Why should the Guru be worshiped?

Most of the modern day Hindus believe in some of the ideas found in Hinduism, like ‘God is one’, ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’, etc. but not all of them, as they vociferously claim. Many do not agree with ideas like ‘cow is our mother’, ‘idol worship’ and all the ‘ritualistic stuff’. In fact, if presented with the idea of Guru Puja, a lot of them would be outright scandalized. ‘Why should one worship Guru?’, they would ask. ‘He is after all only human!’, they would say. ‘Find your inner Guru’, they would advise. In fact, many of them believe that worshiping ‘a human being’ is somehow against the tenets of Hinduism itself!

But what if I say that they would all be wrong? Well, not so much ‘wrong’, as say misguided. The problem is that years of brainwashing by the media has led them to believe that worshiping a human being is sacrilege, so to speak. To be fair, this would be true if we were talking about the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism). I am sure every Hindu would have heard the mahavakya  ‘aham brahmasmi’ which literally means ‘I am Brahman, the superconscious’. In any other religion, you may be persecuted for uttering such a ‘blasphemy’. This is not only not true in Hinduism, a Hindu has complete freedom to proclaim ‘tat tvam asi’, ‘sohamasmi’, ‘sadashivoham’, all of which basically point to the same truth – you are divine.

Far from it being sacrilegious to do puja to a human being, Hindus offer puja even to animals (cows, snakes, bulls, etc.) and plants (tulsi, bel, peepal tree, banyan tree etc.). Hinduism considers everything and every person to be divine, and most of all the Guru, who gives us the experience of our own divinity. In Hinduism, Guru is not a person, he/she is a principle, a tattva. Unknown to most of the modern Hindus, there is an entire scripture dedicated to Guru, spoken by none other than Lord Shiva to Devi Parvati, and recorded by Rishi Vyasa. It is known as ‘Guru Gita’. Let us see what the Guru Gita reveals about the Guru:

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वर:।
गुरु: साक्षात्परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नम:।।

Meaning: Guru is Brahma who is the source of creation of the universe, Vishnu who is the source of sustenance of the universe, and Shiva who is the source of rejuvenation of the universe. Guru is all the three put together in a single form. I surrender to that Guru.

अखण्डमण्डलाकारं व्याप्तं येन चराचरम्।
तत्पदं दर्शितं येनं तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नम:।।

Meaning: I surrender to the Guru who is vast like the whole universe, and omnipresent, and who also has given me a glimpse of his experience. 

So in Hinduism, Guru is considered as the embodiment of the Parabrahman itself. The best thing about this whole concept is – you are not ‘worshiping’ someone ‘higher’, with you of course being ‘lower’, because that is what ‘worship’ means. The idea of ‘worship’ again comes from the Abrahamic religions, and does not adequately translate the word ‘puja’ which Hindus use. In puja, we offer our gratitude to the divine, while reminding ourselves of the fact that we are that too. It may not be our conscious experience as of now, but it is the truth. Especially when we offer puja to the Guru, we are offering our respect to the one who can make it as a conscious experience for us, the one who can make us realize the cosmic truth of ‘ahambrahmasmi‘, having realized it himself. This is the reason for giving the highest place of honour to the Guru, the reason why he is considered to be the equivalent to Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh all put together. He is imminently worthy of being offered puja. Not only that,

ध्यानमूलं गुरोर्मूर्ति: पूजामूलं गुरो: पदम्।
मंत्रमूलं गुरोर्वाक्यं मोक्षमूलं गुरो: कृपा।।

Meaning: The basis of meditation is the form of the Guru, the basis of my puja is Guru’s feet, Guru’s statements are my mantras, and the source of my moksha is Guru’s grace.

Even Guru’s feet are to be revered. His words are to be regarded as mantras. Meditating on his form is the ultimate meditation. Moksha or liberation can happen only with Guru’s grace.

I hope this removes a few of the misconceptions surrounding the idea of Guru and his puja. I leave you with this hauntingly beautiful composition on Guru: