What are the different types of Gurus as per our Scriptures?

This article explains various types of Gurus, their method of teaching and achieving spiritual progress of disciples.

1. Type as per the form and absence of a Guru

The table ahead illustrates the types of Gurus according to the form and an outline of their missions. This will clarify points such as the necessity of a Guru, who needs Guru, etc. In this regard, from the worldly perspective, the point to be considered is that till the thoughtless state (that is, a spiritual level of 70% is attained), spiritual evolution takes place faster if one has a Guru in human form. Thereafter, for further spiritual progress a disciple mostly receives guidance from within.

	Form of the Guru
	Physical form	Holy text	Idol	Others	Not having a Guru
Deciding what to teach, as per the ability of the disciple	Possible	Not possible	Not possible	Not possible	–
Clarification of doubts	Possible Immediately	Possible to some extent after lot of reading	Not possible	Not possible	–
Time required to develop faith	Very little	Little	More	A lot	–
Motivation, teaching, exams	Possible	Not possible	Not possible	Not possible	–
Guidance to reduce destiny and accumulated account and elimination of negative energies that create obstacles in spiritual practice	Possible	Not possible	Not possible	Not possible	–
Benefits of Chaitanya (Divine consciousness) upon being in the company of the Guru	Possible	Not possible	Little	Not possible	–
Benefit of Guru’s grace	Possible	Not possible	Not possible	Not possible	–
Proportion of disciples leaving spiritual practice in between	Less	More	Very high	Very high	Very high
Time required for spiritual progress	Less	More	A lot	A lot	A lot
Personality of the disciple as per psychology which is suitable to the form of Guru	One who is in more need of guidance	Independent	One who needs support	Independent	Very independent
Normally, a disciple at what spiritual level can benefit ?	55	40	60	30	–
Efforts to be made by the disciple / seeker (%)	60	70	70	70	100
Qualities necessary in the disciple	Satseva and tyag	Understanding the implied meaning	Getting guidance from within	As per the type	High ego (faith in oneself)
Proportion of spiritual progress	2-3	0.25	0.75	0.25	0.001

2. Guru, Sadguru and Paratpar Guru

2A. Definition, meaning, mission and role in the disciple’s progress

	Guru	Sadguru	Paratpar Guru
1. Definition and Meaning	A. One who provides Knowledge of Maya (The Great Illusion) and Guru Principle B. Dnyanguru C. Physical form	A. One who provides atmanubhuti and makes one realise that there is Brahman everywhere B. Dikshaguru C. Name of God	A. One who provides Spiritual experience of advait B. Muktiguru C. Advait
Spiritual level (%)	70%	80%	Over 90%
Spiritual experiences obtained by the self and others	Shakti (Divine Energy)	Anand (Bliss)	Shanti (Serenity)
Spiritual practice of the self	Yes	Yes	Not required
Attaining Moksha (Final Liberation)	Possible	Easily possible	Has already attained Moksha
Seat of the Kundalini A. In daily life B. At the time of performing spiritual practice	Anahat-chakra Adnya-chakra	Vishuddha-chakra Sahsrar-chakra	Sahsrar-chakra – (Do not perform spiritual practice)
Behaving as per the rules of the sect to guide others	Yes	Yes	– (Have gone beyond the restrictions of the sect)
Eliminating negative energies A. Eliminating superior negative energies such as superior ghosts, black magic etc. B. Method used for eliminating superior Negative energies	Possible, but difficult The act has to be performed with an intention	Possible Resolve	Easily possible Even a resolve is not required. Upon coming in their presence, the negative energies automatically leave
Subject on which they speak	Spirituality	Spirituality	Any subject
Method of performing miracles	Praying to God or the Guru	Resolve	As part of their duty, the supernatural powers and Deities perform miracles for them
Function A.B.	Preparing the disciple for spiritual practice Bestowing spiritual experience of sagun (Materialised) Chaitanya (Present in the Guru) on the disciple	Sowing the seed of spiritual practice in the disciple Bestowing spiritual experience of nirgun (Non-materialised) Principle	Taking the disciple towards advait Bestowing spiritual experience on the disciple, that sagun-nirgun are one and the same
At what spiritual level (%) does the disciple attain a Guru	55	70	80
Spiritual practice of the disciple	The Guru tells the disciple to perform spiritual practice in words	Without the knowledge of the disciple, the Guru gets spiritual practice done by a resolve	Spiritual practice of the disciple takes place automatically, by the mere presence of the Guru
Teaching (%) A. Through words B. Beyond words	70 30	40 60	2 98
Maximum spiritual progress of the disciple (%)	70	80	100
Role in the disciple’s progress (%)	30	40	50

The vibrations of Ānand are 10 lakh times subtler than those of Shakti, and the spiritual experience of Shanti are infinite times subtler than the vibrations of Anand, that is, subtlest. Hence, when a seeker begins to understand the subtle, he first identifies the Guru at the level of Shakti, then Anand and lastly Shanti.

The points ahead elaborate on the difference between a Guru, a Sadguru and a Paratpar Guru.

Spiritual level of an ordinary individual, a disciple and the Guru, Sadguru and Paratpar Guru and the proportion of the three components in them : Sattvik (Sattva-predominant), rajasik (Raja-predominant) and tamasik (Tama-predominant) are words used in the context of an ordinary individual. Once the individual crosses the spiritual level of 50%, his attitude becomes introverted. Then, no importance is attached to the three components in his constitution. As provided in the table ahead, generally the proportion of the three components remains constant. Only quantitatively they decrease, that is, one progresses towards becoming trigunatīt or towards the Purushtattva.

	Spiritual level (%)	Proportion of the trigunas (%)			Total number of trigunas (%)
	Spiritual level (%)	Sattva	Raja	Tama	Total number of trigunas (%)
Ordinary individual A. Tamasik B. Tamasik-rajasik C. Rajasik-sattvik D. Sattvik	20 30 40 50	20 30 40 50	30 30 30 30	50 40 30 20	100 70 50 30
Disciple	60	50	30	20	20
Guru	70	50	30	20	10
Sadguru	85	50	30	20	1/10
A. Sadeha B. Videha (Moksha = 100%)	100 100	50 0	30 0	20 0	1/1000 0

2 B. Normal comparative proportion of various components

	Proportion (%)
	Guru	Sadguru	Paratparguru
1. Unmanifest bhav (Spiritual emotion)	70	80	90
2. Yearning	70	80	90
3. Guidance	50	70	90
4. Prīti (Unconditional love)	30	50	80
5. Ego	10	8	5

2 C. Mission and its nature

	Guru	Sadguru	Paratparguru
1. Oneness with the Guru Principle	For a few moments	For some time	Completely one
2. Ego	10% or more	Less than 10%	2 to 0%
3. Gross and subtle form of the mission	Mostly gross, but sometimes subtle	Through the gross in greater proportion and very little through the subtle	In greater proportion through the subtle and occasionally through the gross
4. Extent of the mission	Limited to a certain area on the earth	Bhūlok (Earth region) to Swargalok (Heaven)	Saptalok
5. Form of guidance	Regarding worship of God’s tarak (Saviour) form	Mainly regarding worship of God’s tarak form and mere explanation about God’s marak (Destroyer) form	Guiding about God’s tarak and marak form as per the times and getting spiritual practice done according to it.
6. What do they impart to the seeker	Unique knowledge and inferior or spiritual experience related to Maya	Moderate or a little higher level spiritual experience and little knowledge	Complete knowledge and essential (Inferior, moderate and higher level) spiritual experience
7. Period required for making the disciple obtain Moksha	Many births	Few births	Few years
8. Performing the mission of reinstatement of Dharma (Righteousness)	No, out of many, hardly one Saint performs this task	Helping the mission of reinstatement of Dharma	Performing the mission of reinstatement of Dharma and in the process, getting spiritual practice performed from others.

3 D. Proportion of Divine
characteristics and the tarak and marak form

	Guru	Sadguru	Paratparguru
1. Divine characteristics and their proportion (%)
1A. Shakti Principle	30	20	10
1B. Manifest Chaitanya Principle	30	20	10
1C. Anand Principle	10	20	10
1D. Shanti Principle	10	10	30
1E. Unmanifest Chaitanya Principle	10	10	10
1F. Guru Principle	10	20	30
Total	100	100	100
2. Tarak form
2A. Principle	More of sagun-nirgun	Very less sagun-nirgun	Nirgun-sagun
2B. Components	Raja-Sattva	Sattva-Raja	Sattva
2C. Manifest active waves	Ichha (Desire)-kriya	Kriya-dnyan (Knowledge)	Dnyan-kriya
2D. Behaviour	Kind (Love for seekers)	Compassionate (Along with the seekers, taking care of happiness-unhappiness of their families too)	Grace bestowing (By bestowing grace, taking everyone beyond happiness-unhappiness)
2E. What is the mission dependent on ?	On the manifest bhav of the individual	On the unmanifest bhav of the individual	Less ego
2F. Mission	Brahmanda (Universe)	Brahmanda and in the void of Brahmanda	Mission beyond the Brahmanda
3. Marak form
3A. Principle	Sagun	When compared with tarak Principle, more of sagun and less of nirgun	Little more of sagun when compared with nirgun-tarak Principle
3B. Components	Raja	Raja-Sattva	Sattva-Raja
3C. Manifest active waves	Kriya-ichha	Kriya	Kriya-dnyan
3D. Behaviour	Conserving Kshatravrutti	Creating Kshatratej for fighting (Having leadership)
3E. What does the mission depend upon	Manifest Kshatravrutti, annoyance	Unmanifest Kshatrabhav, aggressiveness (Gratitude)	Surrender
3F. Help in obtaining what kind of Moksha for the disciple	Inferior Moksha	Moderate Moksha	Superior Moksha (Actual Moksha)
3G. Function	Reducing personal problems for a limited period	Reducing the basic energy of negative energies at the personal level	Repulsing the attacks of Negative energies on the entire samashṭi (Society)
3H. Proportion in today’s Gurus (%)	3	10	5

The unmanifest Chaitanya includes the Principles of Shakti, Anand and Shanti; however, the manifest Chaitanya in the Guru functions in the form of Shakti, in the Sadguru in the form of Anand and in the Paratpar Guru in the form of Shanti.

Reference : Sanatan Sanstha’s Holy Text on ‘Importance of the Guru, types and Gurumantra’