Spanda, The Involuntary Kriya Yoga for Faster Self Realization The word “Guru” in general means a teacher or that individual who removes one’s darkness of ignorance. According to Hinduism, one can have many gurus. The teacher who imparts worldly knowledge is the ‘vidya-Guru’, and one can have many of these in his life. However, the ‘Sat-guru’  is a qualified spiritual master who imparts spiritual knowledge, who initiates the seeker into the spiritual path and guides him along the path to  self-realization. In the lives of every individual, the Guru is a necessity for learning and experiencing spiritual truths. It should be remembered that all the sages, world teachers, even avataar or incarnations of God, had Gurus. The Sat-Guru Hindu scriptures declare ‘Aachaarya Devo Bhavah- the teacher is God. A Sat-guru is none other than God himself, descended in human form or a human who has attained the highest level of spiritual knowledge. According to Sri Ramakrishna, ...