The word 'guru' literally means the 'weighted one' i.e. the one who is heavily loaded with spiritual knowledge or divine wisdom. It also means the one who leads his disciples from the darkness of ignorance to spiritual enlightenment by imparting divine knowledge. A guru is the one who guides his or her disciple to become a Jivamukta i.e. a liberated soul that achieves salvation in his or her lifetime through God-realization. In the modern world, however, the word Guru has acquired a distorted, secular meaning- an expert or a highly knowledgeable person in any field.
In ancient India, the guru served another purpose. Having attained God-realization, he would set an example for his disciples by living himself a life of simplicity, selfless-service and discipline. He not only imparted moral values and spiritual knowledge to his disciples, he himself practiced simple living and high thinking.
A guru commanded the disciples' highest reverence by his actions. Therefore, a disciple would never question a guru's word. Such a Guru is known as Sadguru or a true (competent) Guru. Despite the changes in the educational system, modern India still has a large population of self-proclaimed gurus, but only a few are Sadgurus following the traditional system. Many of them were highly successful professionals before renouncing the material world in order to follow the spiritual path to God-realization. Their writings and public discourses on mass media have attracted thousands of followers, Hindus and non-Hindus, around the world. They motivate their followers not to join the Western rat-race of consumerism, and encourage them to keep their traditional values.
List of notable Hindu Gurus and Saints
Osho
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Sant Sri Asaramji Bapu
Sathya Sai Baba
Swami Vivekananda
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Anandamayi Ma
Swami Paramananda
Saint Surdas
Maharishi Valmiki
Meher Baba
Saint Meera
Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan
Guru Ravidas
Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi
Saint Thyagaraja
Guru Gobind Singh
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji
H H Swami Adhyatmananda Maharaj
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Swami Ramdev
Jaggi Vasudev
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
J. Krishnamurti
Paramahamsa Yogananda
Vinoba Bhave
Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Mother Teresa
Rishi Vishwamitra
Saint Namadeva
Yogi Gopi Krishna
Radhasoamis
Saint Tukaram
Shri Upasani (Baba) Maharaj
Guru Arjun Dev Jee
Sri Sri Sri Guru Viswa Sphoorthi
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
