Spiritual knowledge is described as ‘Para jnana’ to indicate its subtle and infinite nature. It is beyond the limits of what can be learnt through the senses, mind or intellect. Since there is none better than the Lord to impart this Para jnana, He is the Primordial Guru for the entire humanity, said Sri Va Ve Subramaniam in a discourse. But there are also many acharyas who have played an important role in handing down the spiritual tradition. In fact, an acharya is a cut above the Lord when it comes to showering grace.
While the Lord is bound by His role as the dispenser of the fruits of an individual’s karma, a guru is impartial to all his disciples and his grace flows equally on all of them irrespective of their individual karma or nature. Adi Sankara extols the spontaneous generosity of the acharya in the Viveka Chudamani when he points out that he does not need any reason to be kind and compassionate towards his disciples. He is well-versed in the scriptures, pure and not affected by desire.
He knows the Supreme Truth intuitively and is always calm like the fire that has burnt up its fuel. He is more a friend to his disciples who have faith in him and have surrendered to him. The Vedas teach the concept that both teacher and student learn together. Ideally, they should have the same wavelength and there should be no enmity between them.
The function of a guru is to teach the scriptures by going beyond the letter to the spirit inhering in them. In addition, he teaches by his life and by his behaviour and sometimes even by silence. The purpose of learning is to go above the intellect to realise the purity and richness of the soul.
