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Intelligence and personality, have a number of characteristics in common.Ī person becoming a guru usually claims to have been granted a special, spiritual insight It is also because the best and worst prophets, though varying greatly in

This is partlyīecause their urgent need blinds them to the true characteristics of the guru a distortionįamiliar to psychoanalysts who are accustomed to the phenomena accompanying In the light of history, we may think it easy toĭistinguish the saints from the madmen and the crooks but it is clear that those who seekĪ guru to give their live"s meaning find it difficult to make this distinction. Yet many gurus have been entirely unworthy of veneration: false prophets, madmen,Ĭonfidence tricksters, or unscrupulous psychopaths who exploit their disciplesĮmotionally, financially, and sexually. I do not mean to suggest that all gurus have feet of clay. When exposed to the glare of publicity, as happened with Albert Schweitzer and Mother Virtue is usually unobtrusive, although it may be perceived as something less admirable Without hope of reward or public recognition. Visit the sick, or adopt deprived children, or devote themselves to charitable enterprises Most of us haveĮncountered people who can be described as 'good' without being priggish. To esoteric wisdom which the ordinary person cannot reach unaided. Gurus, usually influence others by their examples in daily life rather than by swayingĬrowds with rhetoric, surrounding themselves with adoring disciples, or claiming access Integrity, virtue, and goodness are far beyond the reach of most of us. Since this book is concerned with some gurus who were less than admirable, I want toĪffirm at the outset that I recognize that morally superior individuals exist whose

Recorded in the Koran, are repugnant to modern Western ideas, but both Jesus and theīuddha compel our admiration, even if we are neither Christians nor Buddhists. Muhammad's injunctions concerning legal punishment and the treatment of women, as Venerated and whose teachings have changed the lives of millions of people. Jesus, Muhammad, and the Buddha were gurus who are still Yet there have also been gurus whose holiness, lack of personal ambition, and integrityĪre beyond question. Both recent and earlier history demonstrate that many gurus are, orīecome, unscrupulous wielders of power who exploit their followers in a variety of ways.

Anyone can become a guru if he or she has the hubris to claim special Since there are no schools for gurus,Īnd no recognized qualifications for becoming one, they are, like politicians, originally Ways of self-development, new paths to salvation. Special spiritual insight based on personal revelation. Gurus differ widely from each other in a variety of ways, but most claim the possession of Not all gurus are venerable but theĭefinition 'spiritual teacher' is sufficiently accurate to indicate what is popularly meant by Guru as 'a spiritual teacher: a venerable person'. Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary defines Laws lay hid in night: God said, let Newton be! and all was light." Although NewtonĬertainly did bring light out of darkness, and was a deeply religious man who wrote moreĪbout religion and history than he did about mathematics and physics, he does not qualifyĪs a guru in the sense in which the word is used in this book because he did not found a Light out of darkness.' If this definition were to be adopted without modification, it couldīe argued that scientists, artists and writers should be included. The Sanskrit word guru means 'one who brings