GurŪ
GURŪ. The word gurū refers to a spiritual master or teacher whose gift or skill bears an esoteric dimension. Though derived from the Hindu tradition, the term gurū has also come to be applied to spiritual masters of other religious traditions, and to masters in other areas of expertise, such as music, dance, and even business. The Sanskrit term gurū was originally used in its Vedic context as an adjective meaning "heavy" or "weighty." In the Upaniṣads, it came to refer to a person who had reached the highest state of spiritual realization (mokṣa)and who was able to lead others to the same. The gurū may be distinguished from a Hindu sadhu, in that the role of the gurū consists mainly in teaching disciples (shishyas), and from an ācārya or paṇḍit in that the teaching of the gurū is based primarily on personal spiritual experiences rather than on traditional religious knowledge. As such, the gurū-disciple relationship represents the Hindu form of the phenomenon of spiritual direction that may be found in most religious traditions. The gurū may be regarded as the Hindu equivalent to the figure of the kalyāna mitra in Theravāda Buddhism, the roshi in Zen Buddhism, or the lama in Tibetan Buddhism.
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