Guru is a spiritual teacher who can help you teach the “truth” those people who need it. The presence of secret knowledge, “a holistic and clear understanding of the nature of reality” that is a feature that distinguishes a guru from a “normal” person or a simple teacher. True knowledge is realized by the spiritual teacher in revelation, in a certain experience, the authenticity of which is of no doubt, and through the sacred texts of the sruti and smriti. New Indian masters, gurus of Neo-Hinduism are modern teachers of wisdom, whose teachings are now widespread all around the world. The main aim of their teachings is enlightenment, liberation in life (jivanmukta), occurring through the spiritual perfection of the individual. Neo-Hinduism masters traditionally use three ways to achieve Moksha, described in Bhagavad-Gita and later Upanishads: “the path of knowledge” (jnana-marga), the “path of action” (karma-marga), “the course of true love” to God (bhakti-marga). They also emphasize the importance of yoga psychological practice divided on hatha, raja, mantra and laya. The modern Indian teachers of wisdom practice all these methods, preferring sometimes one path or method or combining several. Some methods, ways of achieving enlightenment, such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation or some meditations, practiced in Osho’s ashram cannot be assigned to any of the ways enumerated above. They are special “non-traditional” methods based on the syncretism of doctrines and ways of spiritual development, combining the fundamentals of ancient methods with ease and speed, focused on the modern spiritual seeker. Another feature of the Neo-Hinduism masters’ teachings is their openness, interpenetration and unification of different schools in one doctrine. On the one hand, this is some kind of globalization of beliefs, techniques, on the other hand, independence from certain religion, non-relation with it.
Keywords: yoga, enlightenment, meditation, Neo-Hinduism, Indian guru, psychological practice, religion
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2018.1.29-35
About the author
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Yulia A. Uimina – post-graduate student at The University for Humanities, Yekaterinburg; 19 Studencheskaya str., Yekaterinburg, 620049, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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