Guru and viveka
Guru Purnima is a religious festival that falls on the full moon day during June or July according to the Hindu calendar. At this time, when we celebrate our teachers both spiritual and academic, I thought it would be interesting to examine our relationship to the idea of Guru in the West.
Guru is a Sanskrit word which is most often translated as “dispeller of darkness", stemming from the root words gu meaning darkness and ru meaning light. This creates an evocative image of a student lost in the darkness of spiritual ignorance, searching for enlightenment, who finds a teacher who can illuminate the path to union through yoga.
The word guru, in more recent times, has been borrowed by various modern industries to indicate an expert in their field - a tech guru, business guru or lifestyle guru, for example. This move away from the original concept of guru as dispeller of darkness disconnects us from the beautiful heritage of the guru-shisya parampara.
In yoga, the guru-shisya parampara is an ancient and sacred tradition of spiritual mentoring and direct transmission of knowledge from guru to shishya (student) in an unbroken lineage (parampara). Historically, the shishya would live at the gurukula (guru’s home or school) or ashram. The shishya offered respect, devotion, service and the surrender of ego to their guru in the hope of receiving guidance leading to the discovery of profound inner truths. Many yoga teachings are written in twilight language (sandhya bhashya) to prevent misuse of deeper practices by students who are not sufficiently spiritually developed. A guru is needed to uncover these safely.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna the role of a guru in guiding the spiritual evolution of a student:
Learn the Truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him with reverence and render service unto him. Such an enlightened Saint can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the Truth.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, Verse 34
Guru bhakti (reverence for the guru) is an essential aspect of the guru-shishya relationship. The paths of bhakti and karma yoga will dissolve the sense of self and our attachment to ego. Ego is probably the greatest barrier to spiritual evolution or enlightenment. We cling to our identity and sense of separateness (ahamkara). This prevents us from union with pure universal consciousness (Purusha). Surrendering the ego by worshiping the guru can be the bridge from separateness to samadhi.
To one who has supreme devotion to God, and as much devotion to the guru as to God, to that great soul, these teachings become illumined
Shvetashvatara Upanishad Chapter 6, Verse 23
But how can we equate a guru to God? To the Western mind, this idea can feel sacrilegious. To most of us, coming from a largely Christian culture, even if we aren’t Christian, raising a human being to the same level as God is a huge stretch. What our Western sensibilities fail to understand is that the guru is a symbol of pure consciousness; Purusha in human form. . The Sanskrit word jyot (divine light) conveys this idea. The inner awareness of the fully-realised guru is divine light. The guru, personifying divine light, can be the catalyst that sparks awakening in the shishya. It is often said that the guru is a mirror reflecting the inner light of the student: their own higher nature.
But how do we choose a guru? In whom do we put our trust? It is hard to think of a school of yoga, indeed any spiritual organisation, in recent times that has not been affected by individual teachers abusing students or systemic abuse within that organisation. With the globalisation of yoga, the guru-shishya relationship, a tradition built over thousands of years, has changed. Now, celebrity yoga teachers travel the world, giving classes to strangers. Then, a student had a personal or one-to-one relationship with their guru.
The concept of viveka (discernment or the power of wise discrimination) comes into play here. A true guru will not proclaim themselves as such. They will be humble and self-effacing. In searching for a teacher, we must look beyond the superficial and question the guru’s attitudes and teachings. Do they embody yoga-nature? Are they kind? Do they treat their students with respect? Is their presence nourishing? Are you encouraged to explore and question? Trust your intuition when choosing a teacher. To paraphrase Chase Bossart of the Yoga Well Institute:
Follow your teacher with one eye open:
With both eyes open you see their human flaws and doubt their guidance
With both eyes closed you are too trusting; blindly following you could be hurt.
Many respected teachers have advised their students to test their guru. The Buddha urged his followers to test his own character and teachings by observing his actions and measuring them against his words and scriptures. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa famously gave this advice to his chief disciple, Swami Vivekananda:
test me as the money-changers test their coins.
The Yoga Fellowship NI, as the governing body for yoga in Northern Ireland, is focusing on safety and standards this year. A year of root chakra work, as it were. We are drafting an ethical standards framework for our teaching members and plan to consult our community about this in the months ahead.
The Fellowship’s ethical practice policy centres on the principles of the yamas: ahimsa (non-harming), satya (truthfulness), asteya (not-stealing), brahmacharya (self-restraint/continence), and aparigraha (simplicity/non-attachment). The yamas set guidelines for ethical behaviour for yoga practitioners, which then inform the ethical responsibilities of a teacher to their students, trainees, employees, peers, or other members and to the wider public.
If we can find a teacher who embodies these principles, we can be confident that our viveka has led us to one who deserves the role of guru in our life. A teacher has the power to transform our understanding of the world. Let us give thanks to our teachers: to those who saw our potential before we did; to those who inspired us; to those who challenged us; to those who led by example; to those who cared about us; to those who were patient; to those who didn’t give up on us; to those who believed in us and held the space until we believed in ourselves. Guru spirit leads the student from limitation to freedom. May we use viveka to see clearly the right teacher to illuminate our next steps along the path. Happy Guru Purnima!
Hari OM
Suzanne
