Guru

The word or term Guru has become tarnished.

One out of a five thousand gurus today are bonafide.

Thats right - and today if you go to India there are Gurus on every corner selling their particular self styled Vedic teaching.

Even in the West you would find it very hard to find a genuine Guru.

A bonafide guru must at least reference the Vedic teachings (the very least) and even then they must not speculate or fabricate their understandings of that Vedic wisdom.

If I had to guess on how many truly bonafide Gurus there are on this earth - I would have to say less than one thousand.

A bonafide guru must at least be a Vaisnava - and even then they must be strictly following spiritual principles and living in accordance to Vaisnava conduct and have an excellent spotless character.

Originally posted by Dasa
The word or term Guru has become tarnished.

One out of a five thousand gurus today are bonafide.

Thats right - and today if you go to India there are Gurus on every corner selling their particular self styled Vedic teaching.

Even in the West you would find it very hard to find a genuine Guru.

A bonafide guru must at least reference the Vedic teachin ...[text shortened]... rinciples and living in accordance to Vaisnava conduct and have an excellent spotless character.

Thanks for the information. I will watch out for those false Gurus you speak of.

Originally posted by Dasa
The word or term Guru has become tarnished.

One out of a five thousand gurus today are bonafide.

Thats right - and today if you go to India there are Gurus on every corner selling their particular self styled Vedic teaching.

Even in the West you would find it very hard to find a genuine Guru.

A bonafide guru must at least reference the Vedic teachin ...[text shortened]... rinciples and living in accordance to Vaisnava conduct and have an excellent spotless character.

The guru is an interesting concept with ancient roots, historically and linguistically.

I find fascinating the number of Western words that go back to the Sanskrit and to the Proto-Indo-European roots. Here is a wikipedia comment on the word guru.

As a noun the word means the imparter of knowledge (jñāna; Also Persian: Dāna). As an adjective, it means 'heavy,' or 'weighty,' in the sense of "heavy with knowledge,"[2] heavy with spiritual wisdom,[3] "heavy with spiritual weight,"[4] "heavy with the good qualities of scriptures and realization,"[5] or "heavy with a wealth of knowledge."[6] The word has its roots in the Sanskrit gri (to invoke, or to praise), and may have a connection to the word gur, meaning 'to raise, lift up, or to make an effort'.[7]

[heavy/gravity? yes!]

Sanskrit guru is cognate with Latin gravis 'heavy; grave, weighty, serious'[8] and Greek barus 'heavy'. All three derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷerə-, specifically from the zero-grade form *gʷr̥ə-.

[rhp may mangle the above a bit]

end comment.

Digging around finds hints that the gri- root gives rise to such words as 'agreeable' and even 'grace'.

I imagine that genuine gurus are full of grace.

Positive reinforcement for relatively positive behavior.

Originally posted by JS357
The guru is an interesting concept with ancient roots, historically and linguistically.

I find fascinating the number of Western words that go back to the Sanskrit and to the Proto-Indo-European roots. Here is a wikipedia comment on the word guru.

As a noun the word means the imparter of knowledge (jñāna; Also Persian: Dāna). As an adjective, i full of grace.

Positive reinforcement for relatively positive behavior.

Informative post and welcomed.......thankyou.

One of the greatest qualities of a bonafide guru is his command of true spiritual knowledge.

A Guru without knowledge and proper conduct - is like a man without breath.

If there is no bonafide guru then we must persevere ourselves.

One may find you in your lifetime.

Interestingly rvsakhadeo said his guru died many years ago (1978) and I lost mine about 7-8 years ago. After all, he didn't have a mobile phone and he was more or less a "wandering monk".

All this says to me that we are in a different age. An age of being ones own guru, ones own master.

Thumbs up for the OP. No putting anyone down, Yay!!!

Originally posted by Dasa
Informative post and welcomed.......thankyou.

One of the greatest qualities of a bonafide guru is his command of true spiritual knowledge.

A Guru without knowledge and proper conduct - is like a man without breath.

Obviously you don't plan to be a genuine Guru yourself.
HalleluYah !!! Praise the Lord! 😏

Originally posted by karoly aczel
All this says to me that we are in a different age. An age of being ones own guru, ones own master.[/b]

The Bible puts it a little differently, "All we like sheep have gone astray having each turned to his own way".

And no, its nothing new.....

So am I a guru yet or not? 😠

Originally posted by Dasa
The word or term Guru has become tarnished.

One out of a five thousand gurus today are bonafide.

Thats right - and today if you go to India there are Gurus on every corner selling their particular self styled Vedic teaching.

Even in the West you would find it very hard to find a genuine Guru.

A bonafide guru must at least reference the Vedic teachin ...[text shortened]... rinciples and living in accordance to Vaisnava conduct and have an excellent spotless character.

But the official count of Guru's is only 4900....

Originally posted by whodey
The Bible puts it a little differently, "All we like sheep have gone astray having each turned to his own way".

Would you expect the literature of a corporate religion seeking conformity and obedience to say anything different?

How do you think this quote applies to Christians that see themselves as 'individualist' and being apart from sects, groups and denominations, interpreting the scripture as they personally see fit - i.e. "having each turned to his own way" - ?

Originally posted by FMF
Would you expect the literature of a corporate religion seeking conformity and obedience to say anything different?

How do you think this quote applies to Christians that see themselves as 'individualist' and being apart from sects, groups and denominations, interpreting the scripture as they personally see fit - i.e. "having each turned to his own way" - ?

The Bible refers to the human race as "sheep". Not a very flatering term, since all it takes is one sheep to jump off a cliff for all of the rest of them to do the same. However, historically speaking as we see certain "shepherds" lead the masses to destruction with frightening ease, is this not the case?

For people like Karoly and Dasa they seek gurus to help guide them as they do what they consider to be right in their own eyes.

Originally posted by whodey
The Bible refers to the human race as "sheep". Not a very flatering term, since all it takes is one sheep to jump off a cliff for all of the rest of them to do the same. However, historically speaking as we see certain "shepherds" lead the masses to destruction with frightening ease, is this not the case?

For people like c they seek gurus to help guide them as they do what they consider to be right in their own eyes.

I was rather more interested in an answer to the question I asked, which was about Christians operating "having each turned to his own way" and not about Karoly and Dasa.

Originally posted by FMF
I was rather more interested in an answer to the question I asked, which was about Christians operating "having each turned to his own way" and not about Karoly and Dasa.

It is the constant struggle of serving self over their God. It's called a sin nature.

Originally posted by whodey
It is the constant struggle of serving self over their God. It's called a sin nature.

No, I am more interested in an answer to the question I asked.

Originally posted by FMF
No, I am more interested in an answer to the question I asked.

I see, so your point is that the Bible is teaching conformity and not truth. All I can say is that when I have decided to not "conform" to the written word, it has a nagging tendency of biting me in the arse latter on.