The guru and his disciple

From very ancient times, the great texts that stand out like landmarks in the religious history of India--the Brahmanas, the Upanishads, the Dharma--have laid special emphasis upon the Master/Disciple relationship in all its diverse forms.

In Sanskrit, the word used for a "spiritual master" is guru. The primary meaning of guru is "heavy" or "weighty", in the sense, for example, of parents' moral weight in relation to their children or that of the eldest child in relation to younger siblings. It is from this concept that the religious meaning of the word ("venerable") derives.

In the spiritual sense, the guru teaches how to live rather than how to think, and by his moral "weight" becomes a model to follow. Faced with this spiritual power, the whole personality of the disciple is brought into question, and this is the key factor in the Master/Disciple relationship. The benevolence of the Master and the vulnerability of the Disciple are the two poles of the relationship and the determining factors in a quest which will test the Disciple's inner defences to breaking-point, but yet, going beyond considerations of personal salvation, will open up the prospect of liberation (moksha).

Living in the Master's presence will be decisive. Imitating the Master and acquiring confidence (sraddha) in him are made easier for the Disciple by the family-style life the Disciple lives with his guru in the ashram (communal religious centre), where the aim is to achieve spiritual detachment.

As the Hindu spiritual leader Vivekananda once wrote, if liberation is the objective of the Disciple's quest, the guru is the living embodiment of it. "The guru is the radiant mask that God assumes to come to us. As we look fixedly upon him, the mask falls away and God is revealed to us." The Disciple's encounter with the guru goes beyond the bounds of moral guidance. The liberation embodied by the Master implies divesting oneself of all forms of possessions, and at the same time becoming detached from the "self" and from the world so as to achieve pure being.

As in other religious traditions, the Hindu guru fulfils a Master's threefold functions. As transmitter of knowledge, he initiates the Disciple into the tradition of the community, into the collective memory. That is his most secular, outward function. As spiritual guide, he directs the Disciple's inner journeying, showing him the "ways" and protecting him from the perils of the quest. As mediator, his major function, he shares his own experience to encourage the Disciple's spiritual awakening.

To succeed in his or her quest, the Disciple must share fully in the life of the guru. In the words of the poet Abhinavagupta: "The Disciple's questions and the Master's answers emerge from the same consciousness." There are different methods of thought transmission: direct, from spirit to spirit or from heart to heart, rather as one candle is lit from another; the physical, by touch, voice, exchange of breath and even embrace. Whichever may be used, the Disciple must keep his defences lowered and confidently yield to the Master.

Most gurus give a benevolent welcome to potential Disciples without distinction of caste, sex, nationality or even religion. This remarkable attitude is no doubt due to the very nature of the spiritual experience that places the guru beyond the sway of external rules. It may be due to the Tantric influence and also, perhaps, to a certain symbiosis between Islam and Hinduism.

According to Jean Filliozat, a French specialist on India, the guru, like the Muslim sufi, expels the self "from this phenomenal world" and places "all its being in the eternal equilibrium that is God".

COPYRIGHT 1992 UNESCO
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