The Guru

Glossary and notes

 

Spectacular: an impressive, large-scale display

Creed: system of beliefs, opinions (especially religious)

Obstinate: stubborn, refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action

Condescending: behaving in a manner that is undignified or below one’s level of importance, behaving in a way that displays a sense of superiority

Over-scrupulous: paying exaggeratedly great attention to details, extremely careful and thorough

He............fat: a reference to the guru’s indiscretion in the matter of food habits, his fondness for rich foods.

 

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

 

Q. 1 Write a brief (100 words) character-sketch of the pseudo-guru referred to in the poem?

Ans. In this poem, the pseudo-guru is an untrustworthy, ungrateful fellow who has no love for the poor people and servants. He is discourteous to his disciples. He thinks himself superior to others. He is very impolite to the visitors especially if they are men. He is greedy and materialistic. He prefers the foreigners more because they give more money than the native poor people. He himself checks the accounts of the ashram. He has no control over his desires. He has grown fat because he loves rich food. Thus the poet presents a satirical picture of a pseudo- guru who himself never acts upon what he preaches.

 

Q.2 What has been the past of ‘the saint’?

Ans. He led a life of an ordinary man. His past had been sinful. He had not done anything extraordinary in his past.

 

Q3. What type of life is he living now?

Ans. He is living a life of hypocrisy in the present. He is not a true guru. He is arrogant, discourteous and materialistic. He has no control over his desires

 

Q.4 Why does the poet say: “We no longer smile” in line 23?

Ans. After observing the hypocritical ways of the so-called guru, the poet says that they no longer feel amused. At first, they were quite impressed and blindly followed him. But now, this pseudo-guru does not inspire them any longer.

 

Q.5 What makes the poet conclude that there is no hope for us?

Ans. The poet feels highly distressed to see how the pseudo-guru has taken the advantage of the poor ignorant people. This guru himself does not act upon what he preaches. He no longer inspires them. The poet concludes that if the so-called saints lead an unscrupulous life, there can be no hope for the common people.

 

OBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS

 

Q.1 Name the poet who has written the poem ‘GURU’?

Ans. Nissim Ezekiel.

 

Q.2 What kind of life did the saint lead in the past years?

Ans. He led a simple life.

 

Q.3 How is the Guru’s attitude towards the foreigners?

Ans. He is very polite to them.

 

Q.4 Why does he favour the foreigner?

Ans. He favours the foreigners because they give him more money than the native poor people.

 

Q.5 Which aspect of Guru’s personality shows that he is money minded?

Ans. He is very particular in checking the accounts of the Ashram.

 

 

ABOUT THE POET Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004)

 

Ø Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, art critic and editor.

Ø He is considered as father of post- independence and modern poetry of India.

Ø Major themes of his literary work:

Ø Indian Contemporary Scene.

Ø Modern Urban Life.

Ø Human Relationships.

Ø Awards:

Ø Padma Shri in 1988

Ø Sahitya academy award in 1983

 

GURU (Nissim Ezekiel)

 

The saint, we are told,

once lived a life of sin – nothing spectacular, of course,

just the usual things.

 

We smile, we are not surprised.

Unlikely though it seem,

we too one day

may grow up like him,

droppings our follies

like old clothes or creed.

 

But then we learn

the saint is still a faithless friend,

obstinate in argument,

ungrateful for favours done,

hard with servants and the poor,

discourteous to disciples,

especially men,

condescending, even rude

to visitors (except the foreigners)

and over-scrupulous in checking

the accounts of the ashram.

He is also rather fat.

 

Witnessing the spectacle

we no longer smile.

If saints are like this

what hope is there then for us?

SUMMARY

 

The poem ‘GURU’ is an excellent poem exposing fake gurus. The poet exposes hypocrisy and deception in India in the name of religion. In this poem, he cites an example of such pseudo-guru. This so-called saint, whom the people follow, once lived an ordinary life. There was nothing unusual in his past life. As this man has elevated himself to a holy person, his followers gets hopeful that they, too, would become like him by improving themselves. However, soon they learn that this so called guru is untrustworthy and ungrateful fellow.

The pseudo-guru has no love for the poor people and very rude to his disciples. He is very obstinate in arguments. He is very discourteous and faithless. He does not acknowledge the favours done to him. He is very arrogant. He thinks himself superior to others. He is very discourteous to the visitors, especially men. He shows affection to the foreigners more because they give more money than the native poor people. He is materialistic and checks the accounts of the ashram himself. In this matter, he does not trust others. He has grown fat as he is very fond of rich food. Thus he has no control over his desires.

 

After observing all this, the poet says that they no longer feel amused. This pseudo-guru does not inspire them anymore. This disheartening spectacle dashes all the hopes of the common people. The poet concludes that if the so called saints lead an unscrupulous life, there can be no hope for the common people.

 

CENTRAL IDEA

 

The poem GURU exposes hypocrisy and deception in India in the name of religion. Here spiritual leaders or gurus are considered next to God. Such pseudo-gurus exploit and deceive the innocent people who follow them blindly and trust them. Such people have made religion their business. They know how to fleece the ignorant people for their personal benefits. They prefer foreigners as they give more money than the native people. They cheat people with their empty speech. These pseudo-gurus are ungrateful fellows who never acknowledge the favours done to them. They themselves never act upon what they preach. Through this poem, the poet wants to aware the common people of the unscrupulousness of such so-called gurus.

EXPLANATION WITH REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

 

 

The saint, we are told,

once lived a life of sin –

nothing spectacular, of

course,

just the usual things.

 

We smile, we are not

surprised.

Unlikely though it seem,

we too one day

may grow up like him,

droppings our follies

like old clothes or creed.

Reference to the context: These lines have been taken from the poem ‘GURU’, composed by Nissim Ezekiel. In this poem, the poet exposes the hypocrisy and deception of the pseudo-gurus in the name of religion. They deceive the innocent people who blindly follow them and trust them.

Explanation: In these lines the poet says that the people have come to know about the past life of the guru. This guru once lived a life of sin. He was just an ordinary human being. There was nothing unusual in his past life. Hearing this, the people does not feel surprised. They become hopeful that someday they, too, would give up their follies exactly as the old clothes are discarded. It seems to them impossible as they are very ordinary people. Only the guru is capable of doing this. But still they hope for a better future.

 

 

But then we learn

the saint is still a faithless friend,

obstinate in argument,

ungrateful for favours done,

hard with servants and the poor,

discourteous to disciples,

especially men,

condescending, even rude

to visitors (except the foreigners)

and over-scrupulous in checking

the accounts of the ashram.

He is also rather fat

 

 

 

Explanation: In these lines the poet tells us that the guru is a hypocrite. He is still a faithless friend. He behaves friendly with people, but at the same time he deceives them. He is always adamant in his arguments. He is an ungrateful fellow who does not acknowledge the favours done to him. He is very rude to his servants and the poor people. He is rude to his disciples and discourteous even to the visitors. He thinks himself superior to them. He favours women and foreigners. He is such a greedy person that he himself checks the accounts of the ashram. He has grown fat because of his fondness for rich food. Thus he has no control over his desires.

 

 

Witnessing the spectacle

we no longer smile.

If saints are like this

what hope is there then for us?

 

 

Explanation: In these lines the poet tells us that after observing the hypocrisy of the so-called guru, people no longer feel amused. They feel highly distressed to see how the fake spiritual guru has taken the advantage of the ignorant people. He does not inspire them any longer. This disheartening spectacle dashes all the hopes of the common people. The poet concludes that if the so- called saints lead an unscrupulous life, there can be no hope for the common people.