There is a very special form of God recognized in Hinduism. That is the guru.
Just as a murti is a physical from through which the power and grace of the divine can manifest, a guru is a human form through which divine wisdom and compassion can flow. As my own gurus took pains to clarify, the person isn't really the guru. No more than a tree trunk painted to look like Jagannath is actually the Lord of the world.
During a conference call in which he was simultaneously speaking to many of his disciples at a dozens sites around the world, a swami I studied with explained that considering a person to be the guru is like mistaking the telephone for the person who's calling. In fact there is one divine teacher, called Ishvara or the Supreme Lord, who speaks through innumerable human gurus just as the swami was speaking over multiple phone lines! The real source of truth and spiritual liberation is divinity itself.
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