Guru

Guru ( Sanskrit: गुरु; IAST: guru) is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential figure to the disciple (or shisya in Sanskrit, literally seeker [of knowledge or truth]) or student, with the guru serving as a "counsellor, who helps mould values, shares experiential knowledge as much as literal knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who helps in the spiritual evolution of a student". Many spiritual texts are written in a language which is not commonly understood by masses, or sometimes the scriptures present contradictory concepts. Hence, only a qualified teacher or the guru is required to interpret scriptures in the right context and avoid misunderstandings. A guru is also one's spiritual guide, who helps one to discover the same potentialities that the guru has already realized. The oldest references to the concept of guru are found in the earliest Vedic texts of Hinduism. The guru, and gurukula – a school run by guru, were an established tradition in India by the 1st millennium BCE, and these helped compose and transmit the various Vedas, the Upanishads, texts of various schools of Hindu philosophy, and post-Vedic Shastras ranging from spiritual knowledge to various arts so also specific science and technology. In the tradition of Yoga that was widely followed throughout ancient India, Shiva was worshipped as the first Guru of mankind who imparted the knowledge of yoga to his disciples. By about mid 1st millennium CE, archaeological and epigraphical evidence suggest numerous larger institutions of gurus existed in India, some near Hindu temples, where guru-shishya tradition helped preserve, create and transmit various fields of knowledge. These gurus led broad ranges of studies including Hindu scriptures,...