The Guru as Initiator Yoga is an initiatory tradition, which means it revolves around the communication of esoteric or spiritual knowledge from a qualified teacher to an initiated disciple. A major function of the guru is to serve as a vehicle for this process. As initiator, the guru voluntarily assumes the tremendous responsibility of assisting the disciple's birth into the spiritual dimension. Hence the Sanskrit texts compare the guru to a mother and a father. Like one's parents, the initiatory guru makes a deep spiritual connection with the initiand, which is thought to endure beyond the present lifetime.
Initiation occurs at various levels and through various means.
But great adepts can initiate by a mere touch or glance or even simply by visualizing the disciple. If the guru is fully enlightened, or liberated, his every word, gesture and mere presence is held to express and manifest the Spirit. He or she is then a veritable beacon of Reality. Transmission in such a case is spontaneous and continuous. In Yoga, adepts who are not yet fully liberated, transmission is largely but not exclusively based on the teacher's will and effort.