Guru

. His newest album, Devil's Playground, is due out March 16, 2005, and is his first new studio album in nearly 12 years. The Indian skeptic Basava Premanand toured around in the villages of India to educate people by debunking gurus and fakirs whom he considers frauds or self deceived. Idol appeared on VH1 Storytellers and issued a Greatest Hits CD in 2001. Some believe that this rule has the drawbacks that one should know what is good and bad in the first place and that one cannot possibly know all acts and their corresponding fruits of a guru. Idol returned to the popular eye in 1998, when he played himself in The Wedding Singer, an Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore romantic comedy. [3] (http://www.biblebell.org/proph/prophecy1.html) . The follow-up to Charmed Life was 1993's Cyberpunk (see 1993 in music), which was a flop, and Idol sank into drug addiction, nearly dying of an overdose in 1994.

According to the Bible, Jesus said that one should judge a prophet by his fruits, though it is not not clear whether this rule of the thumb also includes gurus. The album sold extremely well, but Idol decided to take a break and acted in The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone. The history of various gurus, religions, sects, new religious movements and cults has shown that the question how to assess the authenticity of a guru is difficult, especially when the guru is still young. Just before the release of Charmed Life in 1990 (see 1990 in music), Idol was in a motorcycle accident in which he almost lost his leg. Lane wrote that a charlatan who cons people is not as dangerous as a guru who really believes in his delusions, and that 'bigger' the claims a guru makes, the bigger the chance that he is a charlatan or deluded. A cover of Tommy James' "Mony Mony" did well on MTV and Idol playing Cousin Kevin in a performance of Tommy. The scholar David C. Stevens soon left for a solo career and Idol continued.

He also wrote in the book that the gurus who are eloquent are the ones who are more likely to be unreliable and dangerous. Idol didn't release a new album until 1987 (see 1987 in music); Whiplash Smile sold well, but failed to live up to expectations. Storr includes people who are not normally labelled as a guru, such as Ignatius of Loyola, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung. Idol's first LP, Rebel Yell (1984, 1984 in music) was a blockbuster success and established Idol's superstar status in the United States. This belief system persists after the psychosis has gone away. Idol moved to New York City and began working as a solo artist and began working with Steve Stevens, soon becoming MTV staples with "White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself". The belief system was developed during the psychosis to make sense of the guru's own mind and perceptions. Generation X signed to Chrysalis Records and released three albums before breaking up.

He argues that the belief system that gurus hold developed in some cases from a period of psychosis. During this period, Idol decided to become a musician and formed a band called Generation X in 1976 (see 1976 in music). being loners without friends) and that some suffer from a mild form of schizophrenia. Idol lived in Worthing before attending Sussex University for only a year before joining the Bromley Contingent of keen Sex Pistols fans. The British psychiatry professor Anthony Storr argues in his book Feet of clay - A Study of gurus that gurus (in the non-Hindu usage of the word) share common character traits (e.g. Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad on November 30, 1955 in Middlesex, England) is a British-born hard rock musician. See French legislation on cult abuses.

Critics of these legislations interpret these measures as limitations of freedom of religion. Some countries have enacted legislations that protect individuals with specific vulnerabilities due to physical or psychological deficiencies. That label has been extended to any leader seeking to exert his domination over adepts of a secular, religious organization or school of thought, or to receive inappropriate benefits under the pretense of promoting among them a certain belief system. The guru and guruism labels have acquired a rather negative connotation in western countries, especially in France, likely due to the prominence of several self-proclaimed "gurus" in the US and during the 1960s and 1970s "New Age" movement, who used Hindu terminology without necessarily having much in common with mainstream Hinduism. Some of these gurus, were found to be abusing their status and to be charlatans, self-deceived, businessmen pretending to be saints, cult leaders or a combination of this.

Many gurus claim that they can bring people closer to God, facilitate enlightenment, moksha, or nirvana, or can help people to achieve good karma and a correspondingly better next incarnation. Some gurus offer a belief system that offers fulfillment and purpose and sometimes promises of a peaceful happy life. Other people who have traditional beliefs seek to intensify their religious life and see a guru who can help her or him with this. Gurus provide answers to the meaning of life, often free from the intellectualism of philosophy.

The most common is that people look for the meaning of life and are disillusioned in traditional religions. There are several reasons why people in Western cultures are attracted by gurus. (The definition is from Jargon file.). Less often, used (with a qualifer) for other experts on other systems, as in VMS guru.

Nearly synonymous with "wizard", but additionally implies a history of being a knowledge resource for others. In hacker culture, a guru is an expert of legendary proportions. The term guru has also passed into an even wider metaphorical use. Gurus often claim that they have achieved enlighment, moksha, that their teachings were channeled or that they have received a revelation.

Often, dependent on the teachings of the guru, the followers will see the guru as a prophet, saint or avatar. On the other hand, Kranenborg accepts the word guru for Jesus. Sometimes Christians use the word guru as a pejorative label. In more recent usage of the word guru, it means anyone who propagates a philosophical or religious belief system independent of an established school of philosophy or religion and attracts and accepts followers because of this, especially when the veracity of the belief system hinges around the reliabiliy of the guru.

The original meaning has evolved to a broader one. According to van der Lans, the deification of a guru is a traditional element of of Eastern spirituality, but detached from the Eastern cultural element and copied by Westerners, the distinction between the person of the guru and that what he symbolizes is lost and it degenerates into a boundless, uncritical personality cult. The late Dutch professor in psychology of religion Jan van der Lans at the Radboud University Nijmegen has mentioned three dangers when the personal contact between the guru and the disciple is absent. Reender Kranenborg, member of the board of CESNUR, who specializes in Hinduism and new religious movements at the Free University in Amsterdam, distinguished three types of gurus,.

The Dutch theologist Dr.
. See also:. The most important is the Guru Granth Sahib, their holiest book.

Sikhism says we are all the children of God and by deduction, God is our mother/father. For Sikhs, the Gurus were not in the Christian sense “Sons of God”. This procedure was continued, and the tenth and last Guru, Guru Gobind (AD 1666–1708) initiated the Sikh ceremony in AD 1699. Before his death he designated a new Guru to be his successor and to lead the Sikh community.

His followers referred to him as the Guru (teacher). Guru Nanak, the first guru of Sikhism, was opposed to the caste system prevalent at his time in India. Indeed, the Sikhs carried the meaning of the word to an even greater level of abstraction, while retaining the original usage, to apply to understanding of imparted knowledge through any medium. The title Guru is extremely fundamental to the religion of the Sikhs.

The term vajra is also used, meaning 'master'.




. A guru is someone who is not necessarily a Buddha but is heavy with knowledge. In Tibetan, the operative word is 'lama' which means 'guru'. According to the Dalai Lama, the term 'living Buddha' is a translation of the Chinese word 'ho fu'.

The Dalai Lama speaking of the importance of the guru, said: "Rely on the teachings to evaluate a guru: Do not have blind faith, but also no blind criticism.". The importance of a guru-disciple relationship, is demonstrated by ritual empowerments or initiations where the student obtains permission to practice a particular tantra.
In tantric Buddhism, a guru is essential for the initiation,practice and guidance along the path. The disciple regards the guru as the embodiment of Buddha or a Bodhisattva, and as such he shows devotion and great appreciation toward him.

In this foundation the disciple can continue in their experiential path on the true nature of reality. The guru's blessing is the last of the four foundations in Vajrayana Buddhism.
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It is worth noting that in all sects with a disciplic succession or parampara, both guru and disciple affirm to be servants of the divine. To illustrate the elevated status of a guru, some saints and poets have sung the glory of the guru:. Indeed, there is an understanding in some sects that if the devotee were presented with the guru and God, first he would pay respects to the guru since the guru had been instrumental in leading him to God. The origin of guru can be traced back as far as the early Upanishads, where the conception of the Divine Teacher on earth first manifested from its early Brahmin associations.

Other gurus whose legacy of continuing the Hindu yogic tradition grew in the 20th century were luminaries like Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, Shri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sivananda and Swami Chinmayananda. Some influential gurus in the Hindu tradition (there have been many) include Adi Shankaracharya, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Shri Ramakrishna. In some more mystical Hindu circles, it is believe that the guru could awaken dormant spiritual knowledge within the pupil, known as shaktipat. Indeed, it is now a standard part of Hinduism (as defined by the six Vedic streams and the Tantric Agamic streams) that a guru is one's spiritual guide on earth.

The role of the guru continues in the original sense of the word in such Hindu traditions as Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and Bhakti sects. Some Hindu denominations like BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha hold that a personal relationship with a living guru, revered as the embodiment of God, is essential in seeking moksha. In the traditional sense, the word guru describes a relationship rather than an absolute and is used as a form of address only by a disciple addressing his master. The lineage of a guru, spread by worthy disciples who carry on that guru's particular message, is known as the guru parampara or disciplic succession.

Often a guru lives in an ashram. The disciple of a guru is called sishya or chela. Compare also Swami. In the sense mentioned here above, guru is used more or less interchangeably with "satguru" (literally: true teacher) and satpurusha.

Another popular etymology claims that the syllables gu (गु) and ru (रू), stand for darkness and light, respectively, providing the esoteric meaning that the guru is somebody who leads the disciple from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge [1] (http://www.dharmayoga.org/onlinestudy/dictionary.htm) [2] (http://www.samadhi-yoga.com/jai/reflect.htm). Another etymology claimed in Hindu scriptures is that of dispeller of darkness (wherein darkness is seen as avidya, lack of knowledge both spiritual and intellectual), 'gu' meaning darkness, and 'ru' meaning dispeller. The word comes from the sanskrit root "gru" literally meaning heavy, weighty. It originated in a Hindu context and holds a special place in Hinduism, signifying the sacred place of knowledge (vidya) and the imparter of knowledge.

The word guru means teacher in Sanskrit and other Sanskrit-derived languages like Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati.
. In further metaphorical extension it means simply a person with the status of an authority by reason of special skill, training or knowledge. In a Western context, the term Guru has extended into anyone who makes religious or philosophical statements and has followers because of this, in some cases in negative contexts.

Guru is widely used in contemporary India with the universal meaning of the word "teacher". Indeed, in Indian languages like Hindi, 'Thursday' is called either Brihaspativaar or Guruvaar (vaar meaning period or day). Guru is also the Sanskrit reference to Brihaspati, a Hindu figure equivalent to the planet the Greeks named Jupiter; in Vedic astrology, Jupiter/Guru/Brihaspati is believed to exert teaching influences. Till today in India and among people of Hindu or Sikh persuasion, the title retains its significant hallowed space.

It is based on a long line of Hindu philosophical understandings of the importance of knowledge and that the teacher, guru, is the sacred conduit to self-realization. A guru (गुरू Sanskrit) is a Hindu religious teacher. There is also a 2002 movie titled The Guru. There is a 1990s alternative rapper named Guru.

Adi Da. Swami Roberto. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or Osho. Meher Baba.

U.G.Krishnamurti. Gurdjieff. I. G.

Aleister Crowley. Note: Maharaji dropped the title "guru" from his name in 1980s together with other Hindu trappings. Maharaji, born under the name Prem Rawat. Madame Blavatsky founder of Theosophy.

Shoko Asahara former guru of Aum Shinrikyo. Benjamin Creme. Marshall Applewhite leader of Heaven's Gate. Mysticsm and critical thinking should go together.

it increases the chance of false mysticism. meditation should be performed under personal support by the guru to keep emotions under control and to prevent psychological harm;. it increases the chance of idealization of the guru by the student (myth making and deification);. the avatar, a guru who claims to be an incarnation of God, or to be God-like, or an instrument of God, for example Sathya Sai Baba and gurus from the Sant Mat lineage.

This type of guru asks for unquestioning obedience and can have Western followers and even Westerners have become one, for example Andrew Cohen. the enlightened master who derives his authority from his experience, such as achieving moksha. the spiritual advisor for higher caste Hindus who also performs traditional rituals and who is not connected to a temple (thus not a priest). The Ten Gurus of Sikhism.

Sikhism. Swami Vivekananda. Swami Shyam. Swami Ramatirtha.

Swami Premananda. Swami Dayananda. Sriram Sharma Acharya. Srila Gurudeva, (Tamala Krishna Goswami, Prabhupada's)disciple).

Sri Shankaracharya (Advaita philosophy). Sri Yukteswar Giri. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji.

Sri Chinmoy. Sivananda. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (founder of the Saiva Siddhanta Church, Hinduism Today (http://www.hinduismtoday.com) magazine). Saradamani Devi, the holy Mother.

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar, founder of Ananda Marga (AMPS). Shri Aurobindo Ghosh. Shirdi Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Baba.

Ramana Maharshi. Ramakrishna_Paramhansa. Ram Dass (Richard Alpert). Paramyogeshwar Sri Devpuriji.

Paramahansa Yogananda. Nisargadatta Maharaj. Neem Karoli Baba. Narayana Guru.

Muktananda. Mata Amritanandamayi or Ammachi. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Lord Basava.

Gurudeb Rabindranath Thakur. Dharmsamrat Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Dayananda Saraswati. Chinmayananda.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Bhakti-Yoga-Rasavatar Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj. Akhandanand Saraswati Maharaj. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna Movement (ISKCON).

A.C. Sahjo Bai. Brahmanand. Kabir.