Guru

Guru (Sanskrit: गुरु. IAST: guru) is a Sanskrit term that connotes someone who is a "teacher, guide or master" of certain knowledge. In pan-Indian traditions, guru is someone more than a teacher, traditionally a reverential figure to the student, with the guru serving as a "counselor, who helps mold values, shares experiential knowledge as much as literal knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who helps in the spiritual evolution of a student." The term also refers to someone who primarily is one's spiritual guide, who helps one to discover the same potentialities that the guru has already realized.

The oldest references to the concept of guru are found in the earliest Vedic texts of Hinduism. The guru, and gurukul – a school run by guru, were an established tradition in India by the 1st millennium BCE, and these helped compose and transmit the various Vedas, the Upanishads, texts of various schools of Hindu philosophy, and post-Vedic Shastras ranging from spiritual knowledge to various arts. By about mid 1st millennium CE, archaeological and epigraphical evidence suggest numerous larger institutions of gurus existed in India, some near Hindu temples, where guru-shishya tradition helped preserve, create and transmit various fields of knowledge. These gurus led broad ranges of studies including Hindu scriptures, Buddhist texts, grammar, philosophy, martial arts, music and painting.

Sikh gurus

The Sikh Gurus (Prophet-Masters) established Sikhism over the centuries, beginning in the year 1469.Guru Nanak was the first Guru, and subsequently, each Guru, in succession, was referred to as "Nanak", and as "Light", making their revelations, in the holy scriptures, equivalent. All the Gurus themselves also used the name "Nanak" while penning down their spiritual revelations.

There are a total of eleven Gurus: Ten human gurus and Guru Granth Sahib the Eleventh, or current and everlasting Sikh Guru, is the integrated Sikh scripture known as the Guru Granth Sahib. The Tenth Nanak, Guru Gobind Singh, had bestowed the Guruship forevermore to the Guru Granth Sahib.

The Gurus

See also

References

External Links

Dan (cuneiform)

The cuneiform dan sign is a multi-use sign found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Besides dan, (and tan), the following are its uses (from Epic of Gilgamesh):

As sumerogram GURUŠ, it is only used for its Akkadian language meaning "eṭlu"-("young man"). Half of the spellings of eṭlu use GURUŠ combined with other signs, and half spell eṭlu alphabetically/syllabically. The quantities used for specific meanings of the sign, in the Epic of Gilgamesh are as follows: dan-(27), kal-(23), lab-(19), lap-(3), lép-(1), líb-(7), líp-(3), reb-(7), rib-(2), tan-(10), GURUŠ-(23).

Amarna letter use and "dan-is"

Combined with is, (is (cuneiform)), the Akkadian word dan-is, "danniš", meaning "greatly", "strongly", "fervently", etc. is used in the Amarna letters, especially from Mesopotamia, of Mitanni (King Tushratta), Babylon, and others. Tushratta's letter to Pharaoh, Amarna letter EA 19, Love and Gold uses many examples of danniš; also from Tushratta, EA 26 and EA 28.