What is the difference between Guru and Spiritual master (Gnani Purush)?

Questioner: Please explain the difference between a guru and a Gnani Purush?

Dadashri: There is a big difference between the Gnani Purush and the guru! The guru is always for the worldly life. Without a Gnani Purush, there is no liberation. The guru takes us further in the worldly life and he makes us just the way he is. Other than this, he cannot give you anything more. And liberation is what the Gnani Purush gives. Therefore, you need a guru for the worldly interaction, but for liberation (nischay), you need the Gnani Purush. You need them both.

What does the guru do? He studies further and he continues to teach those who follow him. I am a Gnani Purush; it is not my business to learn and teach. If you want moksha (liberation), then I will give you all the solutions; I will simply change your vision. Whatever bliss I have attained, I make others attain that very bliss and then I move aside.

The guru gives gnan and the Gnani gives Vignan, i.e. the guru gives knowledge and the Gnani gives the Absolute Science. Knowledge will make you bind punya in the worldly life and will show you the path. The science will take you to moksha. A guru is a teacher of a kind. He has adopted certain principles himself and his speech is good, so he brings others into discipline. He cannot do anything else; however, people become happier in the worldly life because they enter into a discipline. And the Gnani Purush will take you to moksha because he has the license for moksha.

There is nothing wrong in having a worldly guru. We ought to have a worldly guru whom we can follow. But the Gnani cannot be called a guru. The Gnani is the supreme Soul in a human form. He is not the owner of his body, mind, or speech.

The guru too, has to go to the Gnani Purush because within him there are weaknesses of anger, pride, deceit, and greed; there is ego and 'my-ness (mamata)' in him. If you offer him a gift, he will make you put it inside quietly. There is ego and 'my-ness' wherever you look; it is bound to be there! But people do need gurus also!