Editing Guru (section)

=== In modern Hinduism ===
{{further|Contemporary Hindu movements|Modern yoga gurus}}

In modern neo-Hinduism, Kranenborg states ''guru'' may refer to entirely different concepts, such as a ''spiritual advisor'', or someone who performs traditional rituals outside a temple, or an ''enlightened master'' in the field of tantra or yoga or eastern arts who derives his authority from his experience, or a reference by a group of devotees of a sect to someone considered a god-like [[Avatar]] by the sect.<ref name="kraneborg2002" />

The tradition of reverence for ''guru'' continues in several denominations within modern Hinduism, but rather than being considered as a prophet, the guru is seen as a person who points the way to spirituality, oneness of being, and meaning in life.<ref>Ranade, Ramchandra Dattatraya ''Mysticism in India: The Poet-Saints of Maharashtra'', pp.392, SUNY Press, 1983. {{ISBN|0-87395-669-9}}</ref><ref>Mills, James H. and Sen, Satadru (Eds.), ''Confronting the Body: The Politics of Physicality in Colonial and Post-Colonial India'', pp.23, Anthem Press (2004), {{ISBN|1-84331-032-5}}</ref>{{refn|"Gurus are not prophets who declare the will of God and appeal to propositions found in a Scripture. Rather, they are said to be greater than God because they lead to God. Gurus have shared the essence of the Absolute and experienced the oneness of being, which endows them with divine powers and the ability to master people and things in this world."<ref name="isbn0-8133-2508-0">{{cite book |last1=Poewe |first1=Karla O. |last2=Hexham |first2=Irving |title=New religions as global cultures: making the human sacred |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder, Colorado |year=1997 |page=106 |isbn=0-8133-2508-0 }}</ref>}}