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The Guru Disciple Relationship

The Guru is the Eastern counterpart to the Western Spiritual Teacher or Guide; however Gurus do not translate well to the West, because the West is steeped in historical thought while the East is steeped in mythical thought. The West has been acculturated to look for facts and history while the East relies on myth and symbolism in its religious traditions. Westerners can learn much about the true purpose and nature of the Spiritual Guide or Guru Archetype by understanding the Eastern Guru and his relationship to his disciple.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati (1996) states that the Guru is not a person that one throws his rubbish at, but rather a person who is a friend, who inspires and helps the individual lead his life in an effective way. The Guru is also a human being and not a god. Thus the student or disciple is well advised to take care when finding and following a Guru. The role of the student is to open up completely to the Guru, to be open and vulnerable and allow one’s ‘stuff’ to hang out, so that the student may receive the benefit of the Guru’s wisdom and insight.

Houston Smith says that the guru is a role model and someone to emulate. He mentions Christ, Buddha, and Muhammad as exemplary models of gurus. The Guru provides a form or mold for the unformed student to pour himself or herself into. Smith notes that the master works from the start to bring the disciple to the point where he or she no longer needs the Guru (Cousineau, 2003). Victor Mansfield (1996) says that the Guru and disciple are much like the Counselor/counselee relationship. It is a relationship that is easy to abuse, because the disciple or student transfers so much power to the guru.

The Guru in the Eastern tradition has only one purpose, to bring the unenlightened to the enlightened state. The relationship is based on the Guru’s duty to share his realizations with others. The disciple willingly follows the Guru in order to free himself from illusion and gain the enlightened state. It is a spiritual bond with a spiritual purpose, and both Guru and disciple are devoted to that purpose.

Difficulties arise however when we confuse ‘primordial’ memory and ‘historical’ memory. When we seek the enlightened state, we are seeking a ‘primordial’ remembering, and we enter into a ‘knowing’ that allows us to understand the ‘beginning’ of time and space, and the movement into the eternal. When we seek ‘historical’ knowing, however, we are seeking factual or scientific proof. The metaphysical difference is the element that confuses those in the West, because their cultural religions, Judaism and Christianity, are historical. Those in the West who enter into a Guru relationship often imbue the Guru with a factual or practical perfection rather than primordial perfection. The practical element is the outer Teacher, the man or woman who acts as the model and wayshower. The universal principle is the holiness and perfection of the enlightened state and the Divine within. The Western disciple expects that every act of the Guru will be ‘perfected’ and that the Guru can do no wrong. Essentially, the Westerner runs the risk of losing his good sense and his ability to discern.

The Guru or Teacher has already walked the path, and it only makes sense to tap into her wisdom. Teachers help the community evolve, because they carry the wisdom that allows the student to quickly “catch up” to current day knowledge. Projection and transference are the elements that bring about healing and growth in the relationship. Jung understood projection to be a natural attempt that the individual uses, consciously or unconsciously, to bring unconscious material into awareness. As the individual projects material onto others, she ascribes qualities to others that she refuses to see in herself and is thus able to see what was formerly hidden. In the Guru relationship, the Disciple projects her unconscious divinity onto the Guru, and the Guru reflects back the Disciple’s ‘unclaimed face.’ The risk is that the Guru in the form of Priest, Shaman, or Prophet, becomes the god-man, and the disciple enters into a form of worship.

Mansfield (1996) states that disciples run the risk of inflating the value of the Guru, and using it to amplify their own ego through association. The same can happen in the counseling experience. The client will project great wisdom onto the Counselor, thinking that he has some special insight into the personality of the client. The client assumes importance by association. Because of our ego needs, we all seek recognition, we all want greatness, and we all look to authority to tell us who we are. It takes maturity and independence to move beyond this need and appreciate that no one can tell us who we are except ourselves. Good gurus recognize that they have nothing to teach their students, and bad gurus vastly abuse their disciples by feeding off their dependence needs. The disciple must finally realize that the Guru is just the face of the disciple’s inner self projected back to him. This is the deep secret that the Zen Masters teach so well.

The Spiritual Counselor must maintain that same wisdom. The Counselor holds the client’s agenda until the client can hold himself. A good Counselor will do this without hurting others, and a bad or unethical Counselor will take advantage of a client’s dependence and lack of ego strength. The Counselor must have the maturity to maintain the relationship without taking advantage of the client’s vulnerabilities. The Guru and the Spiritual Counselor are simply the symbol of the Divine in each of us, and the client or student uses that symbol as the golden ring to attain.

There is a point in each disciple’s lifetime that he or she must claim his or her own mastership and accept the responsibility of self-mastery. This is a critical turning point because accepting the responsibility before fully prepared opens the door to unnecessary pain. If accepted too soon, the individual will wander aimlessly without having full grounding in history and tradition or full ego strength for responsible independence. When one waits too long, it leads to aged immaturity, where the individual has grown old without giving back and establishing his or her own place in humanity. It is the wise student indeed who accepts the mantle of responsibility when bestowed, and it is the cruel Teacher or Guru who would hold the student too long in servitude. However this is the risk that the student faces when working with gurus, because gurus are human too and sometimes suffer from emotional immaturity even though they have attained spiritual heights.

In Zen, in its highest form, there is no guru, there is no student. They are recognized as roles that the Buddha nature is playing. The Shamanic tribes also had their form of Guru which was called the ‘trickster’. This individual functions as the Teacher who tricks people into “seeing their attachments and habitual patterns…tricksters typically present surprises and the unexpected as a way of waking people out of their routines” (Arrien, 1993, p. 110). The Guru must act as the trickster and wake us up to the truth of who we are.

Resonance and Group Consciousness

The Guru/Disciple relationship may also possess a magical quality or ‘something more’ – a psychic or telepathic link. This telepathic link may be the manifestation of resonance in collective consciousness of one individual with another. Indeed the experience of the darshan or the upliftment in consciousness that disciples report from being in the Guru’s presence may be a manifestation of this resonance or entrainment (Mansfield, 1996).

Resonance is best described as sympathetic vibration. Through resonance, sound is intensified and prolonged by vibration (dictionary.com). Entrainment is described as the process of pulling or dragging something along, and in physics, it means that two oscillating or vibrating bodies will lock onto each other so that they synchronize or vibrate in harmony with each other (Richman, 2004). Indeed, when two waves rhythmically entrain, they come together as one wave and amplify or gain power. Entrainment also refers to the tendency of rhythmic systems to synchronize for greater efficiency. Groups may entrain themselves, and through entrainment, they find and develop a group consciousness. Entrainment explains group phenomena, and through group consciousness, the group can promote a certain magical quality and gain an enlarged focus and commitment to group goals. When groups come together, they produce synergy where the sum of the group’s power is greater than the power of the individual members. This is called collective resonance.

Gurus may tap into this power, but it is not limited to the Guru/Disciple relationship. Indeed it can be promoted and developed within any group that is willing to entertain its power. Renee Levi (2003) studied group resonance as her doctoral dissertation, and she has identified nine factors that will shift groups into resonance. These were researched in a “Group Magic” study. She asks us to contemplate what would happen if we could deliberately design these elements into group gatherings:

Vulnerability – noticed in self, in other, or in the entire group. It can show up as not knowing the answer, not knowing what to do next, not knowing why we are here or not knowing what has happened. It could also be a result of self-revelation or personal opening. The magical quality is the willingness to let go of control and be open, to speak authentically, and to invite sources of guidance.
Silence – appeared when individuals connected deeply with one another or with themselves, as a spontaneous next step in the group process, or as a facilitation tool to affect the group process. Rather than being uncomfortable, it was viewed as a sacred quiet or gift of silence, a place where people could go deeper and think. [It could be equated to a “pregnant pause”.]
Story – storytelling facilitates intimacy and trust.
Place/Space – the physical place or space can create resonance. In addition, the space between individuals can create resonance. [Think about being in a holy location or creating sanctuary. Reflect on how feng shui is used to create sacred space.]
Container Contraction – a sense of expansion and a sense of personal boundaries dissolving. Personal expansion and oneness with the group.
Shared Intention – common goal and group purpose.
Truth – a willingness to uncover truth and a sharing of what is uncovered
Sound/Vibration – through singing, music, physical movement, or voice.
Spirit – the entrance into the group that individuals describe as spirit, higher power, or the holy.

Levi (2003) reports that the first two are the strongest and most often reported elements, the next three are moderately strong, and the last four are the weaker elements in group resonance. Note that the first two are important elements in a counseling situation, and all come into play in some form. Counseling is a time to share story, it is a sacred space or container for growth to occur, boundaries are a large aspect of the relationship, it is entered into with shared intention, and truth telling is an element that must be acknowledged and appreciated.

Based on these principles, it makes good sense to join with others who share a common view of life. The force and energy of the group will create entrainment which pulls the individual along toward a greater summit or goal. In essence, the individual profits from resonating with a Teacher or Guru, or with a group that is dedicated to promoting the upliftment of consciousness.

If one joins a teaching, benefits can be gained through the group consciousness. As one resonates and entrains with the group consciousness, the individual enters into a dialog with the teaching and the individuals who follow the teaching, and one reaps the energy of all that have gone before. This group contact can be through either an outer or physical community, or it can be established through an inner or mystical community. We often see leaders who use this resonance or entrainment quality to convert individuals into followers.