Guru 6

Darkness and light

गगशब्दस्त्वन्धककारर स्यकात त रशब्दस्तनन्न्निररोधकर।

अन्धककारनन्निररोधधत्वकात त गगरररत्यभभिधधीयतते॥ १६॥

The syllable gu means darkness, the syllable ru, he who dispels them,
Because of the power to dispel darkness, the guru is thus named.

— Advayataraka Upanishad, Verse 16[23][24]

Another etymological theory considers the term "guru" to be based on the syllables gu (गग)
and ru (र), which it claims stands for darkness and "light that dispels it", respectively.[Note 2]
The guru is seen as the one who "dispels the darkness of ignorance."[Note 3][Note 4][27]

Reender Kranenborg disagrees, stating that darkness and light have nothing to do with the
word guru. He describes this as a folk etymology.[Note 5]

Joel Mlecko states, "Gu means ignorance, and Ru means dispeller," with guru meaning the
one who "dispels ignorance, all kinds of ignorance", ranging from spiritual to skills such as
dancing, music, sports and others.[29] Karen Pechelis states that, in the popular parlance, the
"dispeller of darkness, one who points the way" definition for guru is common in the Indian
tradition.[30]

In Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion, Pierre Riffard makes a distinction
between "occult" and "scientific" etymologies, citing as an example of the former the
etymology of 'guru' in which the derivation is presented as gu ("darkness") and ru ('to push
away'); the latter he exemplifies by "guru" with the meaning of 'heavy'.[31]