A Hindu or Buddhist religious ascetic or sage, particularly one who has renounced worldly life to pursue spiritual practice.
From Hindi and Bengali 'gosain' or 'gossain,' derived from Sanskrit 'goswami' (go- meaning 'cow' + swami meaning 'lord'), originally referring to a master or protector of cattle, later applied to religious teachers.
The word beautifully shows how 'cow' (sacred in Hinduism) combined with 'lord' to eventually mean any spiritual teacher—it's like how a shepherd became a metaphor for a religious guide in Western culture.
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