The Powers of the Guru

Sakti, "Mind," and Miracles in Narratives of Bengali Religious Experience

Bibliographic Data

ID18950719
AuthorsSuchitra Samanta (0000-0002-1673-221X, Hollins University, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume23
Issue1
Pages30-50
Publication date1998-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropology & Humanism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1548-1409 • E-ISSN: 1559-9167
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ahu.1998.23.1.30
OpenAlexW2165477822
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited10

This article discusses oral accounts given by Bengali disciples of gurus in which the disciples relate their personal experiences of the extranormal powers of their preceptors, as manifested, for example, in psychic healing or in rebirth in the disciple's family. I propose that these experiences, crucial to the guru‐disciple relationship, may be understood in terms of the indigenous concepts of divine power (Sakti), "experiential knowing" or "miracle" (anubhuti), and a unique concept of the "mind" (man), and that these experiences are meaningful because they are powerfully transformative of the disciple's "self" as culturally defined

Aesthetics · Bengali · Epistemology · Experiential learning · Miracle · Narrative · Pedagogy · Power (physics) · Psychic · Religious experience · Theology · Transformative learning · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology

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