• Richa Thakur

Description

This kind of defines the word ‘Upa-ni-shad’. Bringing all the three syllables—‘Upa’, ‘ni’ and ‘shad’—together means the teacher and the student, or the speaker and the listener sit together with the intention of moving closer to the supreme truth. This is accomplished with complete humility on both sides and with complete intent to listen and understand, putting away all the obstacles to listening.

Now, we come to the question of the teacher, because there is so much. I am sure you know this. The innumerable gurus today; I am sure there were many gurus before, but there are also many today—so many of them that I usually get confused trying to figure out who is who. That’s a big list. Some teach yoga, some teach meditation, some teach Vedas, some teach—I don’t know what. So, what do the Upanishads think about the concept of guru? Is the guru all-important? Is the guru the most important? Or is the guru merely a teacher who is imparting you knowledge?

In this context, I will explain to you the way the word guru is handled in the Upanishads. I think it was a later invention that the guru is the most important and whatever he says must be accepted on faith; that you cannot disobey the guru or you will go to hell and so on and so forth.