Within Siddha Yoga as taught by Swami Muktananda, the guru is regarded as indispensable to authentic spiritual awakening. The guru is not seen merely as a learned teacher, but as a fully realized being, a siddha, who embodies the very state toward which the disciple aspires. As a living example of Self-realization, the guru’s life and presence demonstrate the scriptural truths in concrete form and inspire confidence that liberation is attainable. In this sense, the guru is honored as a manifest expression of the divine Self and as the visible face of the inner reality that the seeker is striving to recognize.

The defining function of such a guru is the bestowal of shaktipat, the direct transmission of spiritual energy that awakens the dormant kundalini shakti within the disciple. This initiation, conferred through the guru’s grace by means such as look, word, thought, or touch, is regarded as the true beginning of Siddha Yoga sādhanā. Once awakened, this inner power initiates a process of purification and transformation that cannot be generated by personal effort alone. The guru is thus understood as the initiator of the disciple’s inner journey and the sustaining source of the shakti that propels it.

After this awakening, the guru’s role unfolds as guide, protector, and interpreter of the path. The guru offers instruction in meditation, mantra, and right conduct, clarifies scriptural teachings, and helps the disciple make sense of subtle inner experiences that arise as kundalini becomes active. Ethical and practical guidance serves to stabilize the awakening and to guard against confusion, ego-inflation, or misuse of the newly awakened energy. In this way, the guru safeguards the disciple’s progress and helps remove obstacles born of ignorance and misunderstanding.

Underlying all these functions is the conviction that spiritual advancement in Siddha Yoga rests primarily on the guru’s grace. The guru is viewed as a continuous source of anugraha or kripa, whose ongoing transmission of shakti supports the disciple’s evolution toward self-realization and liberation. By reflecting the disciple’s own highest nature and steadily directing attention back to the inner Self, the outer guru leads the seeker toward recognition of the same consciousness within. The guru thus stands simultaneously as the means, the guide, and the living embodiment of the ultimate goal of the path.