the spiritual ignorance that most of humankind is in. Ru represents the radiance of spiritual knowledge that dispels the spiritual ignorance.
In short, the Guru is the One who dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance in humanity and bestows upon them spiritual experiences and spiritual knowledge.
3. Differences between a teacher/professor and a Guru
The following chart gives the differences between a teacher and a Guru in human form.  









4. Differences between a preacher and a Guru
There is a vast difference between a person preaching Spiritual sciences or religious study as compared to a Guru. The following table expands on the differences between them when guiding people.  




Most preachers in today’s world are at the 30% spiritual level and as a result they are neither able to understand the true implied meaning of the Scriptures they quote, no have they experienced first-hand everything has been written. Thus, the possibility of leading the audience astray is high.

5. What are the differences between a Guru and a Saint?
5.1 What makes a person become a Guru over and above being a Saint?
Every Guru is a Saint but the reverse is not always true. Only a small percentage of Saints qualify as Gurus.
The following table shows how many Saints and Gurus are there in the world in the year 2006.




Footnotes
1. We have started the frequency interval at 66% because people at this level are in all likelihood going to reach the spiritual level of a Saint i.e. 70%.



5.2 What are the similarities between a Saint and a Guru?
. Both a Saint and a Guru are over the 70% spiritual level.

. They both have spiritual love for all of humankind, i.e. love without expectation.

. They both have very little ego. This means that they do not identify themselves with their five senses, mind and intellect but with the Soul, that is the God within.


 

5.3 What are the differences in characteristics between a Saint and a Guru?
The following table shows a gross comparison between a Saint and a Guru at the 80% spiritual level.




   Footnotes (based on the numbers in red in the above table):
1. By love for others, we mean loving others without any expectation. This is different to worldly love which is always tainted with some sort of expectation. 100% would mean the unconditional, non-partial, all-pervading love of God, extended equally to all of creation right from non-living things, to the tiniest of living beings like ants to the highest of beings i.e. humans.

2. Service means serving the Absolute Truth or Spiritual science, that is the universal principles that underlie all religions and govern the entire universe. 100% here would mean 100% of their time and abilities in all dimensions like physical (bodily), mental, intellectual, financial, social, etc. is spent in serving God.

3. Sacrifice means how much of their time, body, mind and wealth have they sacrificed to serve God.

4. Quantity of writing of texts related to explaining or propagating the Absolute Truth.


5. The nature of the writings of Saints and Gurus are more about spiritual experiences and spiritual guidance respectively.

6. God functions by His mere existence. He does not need to make any effort, hence His energy is not manifest. The forms of His energy are unmanifest, like Serenity, Bliss etc. But Saints and Gurus, because they have a tangible physical body, do use manifest energy to some

extent.

7. As Gurus are more one with the

unmanifest (nirgun) form of God, they do not need to use much manifest energy. As the ‘I’ in Saints is higher than that in Gurus, they use more manifest energy than Gurus do. But this is much lower compared to those performing similar functions with the help of supernatural powers. For example, when a person is cured of his illness due to blessings of a Saint, only 20% energy is manifest, whereas the same may be up to 50% in the case of one who is not a Saint but heals with supernatural healing powers. As the manifest energy of God is 0, the manifest energy one expends is a function of oneness of God. Thus the more your manifest energy, the further away you are from God. Signs of manifest energy are bright, glowing eyes, sharp hand movements, etc.

8. In order to carry out their mission Saints and Gurus alike need manifest energy which is given by God. Saints sometimes solve worldly problems of their devotees which use up comparatively more energy. A Guru focuses His disciple on spiritual growth, which in turn makes the disciple self-sufficient in overcoming problems where the root causes are spiritual in nature. As a result the Guru uses up less spiritual energy.

9. Both Saints and Gurus have a spiritual level of at least 70%. After crossing the spiritual level of 70%, spiritual progress is faster in Gurus than in other Saints. They attain the level of a Sadguru (80%) and a Paratpar Guru (90%) faster than other Saints attaining the same spiritual levels. This is because they are constantly engrossed in the mission of spiritually uplifting a disciple, while Saints also help their devotees at a more worldly level.




6. What is the importance of the Guru in the human form?
Each one of us seeks guidance from teachers, doctors, lawyers etc. in their respective fields. If a guide is needed even in these comparatively simple fields, then imagine the importance of the Guru, who releases one from the bondage of life and death.
6.1 Importance of the Guru - from the perspective of educating a student
The Guru comes in many forms. He teaches us through situations, books, in human form, etc. The following table is a comparison between these various forms and it shows the importance of the Guru in the human form.




 
6.2 Importance of the Guru - from a psychological perspective
There are many psychological benefits for a student to have a spiritual guide in the human form.
. Unlike God and deities who do not display their existence and potential, the Guru displays His form through the human Guru. This way the student of Spirituality has a tangible guide to take care of him on his spiritual journey.

. The Guru in human form is omniscient just as the unmanifest Guru and is able to perceive everything about his disciple. He knows through His access to the Universal Mind and Intellect whether the student is sincere or not and where he is making mistakes. As a result, the student being aware of this ability of the Guru, often refrains from doing bad deeds.

. The Guru does not allow the disciple to develop an inferiority complex from the fact that he is lesser than the Guru. He eradicates the inferiority complex in the deserving disciple and grants him the all pervading nature of the Guru.



6.3 Importance of the Guru - from a Spiritual science perspective
The following table shows the importance of a Guru in the human form for the spiritual growth of a seeker/disciple.




 Footnotes (based on numbers in red in the above table):
1. At around the 55% spiritual level, a student/disciple develops enough spiritual maturity to benefit from the Guru’s presence in human form. It is akin to receiving a scholarship in Spirituality. At this level of spiritual maturity, the disciple is set to take proper


advantage of the Guru’s assistance in guiding him towards experiencing God.

2. It is relatively more difficult to derive benefit from an idol. The subtle, intangible frequencies that an idol or picture of a Guru emits, can only be useful to a person beyond the 60% spiritual level with an activated sixth sense.

3. When one follows the guidance of a Guru in human form, the effort required to make spiritual progress is the least as it is channelised most efficiently. In all other cases, the chances of making mistakes are much higher.

4. To be able to understand the implied meaning of the scriptures is no mean task. Very often Holy Scriptures and books are prone to misinterpretation.

5. Here ego refers to faith in oneself. If faith in oneself is not high, then one cannot make spiritual progress without taking guidance from someone.

6. Without a spiritual guide the likelihood of stagnation or even regression in spiritual growth is high.


7. Some salient features of a Guru in the human form
. A Guru is beyond organised religion and He looks upon all of humankind as the same. He does not discriminate on the basis of culture, nationality or gender. He only seeks the student who intensely desires spiritual growth.

. A Guru will never ask one to convert from his religion. He will lift the student to comprehend universal spiritual principles that underlie all religions.

. Whichever spiritual path or religion one follows, they all finally lead to the path of grace of the Guru.


 




 
A Guru functions with spiritual power at the level of resolve. With this spiritual power given by God, He lifts a deserving student just by His thought that the student should progress. A seeker/student of Spiritual science cannot reach the spiritual level of 70% unless he has the Guru’s grace and is guided by the Guru in the human form. The reason for this is that, in the earlier stages of our spiritual growth, we can progress just by following the basic laws of spiritual practice. However after a certain stage, the spiritual knowledge becomes so fine that one can easily be misguided by ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.) through their sixth sense. One needs a highly evolved spiritual guide in the human form to accurately negotiate the way for further spiritual progress towards Sainthood.
. Even after one reaches the level of a Saint one needs to continue one's spiritual practice to ensure a constant flow of Guru’s grace.

. He lifts the student to be able to access the Soul knowledge within. This is as opposed to some people with sixth sense (ESP) who, as mediums, access knowledge from subtle bodies (spirits) in the subtle


dimension. When one acts only as a medium, one cannot make spiritual progress.

. The relationship between Guru and student is pure and the love that the Guru has for the student is without expectations and is unconditional.

. The Guru is omniscient and is therefore able to take care of the student even when he is not with Him physically.

. Severe destiny can only be overcome with the grace of the Guru.

. The Guru guides the student according to the six laws of spiritual practice as per the spiritual level and hence capacity. He never teaches a student beyond his capacity.

. The Guru will always teach with a positive attitude. For example, a Guru may advise one to undertake any one spiritual practice among the following, depending on the student’s spiritual maturity, ‘‘Sing devotional songs, chant The Lord’s Name, perform service to God, etc.’’ He never guides in a negative way such as ‘‘Do not drink alcohol, do not behave this way,’’ etc. The reason for this is that teaching not to do certain things is at the psychological level, and does not serve any purpose from the point of view of making spiritual progress. The Guru focuses on the spiritual practice of the student. Over time this itself will give the student the capacity to discard activities which are detrimental to him.

. Though the clouds shower rain equally everywhere, the water accumulates only in craters while the erect mountains remain dry. Similarly Gurus and Saints do not discriminate. The bestowal of their grace on all is the same but the ones with pure intention to learn and grow spiritually are like the craters, able to receive and retain the benefit of their grace.

. The Guru being omniscient intuitively knows what is best for the student to further his spiritual progress. He guides on a one-to-one basis.


8. How do we recognise and acquire an evolved spiritual guide?
It is difficult for a student of Spiritual science to judge the ability of a Guru. This would be like the student testing the teacher.
To test someone, one has to be of a higher calibre than that person. The student cannot be that person to test the Guru. More importantly, the
ability of the Guru is in the subtle or spiritual dimension, i.e. beyond the understanding of the five senses, mind and intellect. It can be gauged only through a highly activated sixth sense.
This leaves the average person in a quandary of whom to follow.
The Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) recommends that one should not go searching for a Guru. In almost all cases, one will not have the spiritual maturity to be able to discern as to who to choose as a spiritual guide.
To grow one’s capacity to discern, one needs to do regular spiritual practice according to the six basic principles of spiritual practice. This will ensure spiritual growth and development of a sattvik intellect. The all-pervading unmanifest Guru or the Teaching Principle of God keeps a constant watch on all of us. When one achieves a spiritual level of around 55%, a Guru in the human form comes into one’s life. (The mode spiritual level of present day people is 20%). At the spiritual level of 55%, a student of Spiritual sciences has the spiritual maturity to have a sense for whether the Guru is genuine with their sattvik intellect itself.
8.1 The fake or unauthorised Guru
80% of the Gurus in society today are fake or without spiritual authority. That means they are at a spiritual level much below 70% and do not have access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. In some cases, these people may have a high ability to attract thousands of people by some specific spiritual power they have obtained.
For example, a person at 50% spiritual level may be able to cure disease from an early age through spiritual power obtained from spiritual practice undertaken in a previous birth. Most of humankind in today’s era being between the 20-25% spiritual level are unequipped to discern whether the person is a Saint or not. However they generally end up following the person who can heal them or perform miracles.
For the benefit of an average person, we have listed some points that a true Guru is not. These are a few points that will help you in finding out fake spiritual guides that can be understood by the intellect and tested. These are some cases where these fake Gurus have exposed themselves by their actions.
1. The Gurus who generate a feeling of inferiority in others and try to show off their greatness:
One Saint asks everyone who comes to pay obeisance to him their name and age. Once that is told he says, “Both the answers are wrong. The name and age belong to the body. You are the Soul. It has neither a name nor age”. Then he speaks on Spirituality and asks, “Are you doing spiritual practice?” If someone happens to reply in the affirmative, he asks “What spiritual practice?” If one replies, “The one recommended by my Guru”, he says “You were not able to answer simple questions about your name and age. Then what has your Guru taught you? Only a real Guru can reply to these questions. Come to me. I will tell you.”
One should tell such fake Gurus, “Actually your questions were meaningless! You asked me my name and age only because of your awareness of the body (dehabuddhi), so I too replied with awareness of the body”.
What kind of Guru is he who is unable to make out at the first glance whether one has a Guru, or if one’s spiritual practice is going on appropriately or not?
2. Those who have an attachment to wealth and women
3. Putting on false airs
One Guru does not use a watch because he does not want to be bound by the restrictions of time and a watch strap. Yet after every fifteen to twenty minutes he asks others, “What is the time?”
4. Desirous of fame
Some people who have an earnest desire to be known as Gurus and are spiritually evolved to some extent, recommend different kinds of spiritual practice to others. In most cases, they do not walk their talk themselves. As a result, it has been observed that the seekers undertaking the advised spiritual practice progress but the so called Guru remains stagnant.
5. Encourage dependency in their students    Some Gurus fear that if they impart all spiritual knowledge to their disciples, they will have no importance thereafter. Hence they do not impart all knowledge to them.
9. In summary
The following are the key take away points from this article.
. A Guru is a spiritual guide beyond the 70% spiritual level.

. Do not go searching for a Guru, as in all likelihood you will not be able to discern for sure if the person one is looking up to is a Guru.


. Instead do spiritual practice and ensure that it is aligned with the six basic laws of spiritual practice. This will help one grow to a point wherein one has the spiritual maturity to not get fooled by a fake Guru.

. One cannot reach Sainthood, i.e. a spiritual level of 70%, without the grace of the Guru.






1. Introduction
What if children were told to educate themselves in modern sciences without any teacher or any access to prior knowledge gained over centuries? What if we had to reinvent the wheel in every walk of life, without having access to knowledge that was already available from authorities in the field? If this were the case, we would spend a lifetime trying to educate ourselves without making much headway or perhaps even going down a wrong path.


In the same way, a guide is very much required in our spiritual journey too. It stands to reason that a guide in any field needs to be an authority in that particular field. According to Spiritual science a person who is an authority in the field of Spirituality is known as a Guru.
There is a saying that in the kingdom of the blind the seeing man is a king. With a highly activated sixth sense, the Guru is the totally ‘seeing’ person in the kingdom of the spiritually blind and ignorant. He is someone who has already walked the spiritual road under the guidance of his Spiritual Guide, and has access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. In this article, we will explain who can be considered a Spiritual Guide or a Guru and His characteristics.
2. Definition of a Guru or an evolved spiritual guide
There are various aspects to the Supreme God Principle. These various aspects of God perform specific functions in the Universe. This is pretty
much akin to the government of any country which has various departments to facilitate the smooth governing and functioning of the country as a whole.
Just as we have a department for education in a government, which facilitates teaching of modern sciences throughout the country, the aspect of God that looks after spiritual teaching and spiritual growth in the Universe is known as the Guru. This is known as the unseen or unmanifest Guru or the Teaching Principle of God. The unmanifest Guru pervades the entire Universe and is with us at all times during our life and even after we die. The salient and highlighting feature is that the unmanifest Guru stands by us throughout our life and slowly lifts us from our worldly life into a spiritual way of life. The Guru guides us according to our spiritual level, i.e. our capacity to imbibe knowledge whether we know it or not, helping us develop skills such as perseverance, dedication, attention to detail, tenacity, compassion etc. through our lives. All these kinds of skills are intrinsic to being a good seeker of God and are vital in sustaining our spiritual journey. For those who are proactively seeking spiritual growth the Guru is more active, guiding them in an unseen form according to what is needed for them.
Out of the entire population of the world, few take up spiritual practice that is universal and beyond the confines of formal, organised religion. Among these, very few people through their spiritual practice (regardless of their religion of birth) attain a spiritual level of over 70%. The unmanifest Guru then works completely through some of these evolved individuals who are then known as the manifest Guru or the Guru in the human form. In other words, a person has to be at least of the 70% spiritual level to qualify as a spiritual guide or a Guru. The Guru in human form acts as a beacon of spiritual knowledge for humanity and is in total alignment with the Universal Mind and Intellect of God
2.1 Literal Meaning of Guru
The word ‘Guru’ is derived from the Sanskrit language and has a deep spiritual meaning. Its two syllables Gu and Ru stand for the following:
Gu denotes the spiritual ignorance that most of humankind is in. Ru represents the radiance of spiritual knowledge that dispels the spiritual ignorance.
In short, the Guru is the One who dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance in humanity and bestows upon them spiritual experiences and spiritual knowledge.
3. Differences between a teacher/professor and a Guru
The following chart gives the differences between a teacher and a Guru in human form.  









4. Differences between a preacher and a Guru
There is a vast difference between a person preaching Spiritual sciences or religious study as compared to a Guru. The following table expands on the differences between them when guiding people.  




Most preachers in today’s world are at the 30% spiritual level and as a result they are neither able to understand the true implied meaning of the Scriptures they quote, no have they experienced first-hand everything has been written. Thus, the possibility of leading the audience astray is high.
5. What are the differences between a Guru and a Saint?
5.1 What makes a person become a Guru over and above being a Saint?
Every Guru is a Saint but the reverse is not always true. Only a small percentage of Saints qualify as Gurus.
The following table shows how many Saints and Gurus are there in the world in the year 2006.




Footnotes
2. We have started the frequency interval at 66% because people at this level are in all likelihood going to reach the spiritual level of a Saint i.e. 70%.


 
5.2 What are the similarities between a Saint and a Guru?
. Both a Saint and a Guru are over the 70% spiritual level.

. They both have spiritual love for all of humankind, i.e. love without expectation.

. They both have very little ego. This means that they do not identify themselves with their five senses, mind and intellect but with the Soul, that is the God within.


 
5.3 What are the differences in characteristics between a Saint and a Guru?
The following table shows a gross comparison between a Saint and a Guru at the 80% spiritual level.




   Footnotes (based on the numbers in red in the above table):
10. By love for others, we mean loving others without any expectation. This is different to worldly love which is always tainted with some sort of expectation. 100% would mean the unconditional, non-partial, all-pervading love of God, extended equally to all of creation right from non-living things, to the tiniest of living beings like ants to the highest of beings i.e. humans.

11. Service means serving the Absolute Truth or Spiritual science, that is the universal principles that underlie all religions and govern the entire universe. 100% here would mean 100% of their time and abilities in all dimensions like physical (bodily), mental, intellectual, financial, social, etc. is spent in serving God.

12. Sacrifice means how much of their time, body, mind and wealth have they sacrificed to serve God.

13. Quantity of writing of texts related to explaining or propagating the Absolute Truth.

14. The nature of the writings of Saints and Gurus are more about spiritual experiences and spiritual guidance respectively.


15. God functions by His mere existence. He does not need to make any effort, hence His energy is not manifest. The forms of His energy are unmanifest, like Serenity, Bliss etc. But Saints and Gurus, because they have a tangible physical body, do use manifest energy

to some extent.

16. As Gurus are more one with the

unmanifest (nirgun) form of God, they do not need to use much manifest energy. As the ‘I’ in Saints is higher than that in Gurus, they use more manifest energy than Gurus do. But this is much lower compared to those performing similar functions with the help of supernatural powers. For example, when a person is cured of his illness due to blessings of a Saint, only 20% energy is manifest, whereas the same may be up to 50% in the case of one who is not a Saint but heals with supernatural healing powers. As the manifest energy of God is 0, the manifest energy one expends is a function of oneness of God. Thus the more your manifest energy, the further away you are from God. Signs of manifest energy are bright, glowing eyes, sharp hand movements, etc.

17. In order to carry out their mission Saints and Gurus alike need manifest energy which is given by God. Saints sometimes solve worldly problems of their devotees which use up comparatively more energy. A Guru focuses His disciple on spiritual growth, which in turn makes the disciple self-sufficient in overcoming problems where the root causes are spiritual in nature. As a result the Guru uses up less spiritual energy.

18. Both Saints and Gurus have a spiritual level of at least 70%. After crossing the spiritual level of 70%, spiritual progress is faster in Gurus than in other Saints. They attain the level of a Sadguru (80%) and a Paratpar Guru (90%) faster than other Saints attaining the same spiritual levels. This is because they are constantly engrossed in the mission of spiritually uplifting a disciple, while Saints also help their devotees at a more worldly level.




6. What is the importance of the Guru in the human form?
Each one of us seeks guidance from teachers, doctors, lawyers etc. in their respective fields. If a guide is needed even in these comparatively simple fields, then imagine the importance of the Guru, who releases one from the bondage of life and death.
6.1 Importance of the Guru - from the perspective of educating a student
The Guru comes in many forms. He teaches us through situations, books, in human form, etc. The following table is a comparison between these various forms and it shows the importance of the Guru in the human form.




 
6.2 Importance of the Guru - from a psychological perspective
There are many psychological benefits for a student to have a spiritual guide in the human form.
. Unlike God and deities who do not display their existence and potential, the Guru displays His form through the human Guru. This way the student of Spirituality has a tangible guide to take care of him on his spiritual journey.

. The Guru in human form is omniscient just as the unmanifest Guru and is able to perceive everything about his disciple. He knows through His access to the Universal Mind and Intellect whether the student is sincere or not and where he is making mistakes. As a result, the student being aware of this ability of the Guru, often refrains from doing bad deeds.

. The Guru does not allow the disciple to develop an inferiority complex from the fact that he is lesser than the Guru. He eradicates the inferiority complex in the deserving disciple and grants him the all pervading nature of the Guru.



6.3 Importance of the Guru - from a Spiritual science perspective
The following table shows the importance of a Guru in the human form for the spiritual growth of a seeker/disciple.




 Footnotes (based on numbers in red in the above table):
7. At around the 55% spiritual level, a student/disciple develops enough spiritual maturity to benefit from the Guru’s presence in human form. It is akin to receiving a scholarship in Spirituality. At this level of spiritual maturity, the disciple is set to take proper


advantage of the Guru’s assistance in guiding him towards experiencing God.

8. It is relatively more difficult to derive benefit from an idol. The subtle, intangible frequencies that an idol or picture of a Guru emits, can only be useful to a person beyond the 60% spiritual level with an activated sixth sense.

9. When one follows the guidance of a Guru in human form, the effort required to make spiritual progress is the least as it is channelised most efficiently. In all other cases, the chances of making mistakes are much higher.

10. To be able to understand the implied meaning of the scriptures is no mean task. Very often Holy Scriptures and books are prone to misinterpretation.

11. Here ego refers to faith in oneself. If faith in oneself is not high, then one cannot make spiritual progress without taking guidance from someone.

12. Without a spiritual guide the likelihood of stagnation or even regression in spiritual growth is high.




7. Some salient features of a Guru in the human form
. A Guru is beyond organised religion and He looks upon all of humankind as the same. He does not discriminate on the basis of culture, nationality or gender. He only seeks the student who intensely desires spiritual growth.

. A Guru will never ask one to convert from his religion. He will lift the student to comprehend universal spiritual principles that underlie all religions.

. Whichever spiritual path or religion one follows, they all finally lead to the path of grace of the Guru.


 




 
A Guru functions with spiritual power at the level of resolve. With this spiritual power given by God, He lifts a deserving student just by His thought that the student should progress. A seeker/student of Spiritual science cannot reach the spiritual level of 70% unless he has the Guru’s grace and is guided by the Guru in the human form. The reason for this is that, in the earlier stages of our spiritual growth, we can progress just by following the basic laws of spiritual practice. However after a certain stage, the spiritual knowledge becomes so fine that one can easily be misguided by ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.) through their sixth sense. One needs a highly evolved spiritual guide in the human form to accurately negotiate the way for further spiritual progress towards Sainthood.
. Even after one reaches the level of a Saint one needs to continue one's spiritual practice to ensure a constant flow of Guru’s grace.

. He lifts the student to be able to access the Soul knowledge within. This is as opposed to some people with sixth sense (ESP) who, as mediums, access knowledge from subtle bodies (spirits) in the subtle


dimension. When one acts only as a medium, one cannot make spiritual progress.

. The relationship between Guru and student is pure and the love that the Guru has for the student is without expectations and is unconditional.

. The Guru is omniscient and is therefore able to take care of the student even when he is not with Him physically.

. Severe destiny can only be overcome with the grace of the Guru.

. The Guru guides the student according to the six laws of spiritual practice as per the spiritual level and hence capacity. He never teaches a student beyond his capacity.

. The Guru will always teach with a positive attitude. For example, a Guru may advise one to undertake any one spiritual practice among the following, depending on the student’s spiritual maturity, ‘‘Sing devotional songs, chant The Lord’s Name, perform service to God, etc.’’ He never guides in a negative way such as ‘‘Do not drink alcohol, do not behave this way,’’ etc. The reason for this is that teaching not to do certain things is at the psychological level, and does not serve any purpose from the point of view of making spiritual progress. The Guru focuses on the spiritual practice of the student. Over time this itself will give the student the capacity to discard activities which are detrimental to him.

. Though the clouds shower rain equally everywhere, the water accumulates only in craters while the erect mountains remain dry. Similarly Gurus and Saints do not discriminate. The bestowal of their grace on all is the same but the ones with pure intention to learn and grow spiritually are like the craters, able to receive and retain the benefit of their grace.

. The Guru being omniscient intuitively knows what is best for the student to further his spiritual progress. He guides on a one-to-one basis.


8. How do we recognise and acquire an evolved spiritual guide?
It is difficult for a student of Spiritual science to judge the ability of a Guru. This would be like the student testing the teacher.
To test someone, one has to be of a higher calibre than that person. The student cannot be that person to test the Guru. More importantly, the
ability of the Guru is in the subtle or spiritual dimension, i.e. beyond the understanding of the five senses, mind and intellect. It can be gauged only through a highly activated sixth sense.
This leaves the average person in a quandary of whom to follow.
The Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) recommends that one should not go searching for a Guru. In almost all cases, one will not have the spiritual maturity to be able to discern as to who to choose as a spiritual guide.
To grow one’s capacity to discern, one needs to do regular spiritual practice according to the six basic principles of spiritual practice. This will ensure spiritual growth and development of a sattvik intellect. The all-pervading unmanifest Guru or the Teaching Principle of God keeps a constant watch on all of us. When one achieves a spiritual level of around 55%, a Guru in the human form comes into one’s life. (The mode spiritual level of present day people is 20%). At the spiritual level of 55%, a student of Spiritual sciences has the spiritual maturity to have a sense for whether the Guru is genuine with their sattvik intellect itself.
8.1 The fake or unauthorised Guru
80% of the Gurus in society today are fake or without spiritual authority. That means they are at a spiritual level much below 70% and do not have access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. In some cases, these people may have a high ability to attract thousands of people by some specific spiritual power they have obtained.
For example, a person at 50% spiritual level may be able to cure disease from an early age through spiritual power obtained from spiritual practice undertaken in a previous birth. Most of humankind in today’s era being between the 20-25% spiritual level are unequipped to discern whether the person is a Saint or not. However they generally end up following the person who can heal them or perform miracles.
For the benefit of an average person, we have listed some points that a true Guru is not. These are a few points that will help you in finding out fake spiritual guides that can be understood by the intellect and tested. These are some cases where these fake Gurus have exposed themselves by their actions.
1. The Gurus who generate a feeling of inferiority in others and try to show off their greatness:
One Saint asks everyone who comes to pay obeisance to him their name and age. Once that is told he says, “Both the answers are wrong. The name and age belong to the body. You are the Soul. It has neither a name nor age”. Then he speaks on Spirituality and asks, “Are you doing spiritual practice?” If someone happens to reply in the affirmative, he asks “What spiritual practice?” If one replies, “The one recommended by my Guru”, he says “You were not able to answer simple questions about your name and age. Then what has your Guru taught you? Only a real Guru can reply to these questions. Come to me. I will tell you.”
One should tell such fake Gurus, “Actually your questions were meaningless! You asked me my name and age only because of your awareness of the body (dehabuddhi), so I too replied with awareness of the body”.
What kind of Guru is he who is unable to make out at the first glance whether one has a Guru, or if one’s spiritual practice is going on appropriately or not?
2. Those who have an attachment to wealth and women
3. Putting on false airs
One Guru does not use a watch because he does not want to be bound by the restrictions of time and a watch strap. Yet after every fifteen to twenty minutes he asks others, “What is the time?”
4. Desirous of fame
Some people who have an earnest desire to be known as Gurus and are spiritually evolved to some extent, recommend different kinds of spiritual practice to others. In most cases, they do not walk their talk themselves. As a result, it has been observed that the seekers undertaking the advised spiritual practice progress but the so called Guru remains stagnant.
5. Encourage dependency in their students    Some Gurus fear that if they impart all spiritual knowledge to their disciples, they will have no importance thereafter. Hence they do not impart all knowledge to them.
9. In summary
The following are the key take away points from this article.
. A Guru is a spiritual guide beyond the 70% spiritual level.

. Do not go searching for a Guru, as in all likelihood you will not be able to discern for sure if the person one is looking up to is a Guru.


. Instead do spiritual practice and ensure that it is aligned with the six basic laws of spiritual practice. This will help one grow to a point wherein one has the spiritual maturity to not get fooled by a fake Guru.

. One cannot reach Sainthood, i.e. a spiritual level of 70%, without the grace of the Guru.