Among all these the term Guru is of most respected one. It is all encompassing in the definition of the term and in the realm of the actions.(now a days even those who write to wall street is also called as Guru). Actually they are called as BHAGAVATH PADAS. This means that they are the Feet of the Supreme lord, or the lord him self. Because we cannot differentiate the lord from his feet. Now let's see how many types of Gurus are there. The classification is based on the actions of the Guru, and in no way categorize the Guru in any order, these only indicate the roles the Guru can take in general. Actually depending on the need and the sadhaka the Guru can be all these types or can confine to one set of category.

1.PRERAKA GURU: He who starts the interest and impels the student to achieve the objectives.

2. SUCHAKA GURU: He who indicates the path to be followed by the sadhaka and guides him in the crisis.

3. VACHAKA GURU: He who explains the process of the wisdom and the knowledge as indicated in the sashthraas.

4. DARSHAKA GURU: He who makes the sadhaka see the truth and the reality of the phenomenon.

5. SIKSHAKA GURU: Teacher who actually teaches the process the sadhana and teaches how to attain the sadhana.

6. BODHAKA GURU: He who illuminates the wisdom directly in the student.

The 6th is the final essence of the Guru. In all the first 5 stages the teacher leads the sadhaka to culminate in to the 6 stage of the sadhana where he needs a bodhaka guru.

The first 5 are the theory part of the wisdom and the last is the assimilation in the body or called as the Experience, Realization.

In fact all the first 5 types of gurus belong to the following 5 process in sadhana, 1. Instigation, 2.Inauguration, 3. Explanation, 4. Direction, 5. Teaching, and the final guru comes at the stage of Assimilation or Realization.

In between there may be many Gurus to guide different process of the sadhana but he is the final Guru who makes the Poorna Abhisheka of the student with the Brahman.

The different Gurus come in between these 6 stages of the sadhana and these Gurus are 12 in number. They along with their actions are as follows.

1. DHATHU VADHI GURU: Who makes sure that the observances of the sadhana are implemented by the student.

2. CHANDANA GURU: Who simply makes his presence a tool in desisting the student from doing Nishidha Karmas.

3. VICHARA GURU: He who guides the student in to the subtleties of the logic and the arguments to understand the process of sashthra.

4. ANUGRAHA GURU: Who simply showers the grace in case of the mistake in the sadhana and prescribes the prayaschitha.

5. PARASA GURU: Just by touching the disciple transmutes the disabled meridian points as energy centers for higher sadhana.

6. KACHAPA GURU: Just by his samkalpa he will redeem the samskaaraas of the student if he is fit.

7. CHANDRA GURU: The disciple will melt his ignorance and past karmas by the presence of the teacher.

8. DARPANA GURU: He who reflects the cosmic consciousness to the student as a mirror does with out prolonging or with out unnecessary arguments.

9. CHAYA NIDHI GURU: He whose shadow it self awakens the spiritual initiation in the sadhaka.

10. NADANIDHI GURU: He who can communicate the knowledge to the student with out talking (in the form of silent vibration) is called as Nadanidhi guru.

11. KRAUNCHA PAKSHI GURU: He whose mere name brings the illumination to the sadhaka.

12. SURYAKANTHA GURU: He who transmutes the sadhana of the student to the perfection by just seeing him is called as suryakantha Guru. After seeing different types of GURUS now lets understand who is meant by GURU. There are certain qualifications for the Guru which are clear in the Sashthras and there is no compromise on them.

2. Truth, born as consciousness and manifested from bliss, (sath, chit, ananda),

3. Past, future, Tathra Sashthra, Manthra Sashthra, Doctrines of Saktha, Shaiva, Vaishnava AGAMAS,

4. 6 Vedhas or Diksha Padhathis, Anava, Saktha, Sambhavi, all these three becomes 6 with the classification of Bahya and Anthara (external and internal),

5. The 6 fold purification process of the VIBRATORY STATE (SWARA, and AKSHARA) in the form of Mantra, Kala, Yantra, Tatwa, Guna,

6. The striking, holding, opposition and releasing the energy patterns of the cosmos,

7. The essence of the 4 fold state of the cosmos, Jagrath, Swapna, Sushupthi, Turiya.

8. The process of what is forming, what is formed, subtleties of the form and what is beyond form,

9. The 4 states of the Vak, para, pasyanthi, madhyama, vaikhari,

10. The process of cutting the bonds, initiation by impact, and controlling the process of the sadhana,

11. The meaning of the PADA, PAASA, PASU,

13. The Essence of the Symbolism of the Chakra, Mantra, Puja,

14. The position of the three Lingaas, Bana, Itara, Svayambhuva, (in annahatha, agna, and mulaadhara),

15. The process of separation of ANAVA, MAYA, KARMA results in the sadhaka,

16. The process of origination and destroying the Vaasanaas,

17. The mudraas and bandhas, (with special reference to the MAHAMUDRA, NABHO MUDRA, UDDIYANA BANDHAM, JHALANDHARA BANDHAM),

18. The classification of 36 tatvaas in the cosmos from shiva to parvathi, (shiva tattva, sakthi tatva, sadaasiva tatva, ishwara tatva, sudha vidya tatva, maya, 5 kanchukaas, purusha, prakrithi, budhi, ahamkara, manas, 5 karmendriyas, 5 gnanendriyas, 5 tanmathraas, 5 maha bhuthas),

19. The Bahir Yaga and Anthar Yaga, the state of oneness between the microcosm and macrocosm,

20. The 8.4 million asanaas, (and the most popular 84 asanas),

22. The nature of the 8 bonds and the process of the liberation from these bonds. One in the bonds is called as PASU in the SASHTHRA, or ANIMAL, (these are pity, doubt, fear, shame, disgust, family disposition, caste), the one liberated from them is called as SHIVA,

23. The SEAL of the YONI MUDRA, revelation of the consciousness power of the Mantra, Vibratory state, the Yantra, 4 conditions of the mind (dispersed, moving to and from or oscillating, distressed, and passive),knows the karma of the jivas and has the ability to guide the individuals in the process of higher levels of the evolution,

25. The process of setting aside the sequence of the varnas and ashramaas, and practiced them,

26. The process of making the student realize that he is the Brahman, who is inseperate form the infinite consciousness, which is the student's mind and jiva it self, is called as GURU.

With this standard we can ourselves identify the real GURU.

Devotional Paths, Prayers & Rituals