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The Powers of the Guru: Sakti, "Mind," and Miracles in Narratives of Bengali Religious Experience
Author(s) -
Samanta Suchitra
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1525/ahu.1998.23.1.30
Subject(s) - bengali , transformative learning , miracle , narrative , experiential learning , psychic , religious experience , psychology , power (physics) , epistemology , aesthetics , philosophy , theology , pedagogy , medicine , linguistics , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics
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.