Just watched a fascinating doco called (I think) "Kumari", which showed an American of Indian extraction (Not a native American 'Indian', but a man whose parents were born in India), who posed as a guru. It showed how anyone could "be" a guru and have the same effect as a "real" guru. People were taken in completely by him....mostly with (surprisingly) positive results. Made one wonder how much the effect of a guru-like figure needed to be anything other than a person who encouraged others to "see the goodness in themselves" and so on! A must-watch program and a good learning experience - even just to watch it.