The Religious Teacher, Part 1God can be understood to be a transcendent figure, outside of us, or as very close, right here in our lives. In the Bhagavad Gita, God is presented as Krishna, the guru and close friend of His devotee, Arjuna. We too can have an intimate relationship with the divine in the form of our religious teacher, but we must first must recognize the guru as our personal portal to the sacred and surrender ourselves to Him or Her.