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The Abhidhyan Yoga Institute was founded in 1991 by Anatole Ruslanov to prepare interested persons for what is termed abhidhyan yoga or all-embracing yoga, a form of tantric yoga that has survived through the centuries only in a few obscure Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions.

Ruslanov completed a period of monastic training in Varanasi, India, with Shri Anandamurti (1921–1990), founder of the Ananda Marga Yoga Society. Following his monastic training, he continued his study with Anandamurti and eventually became a spiritual teacher and a bearer of the lineage. After his master’s death, he founded his own teaching work. New students are expected to start a regular personal practice of meditation and asanas (body postures), adhere to a set of moral principles, and find a competent trustworthy teacher to follow.

Membership

Not reported. There are members in seven countries.

Periodicals

The Tantrik Path.

Sources

Modern Seers: Authentic No-Nonsense Modern Nondual Tantra Yoga Meditation. www.abhidhyan.org/.

Adidam

12040 N Seigler Rd., Middletown, CA 95461

Adidam, formerly known as Free Daist Communion, was founded in 1972 by Franklin Jones (b. 1939). In 1960, after “a crisis of despair,” he began a period of introspection that led him to study with Swami Rudrananda (1928–1973), an American disciple of Swami Muktananda (1908–1982). At Rudrananda’s suggestion, he studied for a time in a Lutheran seminary. In 1968, he traveled to India to meet Muktananda. At Muktananda’s ashram, he had his first adult experience of total absorption into transcendental consciousness. Later he was guided in the subtle form by Muktananda’s guru, Swami Nityananda (1897–1961), and finally by the female personification of divine energy (Shakti).

On September 10, 1970, he entered what he has termed the permanent and unconditional state of sahaj samadhi, or “open eyes,” which is coessential with the divine being consciousness itself. This is the condition that, according to his own confession, he consciously relinquished in his earliest years, and that he had been moved to recover throughout his life. Soon after this experience, he began to teach in order to transmit the God-realization he had attained. In 1973 he changed his name to Bubba Free John—_Bubba denoting brother_—and changed his method of teaching. He involved his students in the realms of experience that human beings are typically drawn to, including sexuality, the pursuit of material pleasure, and indulgence in spiritual and psychic phenomena. This method was aimed at showing the futility of seeking for any form of experience.

In 1979, Bubba Free John entered a new phase of work and adopted the name Da Free John—Da signifying giver. During this phase, he instructed his students in forms of sacramental worship and their relationship to him as spiritual master rather than brother. In 1986, his active teaching work came to an end, and he became known as Heart-Master Da Love-Ananda, or more formally Avadhoota Da Love-Ananda Hridayam. While he has continued to give instruction since 1986, he has been concentrating on the transmission of his divine condition.

He is now referred to as Avatar Adi Da Samraj. As Avatar Adi Da’s work has grown and changed, so has the name of the body of practitioners from Shree Hridayam Satsang, to Dawn Horse Communion, to Free Primitive Church of Divine Communion, to Free Daist Communion, and most recently to Adidam.

The teachings of Avatar Adi Da have been termed, among other things, the “way of radical understanding.” The foundation of this way is the relinquishment of the illusion of separateness of an individual existence, on the basis of the understanding that the apparent separateness is fundamentally an activity rather than a fixed entity. There is only the all-comprehensive reality: being consciousness bliss. This native condition of existence becomes obvious when all seeking and all activity of separation cannot be transcended (i.e., when radical understanding prevails). Enlightenment, thus, already exists: It cannot be attained by any strategy of individual effort. It must, however, be realized. To unlock the activity of seeking and separation is understood to be a matter of grace and revelation from Avatar Adi Da. Thus, the essence of his way is the devotional and spiritual relationship to him as spiritual master rather than any technique that one could apply to oneself.

Avatar Adi Da has created a definitive summary of his 30 years of teaching in a series of 23 books. One tool he has given, to enable one’s understanding of other spiritual teachings and the progressive courses of realization, is the seven stages of life: Stage one begins at birth and focuses upon physical adaptation to the world; stage two, beginning around age seven, focuses upon socialization and emotional adaption to the world; stage three is a period of development of the mind, will, and emotional-sexual functions; stage four marks the beginning of spiritual awakening; stage five relates to the mystical inner search and the possibilities of subtle spiritual experience; stage six is the profound state of abiding as consciousness itself, but on the basis of excluding the awareness of the body, the mind, and the world; and stage seven is what Avatar Adi Da calls “divine enlightenment.” It is the culmination of the entire spiritual process, in which the realizer exists entirely and permanently as “love bliss consciousness,” regardless of whether any form of experience arises or not. Avatar Adi Da is recognized by his devotees as the final manifestation of the divine in human form. Thus, it is understood that the realization of the seventh stage of life is only possible for those who enter into a formal devotional relationship with him.

Membership

In 2002 there were approximately 1,200 members in the United States, 60 members in Canada, and more than 400 overseas. Some members now live at the resident retreat center in the Fiji Islands. Foreign centers are located in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, the Middle East, and India.

Educational Facilities

Adidam Academy.

Periodicals

Adidam Revelation Magazine.

Sources

Adi Da Samraj and the Spiritual Practice of Adidam. www.adidam.org.

Avatar Adi Da Samraj and the First 25 years of His Divine Revelation Work. Middletown, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1997.

Feuerstein, George, ed. Humor Suddenly Returns: Essays on the Spiritual Teaching of Master Da Free John. Clearlake, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1984.

Johannie Daist Communion. The Next Option: An Introduction to the Teaching of the Adept Da Free John and the Johannie Daist Communion. Clearlake, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1984.

Jones, Franklin. The Dawn Horse Testament of Heart-Master Da Free John. San Rafael, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1985.

———. The Holy Jumping-Off Place: An Introduction to the Way of the Heart. San Rafael, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1986.

———. The Knee of Listening. Los Angeles, CA: Ashram, 1972.

———. The Method of the Siddhas. Los Angeles, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1973.

———. No Remedy: An Introduction to the Life and Practices of the Spiritual Community of Bubba Free John. Lower Lake, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1976.

Advaita Fellowship

PO Box 911-WS, Redondo Beach, CA 90277

The Advaita Fellowship was founded following Ramesh S. Balsekar’s (b. 1917) 1987 visit to the United States. Balsekar is a disciple of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981). Nisargadatta was a guru in a lineage that began with Saint Jnaneshwar (1275–1296), who lived in Maharashtra, India, in the thirteenth century and passed on a practice of jnana yoga, that is, the philosophical approach to spiritual enlightenment through advaita vedanta (the belief in nonduality). Maharaj was a popular teacher known for his ability to speak about profound thought so all could understand. He rarely gave lectures, but generally taught by holding conversations with those around him.

Balsekar was a graduate of London University who became a successful banker. He retired in 1970 and, at about the same time, met Maharaj. He became a close disciple and began to keep a record of his conversations, later the subject of several books. Meanwhile several Westerners came to know of Maharaj and began to spread his teachings in Europe and America. Maurice Frydman (1900–1976) transcribed and published the first book of his teachings, I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj; and in 1982, author Peter Brent wrote of him in Godmen of India. Jean Dunn, noting the relationship between Maharaj’s teachings and those of Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950), published articles about Maharaj in The Mountain Path, the magazine from Maharshi’s ashram (religious community). Dunn later edited the first books on Maharaj published in America.

In the years since Maharaj’s death in 1981, Balsekar has been active in spreading the teachings of advaita Vedanta, and has traveled to the United States annually since his first visit in 1987. Advaita teaches that suffering comes from the mistaken idea that human beings are separate entities. It emphasizes that, in fact, the human soul (atman) and the universal soul (brahman) are one and the same. In the realization of that simple truth, ignorance and suffering are dispelled.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Advaita Fellowship. www.advaita.org.

Balsekar, Ramesh S. Experiencing the Teaching. Redondo Beach, CA: Advaita Press, 1988.

———. From Consciousness to Consciousness: Letters of Ramesh S. Balsekar. Los Angeles, CA: Advaita Press, 1989.

Brent, Peter. The Godmen of India. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1972.

Dunn, Jean, ed. Prior to Consciousness: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Durham, NC: Acorn Press, 1985.

———. Seeds of Consciousness: The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. New York: Grove Press, 1982.

Maharaj, Nisargadatta. I Am That. Bombay, India: Chetana, 1973.

Powell, Robert, ed. The Blissful Life as Realized through the Teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Durham, NC: Acorn Press, 1984.

Ajapa Yoga Foundation

c/o Shri Janardan Ajapa Yoga Ashram, PO Box 1731, Placerville, CA 95667

Ajapa yoga is a simple meditation and breathing technique believed by its practitioners to be the most ancient form of yoga, developed thousands of years ago by the rishis (seers) of India. Thus it is believed to be the original yoga, not a composite, abbreviation, or updated version of the forms of yoga. Ajapa yoga was redis-covered and given to the modern world by Guru Purnananda Paramahansa (1834–1928). He learned of the practice from Matang Rishi in a hidden monastery in Tibet, China. He created three ashrams in Bengal to spread the teachings that, while very old, had not been widely available until the last half of the nineteenth century. The work begun by Purnananda was continued by his disciple, Guru Bhumananda Paramahansa (1873–1958), who in turn passed the succession to Guru Janardan Paramahansa (1888–1980). Guru Janardan organized the World Conference on Scientific Yoga in New Delhi, which brought him into contact with many Westerners. Following the conference, he accepted an invitation to lecture in Czechoslovakia and expanded his Western tour to include Germany, Canada, and the United States. After being in the West for over a year, he returned to India.

Some of the Westerners he encountered upon his tour traveled to India in 1973. In 1974, upon their return to New York, they incorporated the Ajapa Yoga Foundation. Guru Janardan made visits in 1974, 1975, and 1976, establishing centers in Hamburg, Germany; Montreal, Quebec; Los Angeles, California; Baltimore, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; and Knoxville, Tennessee. The Ajapa Journal was begun in 1976, and a book summarizing the foundation’s teachings was published. From this modest beginning, the foundation has steadily grown.

On January 6, 1966, Guru Paramahansa found a baby boy by the banks of the Ganges River, and named him Guru Prasad (b. 1966). He predicted that Guru Prasad would be a self-realized saint who would have a large role in helping suffering humanity. He trained him from birth for this purpose, and in 1980 Guru Prasad became the only living master of ajapa yoga. According to Guru Prasad, “A person has but to practice this technique and everything will be answered, naturally and automatically.”

According to the foundation’s teachings, humans have lost their true identities and are left in a world of pain, want, and illusion. True identity can be gained by the practice of ajapa yoga, beginning with the meditation on the mantra given by the guru at the time of initiation, accompanied by specific breathing techniques.

Membership

In 2008 there was only one ajapa yoga ashram in North America. Affiliated centers are also found in India, Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. There were approximately 10,000 members worldwide.

Periodicals

The Ajapa Journal.

Sources

Jai Guru: Ajapa Yoga Homepage. www.ajapa.org/.

Tattwa Katha: A Tale of Truth. New York: Ajapa Yoga Foundation, 1976–1979.

All World Gayatri Pariwar

c/o Gayatri Gyan Mandir, 5N 371 IL Route 53 (Rohwling Rd.), Itasca, IL 60143

All World Gayatri Pariwar was founded by Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya (1911–1990) to deal with the human condition, which is characterized by ignorance, lack of righteousness and joy, insecurities, and infirmities, and to encourage the divinity in human beings and a heavenly atmosphere on earth. Sharma proposed a broad program that built on several means of spiritual awakening: upasana (contemplation on the divine virtues); sadhana (the practice of self-control for acquiring the divine virtues); aradhana (the utilization of acquired resources for the welfare of all of society); and the propagation of Gayatri (collective wisdom) and Yagna (cooperative virtuous demeanor). It was Sharma’s belief that Indian culture was founded on the principles of Gayatri (the goddess of wisdom and pure intelligence and the protector of prana, vital life force) and Yagna (oblations made to the holy fire, symbolizing noble deeds).

Sharma was initiated into the worship of Gayatri, using the Gayatri Mantra, at age nine. In 1926 he met Swami Sarveshvaranandji, a Himalayan yogi, who appeared before him in an astral body. This experience clarified Sharma’s understanding of his own divine origin and gave him a purpose in life. He devoted the next twenty-four years to a rigorous program of devotion, undertaking in each year a mahapurashcharana, in which he recited the Gayatri Mantra 2.4 million times, and pursuing altruistic activities without withdrawing from family life.

In 1943 he married Bhagwati Devi (1926–1994), a bhakti devotee. After completing the twenty-four mahapurashcharanas, in 1953 Sharma established Gayatri Tapobhumi at Mathura, India. Five years later, he organized a large Gayatri yajna (fire ceremony) to launch his Yug Nirman Yojna (mission for creation of a new era), a global movement for moral, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual revitalization. At Mathura he assembled a team of dedicated men and women to form a new organization, the Gayatri Pariwar, which superseded Yug Nirman Yojna. In 1971 the mission’s headquarters at Shantikunj (Haridwar, India) was established as an academy for moral and spiritual awakening and training.

When Sharma died in 1990 his widow assumed leadership of the movement. Two years later she announced a plan for the global spread of the movement to be marked by a series of Grand Ashwamedha yagyas (ceremonies) to be performed in different locations, including Leicester, England, Toronto, Canada, and Los Angeles, California. Bhagwati Devi attended 18 of the ceremonies.

The present leaders of the worldwide movement are Rev. Dr. Pranav Pandya and Rev. Smt. Shailbala Pandya, the daughter of the founders. Centers are located in India, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, and across Europe. African centers are found in Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Membership

Not reported. In the United States there are four main centers (Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and New Jersey), and smaller centers across the country. Contacts in Canada are found in the Toronto and Montreal metropolitan areas.

Sources

Gayatri Pariwar. www.awgp.org/.

Sharma Archarya, Shriram. Divine Message of the Veds. Mathura, India: Yug Nirman Yojna, 1997.

———. Simple Ways for Peace and Happiness. Chicago: Gayatri Pariwar Chicago, 2002.

American Meditation Society

2912 N Main St., Apt. #2, Flagstaff, AZ 62025

The American Meditation Society is the U.S. affiliate of the International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment founded in 1975 in Cape Town, South Africa, by Purushottan Narshinhran (b. 1932), whom his followers know by his spiritual name, Gururaj Ananda Yogi. As a child in his native Gujurat, India, he showed a distinct focus upon spiritual realities. When he was five years old he ran away from home to visit the temples in the neighborhood. When he was found, he explained to his parents that he had visited many temples, but had found to his frustration that “the Gods were lifeless and would not speak to me.” His continued search for the divine culminated when he discovered that what he sought lay within himself. Having found the inner reality and having fully and permanently entered the self-realized state, he set himself to the task of becoming a spiritual teacher in the West.

He moved to South Africa and became a successful businessman. In 1975, following a problem with his heart, he retired from business and turned to full-time work as a spiritual teacher. He then founded the International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment. Within the first year it had spread to nine countries in the British Commonwealth and throughout Europe. In 1977 it was organized in California as the American Meditation Society.

Gururaj Ananda Yogi teaches not a religion, but the basis that underlies all religions. His task is seen as merely to awaken the individual to the same reality that he discovered and to lead him or her along the path of unfoldment. Meditation is the individual’s major tool in turning inward, and it works best if individualized. The society offers basic meditation courses, which introduce the variety of ways to meditate. Narshinhran assists in the process of individualizing sound which is intoned during meditation. Individuals send their pictures to him; he meditates upon the picture and comes up with the sound he believes each person makes with the universe, then presents the distinct sound to each person as a unique personal mantrum.

Membership

Not reported. In 1984 the society had approximately 2,000 members in 30 centers. In 2008, the foundation had centers in Canada, Australia, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Great Britain, and South Africa.

Periodicals

American Meditation Society Newsletter.

Sources

Anderson, V., and R. Morosani, eds. From Darkness to Light: A Selection of Talks by Guruaj Ananda Yogi. Farmingdale, NY: Coleman Publishing, 1987.

Taylor, Savita. The Path to Unfoldment: An Introduction to the Teachings of Guruaj Ananda Yogi. London: VSM Publications, 1979.

American Vegan Society

56 Dinshah Ln., PO Box 369, Malaga, NJ 08328-0908

The American Vegan Society was founded in 1960 at Malaga, New Jersey, by H. Jay Dinshah (1933–2000). The basis of the society is ahimsa, defined as “dynamic harmlessness.” The six pillars of ahimsa (one for each letter) are abstinence from all animal products, particularly for food or clothing; harmlessness and reverence for life; integrity of thought, word, and deed; mastery over oneself; service to humanity, nature, and creation; and advancement of understanding and truth. Veganism is conceived as an advanced and comprehensive program for living and draws its inspiration from Donald Watson (1910–2005) and the Vegan Society, England, as well as from ahimsa and reverence for life as expressed by Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), and other sages. Vegans are total vegetarians who only eat food from plants and exclude all animals (meat, fish, fowl) and animal products (milk, eggs, honey, and so forth) from their diet. They are also ecology-oriented because this lifestyle is economical of natural resources. Not just a matter of diet, the philosophy extends to clothing and toiletries, among other things.

The society is headquartered at Suncrest, which runs as a teaching center, at Malaga, New Jersey. An annual convention is held. The society is affiliated with the North American Vegetarian Society, headquartered at Dolgeville, New York, and the International Vegetarian Union in England.

Membership

The society reported a membership of more than 1,000 in 2002.

Periodicals

American Vegan.

Sources

American Vegan Society. www.americanvegan.org.

Dinshah, Freya. The Vegan Kitchen. Malaga, NJ: American Vegan Society, 1970.

Dinshah, H. Jay. Out of the Jungle. Malaga, NJ: American Vegan Society, 1995.

American Yoga Association

PO Box 19986, Sarasota, FL 34276

The American Yoga Association was established in 1968 as the Light of Yoga Society by Alice Christensen. Christensen began her spiritual quest in 1953 when she had a visionary experience in which she was engulfed by a white light. She subsequently learned of Swami Sivananda Sivananda (1887–1963), the head of the Divine Life Society in India, and corresponded with him for many years. In 1964, the year after Sivananda’s death, she traveled to India and met Swami Rama (1900–1972) of Hardwar, India, and became his student. Swami Rama (not to be confused with the person of the same name who founded the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga, Science, and Philosophy) had spent three years as a recluse in the Himalayas before settling in Hardwar as a teacher of yoga.

As Swami Rama’s representative in the West, Christensen began to teach yoga in 1965 and six years later founded the Light of Yoga Society in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. At the time of Swami Rama’s death in 1972, there were 11 yoga centers throughout India, Australia, and the United States that he had guided. The name American Yoga Society was adopted in 1982. More recently headquarters were transferred to Sarasota, Florida.

Swami Rama developed a simplified form of the wisdom of the Vedanta, and a form of hatha yoga especially for Western practitioners. Members of the society practice both hatha and meditation daily. They also consume a vegetarian diet, practice ahimsa (nonviolence), avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and are restrained in their use of sex.

Membership

Not reported. There are two centers in the United States and two affiliated centers in India.

Sources

American Yoga Association. www.americanyogaassociation.org.

Christensen, Alice. The American Yoga Association Beginner’s Manual. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

Amrit Yoga Institute

PO Box 5340, Salt Springs, FL 32134

Amrit Institute was founded by Yogi Amrit Desai, a yoga teacher who began teaching in the United States in 1960. During the early 1970s, based upon the spontaneous flow of yoga postures he experienced during his daily practice, he began to develop a new form that he named Kripalu yoga, after his yoga teacher in India, Swami Kripalvanandaji (1913–1981). Over the next twenty years Desai taught hundreds of students his new form of yoga, and many went on to become yoga instructors and head of their own centers. He also founded and led the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

In 1994 Desai resigned from the Kripalu Center and entered a period of retirement. After several years he began teaching again, and early in the new century founded Amrit Yoga Institute. He also continued to develop the unique form of hatha yoga he taught, which he now calls the Amrit method. The Amrit method attempts to integrate raja yoga (meditation) with hatha yoga to produce a practice that allows a convergence of inner stillness with effortless outer action.

The Amril Yoga Institute is located on Lake Kerr in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. The institute is designed to accommodate a core resident staff and provide a full set of events for students who come for workshops and retreats.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Amrit Yoga Instituite. www.amrityoga.com/.

Desai, Yogi Amrit. Amrit Yoga and the Yoga Sutras—Amrit Yoga and Its Roots in Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. Salt Springs, FL: Yoga Network International, 2002.

———. Amrit Yoga: Explore, Expand, Experience the Spiritual Depth of Yoga. Salt Springs, FL: Yoga Network International, 2002.

In the Presence of a Master: Gurudev Yogi Amrit Desai. Lenox, MA: Kripalu Publications, 1992.

Amrita Foundation

PO Box 190978, Dallas, TX 75219-0978

The Amrita Foundation is an independent organization founded in 1976 and based upon the teachings of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952). The organization emphasizes the original nature of the material it uses, especially the original praecepta lessons (instructions by the teacher), the home study course through which the foundation presents Yogananda’s teachings. The lessons detail the instructions for the practice of kriya yoga, including the practice of meditation, concentration, and physical exercises. It also includes teachings regarding diet and nutrition. Lessons are sent to students on a month-by-month basis. The foundation has reprinted the first edition of many of Yogananda’s books, such as Whispers from Eternity, Songs of the Soul, and The Second Coming of Christ (two volumes).

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Amrita Foundation. www.amrita.com.

Yogananda, Paramahansa. Whispers from Eternity: A Book of Unanswered Prayers. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity, 2008.

Ananda

14618 Tyler Foote Rd., Nevada City, CA 95959

The Ananda Church of Self-Realization and the Ananda World Brotherhood Village were founded by J. Donald Walters (b. 1926), also known as Swami Kriyananda. Both institutions are based on the spiritual principles set forth by yoga master, Paramhansa Yogananda (1893–1952), author of Autobiography of a Yogi.

Born of American parents in Romania in 1926, Kriyananda was educated in Romania, Switzerland, England, and the United States. At the age of 22, he became a disciple of Yogananda and lived with him until the master’s death in 1952. As a minister and director of center activities for the organization that Yogananda founded, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), and later as vice president of SRF, he traveled and taught extensively in many countries. In 1962, he says God called upon him to serve his guru’s mission in another capacity. He was separated from SRF to explore and expound, through writing, teaching, and lecturing, the implications of Yogananda’s message for active yoga students and laypersons.

In 1968, Kriyananda founded Ananda Village near Nevada City, California, in response to inner guidance and to the oft uttered public plea of Yogananda: “Cover the earth with world-brotherhood colonies, demonstrating that simplicity of living plus high thinking lead to the greatest happiness.”

Kriyananda has published more than 40 books, including The Path: A Spiritual Autobiography; Rays of the Same Light; and The Essence of Self-Realization: The Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda. He has also composed musical works including Christ Lives, an oratorio; a Shakespeare Quartet, composed for two violins, viola, and cello; an Egyptian Suite, written for harp, flute, and viola; and the Divine Romance, a piano sonata.

Ananda Village is situated at 2,600-foot elevation and on 750 acres of wooded and meadow land in the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California. Members support themselves through a variety of businesses, some of which are privately owned and some of which are owned and operated by the community. Children are educated, from preschool through junior high, at the Ananda Education-for-Life School located within the village. High school students attend public school in Nevada City. The community and its branches includes approximately 600 people from many cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. About 25 nationalities are represented among the residents. A village council is elected annually by Ananda members. The Expanding Light is Ananda’s guest facility, open year-round, offering personal retreats, weeklong or four-week training courses, and special events and holiday programs.

Ananda members practice regular daily meditation using the techniques of kriya yoga, as taught by Yogananda. Resident members are all disciples of Yogananda. The group is also directly involved in a worldwide outreach to those interested in the teachings of Yogananda and his lineage of gurus.

Ananda’s Church, established in 1990 in congregational form, has 2,000 members. The goal of the Ananda Church of Self-Realization is to provide fellowship and inspiration for those who want to find God; this is done through the practice of ancient raja yoga techniques for self-realization that were brought to the West by Yogananda. The church is open for membership for those who follow the teachings of Yogananda.

Membership

In 1997 there were 2,000 church members of Ananda worldwide; 250 people, including children, reside at the main community in Nevada City. Ananda Church has 150 ordained ministers, who serve in Ananda churches in the United States and abroad. Currently Ananda has seven residential spiritual communities located in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento and Palo Alto, California; New Delhi, India, and Assisi, Italy. There is also a newly developed retreat center in Rhode Island. In addition, there are 50 centers and meditation groups throughout the world.

Periodicals

Clarity Magazine • Ananda Sangha Worldwide News

Sources

Ananda: Source for the Teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. www.ananda.org/.

Nordquist, Ted A. Ananda Cooperative Village: A Study in the Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes of a New Religious Community. Uppsala, Sweden: Religionist, 1978.

Walters, J. Donald. Cities of Light: A Plan for this Age. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity, 1987.

———. Cooperative Communities: How to Start Them, and Why. Nevada City, CA: Ananda Publications, 1968.

———. Crises in Modern Thought: Solutions to the Problem of Meaninglessness. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity, 1988.

———. The Path: A Spiritual Autobiography. Nevada City, CA: Ananda Publications, 1977.

———. A Place Called Ananda. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity, 2001.

Ananda Ashrama

Yoga Society of New York, Inc., 13 Sapphire Rd., Monroe, NY 10950

Formerly known as the Intercosmic Center of Spiritual Associations (ICSA) and the International Center for Self-Analysis, Ananda Ashram was founded by Shri Brahamananda Sarasvati (d. 1993), also known as Dr. Rammurti Sriram Mishra, a student of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. As a young yogi, Sarasvati was able to detach his consciousness from the transient world and experience transcendental reality. Upon returning to his physical body, he posed the question “Who am I?” The question was answered through a technique of self-analysis. The ashram seeks to help its adherents through a similar technique of analysis. Its stated goals are 1) to experience one’s self as the cosmic center of vibrations; 2) to establish unity of all beings, especially all nations; 3) to promote global togetherness; 4) to promote a natural way of education, self-discipline and relations; 5) to promote the teaching of sanskrit; 6) to establish modern educational centers; 7) to promote natural, spiritual, and psychological methods of healing; 8) to experience automatic and spontaneous psychosynthesis and psychoanalysis; and 9) to assist the individual in realizing the God-hood that always resides within.

Membership

Not reported. In the United States the main centers are the Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York; the Rochester Ashram; and the New York City yoga center (all sponsored by the Yoga Society of New York) and the Brahmananda Ashram, the teaching center of the Yoga Society of San Francisco in California.

Periodicals

I Am News.

Sources

Ananda Ashrama. www.anandaashram.org.

Coble, Margaret. Self-Abidance. Port Louis, Mauritius: Standard Printing Establishment, 1973.

Mishra, Rammurti. Dynamics of Yoga Mudras and Five Suggestions for Meditation. Pleasant Valley, NY: Kriya Press, 1967.

———. Fundamentals of Yoga. New York: Lancer Books, 1969.

———. Self Analysis and Self Knowledge. Lakemont, GA: CSA Press, 1978.

Mishra, Rammurti S. Isha Upanishad. Dayton, OH: Yoga Society of Dayton, 1962.

Ananda Marga Yoga Society

97-38 42nd Ave., 1-F, Corona, NY 11368

The Ananda Marga Yoga Society was founded in 1955 in Bihar, India, by Prabhat Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (b. 1921). From his early childhood in India, Sarkar attracted thousands of people by his deep love for humanity and by guiding them along the path of self-realization. Adjusting the ancient science of tantra yoga to meet the needs of the present, he developed a scientific and rational spiritual philosophy along with a system of practical disciplines for physical, mental, and spiritual development. Sarkar’s path of tantra yoga begins with initiation, wherein the spiritual aspirant is privately taught the practice of meditation, and is given a two-syllable word or mantra along with a point of concentration, which are particular for that aspirant. In addition, the aspirant is taught the ancient moral codes of yama and niyama and is introduced to the pratika, an ancient tantric emblem with upward and downward triangles representing internal self-realization and external service to humanity. Recognizing him as a spiritually realized master, Sarkar’s followers called him “Shrii Shrii Anandamurtii,” which means “He who attracts others as the embodiment of bliss,” or simply “Baba” (father). The society reports that those who followed his teachings found their lives transformed as they overcame the weaknesses and negative tendencies of the mind and experienced a deep peace and bliss within. Inspired by his example, they turned their energies to serving the society and elevating the oppressed and impoverished humanity.

In the 1960s Sarkar began training missionary monks and nuns to spread his teachings of “self-realization and service to humanity” all over India and later throughout the world. Reflecting the broadness of his vision, Ananda Marga has become a multifaceted organization with various branches, all dedicated to the upliftment of humanity through education, relief, welfare, the arts, ecology, intellectual renaissance, women’s liberation, and a humanistic economy.

For the collective welfare of the entire society, Sarkar propounded a new economic theory that he named PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory). PROUT states that no individual should be allowed to accumulate any physical wealth without the clear permission of the collective body. The theory also stands for the maximum utilization and rational distribution of all the resources and potentialities of the world (physical, mental, and spiritual) and the creation of a new, humanistic social order of harmony and justice for all.

In 1971 Sarkar was accused by a former follower of having conspired to murder some ex-members. Based upon the follower’s testimony, Sarkar was arrested and jailed awaiting trial. His imprisonment lasted through the national emergency proclaimed by Indira Ghandi in 1975. Ananda Marga was one of the organizations she banned nationally. Meanwhile Ananda Marga had been involved in a number of violent incidents, some aimed at protesting Sarkar’s imprisonment. Sarkar was finally brought to trial, under the conditions of the emergency, and convicted. He was unable to call any witnesses on his behalf. He was finally retried in 1978 and found not guilty. Thereafter he guided the rapid expansion of Ananda Marga worldwide until his death in 1990.

Ananda Marga is now established in more than 60 countries, and together with PROUT has become a force for global social change. Sarkar further created the concept of Neo-Humanism, which means that all created beings are the veritable expressions of the Supreme Consciousness. This concept will vibrate human sentiment in all directions, will touch the innermost recesses of the heart, and lead everyone to the final stage of supreme blessedness. Neo-Humanism will elevate human beings to universalism, which is the cult of love for all created beings of this universe.

On the practical level, Sarkar founded many branches of Ananda Marga, including ERAWS (Education, Relief, and Welfare Society), responsible for creating hundreds of primary and secondary schools worldwide; AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team), registered as a United Nations Nongovernmental Organization, which carries out disaster relief work, conducts medical camps, and organizes food and shelter for victims of natural calamities; and RU (Renaissance Universal), dedicated to uplifting the downtrodden through the intellectual study of societal problems and their solutions.

Membership

In 2002 the society reported 5,000 members in the United States and two million worldwide.

Educational Facilities

Ananda Marga Gurukul (University), Ananda Nagar, West Purulia, Bengal, India.

Periodicals

Crimson Dawn • New Renaissance.

Remarks

Acharya Vimalananda, who founded Ananda Marga in the United States, left the organization to found the Yoga House Ashram.

Sources

Ananda Marga. www.anandamarga.org.

PROUT. www.prout.org.

Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii. Baba’s Grace. Denver, CO: Amrit Publications, 1973.

———. The Great Universe: Discourses on Society. Los Altos Hills, CA: Ananda Marga Publications, 1973.

Nandita and Devadatta. Path of Bliss, Ananda Marga Yoga. Wichita, KS: Ananda Marga Publishers, 1971.

The Spiritual Philosophy of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti. Denver, CO: Ananda Marga Publications, 1981.

Sarkar, P. R. Idea and Ideology. Calcutta: Acarya Pranavananda Avadhuta, 1978.

Tadbhavananda Avadhuta, Acharya. Glimpses of Prout Philosophy. Copenhagen, Denmark: Central Proutist Publications, 1981.

Anasuya Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Sri Punitachariji, Girnar Sadhana Ashram, Bhavnath Taleti, Junagadh, Gujarat, India 362004.

The Anasuya Foundation dates to the 1975 experience of Indian teacher Swami Punitachariji (also called “Bapu”) with Lord Dattatreya. The encounter occurred at Mount Girnar, a place sacred to Dattatreya in the Himalayan Mountains. Lord Dattatreya, one of the Hindu deities, is described as the divine essence behind all wisdom, all aspects of god combined. He is Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. He is usually pictured as a being with three heads and six arms with a minimal amount of clothing. He is satguru, and as such is capable of transmitting to others the power to understand life.

Prior to his encounter with Lord Dattatreya, Bapu had no physical guru, but had been a spiritual seeker wandering the forests and river banks for many years. He saw Lord Datta sitting on a rock being showered with flowers by saints and sages of past generations. He was chanting a mantra, “Hari Om Tatsat Jai Guru Datta.” He gave this mantra to Bapu for the uplift of humankind.

It is the belief taught by Bapu that God created the world through sound. For every physical sound there is an equivalent sound on the subtle planes of creation. Thus by repeating certain charged sounds the creative plane is affected and those effects return to the physical plane and recreate it. Chanting the mantra of Lord Dattatreya brings his essence to the person doing the chanting and allows development without the need of an earthly guru.

Toward the end of the 1970s, the message of Bapu was brought to the West by Shantibaba, an early disciple. Centers were soon established in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Membership

Not reported. Centers are located in California, New York, Colorado, New Jersey, Germany, and England.

Sources

Matulay, Emily, and Shantibaba. Spontaneous Meditation. Basalt, CO: Anasuya Publications, 1983. 43 pp.

Anoopam Mission

Shree Swaminarayan Spiritual and Cultural Center, 2120 Clearview Rd., Coplay, PA 18037

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Brahmajyoti, Yogiji Marg, Mogri-388 345 (Via Anand), Gujarat, India.

The Anoopam Mission was founded in 1977 as an independent branch of the Swaminarayan movement, a nineteenth-century Hindu religious movement most successful in the state of Gujarat but now known throughout the world. The Swaminarayan movement was founded by Shree Sahajanand Swami, popularly known as Swaminarayan (1781–1830). He championed the idea of theistic worship in opposition to the popular Vedanta idea of an impersonal divine reality. God manifests on earth through his incarnations and is ever present through his realized saints. The proper response of the believer is devotional service (bhakti yoga). Lord Swaminarayan declared himself to be the early manifestation of Narayan, the Supreme Being, and is so considered by his followers. Swaminarayan was succeeded by a series of leaders: Gunatitanand Swami, Bhagatji Maharaj, Jaga Swami, Krishnaji Ada, Shastriji Maharaj, and Yogiji Maharaj, all of whom espoused the Akshar Purushottam philosophy.

The Anoopam Mission was founded by a young aspirant named Jashbhai, born in Sokhada, Gujarat, in 1940. As a college student he met his guru, his Divine Holiness, Yogiji Maharaj, who called Jashbhai by a term of endearment, “Saheb,” the name by which he has since been known. Saheb began to hold spiritual meetings among his fellow students. With the inspiration and blessing of Yogiji Maharaj, he founded a new order of dedicated young men who were commissioned to become holy men, sadhus, but without taking the traditional garb and vows of the sanyassin, the renounced life. They did not wear the saffron robe nor adopt a life dependent on alms. Instead, they continued their education and afterwards followed their chosen professions (karma yog).

Saheb’s break with the larger AksharPurushottam movement came in 1965. Differences had arisen in the Swaminarayan movement over, among other issues, the place of women in the spiritual order. The conservative leaders in the movement did not want to allow women to take the sannyas vows, and being in control, they excommunicated those who supported the women. Saheb and his followers were viewed to be in the reform camp and were asked to leave. Saheb reorganized under the banner of Anoopam Mission, and eventually settled at Mogri, Gujarat, where the international headquarters of the movement, Brahmajyoti, has been constructed.

Anoopam Mission has rapidly expanded to develop other centers in India and elsewhere around the world. More than 100 sadhus now lead a life of austerity supported by their professional efforts. They have integrated their spiritual and secular life of bhakti and karma yoga to live a life of devotion to God and service to humanity. Charitable contributions of devotees are used to launch and sustain numerous humanitarian activities, comprising educational institutions, medical facilities, and relief organizations.

Followers of the Anoopam Mission began to migrate to the United States in the late 1960s, and their number has grown to well over 5,000. Saheb made his first visit to the West in 1973. He has regularly visited Europe, North America, and Africa since that time.

Membership

In 2008 there were around 50,000 members world wide. A major temple was dedicated in 2003 in Coplay, near Allentown, PA, and several smaller temples and shrines are located around the country.

Sources

Anoopam Mission. www.anoopam-mission.org/.

Arcane Magical Order of the Knights of Shambhala (AMOOKOS)

c/o Shri Shyamanatha, PO Box 1425, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163

Alternate Address

Shambhala Nath, PO Box 661182, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

The Adinath Sampradaya is a tantric sect of yogis affiliated with the greater Natha tradition founded by Gorakhnath and Matsyendranath, two teachers credited with great magical powers. Matsyendranath (aka Macchagnanath) (c. 900 c.e.) is connected to the foundation of the Kaula school of tantra and the worship (puja) of the Goddess Kali. Gorakhnath (aka Gorakshanatha), the disciple of Matsyendranath, is credited with the foundation of laya or kundalini yoga and hatha yoga, and is revered by many of the Natha subsects as their founder.

Mahendranath (aka Dadaji) (1911–1992), the 23rd Adiguru (chief teacher) of the Adinathas, was born and grew up in London, where in his 20s he met magical teacher Aleister Crowley. After World War II, he traveled to his ancestral home and in Bombay he met his guru in the Natha tradition and initiated as a sadhu (holy man). For the next 30 years Dadaji wandered Southeast Asia as a penniless renunciate. In 1978 Dadaji initiated Lokanath Maharaj into the Adinath Sampradaya (sect), and he returned to England and initiated several people as Adinathas. He also founded AMOOKOS, or the Arcane Magical Order of the Knights of Shambhala, in 1982.

Dadaji had come to London in 1981, during which time he oversaw the writing of some papers by Lokanath for an organization that would act as a training ground for would-be magicians. These papers became the basis for AMOOKOS. Subsequently some of the papers were published, and over the next few years, international membership of AMOOKOS grew to over 200 individuals, several of whom started chartered lodges. One prominent member of AMOOKOS is Donald Michael Kraig, who ran a lodge in California in the 1980s.

The original material was presented to individuals for training purposes. Much of the material was and is tantric but presented in the English language for clarity and to avoid Indian words and jargon. Every individual who was initiated also became an initiate of the Adinath sect.

The Adinathas seek ultimate truth. They teach that a human being is already accomplished, a yogi or yogini. Conditioning and other factors prevent this yogic self from shining forth. In each individual, Shiva and Shakti coexist in equipoise. When they unite, the resulting bliss lights up the physio-psychological complex which is the Universe.

Much of the alchemy the Nathas used was based on the proposition that Breath is Time. According to the Nathas, a human being breathes 21,600 times during a 24-hour day. Half of these breaths are Sun (Shiva) breaths and half are Moon (Shakti) breaths. The out-breathing is Ha and the in-breathing, Sa. This is the so-called involuntary mantra Hamsah. One who has united the Solar and Lunar breaths is a Parama-hamsa (beyond Hamsa). The Natha aims to fight conditioning and to become free from Time.

A second aim is svecchacharya, or acting according to one’s own will; in other words, independently. The secret teachings of the Adinathas also included teachings from the left-hand path (in which symbolism is actualized in physical acts) and described in some detail the use of sexuality in the process of seeking truth.

AMOOKOS is in the process of publishing much of Dadaji’s and Lokanath’s writings through Azoth Publishing. Also, from 1977 to 1985, Mike Magee published Azoth Magazine on behalf of the group. There is also a vast literature now available on the history of the Adinathas and the related Indian tantric groups.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Dadaji. The Amoral Way of Wizardry. Stockholm: Tryckt I Sverige, 1992.

MacGee, Mike. Rituals of Kalika. New York: Azoth Publishing, 1985.

———. Tantrik Astrology. Oxford: Mandrake, 1989.

Arsha Vidya Pitham

PO Box 1059, Saylorsburg, PA 18353

Arsha Vidya Pitham was founded in the mid-1980s by Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Saraswati emerged in the 1970s as a leading disciple of Swami Chinmayananda and by the early 1980s was the heir apparent of the growing mission. Saraswati became the resident teacher at Sandeepany West, Chinmayananda’s center in northern California. While associated with Chinmayananda, Saraswati taught several 30-month resident courses in Vedanta and Sanskrit. The graduates of these courses have gone on to become teachers themselves.

In 1982, however, after a long reappraisal of the direction of the growing work in America and his own likely future as head of it, Saraswati left Chinmaya Mission West to retain a more simple life as a teacher rather than an organizational director. Many of the people he had taught left the mission to keep their relationship with him.

Saraswati continued to teach and to write and, in 1986, purchased land in Pennsylvania for a new ashram (religious community). A temple to Lord Dakshinamurthi (a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva) was erected and a new 30-month resident course begun. Saraswati also continues his heavy schedule of travel and teaching around the United States and the world.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Arsha Vidya Pitham. www.arshavidya.org.

Saraswati, Swami Dayananda. Meditation at Dawn. The Author, n.d.

Purbamadah Purnamidam. The Author, n.d.

The Sadhana and the Sadhya (The Means and the End). Rishikish, India: Sri Gangadhareswar Trust, 1984.

“Swami Dayananda Renounces Chinmaya Mission West: Changes and Challenges Ahead.” New Saivite World (Fall 1983).

Art of Living Foundation

2401 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009

The Art of Living Foundation is the vehicle for the teaching activity of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Hindu spiritual teacher from Bangalore, India. A precocious child, he memorized the Bhagavad Gita when he was four and began his studies of Indian literature at the age of eight. In the 1980s he began traveling the world teaching the Art of Living course, which emphasizes the uses of the ancient sciences in modern life. A major emphasis of Sri Sri’s teaching is sudarsha kriya, a technique to restore the natural rhythms of the mental, emotional, and physical life. In 1995, the President of India at the World Conference on Yoga gave him the title of “Yoga Shiromani” (Supreme Flowering of Enlightenment).

He established Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth in Bangalore, India, to engage in community services and spreading Vedic knowledge. It established centers across India. In Canada, England, and the United States, work is carried forth under the name “Art of Living” and in Europe as the Association for Inner Growth.

Membership

Not reported. In 1990 there were centers in 23 countries in all parts of the world.

Sources

Art of Living Foundation. www.artofliving.org.

Shankar, Ravi. Bang on the Door: A Collection of Talks. Santa Barbara, CA: Art of Living Foundation, 1990. 101 pp.

Arunachala Ashrama

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi Center, 86-06 Edgerton Blvd., Jamaica Heights, NY 11432

Alternate Address

Canadian Headquarters: 1451 Clarence Rd., Bridgetown, NS BOS ICO; International Headquarters: Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai 606 603, Tumil Nadu, India.

Inspired by the life and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950), Arunachala Ashrama was founded in New York City on December 7, 1966. For five years prior to this, weekly meetings had been conducted by those interested in Ramana Maharshi and his teachings.

At the age of 16, Ramana Maharshi absorbed himself in a singular inner quest for truth that resulted in his total abidance in God, or the “Self,” as he called it. He then left home and resided on the slopes of the Arunachala Mountain, a sacred place of pilgrimage in South India. Living an exceedingly pure life, never touching money, and wearing only a coupina, he remained there for the next 54 years.

His most potent teachings, as attested to by his followers, were imparted in the silence of his presence, which conferred to mature souls the peace of Self-realization. Orally he taught the path of Self-inquiry and Self-surrender. He asked seekers to inquire where from the “I-consciousness” springs, to return to that source, and to abide there. To inquire “Who am I?” is the method of Self-knowledge he most often prescribed. He also taught seekers to throw all the burdens of life upon the Divine and to rest in perfect peace in the heart. He never interfered with outward religious practices or professions. Rather, he taught each person to seek his or her own source, as he believed there is only one source for all, the Supreme Self or God.

Arunachala Ashrama maintains a meditation center and office in New York City and a retreat center in Nova Scotia, Canada. A routine of prayer and meditation is followed at both locations. Arunachala Ashrama is affiliated with Sri Ramanasramam, Ramana Maharshis ashrama in India.

Membership

In 2008 the ashrama had 500 members in two communities and affiliated work in three3 countries, United States, Canada, and India. The ashrama is funded by unsolicited donations and the sale of literature on the life and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Periodicals

The Maharshi.

Sources

Arunachala Ashrama. www.arunachala.org.

Bhagawat, Arunachala Bhakta. In Search of Self. Jamaica Estates, New York: Arunachala Ashrama, n.d.

Mahadevan, T. M. P. Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunchala. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1977.

Osborne, Arthur. Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1970.

— — —, ed. The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1962.

Arya Samaj

Congress of Arya Samajs in North America Ved Niketan, 224 Florence, Troy, MI 48098

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: c/o Sarvdeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Dayanand Bhawan, Asaf All Road, New Delhi, India.

Founded in 1875 in colonial India, the Arya Samaj (noble soul) is a reformist Hindu sect representative of the nineteenth-century Hindu Renaissance that emerged in response to both the British and Christian presence in India. It synthesized Hindu ritual practice with new forms of social organization and interaction. It rejected much of traditional Hinduism (most notably idol worship and related animal sacrifice) and emphasized the role of the Vedas as sacred texts. They advocated ten basic principles: 1) God is the original source of all that is true; 2) God is a single, eternal, fully conscious being; 3) the Vedas are the books of all true knowledge; 4) all people should be ready to accept truth; 5) all acts should be performed with righteousness and duty; 6) Samajis should promote good to the whole world through physical, spiritual, and social progress of all humans; 7) all interactions should be regulated by love and due justice in accordance with the dictates of righteousness; 8) realization and acquisition of knowledge (vidyaa) should be promoted for all; 9) Samajis should strive for the upliftment of all and not be satisfied with only personal development; and 10) while the individual is free to enjoy individual well-being, everyone should dedicate themselves to overall social good. These principles support a program of anti-caste, universalizing, sentiment of social service.

The Arya Samaj also created a purification ceremony (shuddhikaran) for the conversion (or reconversion) of Hindus. Despite the organizations attack on the caste system, they discovered that many of their members have had difficulty forgetting the caste background of new adherents.

The Samaj was founded by Mul Shankara (1824–1883), who was born and raised in an orthodox Brahmin family in Gujarat. In 1848 he took the vows of sannyasin (the renounced life) and assumed the religious name, Dayananda Sarasvati. As the leader of the Arya Samaj, he argued for gender equality and social liberalism (strongly anti-caste). He had an abrasive and polemic style that led to frequent tension with traditional Hidu leaders, though many found his perspective refreshing. He found strong support in the Punjab, where it remains an important movement.

Members of the group spread its universalizing message throughout India and especially in the countries with prominent Indian minorities. In the twentieth century, members moved with the Hindu diaspora to North America though they emerged in strength only in the last quarter of the twentieth century. They have their strongest support in countries such as Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, and Kenya where they have numerous, registered centers for worship. Trinidad is particularly notable for having its first woman to become a Hindu priest (pandit), Indrani Rampersad, a pandita of the Arya Parthinidhi Sabha.

Members of the Arya Samaj began to arrive in North America in measurable number following the change of laws in 1965 that allowed Asians to immigrate and settle. Through the 1980s branch centers were organized and the national organization took shape. By the end of the century, the Arya Samaj had formed branches in almost all the large cities of the United States and Canada; these branches are now related to each other through the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America. Annually, members from across North America gather for the Arya Maha Sammelan, the main event on the Arya Samaj calendar. The first Sammelan was held in 1991 in Detroit.

Membership

Not reported. There are centers in 12 U.S. states, Canada, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, Bangkok, Singapore, Kenya, Australia, and Fiji.

Sources

Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America. www.aryasamaj.com/.

Gupta, Shiv Kumar. Arya Samaj and the Raj, 1875–1920. New Delhi: Gitanjali Publishing House, 1991.

Lajpat Rai, Lala. The Arya Samaj: An Account of its Origin, Doctrines, and Activities. New Delhi: Reliance Publishing House, 1991.

Yoginder, S. S. “The Fitna of Irtidad: Muslim Missionary Response to the Shuddhi of Arya Samaj in Early Twentieth Century India.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 17: 1 (1997): 65-83.

Aurobindo, Disciples of Sri

c/o Sri Aurobindo Association, PO Box 163237, Sacramento, CA 95816

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Bureau Central, Information Centre of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Cottage Complex, 3, Rangapillai Street, Pondicherry 605001 India; Other United States centers: East West Cultural Center, 12392 Marshall St., Culver City, CA 90230; Wilmot Center, Box 2, Wilmot, WI 53192; Matagiri, HCI Box 98, Mt. Tremper, NY 12457.

Of the many Hindu religious leaders who have arisen in the last century, none remains as enigmatic as Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950). He was given an English education and began to make his mark as a literary figure. When Bengal, his native state, was the center of the independence movement, Aurobindo became a political activist. Thrown in jail on sedition charges, he turned to the Hindu scriptures and began to practice yoga. He had a vision of Krishna (the popular Hindu deity) that changed the course of his life. Released from jail, he soon fled to French-controlled Pondicherry as a refugee and continued his spiritual practice.

The next years were spent in writing, yoga, and the building of an ashram. Most of his famous books appeared in the sixteen years prior to what is referred to as “The Day of the Siddha,” November 24, 1926. On that day he claimed that Krishna descended into the physical, thus preparing for the descent of the Supermind (the Divine) and Ananda (Bliss). His spiritual collaborator was Mira Richards (1878–1973), a French divorcee who met Aurobindo prior to World War I. She built up the ashram and, after 1926, when Aurobindo ceased to see people, she became the contact between him and his disciples. The “Mother,” as she is known, had seen Aurobindo in her dreams before she came to Pondicherry in 1914. From 1950 to her death in 1973, she sustained the work of transformation.

Aurobindo’s thought has often been compared with that of Teilhard de Chardin, as it was an evolutionary philosophy based upon man’s growth in consciousness both individually and collectively. God—pure existence, will force—draws man to himself. Creation is the result of his “descent” and the evolution is as much a divine work as man’s progress. It is believed that the supermental consciousness and its manifestation in 1956 will eventually bring about the evolutionary change from “man” to “superman.”

The means to achieve the life divine is yoga. Aurobindo taught what is termed “integral yoga,” based in part on vedenta and tantra. It includes the traditional forms of yoga and psychology of the internal psychic self, but worked primarily by a descent of the shakti into the mind.

In India, the Sri Aurobindo Society has established an international section to service centers outside of the country. In the United States, a number of more-orless independent centers have arisen. Among the important centers are Matagiri in Mt. Tremper, New York, and Lotus Light in Wilmot, Wisconsin. In California, three prominent centers have survived for years. These include the East-West Cultural Center, founded by Judith Tyberg in 1953; the Cultural Integration Fellowship, founded by Haridas Chaudhuri; and the Atmaniketan Ashram, a residence center in Pomona, California. There are numerous smaller centers.

International headquarters remain at the ashram in Pondicherry. In 1972 the ashram published a 30-volume centenary edition of Aurobindo’s works later superceded by a 20-volume set. More recently the Institute for Evolutionary Research in Mt. Vernon, Washington, has released a 13-volume set of the Mother’s Agenda, 1951–1973.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Collaboration.

Sources

Sri Aurobindo Association. www.collaboration.org/.

Chaudhuri, Haridas. The Evolution of Integral Consciousness. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1977.

Donnelly, Morwenna. Founding the Life Divine. Lower Lake, CA: Dawn Horse Press, 1976.

Kluback, William. Sri Aurobindo Ghose: The Dweller in the Lands of Silence. New York: Peter Lang, 2001.

McDermott, Robert, ed. The Essential Aurobindo. New York: Schocken Books, 1973.

———. Six Pillars. Chambersburg, PA: Wilson Books, 1974.

Minor, Robert N. Sri Aurobindo: The Perfect and the Good. Columbia, MO: South Asia Books, 1978.

Minor, Robert N. The Religious, the Spiritual, and the Secular: Auroville and Secular India. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998.

Prasad, Narayan. Life in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1968.

Badarikashrama

15602 Maubert Ave., San Leandro, CA 94578

Badarikashrama is a spiritual and cultural center that promotes a life of dedicated service based upon Vedic wisdom. Established in 1983, the ashrama conducts three worship services daily, Sunday school, Hindu rites for family occasions, and festival celebrations. It also offers instruction in music, philosophy, literature, yoga, Sanskrit, meditation, and puja (techniques of worship). Ongoing activities include concerts, festivals, retreats, weekend programs and children’s programs.

Badarikashrama’s work is inspired by the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. It was established by Swami Omkarananda, who as a young seeker in India came into contact with the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. He came to the United States in 1970 and after several years of work returned to India where he took his final vows of sannyasa from Mandaleswara Sri Swami Vidyananda Giri at Kailashashrama in Rishikish. He returned to the United States and founded Badarikashrama. Swami Omkarananda combines the renounced life with a life of service. He makes himself available for spiritual counseling, satsanga, and guidance in spiritual and cultural issues. He offers home worship throughout California and promotes Vedic teachings throughout the United States.

In 1984 an associate branch of Badarikashrama was begun in Madihalli, Karnataka, India. Ongoing activities there include evening devotional singing (kirtan), weekly music and Sanskrit classes, and yoga training camps. There is also an ayurvedic herbal garden. Accomodations are provided for individuals and groups wishing to visit Madihalli ashrama for short and long-term spiritual retreats. At present, a variety of programs are being developed including local community training in health and sanitation, an English tutorial service, provisions of nutritional supplements, and the establishment of a resident school. It continues to serve as a place for the residence and training of women and men interested in leading a monastic life of service. Swami Mangalananda currently directs the program at Madihalli.

Membership

In 1997 the ashrama reported 900 adherents at its American center and an additional 1,500 at its Indian center in Madihalli.

Periodicals

Badarikashrama Sandesha • Sandesha.

Sources

Badarikashrama. www.badarikashrama.org/.

Barry Long Foundation International

Acorn Cottage, 218 Clove Rd., Salisbury Mills, NY 12577

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: PO Box 838, Billinudgel, NSW 2483, Australia.

Barry Long was a spiritual teacher who emerged in Australia in the 1970s and died in 2003. In 1965 Long had a realization of immortality or “mystic death,” the first of a series that led to his realization of the master consciousness.

Long teaches that there is no duality between himself and the power. He eschews most religious forms and emphasizes the living of truth. His teachings are introduced through what is termed the “Course in Being.” He also has authored books on self-discovery, meditation, and self-knowledge.

Membership

Not reported. There are centers of the foundation in England, Finland, Netherlands, Australia, and United States. It does not have formal membership.

Sources

Barry Long Foundation International. www.barrylong.org

Long, Barry. Barry Long’s Journal. Australia: Barry Long Books, 1994.

———. Behind Life and Death; The Boundless Reality. Australia: Barry Long Books, 2008.

Bhakti Marga Foundation

55 Marbella, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270

Bhakti Marga (literally, the path of devotion to god) is a spiritual society founded in 2004 as a teaching venue for Sri Swami Vishwananda. Bhakti Marga seeks to make God the focal point of one’s life, to the point that each person becomes one with the love and omnipresence of God. It advocates the practices of prayer, meditation, repeating the divine names (japa yoga), studying holy scriptures (the Vedas), self-reflection, and selfless service as ways to become become more aware of God’s presence.

Swami Vishwananda (b. 1978) was born on Mauritius. After completing his schooling he became a full-time spiritual teacher and traveled internationally. In 2001 Swami Vishwananda set up a chapel for the Holy Mother in Mauritius adjacent to a temple dedicated to the Indian saint Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. This was the first of his centers; others were established in Germany (2004) and South Africa (2006). He also developed followings in the United Kingdom, Poland, and the United States.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Bhakti Marga Foundation. www.vishwananda.us/.

Blue Mountain Center of Meditation

PO Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971

The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, founded by Indian teacher Eknath Easwaran in 1961, offers programs and publications presenting an Eight-Point Program of meditation and allied living skills. The center considers its approach as nondenominational, nonsectarian, and free from dogma and ritual, and the organization is not affiliated with any religious group or movement. Easwaran was a Professor of English at the University of Nagpur, India, when he came to the United States on the Fulbright exchange program in 1959. He has been writing and offering instruction in meditation and world mysticism in the San Francisco Bay Area regularly since 1965. The interest in meditation he encountered while at the University of California-Berkeley prompted him to find the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. His class at the university in 1967 is believed to be the first academic course on meditation taught for credit on a major American campus.

The basis of the Eight-Point Program is meditation while the other points integrate meditation with daily life. The program includes: 1) Meditation: Going slowly and silently, in the mind, through inspirational passages from the world’s great religions, for half-an-hour each morning. (Because of its universality, everyone is encouraged to begin with the Prayer of St. Francis (“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace…”). 2) Mantram: Silent repetition in the mind of a holy name, mantram, or “prayer word” chosen from those hallowed by the world’s great religions (the Jesus Prayer, Barukh attah Adonai, Allahu akbar, Om mani padme hum, Rama, Rama, etc.) whenever possible during the rest of the day. 3) Slowing Down: Simplifying activities and priorities so as to resist the pressure to hurry through the day. 4) One-Pointed Attention: Giving complete concentration to whatever one does. 5) Training the Senses: Undoing conditioned habits and learning to enjoy what is beneficial. 6) Putting Others First: Gaining freedom from self-centered thinking and behavior by focusing attention on the needs of the whole instead of dwelling on ourselves. 7) Spiritual Companionship: Spending time regularly with others who are following the same Eight-Point Program, for mutual inspiration and support. 8) Reading the Mystics: Filling the mind with inspiration from writings by and about the world’s great spiritual figures and from the scriptures of all religions.

The Blue Mountain Center offers weekend and weeklong retreats in northern California near its headquarters in Tomales and one-day and weekend retreats at various sites around the country. Nilgiri Press, the center’s publishing branch, publishes books and tapes on meditation and world mysticism. Eknath Easwaran has written 23 books that have been translated in 15 languages, in addition to translations of Indian scriptural classics (the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Dhammapada) and an anthology of passages for meditation from the world’s major religions, God Make the Rivers to Flow.

Membership

The Blue Mountain Center is not a membership organization; however, approximately 25,000 people receive its newsletter.

Periodicals

Blue Mountain.

Sources

Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. www.easwaran.org/.

Easwaran, Eknath. The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living. Berkeley, CA: Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, 1975.

———. Dialogue with Death. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1981.

———. Like a Thousand Suns. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1979.

———. A Man to Match His Mountains. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1984.

———. The Mantram Handbook. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1977.

The Supreme Ambition. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1982.

Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University

46 S. Middle Neck Rd., Great Neck, NY 11021

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Post Office 3, Box 2, Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India 307501; Canadian Headquarters: 897 College St., Toronto, ON, Canada M6H 1A1.

The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University was founded in Karachi in 1936. Over a period of several months, the founder, Dada Lekhraj, who was a prosperous businessman, felt the need to invest more time in quiet reflection and solitude. Then one day, while in a meditative state, he felt a warm glow of energy surrounding him, filling him with light and exposing him to a series of powerful visions. These gave new insights into the innate qualities of the human soul, revealing the mysterious entity of God and explaining the process of world transformation. The intensity of the message they conveyed was such that Dada Lekhraj, now known as Brahma Baba, felt impelled to wind up his business and devote himself to understanding the significance and application of this revealed knowledge. Brahma Baba left his body in 1969 at the age of 93 after entrusting leadership of the university to a group of young women. The university continues to be administered by women to the present day.

The program of the Brahma Kumaris is centered upon the practice of Raja Yoga, a method of meditation that develops a clear understanding of the relationship between soul and matter, mind and body, and the interplay between soul, God, and the material world. No mantras or special postures are required. Students gradually gain experience in calming a busy mind, creating positive thoughts, and forming a connection with God as the ultimate source of peace and happiness.

Membership

As of 2007, the Brahma Kumaris is located in over 100 countries with more than 5,000 centers and 800,000 regular members or “students.” The United States has centers in New York, Boston, Austin, Milpitas, Sacramento, Washington (DC), Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seal Beach, Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa, and Honolulu. The centers in Canada are located in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Quebec, and Winnipeg.

Educational Facilities

Peace Village Learning and Retreat Center.

Periodicals

The World Renewal • Purity Heart and Soul • Gyanamrit

Sources

Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. www.bkwsu.com.

Brahma Baba—The Corporeal Medium of Shiva Baba. Mount Abu, India: Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, n.d.

Illustrations on Raja Yoga. Mount Abu, India: Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, 1975.

Living Values: A Guidebook. London: Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, 1995. 110 pp.

Moral Values, Attitudes and Moods. Mount Abu, India: Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, 1975.

Visions of a Better World London. Brahma Kumars World Spiritual University, 1994. 205 pp.

The Way and Goal of Raja Yoga. Mount Abu, India: Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, 1975.

Chinmaya Mission West

PO Box 129, Piercy, CA 95587

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, Powai Park Dr., Mumbai, 400072 India.

Swami Chinmayananda is an independent teacher of Vedanta who in 1949 was initiated into sannyas, the renounced life, by Swami Sivananda Saraswati at Rishikish, India. With Sivananda’s blessing, Chinmayananda traveled into the Himalayan Mountains to Uttar Kasi to study with a learned teacher, Swami Tapovanam, known for his knowledge of the Hindu scriptures. He studied with Tapovanam for several years. In 1951 he began to share his knowledge with the public. As people responded the Chinmaya Mission evolved.

Chinmayananda first came to North America in the 1960s. As he periodically toured the country, groups of disciples came into existence. In 1975 Chinmaya Mission West was incorporated. Once formed, assisted by Chinmayananda’s charismatic personality and drive, the Mission spread rapidly.

Chinmaya Mission has been distinguished both by its Vedantic teachings and its emphasis on knowledge of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, the two main Hindu scriptures. Chinmayananda has authored numerous books, including commentaries on the Gita and Upanishads, and his discourses are available on video.

Membership

In 2008 there were 250 centers in India and 50 outside India, including many in the United States. These are affiliated centers in India, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and various locations across Europe.

Educational Facilities

Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Mumbai, India.

Periodicals

Mananam • Mananam Quarterly Journal CMW Newsletter.

Sources

Chinmaya Dig Vijaya: H. H. Swami Chinmayananda’s 1991 Summer Tour of the Americas. Piercy, CA: Chinmaya Mission West,1991.

Chinmaya Mission West. www.chinmaya.org.

Chinmayananda, Swami. Kindle Life. Madras: Chinmaya Publications Trust, n.d.

———. A Manual for Self-Unfoldment. Napa, CA: Chinmaya Publication (West), 1975.

———. Meditation (Hasten Slowly). Napa, CA: Family Press, 1974.

———. The Way to Self-Perfection. Napa, CA: Chinmaya Publications (West), 1976.

Church of the Christian Spiritual Alliance (CSA)

Lake Rabun Rd., PO Box 7, Lakemont, GA 30552-0001

The Church of the Christian Spiritual Alliance (CSA) was founded in 1962 by H. Edwin O’Neal, a Baptist; his wife, Lois O’Neal, an advocate of Religious Science; and William Arnold Lapp, a Unitarian. Its stated purpose was “to teach the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man as interpreted in the light of modern-day experience.” It emerged as a highly eclectic organization that combined Christian, psychic, and Eastern insights. It absorbed Orion, a popular independent occult monthly founded by Ural R. Murphy of Charlotte, North Carolina, and continues its publication, now as an annual.

In the late 1960s the church was joined by Roy Eugene Davis, a former student of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda and leader of the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) center in Phoenix, Arizona. Davis had left SRF and formed New Life Worldwide. He brought his organization and its periodical (which became Truth Journal) into CSA. Davis’s traveling and speaking gave CSA a national audience.

CSA took a decisive turn in 1977 when O’Neal resigned as chairman of the board and president of the publishing complex and was replaced by Davis. The focus of CSA has in the ensuing years been that of Davis, who has established the church as part of the larger New Age movement with its concerns of astrology, holistic health, and meditation. The yoga teachings of Yogananda as presented through Davis have become the central core of the teachings. Davis keeps a year-round schedule of seminars around the United States. His ecumenical approach to religion is in keeping with the New Age emphases.

The educational arm of the church is the Center for Spiritual Awareness at Lakemont, Georgia. Meditation seminars are offered several times per year at the headquarters retreat center, focusing on teachings of the kriya yoga tradition. The Shrine of All Faiths Meditation Temple is part of the headquarters complex.

Membership

In 1991 the alliance reported 25 centers and meditation groups in the United States and five in foreign countries—Canada, Germany, Ghana, and South Africa.

Periodicals

Truth Journal • Orion.

Sources

Center for Spiritual Awareness. www.csa-davis.org.

Davis, Roy Eugene. An Easy Guide to Meditation. Lakemont, GA: CSA Press, 1978.

———. God Has Given Us Every Good Thing. Lakemont, GA: CSA Press, 1986.

———. The Path of Soul Liberation. Lakemont, GA: CSA Press, 1975.

———. The Teachings of the Masters of Perfection. Lakemont, GA: CSA Press, 1979.

———. The Way of the Initiate. St. Petersburg, FL: New Life World-Wide, 1968.

———. Yoga-Darshana. Lakemont, GA: CSA Press, 1976.

Cross and the Lotus

c/o Cross and the Lotus Publishing, For information: [email protected], Seattle, WA

The Cross and the Lotus continue the work of Rev. Mother Yogacharya Hamilton (1904–1991), a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Hamilton initially met Yogananda in 1925. She later was ordained by him and became one of only six persons—and the only woman—to whom he gave the title yogacharya (teacher, or master of yoga). He also commissioned her to initiate others into Kriya Yoga, the practice he had brought to the west that is passed from guru to chela (student) confidentially.

After Yogananda’s death, Hamilton developed a relationship with Swami Ramdas and went to live in India at his ashram. She credited him with helping her to finally attain the complete realization of God. After returning to her hometown, Seattle, Washington, to resume teaching, in 1974 she met David R. Hickenbottom, who became her primary student. She ordained him in 1984 and subsequently gave him the title yogacharya. He has continued her work since her death in 1991.

The work of the Cross and the Lotus is based in Seattle and the surrounding region. The Cross and the Lotus publishing company issues a quarterly journal.

Membership

Not reported. There are groups in Seattle and Mount Vernon, Washington, and in Vancouver and Victoria, British Colombia.

Periodicals

The Cross and the Lotus Journal (archives available online).

Sources

The Cross and the Lotus Publishing. www.crossandlotus.com/.

Datta Yoga Center

Moniteau Rd, RD 2, Box 2084, Sunbury, PA 16061

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Ashrama, Datta Peetam, Mysore Ooty Rd., 570 004, India.

Datta Yoga Center is an outpost of the international movement Avadhoota Datta Peetham built around His Holiness Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji. Swamiji was born in Mekedati Village, Karnataka, in southern India. He became a postman, although as a youth he had been religiously inclined and a devoted practitioner of yoga. He became known for his healing powers and his ability to work miracles. During his early adulthood, Swamiji began to gather a following, and in 1966 he founded a spiritual center that was located in Mysore, India. He traveled widely around India and in the 1970s began to travel in Europe. He also traveled to the United States and the Caribbean, opening the first United States center in 1986 in Pennsylvania.

Swamiji is considered by followers to be an avadhuta (liberated one), in the tradition of Lord Dattatreya. His teachings are multifaceted and described as “universal and unconstrained by religious dogma.” He teaches kriya yoga as a method to realize the One Reality as referred to in the teachings of advaita vedanta. The centers serve as temples at which pujas and homas (worship services) are performed. Always musically inclined, Swamiji has composed numerous bhajans (spiritual songs) and instrumental meditation music that are a major part of the gatherings of devotees. He is an advocate of ayurvedic medicine and sponsors a hospital for the underprivileged in India.

Membership

The Center is not a membership organization. There are several hundred devotees (as of 1992) in the United States. The center has constructed two temples, one in Louisiana and the other in Pennsylvania, that devotees are encouraged to visit. Associated centers can also be found in Malaysia, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, England, and Trinidad.

Periodicals

Bhakti Mala • Datta Mala.

Sources

Datta Yoga Center. www.dycusa.org.

Ganapati Sachchidananda, Swami. Dattatreya the Absolute. Trinidad: Dattatreya Yoga Centre, 1984.

———. Forty-two Stories. Trinidad: Dattatreya Gyana Bodha Sabha, 1984.

———. Insight into Spiritual Music. Mysore, India: Author, n.d.

———. Sri Dattatreya Laghu Puja Kalpa. Mysore, India: Author, 1986.

H. H. Sri Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji: A Rare Jewel in the Spiritual Galaxy of Modern Times. Mysore, India: Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Trust, n.d.

Swamiji, Ganapati Sachchidananda. Insight into Spiritual Music. Mysore, India: Author, n.d.

Deva Foundation

336 S Doheny Dr., No. 7, Beverly Hills, CA 90211

The Deva Foundation was founded in Sweden in the early 1980s by Dr. Deva Maharaj (1948), a high caste Hindu and doctor of ayurveda and homeopathic medicine. Before leaving India, he had studied yoga and meditation at the Yoga Research Hospital in New Delhi, India. He came to the United States in the mid-1980s and established headquarters in Beverly Hills, California. The stated aim of the foundation is to bridge the gap between Western psychology and Eastern philosophy. It offers members a wide variety of approaches drawn from both Eastern and Western techniques for personal growth, transformation, and enlightenment. These include various health classes, self-hypnosis, nutrition, acupressure, massage, and shaktipat, the awakening of the kundalini, the latent energy believed to rest at the base of the spine. Members may also participate in the activities of the Tantra House operated by the foundation, an educational center that teaches the esoteric secrets of sexuality and spirituality.

Deva travels widely and has become a radio and television personality because of his clairvoyant abilities.

Membership

In 1987 the foundation reported two centers in the United States and one in Canada. There were approximately 100 members in the United States and 1,000 members internationally.

Educational Facilities

Yoga Center, New Delhi, India.

Devatma Shakti Society

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Nawali, Dahisar PO vía Mumbai, Mumbai Panver Rd., Distrit – Thame, 400 612, Maharashtra, India.

The Devatma Shakti Society was formed in 1976 by Swami Shivom Tirth (b. 1924) for the practice of the shaktipat system of yoga, a system revived by Swami Gangadhar Tirth Maharaj. Little is known of this swami; he lived in solitude and initiated only one disciple, Kali Kishore Gangopadhyay, who became known as Swami Narayan Tirth Dev Maharaj (1870–1935). He founded a meditation center in Madaripur, Faridpur, India, and passed his succession to Shri Yoganandaji Maharaj (d.1959). Yoganandaji established an ashram in Rishikish. He initiated Swami Vishnu Tirth Maharaj (d.1969) who established the Narayan Kuti Sanyas Ashram at Dewas.

Swami Shivom Tirth was initiated by Vishnu Tirth in 1959 and took the vows of the sannyasin (the renounced life) in 1963. During the 1970s Shivom Tirth began to propagate the shaktipat system outside of India, first in Europe and Southeast Asia and then in America. The first ashram in North America was established in central Texas. Shivom Tirth occasionally visits America on lecture tours, visiting his disciples across the United States.

Shaktipat is the descent of the power of the guru upon the disciple, thus activating the disciple’s own latent kundalini shakti, often pictured as a serpent sleeping coiled at the base of the spine. The awakening of the energy and its movement up the spinal column to the top of the head produces enlightenment. This way to enlightenment is through the guru’s grace and bypasses the years of effort and discipline necessary in other forms of yoga.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Devatma Shakti Society. www.par.org.ar/shaktipat/shivom.htm.

Tirth, Shivam. A Guide to Shaktipat. Paige, TX: Devatma Shakti Society, 1985.

Devi Mandir

5950 Hwy. 128, Napa, CA 94558-9632

Devi Mandir, also called the Temple of the Divine Mother, is a Hindu center established in a town in the San Francisco Bay Area by two people known by their religious names, Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda. Swami Satyananda is an American who in the 1960s traveled to India as a seeker of spiritual enlightenment. He remained there, receiving spiritual nurture from various teachers and activities until meeting Shree Maa in the 1980s. Shree Maa was born in Assam, India, and began to devote her life to spiritual practice as a teenager. She received many visions and became known throughout India as a spiritual teacher. She heads the Sanatan Dharma Societies in India with centers at Calcutta, Belur, and Gauhati. After their meeting, the pair became inseparable, and Swami Satynanda traveled with Maa as she held celebrations of worship. The two came to California in the mid-1980s and established the Devi Mandir as a center in Moraga (later relocated to Martinez and then to Napa) for the performance of the ancient Vedic fire worship.

The Devi Mandir is a traditional Hindu temple at which an annual round of Hindu festivals are celebrated. In the altar area, statues of many of the primary deities of Hinduism have been installed, including Shiva and Durga, Brahma and Saraswati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, Kali, and many others. Puja (worship) is offered daily. For three years at the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda devoted themselves to 1,000 days of continuous worship, during which neither left the temple. During this period they tended the fire inside the temple, making sure that it did not die out.

Shree Maa promotes devotion to the deities through the performance of puja (worship). Swami Satyananda has written and translated several books to assist attendees at the temple in their worship, including a beginner’s guide to Sri Siva Puja. Shree Maa also promotes a behavior code that grows out of the devoted life. She advises attendees at the temple to be true, simple, and free. They should take refuge in God, cultivate wisdom, develop discrimination (or discernment), and allow their actions to manifest love. She notes that spirituality is simple, noting the saying of a sage—that God is everywhere and thus if one hurts any form, he is hurting himself. In like measure, if he raises any form to a higher level, he elevates himself.

Membership

Not reported. The temple serves both Indian Americans and American converts to Hinduism.

Sources

Devi Mandir. www.shreemaa.org/drupal/.

Johnsen, Linda. Daughters of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India. St. Paul, MN: Yes International Publishers, 1994. 128 pp.

Satya Nanda, Swami, trans. Kali Dhyanam: Meditation on Maha Kali and the Adya Stotram. Martinez, CA: Devi Mandir, 1990. 28 pp.

———. Saty Narayan Katha: The Vow to Speak and Act in Truth. Martinez, CA: Devi Mandir, 1990. 16 pp.

———. Sri Siva Puja: Beginner. Martinez, CA: Devi Mandir, 1990. 40 pp.

Dhyanyoga Centers

PO Box 3194, Antioch, CA 94531

Indian yoga teacher Dhyanyogi Mahant Madhusudandasji Maharaj left home as a child of 13 to seek enlightenment. He spent the next 40 years as a wandering student, during which time he met and worked with his guru whom he discovered at Mt. Abu in Rajasthan State in northern India. From his guru he received shaktipat, a transmission of power believed to release the latent power of kundalini, pictured as residing at the base of the spine. The emergence of that power and the experience of its traveling up the spine to the crown of the head is considered by many Hindu groups to be the means of enlightenment.

In 1962 Dhyanyogi Madhusudandasji ceased his wanderings and began to teach. He established an ashram at Bandhvadi, Gujurat, the first of several in western India. He authored two books, Message to Disciples and Light on Meditation. During the 1970s followers moved to England and the United States. He made his first visit to his Western disciples in 1976 and began to build a following among American converts.

Dhyanyogi Madhusudandasji’s teachings emphasize meditation (dhyan), or raja yoga, and kundalini yoga. The center offers shaktipat to sadhuks (students). As the kundalini awakens the student is open to the guru’s continuing influence and is able to shed past encumbrances and to move on the path of enlightenment. After Madhusudandasji’s death in 1994, his teachings continued through his “spiritual heir,” Shri Anandi Ma.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Monthly newsletter.

Sources

Dhyanyoga Centers. www.dyc.org.

Madhusudandasji, Dhyanyogi. Brahmanada: Sound, Mantra and Power. Pasadena, CA: Dhyanyoga Centers, 1979.

———. Death, Dying and Beyond. Pasadena, CA: Dhyanyoga Centers, 1979.

———. Light on Meditation. Los Angeles, CA: 1978.

———. Message to Disciples. Bombay: Shri Dhyanyogi Mandal, 1968.

———. Shakti, Hidden Treasure of Power. Pasadena, CA: Dyanyoga Centers, 1979.

Divine Love Mission

c/o Kripalu Bhavanam, 17409 Durbin Park Rd., Edmond, OK 73003

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Kripalu Kuteer, Village & Post Mangarh, District Pratapgarh, UP, India. • Canadian Headquarters: Sadhana Mandir, 30 Nantucket Blvd., Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

The Divine Love Mission grew out of the work of the devotion inspired by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj (born in 1922 as Ram Kripalu Tripathi in Mangarth, near Allahabad, India). After completing his formal education, at the age of 16 he found his way to Vrindavan and the next year emerged as a guru known affectionately as Shri Maharaj Ji. He is remembered for leading devotees in a six-month continuous chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra when he was only 17 years old. He was 34 years old when given the title “Jagadguru”(world-teacher) on January 14, 1957, by the Kashi Vidvat Parishad, a group of Hindu scholars. As such, he is seen by his followers to stand in a lineage that includes Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya, Jagadguru Ramanujacharya, and Jagadguru Madhavacharya (all well-known figures from Hindu history).

The teachings of Shri Maharaj Ji were first spread in America by Siddheshvari Devi (Didi Ji). She led in the founding of the American branch of the Divine Love Mission in 1997. The mission teaches the bhakti yoga tradition of India, similar to the Krishna devotion made popular by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON; see separate entry), but completely independent of that organization. Shri Maharaj Ji has taught that, “The essence of all doctrines is to love Lord Krishna, the Supreme Master, and to meditate on His Divine Form with an increasing desire to serve Him. This is the true ultimate knowledge.” He has summarized the tradition in his book of poems, Bhakti Shatak: Hundred Gems of Divine Love, posted on the Internet. He has also authored a number of books, English translations of which are being published by the mission.

Membership

Not reported. The mission operates out of three main centers in India, three in the United States (Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan), and one in Canada.

Dynastic Kriya Yoga

For information: [email protected]

Shibendu Lahiri (b. 1939), the great grandson of Yogi Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895), taught Kriya Yoga in India for many years, but in the 1990s he began to spread the teachings and techniques of Kriya Yoga throughout Europe and North America. Lahiri Mahasaya was introduced to the west through the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), and the kriya yoga teachings that he brought to North America have been perpetuated by his students such as Daya Maya, Swami Kriyananda, and Roy Eugene Davis. Dynastic Kriya Yoga (also called Purna Kriya Yoga) offers the same teachings that Self-Realization Fellowship, Ananda, and the Center of Spiritual Awareness offer, presenting them directly from a physical descendant of Lahiri Mahasaya.

In 1999 Shibendi Lahiri toured the United States and was received so well that annual tours followed in subsequent years. Since then small groups of Dynastic Kriya Yoga practitioners have appeared, but they remain largely invisible in the United States because they have not opened stable centers and have produced little literature. Information on their gatherings is word-of-mouth or via impermanent Internet announcements, and contact with the group is by email and telephone. The largest groups are on the West Coast—Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Dynastic Kriya Yoga. www.purnakriya.com/index.html; www.kriyayogalahiri.com/.

EnlightenNext

EnlightenNext, PO Box 2360, Lenox, MA 01240

EnlightenNext was founded in the late 1980s by Andrew Cohen (b. 1955). It was formerly known as the Moksha Foundation (California) from 1988 to1999 and the Impersonal Enlightenment Fellowship from 1999 to 2005. Cohen had been raised in a somewhat secular Jewish home. As a teenager, following the death of his father, he moved to Rome to live with his mother. There, at the age of 16, he experienced an extraordinary event of expanded consciousness that initiated a quest in search of someone who could explain the strange occurrence. Cohen’s search led him to Swami Hariharananda Giri (a master of kriya yoga) and to the practice of martial arts and Zen meditation. Then in 1986, while in India, Cohen met Harivansh Lal Poonja, a disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi and his teachings of advaita vedanta. Poonja taught that human beings are in reality pure consciousness in the absolute, here and now, always free. Since human beings are already free, there is no need to search for spiritual freedom, merely realize it.

Cohen felt he immediately understood Poonja’s message and after only a short time with him, he left his presence to begin teaching, first in Lucknow, India, and then in England. Early in 1987 he taught classes in Holland and Israel and the following year returned to the United States. His work was centered upon a group that began to form in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1989 he moved his work to Marin County, California, where a group of his closest disciples established an intensive communal life that attempted to live out the implication of the freedom they had begun to realize. The group is informally known as the Sangha. That same year Cohen published his first book, My Master is My Self, a volume that includes his diary about meeting with and letters to his guru.

Meanwhile, some problems began to become apparent between himself and Poonjaji (the name used affectionately by Poonja’s close followers). As Cohen began to teach, he had come to understand that the initial Enlightenment experience served to reveal the Absolute and gave the student a glimpse of his/her potential for liberation. The purpose of the community he formed was to learn to live in such a way that their lives express the Enlightenment. To the contrary, Poonjaji had taught that Oneness had nothing to do with anything manifested in human life. Cohen came to feel that he had surpassed his teacher, a realization he asserts in his second book, Autobiography of an Awakening (1992). He now teaches independently of Poonjaji.

Membership

Not reported. As of 2008 EnlightenNext had two centers in Massachusetts, one in New York, six in Europe, and one each in Israel and India, with regional groups in the United States, Germany, and Australia.

Periodicals

What Is Enlightenment?

Sources

EnlightenNext. www.enlightennext.org.

Cohen, Andrew. Autobiography of an Awakening. Corte Madera: Moksha Foundation, 1992.

———. My Master Is My Self. Moksha Foundation, 1989.

Fivefold Path Inc.

278 N White Oak Dr., Madison, VA 22727

Fivefold Path Inc. was founded in Madison, Virginia, in 1973 by Vasant Paranjpe, who had received a divine command to come to the United States and teach kriya yoga, the Fivefold Path. From the Virginia headquarters, Paranjpe began to visit and teach in neighboring cities—Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Riverton, New Jersey. A semimonthly periodical was begun, and a fire temple consecrated at Param Dham, the name given the headquarters.

The Fivefold Path is a system of kriya yoga which begins with purification of the atmosphere as a step leading to the purification of the mind. Its steps include the following: (1) Agnihotra, a fire ceremony done at sunrise and sunset each day; (2) Daan, sharing one’s assets in a spirit of humility; (3) Tapa, self-discipline; (4) Karma, right action; and (5) Swadhyaya, self-study. The Fivefold Path, derived from the teachings of the Vedas, is also called the Satya Dharma (Eternal Religion). It respects all avatars and divine messengers and makes no distinction between them. Anyone of any religion may learn the teachings of the Fivefold Path. Vasant has stated that he has come to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Daniel 8:26: “This vision about the evening and morning sacrifices which has been explained to you (i.e., Agnihotra) will come true. But keep it secret now, because it will be a long time before it does come true” (The Good News Bible translation).

Membership

Fivefold Path Inc. is not a membership organization. As of 1995, the Fivefold Path had spread to all continents, and its literature has been translated into several languages.

Periodicals

Satsang.

Sources

Fivefold Path Inc. www.agnihotra.org.

Paranjpe, Vasant V. Grace Alone. Madison, VA: Fivefold Path, 1971.

———. Homa Farming, Our Last Hope. Madison, VA: Fivefold Path, 1986.

———. Homa Therapy: Our Last Chance. Madison, VA: Fivefold Path, 1989. 79 pp.

———. Light towards Divine Path. N.p., n.d. 57 pp.

———. Ten Commandments of Parama Sadguru. Randallstown, MD: Agnihotra Press, 1976.

Foundation of Revelation

59 Scott St., San Francisco, CA 94117

The Foundation of Revelation was formed in 1970 in San Francisco by persons who recognized the existence of perfect knowledge and practical omnipotence in the form of a “beggar” then living in the village of Gorkhara near Calcutta, India. The man had been born of a ruling Brahmin family in 1913 and spent his early years as an avid student of various forms of modern knowledge. On the eve of June 14, 1966, he perceived that the illusions of these limited and disintegrating forms of modern knowledge were burned down by Agni, the fire of knowledge, and on September 19, 1966, the convergence of persisting cosmic existence, the luminous nature of consciousness, was concentrated in the person of this Yogi as Siva, the Destroyer. Thus 1966 is the first year of a new era of Siva Kalpa (meaning the period of time of Lord Siva’s omnipotent imagination).

To the foundation, Siva is the creator of conscious life and the destroyer of ignorance, whose pure love of knowledge moves the forms of ego into intensifying contradictions of their own divisive natures to the point of spontaneous recoil toward the synthesis of body, life, and mind. He is considered the most accessible of powers. He never refused the request of a supplicant, perhaps his most dangerous attribute, and he surrounds himself with those from the extremes of the social spectrum whose natural penchant for truth, the power of self-expression, and the ability to manifest same, holds them apart from the world of mediocrity, always gravitating to the heights or depths of existence in the pull toward ultimate perfection.

The first Western contact with the holy man was in 1968 when he made an appearance at the Spiritual Summit Conference in Calcutta, India, sponsored by the Temple of Understanding of Washington, D.C. Several delegates followed him home and one, Charlotte P. Wallace, now president of the foundation, stayed to learn. Word spread of his work, and in 1969 he was invited to the United States to take up residence in San Francisco, which became the world headquarters of the foundation. Those from countries around the world who witnessed his revelations firsthand returned to their respective countries to organize themselves within the spirit and corporate structure of the foundation to create bases for international communication and activity, with the single purpose of breaking down the barriers of nationality, religion, and race and foster the mutually beneficial and harmonious relationships of nations.

The foundation is led by a governing body consisting of the president and seven officers. Each country has a president directly responsible to the world president. Each local leader is responsible to the national president.

Membership

In 1997 the foundation reported 5,000 members in the United States and 25,000 members in the world. There were 21 centers worldwide in 10 countries.

Sources

The Foundation of Revelation. www.thefoundationofrevelation.org.

Gangaji Foundation

2245 Ashland St., Ashland, OR 97520

Harivansh Lal Poonja (1910–1998), affectionately called Poonjaji by his students, is a teacher of advaita vedanta, the Indian philosophy of nonduality. He was born in 1910 in Gujranwala, India (Pakistan), and grew up in what is now Pakistan. His mother was the sister of Swami Rama Tirtha (d. 1906), an early twentieth-century vedanta teacher who was one of the first Hindu gurus in America. He married and joined the army, but his only interest was in the spiritual life. In 1944 he met Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) and stayed with him until he was forced to return to his family at the time of the partition of Pakistan. He cared for his family until the last child left home, and then in 1966, he retired and began a period of his life as one who had discovered absolute oneness. He wandered for many years, but finally settled in Lucknow, India.

Poonjaji emphasizes a simple message. Human beings are pure consciousness and hence absolutely free. The spiritual life is not a matter of attaining freedom, but of realizing that one is already free.

Poonjaji met many of the Americans who came to India on spiritual quests beginning in the 1960s. During the 1980s he made several trips to America to teach, but established no permanent work. Then in 1988, Andrew Cohen, one of his students, began teaching in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cohen separated from Poonjaji and headed the Moksha Foundation (California), currently EnlightenNext (see separate entries).

In 1990 Antoinette Varner met Poonjaji. Confirming her Self-realization, Poonjaji gave her the name Gangaji and instructed her to carry this message of freedom to the West. Today, Gangaji travels throughout the world holding satsang, and has established Satsang Foundation & Press in Boulder, Colorado, to further the teachings of this lineage to all who are interested.

The Gangaji Foundation’s purpose is to serve “truth of universal consciousness, and the potential for individual and collective recognition of peace, inherent in the core of all beings.” It is to present the teachings and transmission of Gangaji through Sri Ramana Maharshi and Poonjaji.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

The Gangaji Foundation. www.gangaji.org.

Ingram, Catherine. “Plunge Into Eternity.” Yoga Journal (September/October 1992): 56–63.

Poonja, H. W. L. Wake Up and Roar. Kula, Maui, HI: Pacific Center Press, 1992.

Grace Essence Fellowship

c/o Martin Lowenthal, 53 Westchester Rd., Newton, MA 02158

Grace Essence Fellowship was founded in the late 1970s by Lars Short, formerly a student of the late Swami Rudhrananda (1928–1973). Rudrananda, the founder of the Nityananda Institute, Inc., was among the first of the contemporary teachers of kundalini yoga in America. Lars Short trained with Rudrananda and in 1965 began his career as a yoga instructor. After Rudrananda’s death, Short went on to study with His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse, a Tibetan master, and to absorb elements of Zen and Taoism into a synthesis that, he notes, Rudrananda had seen emerging as an all-encompassing Spiritual Work.

Short refers to his system as the Way of Radiance. The Way begins in the presupposition that it is possible to live life to the fullest rather than suffer, and to be an agent of grace rather than struggle. It proposes four principles: Life is a gift. All experience can nurture growth. We can live each moment so as to make our self-expression a celebration of life. If we commit ourselves to growth and freedom beyond any set agenda or identity, we can transcend present ways of relating to ourselves, others, and life itself. Short has adapted practices from his several teachers, including Tibetan mindfulness practices and tantric exercises.

Members of the fellowship have the opportunity to train to become practitioners and then seminarians, who take responsibility for passing on the Radiance teachings.

Membership

Not reported. There are eight study groups across the United States, two in Canada, and one in Venezuela.

Sources

Lowenthal, Martin. “Grace Essence Fellowship: Supporting Growth and Freedom.” Tantra 9 (1994): 64–65.

———. “A Spiritual Home in the Grace Essence Fellowship.” Tantra 9 (1994): 65.

Haidakhan Samaj

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Haidakhan Ashram, P. O. Haidakhan, via Kathgodam. Dist. Nainital, Utter Pradesh 263126, India.

The Haidakhan Samaj was founded in 1980 to coordinate the activities of followers of Haidakhan Baba, also known as Babaji and Mahavatar Babaji. Babaji is believed to be an avatar, a physical incarnation of divinity, who has a history of incarnation over a period of thousands of years. He is known as an incarnation of Lord Shiva, who, in the Hindu tradition, is considered to be the Master Teacher. Babaji incarnates in human form from time to time to demonstrate and teach ways that can lead people to harmony and unity with the Divine.

Present-day disciples of Babaji look to several ancient scriptural references that may refer to him as well as several nineteenth and twentieth century accounts. The first, and still the major, book in the West about Babaji is Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) by Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Yogananda wrote of his master’s teacher’s first encounter with Babaji in the Indian Himalayas in 1863. There are many stories of people’s miraculous encounters with Babaji in the last half of the nineteenth century.

There are several books in the Hindi language detailing the incarnation of an avatar-saint known as Haidakhan Baba, who lived in the Kumaon foothills of the Himalayas from about 1890 to 1922. He was recognized then as an incarnation of Lord Shiva and as a form of Mahavatar Babaji. Some of the stories about this incarnation of Babaji were collected and translated by Baba Hari Dass of the Sri Rama Foundation of Davis, California, in a book titled, Hariakhan Baba Known, Unknown. When he left his body in 1922, Babaji is reported to have said that he would return to help humanity.

In 1949, an Indian saint named Mahendra Baba, who had seen Babaji several times in his childhood and youth, was blessed with a physical manifestation of Babaji in an ashram of Haidakhan Baba. From that time on, Mahendra Baba devoted his life to preparing for the return of Babaji. He wrote several books about Babaji, restored the old ashrams, and called upon people to be ready for his return. Mahendra died in 1969.

In June 1970 Babaji appeared again in Haidakhan Baba’s ashram in the Kuaon village of Haidakhan. From then until his death on February 14, 1984, he traveled extensively in northern India and taught from several Babaji ashrams around the country, but spent the majority of his time in the remote village ashram in Haidakhan. Tens of thousands of Indians came to him, and hundreds came from Europe and America. Most of the time, he purposely avoided large crowds in order to perform the traditional guru’s task of teaching and training people who were truly dedicated to the attainment of spiritual knowledge and growth. He taught them mostly by example, often on a mind-to-mind level rather than orally. He guided each devotee step by step through the experiences they needed for growth. Many people were brought to Babaji by miraculous experiences.

According to his own claim, Babaji came, in every incarnation, to restore the Sanatan Dharma—the eternal law of order under which the creation was manifested and operates in harmony with the Divine Will. He urged his followers to live in Truth, Simplicity, and Love, seeing all of creation as a manifestation of the Divine, and living in harmony with all. He respected all the established religions, and taught that each one can lead its devotees to unity and true devotion, renouncing the attachment to materialism which chains humankind to its lower nature. As an aid to keeping the Divine foremost in the followers’consciousness, he taught people to repeat the names of God at all times: the mantra which he taught to most people was “Om Namah Shivai,” which may be translated as “I take refuge in God (Shiva).”

Babaji’s followers worship him through a sung worship service called the aarati, morning and evening, and worship the formless Divine through an ancient fire ceremony, called the yagya or hawan. But the worship most advocated was that of selfless work, karma yoga, performed without ego for the benefit of all living beings, in harmony with the Divine Will.

There are Babaji ashrams and centers in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. In the United States, there are ashrams in The Baca Grande, Crestone, Colorado; Mountain View, Hawaii; Malmo, Nebraska; and at Consciousness Village near Sierraville, California, as well as centers in many cities.

Membership

In 1995 the ashram reported 90 members in the United States and 10 in Canada. There were 15 centers in the United States and one in Canada. There were 8,000 members worldwide.

Periodicals

American Haidakhan Samaj Newsletter.

Sources

Goodman, Shdema. Babaji, Meeting with Truth at Hairakhan Vishwa Mahadham. Farmingdale, NY: Coleman, 1986.

Hari, Dass Baba. Hariakhan Baba Known, Unknown. Davis, CA: Sri Rama Foundation, 1975.

Orr, Leonard [and Makhan Singh]. Babaji. San Francisco, CA: Author, 1979.

Teachings of Babaji. Nainital, India: Haidakhan Ashram, 1983–1984.

Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946.

Hamsa Yoga Sangh

GSY (Gurunath Siddhanath Yoga), PO Box 930, Union City, CA 94587

Alternate Address

Siddhanath Forest Ashram, Sitamai Dara, Simhagadh, Pune, Maharastra, India.

The Hamsa Yoga Sangh was founded by Gurunath Siddhanath, a spiritual teacher of Kriya Yoga who has a lineage derived from his study with the Nath Masters of the Himalayan Mountains. The Nath lineage traces its origins to the deity Shiva and found its most important embodiment in Babaji, the mysterious master teacher originally introduced to the West by Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952). Among the several Nath lineages, the one represented by Gurunath Siddhanath has been commissioned to bring Kriya Yoga teachings to the West. Siddhanath exercises his powers of shakipat to initiate the emergence of the kundalini power (believed to be latently existing) in each individual. Kriya Yoga is a form of Kundalini Yoga, exact teachings of which are reserved for initiates.

Gurunath Siddhanath had led in the construction of the Earth Peace Temple near Pune, Mahasharstra, India. It houses a unique alchemical Mercury Shiva linga (symbol of Shiva), whose radiations are believed to assist those who meditate there to realize Peace on Earth through Self Peace. Over the last decade, the Hamsa Yoga Sangh has spread internationally and developed centers across the United States and in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

Membership

Not reported. In 2008 there were 10 centers operating in the United States, of which 8 were on the West Coast.

Sources

Hamsa Yoga Sangh. www.hamsa-yoga.org/.

Gurunath Siddhanath. Dew Drops of the Soul. Whitesboro, NY: Alight Publications, 2001.

———. Earth Peace through Self Peace. Whitesboro, NY: Alight Publications, 2003.

———. Wings of Freedom. Whitesboro, NY: Alight Publications, 2006.

Hanuman Foundation

223 N Guadalupe St., Santa Fe, NM 87501

The Hanuman Foundation, incorporated in 1974, is the focus of a number of activities that had their origin in the continuing career of Baba Ram Dass and were inspired by his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, popularly known as simply Baba. The foundation’s purposes have been to further the spiritual well being of society through education, service, and spiritual training. Its major project has been to support the spiritual teaching of Baba Ram Dass. Ram Dass is the name taken by Richard Alpert, the former professor of psychology at Harvard University who was fired along with Timothy Leary because of their LSD experiments. Within a short time he became discouraged with drugs as a means to attain higher states of consciousness and he turned to India. There he met Bhagwan Dass, a young American guru, and his teacher, Maharaji, who lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. From Maharaji he learned raja yoga, the path to God through meditation. Ram Dass also developed a devotion to Hanuman, the monkey-faced deity of popular Hinduism. Maharaj taught him to serve and worship Hanuman, a practice which he has continued over the years, though many of his fans are unaware of it.

Upon returning to the West, Baba Ram Dass wrote and published Be Here Now, which emphasized his ideal of living in the present, other than being tied to the past or contemplating the future. He sees all people on a journey to enlightenment. Each person needs and has a guru to help his progress. Some gurus are on the physical plane, but such is not necessary since the relationship is spiritual. Each person is at a different place on his journey, and, thus, differing exercises are needed by each individual. Some might need yoga, renunciation, mantras, sex, or even psychedelic drugs. For Baba Ram Dass, yoga was the path to enlightenment.

During his first years back in the United States, Ram Dass traveled and spoke from a base in his residence in New Hampshire. Gradually, several organizations emerged to disseminate Ram Dass’s teachings. The Orphalese Foundation controlled a tape library and the ZBS Foundation (also known as Amazing Grace) published several records. Ram Dass also found himself at the center of a network that included a variety of service projects. These included a prison-ashram library project and assistance to the Hanuman Foundation, an organization seen as perpetuating the spirit and teachings of Neem Karoli Baba. In the more than a decade of existence, several structures associated with the foundation have emerged as important aspects of the work.

The Hanuman Foundation Tape Library superseded the Orphalese Foundation. It currently distributes audio and video tapes of Ram Dass and several close associates such as Stephen Levine. The Prison Ashram project distributed spiritual literature to prison libraries and has created a manual specially designed for inmates who wished to learn to meditate and follow a spiritual path during their years of imprisonment. In recent years the project has expanded to include residents of halfway houses, mental hospitals, and drug abuse programs.

The Neem Karoli Baba Hanuman Temple is located in a renovated adobe building at Taos, New Mexico. It houses a 1,500-pound marble statue of Hanuman carved to Ram Dass’s specifications. It serves approximately 300 Hindu families in a strip from Albuquerque to Denver. There is an annual and a weekly cycle of devotional services anchored in the singing and chanting services each Tuesday (Hanuman day). Hanuman’s birthday is celebrated in April and Neem Karoli Baba’s Mahasamahdi (death) is celebrated in September.

Seva Foundation, founded by Larry Brillant, a devotee of Baba, is an organization that began with a goal to end blindness in Nepal. Though independent of the Hanuman Foundation, Baba Ram Dass has given it his full support and the Hanuman Foundation Tape Library distributes recordings of Ram Dass’s lectures promoting its work.

In 2006, the Hanuman Foundation established the New Mexico Water Initiative along with local citizens and businesses to support community water conservation efforts through public education programs.

Membership

The Hanuman Foundation is not a membership organization.

Sources

Hanuman Foundation. www.hanumanfoundation.com

Dass, Baba Ram. Grist for the Mill. Santa Cruz, CA: Unity Press, 1977.

———. Miracle of Love. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979.

———. The Only Dance There Is. New York: Jason Aaronson, 1976.

———. Remember, Be Here Now. San Christobal, NM: Lama Foundation, 1971.

Inside Out. Nederland, CO: Prison-Ashram Project, Hanuman Foundation, 1976.

Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy

952 Bethany Tpke., Honesdale, PA 18431

Swami Rama (1925–1996) was a learned philosopher and master yogi who came to the United States to teach. As a child, he was adopted by an accomplished yogi from Bengal and raised in the tradition of the cave monasteries of the Himalayas. In 1949 he attained the position of Shankaracharya, an honor he relinquished in 1952 to further his own teaching goals. He came to the United States in 1969, where he served as research consultant to the Menninger Foundation Research Project on Voluntary Controls of External States. Working with psychologists Elmer Green and his wife Alyce Green, he demonstrated extraordinary physical feats of body-function control that offered significant material for the understanding of the mind/body connection. Swami Rama taught superconscious meditation, which is “a unique system to awaken the sleeping energy of consciousness, to raise its volume and intensity so that individual awareness becomes one with the Universal Self.” It involves relaxation, posture, breathing, and mantras.

Swami Rama founded the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in 1971 in Illinois. The institute headquarters moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, in 1977. Yoga, meditation, and holistic health are the main emphases of the institute. All levels of hatha yoga are taught, and raja yoga is emphasized as a means to balance body, mind, and spirit.

The Himalayan Institute publishes over 80 books on yoga science, meditation, health, psychology, and philosophy. It also publishes the bimonthly magazine Yoga +. Programs at the centers, especially at the headquarters campus, include a wide range of seminars, health programs, and residential programs. The Himalayan Institute partakes in a number of projects through its Global Humanitarian Projects program, which focuses on social regeneration, sustainable living, and empowerment of rural communities.

Membership

In 2002, the institute reported 37 branch and affiliated centers in the United States and abroad. Foreign work is conducted in Canada, India, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Trinidad, Curacao, and Malaysia. In 2002, there were 1,500 members in the United States.

Periodicals

Yoga +.

Sources

Himalayan Institute. www.himalayaninstitute.org.

Inspired Thoughts of Swami Rama. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1983.

Rama, Swami. Lectures on Yoga. Arlington Heights, IL: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1972.

———. Living with the Himalayan Masters. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1978.

———. Path of Fire and Light. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1986.

———. A Practical Guide to Holistic Health. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1978.

Rama, Swami, Rudolph Ballentine, and Swami Ajaya [Allan Weinstock]. Yoga and Psychotherapy. Glenview, IL: Himalayan Institute, 1976.

Hohm Community

PO Box 4272, Prescott, AZ 86302

Hohm Community, known as Hohm Sahaj Mandir since 1996, was founded in 1975 by Lee Lozowick, a former meditation instructor and businessman who experienced a spontaneous spiritual awakening after some years of intense spiritual discipline. This event left him in what he has described as an abiding condition of God-realization that subsequently led to his teaching work and the establishment of the formal guru-disciple relationship with a small group of students. Shortly after that, while traveling extensively in India, Lozowick met his spiritual teacher, Sri Yogi Ramsuratkumar (d. 2001), to whom he attributes his own awakening and who he calls the “source” of his teaching work. Beginning in 1976 Lozowick maintained a close and uniquely intimate relationship with Yogi Ramsuratkumar as his own guru and visited him annually at his ashram in Tiruvannamalai, India.

Lozowick adheres to an Eastern form within the lineage of Yogi Ramsuratkumar and his master Swami Papa Ramdas but also has called his school the Western Baul Way because of the deep resonance that his teaching and the sadhana (spiritual life) of his students have with the Bauls of Bengal. The Bauls of Bengal are an obscure sect of musicians and mystics who practice a form of bhakti yoga called kaya sadhana, or realization through the body. The tenets of the Baul path are based on a blend of Sahajiya Buddhism and Vaishnava Hinduism; the Bauls typically encode their teaching in poems, song, and dance rather than in written texts or treatises and often travel about Bengali villages singing and chanting for alms.

The Western Bauls of the Hohm Community live a life of disciplined spiritual practice, with daily meditation, a vegetarian diet, exercise, and study of spiritual/classic literature and comparative religion recommended as foundation-level preparation in the school. Other recommended aspects of sadhana are committed monogamous relationships, conscious child raising (completely nonabusive and child-centered), and mutual respect between sexes. As Western Bauls the community has two bands—a rock & roll band called “Atilla the Hunza,” and a traditional blues group called “Shri”—both of which perform original music (lyrics by Lozowick) composed by his students on a professional basis.

Membership

The Holm Community maintains an ashram in Arizona and an ashram in central France. As of 2001 the Hohm Community includes about 150 members in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Lozowick travels extensively, teaching and giving seminars, and resides on the ashram in France four months out of the year and in Arizona the remainder of the year.

Periodicals

Tawagoto.

Sources

A Basic Introduction of the Teachings and Practices of the Hohm Community. Prescott Valley, AZ: Hohm Community, n.d.

Lozowick, Lee. Acting God. Prescott Valley, AZ: Hohm Press, 1980.

———. Beyond Release. Tabor, NJ: Hohm Press, 1975.

———. Book of Unenlightenment. Prescott Valley, AZ: Hohm Press, 1980.

———. The Cheating Buddah. Tabor, NJ: Hohm Press, 1980.

———. In the Fire. Tabor, NJ: Hohm Press, 1978.

———. Laughter of the Stones. Tabor, NJ: Hohm Press, n.d.

The Only Grace Is Loving God. Prescott Valley, AZ: Hohm Press, 1984.

Holy Shankaracharya Order

6980 E River Rd., Rush, NY 14543

The Holy Shankaracharya Order had its beginning in 1968 when Swami Lakshmy Devyashram, a disciple of Swami Sivananda Saraswati, established the Sivananda Ashram of Yoga One Science. Through self-study and under Sivananda’s spiritual inspiration, she found samadhi (a mystic state of altered consciousness) in 1963. In 1964, she had a vision of Swami Sivananda and was led by him to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and New York. The guidance continued in the building of the retreat/camp. In 1969, she was ordained by Swami Swanandashram in the Holy Order of Sannyasa Saraswati, the order in which Sivananda was ordained. In 1974, Swami Lakshmy was elected Mahamandaleshwari (Great Overlord) of the Holy Shankaracharya Order in the United States.

In 1974 property was purchased in Virginia and a second ashram-temple complex was begun. It was dedicated in 1977. In 1978, from her superior in the Shankaracharya Order—Jagadguru Shankaracharya Abhinava Vidyateertha Maharaj, headquartered at Sringeri, India, the holy seat of the Order—Swami Lakshmy was requested to establish a shakti peetham (monastery), which was named Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetham. As the Swami gathered students around her, she ordained them, and they have become instructors in the various programs and activities. In the same year a Hindu Heritage Summer Camp was created. The response to this program led to the acceptance of the non-Indian, female swami by the Indian-American community.

In 1981, shortly before Swami Lakshmy died, Hindu priestly services were begun at the peetham. Swami Lakshmy was succeeded by Swami Saraswati Devyashram, one of her female students. Under her leadership the outreach to the Indian community has grown. A center has been opened in Tucson, Arizona, and a winter heritage camp initiated in 1982. The Holy Shankacharya Order has been a major traditional Saivite Hindu center. In 1983 Swami Saraswati Devyashram was initiated by the Jagadguru Shankaracharya at Sringeri. In 1984 it joined the ecumenical Council of Hindu Temples. It provides a full range of temple services at the peetham in the Poconos.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Vedic Heritage Newsletter.

Sources

Sri Rajarajeswari Peetham. www.srividya.org.

Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society

30 W 58th St., Apt. 11-J, New York, NY 10019

The Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society was founded in New York City by His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda Bua Ji (b. 1896), popularly known as Swami Bua Ji. Swami Bua Ji had been crippled at birth, and because doctors were unable to treat him, he was not expected to survive into adulthood. However, he was turned over to Sri Yogeswar Ji Maharaj, a teacher who worked with him using yoga and herbal treatments. At the end of this period, the youthful Swami Bua Ji emerged as both healthy and an accomplished yogi. For many years he was associated with the Divine Life Society founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati.

In the years after Indian independence (1948) Swami Bua Ji began to travel widely throughout Europe and North America giving popular demonstrations of yoga and allowing himself to become the subject of scientific investigations. In 1972 he settled in the United States and founded the Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society.

Membership

Not reported. There is one center in the United States and several others in Europe and India.

Institute of Advanced Mutuality

For information: [email protected].

Waking Down in Mutuality was cofounded by Saniel Bonder (b. 1950) a Jewish-American spiritual teacher, and his wife, Linda Groves-Bonder. Saniel Bonder began his spiritual seeking as a student at Harvard University at the end of the 1960s. He later discovered the writings of Ramana Maharshi, and then in 1973 joined the Daist community led by Adi Da (then known as Bubba Free John). He left the Daist community (now called Adidam) in 1992, complaining of an overemphasis on guru devotion, and entered a period of intense self-examination that led to what he described as an establishment in the “onlyness of being.”

He called the new approach to spiritual awakening “Waking Down,” as opposed to “waking up.” He suggests that we err in trying to disassociate ourselves from the messy stuff of life, to escape the wheel of birth and death (reincarnation). Instead, he teaches that we should seek a liberation into the wheel of birth and death, but with our infinite spirit-consciousness intact: The purpose of life is not to escape life, but to be present more profoundly. Earth is seen as a very suitable place for the critical work of conscious evolution. Bonder and his students began to explore spiritual existence through combining infinite, unconditional conscious spirit and finite, mortal embodiment and relationships.

Bonder created several successive organizations to facilitate his teachings, including Mt. Tam Awakenings in the mid-1990s and, in 2005, the Institute for Advanced Mutuality. Meanwhile, he had begun to train and certify teachers of the Waking Down process; those teachers now are organized in the Waking Down Teachers Association. The institute sponsors programs throughout the United States, which is divided into seven regions administered by seven area teachers.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Institute of Advanced Mutuality. www.wakingdown.org/;awakenedmutuality.org/; www.sanielandlinda.com/.

Bonder, Saniel. Great Relief: Nine Sacred Secrets Your Body Wants You to Know about Freedom, Love, Trust, and the Core Wound of Your Life. Petaluma, CA: Mt. Tam Empowerments, 2004.

———. Waking Down: Beyond Hypermasculine Dharmas: A Breakthrough Way of Self-Realization in the Sanctuary of Mutuality. Petaluma, CA: Mt. Tam Empowerments, 1998.

Integral Yoga International

c/o Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, 108 Yogaville Way, Buckingham, VA 23921

The Rev. Sri Swami Satchidananda, one of several disciples of Swami Sivananda Saraswati to carry his teaching around the world, founded the Integral Yoga Institute. Satchidananda, after years of spiritual seeking, met Swami Sivananda in 1947. In 1949, he was initiated as a sannyasin (monk) into a life of renunciation and selfless service and was given his name, which means Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. Because of Swami Satchidananda’s mastery of all the branches of yoga, he was given the title “Yogiraj,” or master of yoga. After 17 years of work with Sivananda’s Divine Life Society, he came to New York on an intended two-day visit, but was asked to stay to become the founder-director of the Integral Yoga Institute (IYI) and the spiritual head of Integral Yoga International.

The IYI teaches all aspects of Integral Yoga including Hatha Yoga (to purify and strengthen the body and mind); Karma Yoga (selfless service); Bhakti Yoga (the path of love and devotion to God); Jnana Yoga (the path of wisdom); Japa Yoga (the repetition of a mantra); and Raja Yoga (the path of concentration and meditation).

Since 1975, Swami Satchidananda initiated disciples (both men and women) into the Holy Order of Sannyas. Sannyasins take the traditional vows to serve and to practice nonviolence toward all living beings. In 1980 the Integral Yoga Ministry was established. Integral Yoga ministers may be married or single; they take vows to live in the spirit of nonattachment, physical and mental purity, and obedience. In 1985, the headquarters of Integral Yoga International moved from the ashram in Connecticut to a new ashram in Virginia.

Sri Swami Satchidananda is known for his involvement in interfaith work. In 1986, at the Virginia ashram, the Light Of Truth Universal Shine (LOTUS) was dedicated to honor all the world religions. Here, people of all faiths can come to meditate and pray in the same place. A central column of light rises and divides into 12 rays to illuminate altars for individual faiths set within the petals of LOTUS. The LOTUS symbolizes the unity in diversity of all religions and reflects Satchidananda’s teaching that “Truth is One–Paths are Many.” Several yoga teacher training programs are in place at the Yogaville ashram.

Membership

There is no formal membership in IYI. In 1997 it reported 23 centers in the United States and four in Canada headed by 60 monks and ministers worldwide. There were 11 affiliated centers in various foreign countries.

Periodicals

Integral Yoga Magazine. • IYI News. Send orders to 227 W 13th St., New York, NY 10011.

Sources

Integral Yoga International. www.iyiva.org.

Bordow, Sita, et al. Sri Swami Satchidananda: Apostle of Peace. Yogaville, VA: Integral Yoga Publications, 1986.

Satchidananda, Sri Swami. A Decade of Service. Pomfret Center, CT: Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, 1976.

———. The Healthy Vegetarian. Yogaville, VA: Integral Yoga Publications, 1986.

Satchidananda, Swami. Integral Hatha Yoga. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.

———. The Glory of Sannyasa. Pomfret, CT: Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, 1975.

Satchidananda, Swami, et al. Living Yoga. New York: An Interface Book, 1977.

Weiner, Sita. Swami Satchidananda. New York: Bantam Books, 1972.

Inter Faith Center (IFC) Temple of Divine Love

Current address could not be obtained for this edition.

The IFC Temple of Divine Love was formed by Shri Param Eswaran, a Tamil Indian born in 1944 in Malaysia. Eswaran met Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) when he was only nine years old, and later studied with one of Sivananda’s students, Swami Shantananda, and read widely in the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952). He emerged as a teacher in the mid-1970s and in 1976 moved to Australia. That same year Eswaran made his first tour of his adopted national home as a teacher of Tantric Yoga. In 1982, with the assistance of his students, he opened Param’s Indian Restaurant and an associated healing center in Woollahra, Australia. Eswaran founded the IFC Temple of Divine Love in 1990.

The IFC Temple of Divine Love promulgates Inter Faith Tantra, tantric teachings it believes to be the most suited to the contemporary world (and similar to those perpetuated by the Self-Realization Fellowship). It does not see itself as a particular religion, but as a temple of God/Goddess All That Is that makes available knowledge of scientific techniques for attaining direct personal experience of Shakti, the Mother God within each person.

As part of his Tantric Yoga teaching, Eswaran also teaches what he terms yoni healing, a practice integrated with his understanding of astrology. Vedic astrology teaches that each person possesses 1 of 14 specific soul tendencies toward emotional involvement or entanglement within sexual relationships (known as yoni kutas), each personified as a different kind of animal. Using astrology, Eswaran determines the basic nature of each individual’s yoni kuta. It is his belief that the placement of the planets at the time of birth gives each person an electromagnetic imprint highlighting the particular karmic obstacles that must be overcome to reach the goal of oneness. He believes that anyone may reach that goal in this life.

To carry out his work, Eswaran travels widely and has developed centers of activity in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Malaysia, and India. The IFC Temple has also developed an expansive Internet presence, through which it shares information on all aspects of tantra and vegetarianism.

Membership

Not reported. In the United States, support is concentrated in Maine, Texas, and California.

Sources

Inter Faith Center (IFC) Temple of Divine Love. www.tantra-ifc-the-art-of-conscious-love.com/.

Intergalactic Culture Foundation

1569 Stonewood Ct., San Pedro, CA 90732

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Sri Swami Shyam Paramahansa Ministry International, Enlightenment Connoisseur’s Cozy Corner, Laxman Jhula 249302, Himalayas, India.

The Intergalactic Culture Foundation was founded in 1981 in Los Angeles by Sri Swami Shyam Paramahansa Mahaprabho, an Indian spiritual teacher. Originally known as the Intergalactic Lovetrance Civilization Center, in 1986 the organization created four divisions, each of which assumed a Sanskrit name: Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma Foundation, Aiem Hrem Kleem Chamundayai Vichche Foundation, Aum Naham Parvati Pate Foundation, and Aum Namo Bhagavate Vasudevay Foundation. Each of these divisions assisted aspirants from different intellectual and emotional backgrounds to attain the wisdom of Truth.

Sri Swami Shyam and the foundation have published more than 100 titles, 60 Lovetrance World journals, the India Experience Newspaper, the Journey Back in Time Correspondence Course, and more than 100 videos and 200 audio cassette tapes. Swami Shyam made annual lecture tours across the United States and in 1998 was responsible for planning the international Galactic Chronicles Lecture Tour. By 2002 he had produced 2,000 pages of his own Commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam and 1,500 pages on Yoga Vasistha, Vivek Chudamani, and Upanishads. In addition, 70 audio discourses on his Bhagavat Katha are available for order; several electronic books are available at no charge. The discourses may be heard on www.live365.com.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Hindu Digest. • Golden India Enlightenment Connoisseur’s Newsletter.

Sources

Paramahansa, Swami Prem. What Is ILCC?. Hawthorne, CA: Intergalatic Lovetrance Civilization Center, [1983].

Prem, Sri Swami. Galatic Chronicles Lecture Program. Harbor City, CA: Aum Namo Bhagavate Vasudevay, 1995. 37 pp.

Swami Prem Paramahansa and His Message. Hawthorne, CA: Intergalatic Lovetrance Civilization Center, 1983.

Who Is Swami Prem Paramahansa Mahaprabho? Hawthorne, CA: Intergalatic Lovetrance Civilization Center [1982].

International Babaji Kriya Yoga Sangam

14011 Mansa Dr., La Mirada, CA 90638

The International Babaji Yoga Sangam was founded in 1952 by Yogi S. A. A. Ramaiah. Yogi Ramaiah is the disciple of Kriya Babaji Nagaraj, the satguru of the order. Born and raised in Tamil, India, Nagaraj was initiated into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam by a sage named Agasthiya who resided at Kuttralam, India. He also traveled to Sri Lanka to study with another Siva Siddhanta teacher under whom he attained enlightenment. He eventually settled in the Himalayas, where he still lives. He has chosen to live quietly and allow his disciples to spread his teachings. The Babaji Yoga Sangam was founded under the guidance of Babaji Nagaraj. It is claimed that Nagaraj was born in 203 c.e. and lives on in defiance of the limitations of death.

Ramaiah became well known in the early 1960s as a result of his submitting to a number of scientific tests in which he demonstrated his control over several body functions, including the ability to vary his body temperature over a 15-degree range. He brought the movement he had founded in India to America in the 1960s. By the early 1970s, 15 centers had been opened across the country with headquarters in Norwalk, California. Sadhana centers, for more intense, live-in practice of kriya yoga, were established in several rural California locations. More recently the Yogi Ramaiah established the first shrine to Ayyappa Swami, a figure in the ancient Hindu holy books, the Puranas, in Imperial City, California. Each December, beginning in 1970, members of the sangam make a pilgrimage from the shrine, which also serves as the American headquarters of the group, to Mount Shasta, 800 miles away in the mountains of northern California. Ramaiah passed away in July 2006 at the age of 83.

Membership

Not reported.

Educational Facilities

KBYS Holistic Hospital and Colleges of Yoga Therapy and Physiotherapy, Tamil Nadu, India.

Sources

International Babji Yoga Sangam. www.kriyayoga.org.

Ramaiah, Yogi S. A. A. Shasta Ayyappa Swami Yoga Pilgrimage. Imperial City, CA: Pan American Babaji Yoga Sangam, n.d.

International Divine Realization Society

c/o Devanand Yoga Cultural Center, 2285 Sedgwick Ave., No. 102, Bronx, NY 10468

The International Divine Realization Society was founded by H. H. Swami Guru Devanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj, a spiritual teacher from India. Swami Devanand teaches a form of jnana yoga which is practiced by a form of meditation with the use of a mantra. It is Swami Devanand’s claim that the use of mantra yoga meditation will give the practitioner a growth of goodwill and stability, improve memory and concentration, bring an awareness of the supreme being, and eliminate psychiatric disorders. The center in New York hosts a complete round of activities including meditation sessions, Sunday puja, hatha yoga classes, and special activities in stress management and natural medicine. Most programs are held in both English and Spanish.

Membership

Not reported.

International Gurukulam

114 E 28th St. #2A, New York, NY 10016

The International Gurukulam was founded by Yogacharya Yogabhaskara Yogiraj Yogashiromani Yogarshi Dileepkumar, popularly known simply as Guru Dileepji. It can be traced to an alternative healing clinic founded by Guru Dileepji’s parents in Kottayam, India, in 1957. In 1979 Guru Dileepji expanded and renamed the center, now located in Tripunithura, as the International Gurukulam (A Divine Life Research Center for Yogic Arts, Sports, and Medicines). He later opened a second center at Kothamangalam, India.

Along the way, Guru Dileepji was joined by Yogacharini Mata Nanditaji, a Western yoga practitioner who had studied with a variety of teachers, including Indra Devi, Swami Satchitananda, Swami Vishnu-Devananda, and Swami Bua (who was reportedly 128 years old as of 2007). With Mata Nanditaji’a assistance, in 1999, Guru Dileepji opened the first International Gurukulam center in the West, the Yogabhavan in Brooklyn, New York. That center relocated to New York City in 2004. The same year, he opened an additional Yogabhavan in Cochin, Kerala, India.

The International Gurukulam offers a spectrum of classes in yoga, geared to the individual. Classes include asanas (postures and poses) that lead to a full practice of Raja Yoga, including work on breathing, concentration, and meditation.

The International Gurukulam is affiliated with the World Yoga Community and the International Yoga Federation and has strong fraternal ties to the Divine Life Society and the Ramakrishna Mission in India.

Membership

Not reported. There is one center in the United States, which serves as an outpost of the international movement.

Sources

Yogabhavan International Gurukulam. www.yogabhavan.com/main.asp.

International Meditation Institute

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Kullu, H.P. 175 101, Himalayas, India.

The International Meditation Institute grew out of the work of Swami Shyam (b. 1924). As a young man, he realized a state which he termed “Shyam Space,” described as a state of pure existence and pure consciousness in which one drops one’s identification with the world and identifies with the pure self. This is a form of what is generally termed advaita vedanta. The future Swami Shyam was a government career worker when he began to teach out of his experience. In the 1970s he was discovered by two Canadian tourists who invited him to Toronto. His brief visit was extended to more than a year after his papers were stolen, and when he finally returned to India, he had a group of Canadians with him. They gave him the unofficial title of “Swami”. Officially, the title “Yog Shromani” was added to the title of “Swami” by the President of India, Giani Zail Singh, in 1987.

From the original Western center in Montreal, other centers have been founded in Canada, the United States, Europe, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, and Taiwan.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

International Meditation Institute. www.shyamspace.com.

Cushman, Anne, and Jerry Jones. From Here to Nirvana: The Yoga Journal Guide to Spiritual India. New York: Riverhead Books, 1998.

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)

c/o ISKCON International Ministry of Public Affairs, 1030 Grand Ave., San Diego, CA 92109

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is a major representative of that form of devotional Vaishnava Hinduism which grew out of the work of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534?), the famed Bengali saint. Chaitanya advocated a life of intense devotion centered upon the public chanting of the names of God, primarily through the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna/Hare Hare, Krishna Krishna/Hare Rama, Hare Rama/Hare Hare, Rama Rama.

ISKCON developed out of the activity of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977). Prabhupada was a businessman. He was initiated into the revived Krishna Consciousness movement represented in the Guadiya Mission in 1932. In 1936 his guru told him to take Krishna worship to the West, but he was unable to fulfill his mission to spread the movement until the 1950s. In 1959 he took his vows for the renounced life in the sannyasin order. In 1965 he traveled to America, where he established a movement to spread Krishna Consciousness. ISKCON was founded the following year in New York City. A magazine was begun and a San Francisco center opened in 1967. Besides leading the movement and serving as the initiating guru to the several thousands of adherents, Prabhupada was a prolific translator/author. He produced two series of translations and commentaries on the main scriptures of Krishna Consciousness, The Srimad Bhagavatam and the Caitanya-caritamrita. His primary work, the one that most new members first encounter, was his translation of and commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.

The movement grew, though never in the great numbers that its media coverage often suggested. It was a frequent object of media coverage because of its colorful appearance and strange, exotic beliefs and practices. During the 1970s it became one of the major targets for the anti-cult movement.

The central thrust of ISKCON is bhakti yoga, which with this organization takes the form of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. The chanting is the process for receiving the pure consciousness of God (thought of in his prime incarnations of Krishna and Rama) and dispelling the maya or illusion in which the world is immersed. Devotion also includes the following: service to the deity statues found in all Krishna temples; telok, markings of the body with clay in 12 places, each representing a name of God; kirtan, the public chanting and dancing to Krishna; and eating and distribution of prasadam, food (vegetarian) offered to Krishna. Devotees also study much traditional Hindu lore (Vedic culture), the history of bhakti yoga, and the writings of the founder.

As the society has spread, it has gained fame for its festivals and feasts. Each summer one or more international festivals featuring a mass parade honoring Lord Jagannath are held, and everyone is fed a vegetarian meal. Weekly feasts (open to the public) are part of the normal activity of the local temple.

Prior to Prabhupada’s death, he appointed a 22-member governing body commission (GBC) which had begun to function in the early 1970s and provided a smooth transition of power in 1977. Included in the GBC were the initiating gurus, that is, those within the movement with the power of initiating new disciples. The initiating gurus are looked to for maintaining high spiritual standards and inspiring others to do so. The GBC provides overall coordination and administrative oversight to the movement, which is divided into a number of zones. The various zones are further divided into different corporations, each independent and autonomous under the management of local teachers and the zonal GBC. There is no longer any central headquarters, although in the major cities and in Vrindavan, India, ISKCON temples are international centers for the movement as the destinations of mass annual pilgrimages. The decentralization has led to the formation of a variety of publishing programs in the several zones.

During the 1980s, ISKCON was hit with a serious controversy between the more conservative elements and those advocating reforms. Crucial to the disagreements were varying opinions on the guru puja, the veneration of the guru, which had been an integral part of the daily morning ISKCON ritual while Prabhupada lived. Reform-minded gurus began to question the legitimacy of the current initiating gurus receiving guru puja and began to discontinue it in their zones. Some of the call for reform came as a response to several gurus who had been disciplined for not living according to their vows. Most vocal in the cause of reform was Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, who authored a number of books on the subject.

Most persistent in defending the guru puja was Kirtananda Swami Bhaktipada, head of the New Vrindaban community in West Virginia (see separate entry). This was one major issue in the 1987 excommunication of Bhaktipada and the reorganization of the temples under him into a separate organization.

Membership

In 2008, ISKCON reported 10,000 temple devotees and 250,000 congregational devotees, with 350 centers, 60 rural communities, 50 schools, and 60 restaurants worldwide.

Periodicals

Back to Godhead. Send orders to Box 18928, Philadelphia, PA 19119-0428. • The ISKCON World Review. Send orders to 3764 Watseka Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034. ISKCON Communications Journal.

Remarks

In Hawaii, ISKCON experienced a temporary schism when a rival group under Sai Young emerged. Young’s followers, known as the Haiku Meditation Center and Krishna Yoga Community, followed Bhaktivedanta’s teachings but did not don the saffron robes or shave their heads. The group disbanded in 1971, and ISKCON inherited its members.

In 1983 a former member of the movement, Robin George, was awarded $9,700,000 in a lawsuit against the movement. The amount was later reduced on appeal, and ISKCON reached a settlement with George for an undisclosed amount in 1993.

Sources

International Society for Krishna Consciousness. www.iskcon.com.

Goswami, Satsvarupa dasa. Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. 6 vols. Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1980–1983.

Judah, J. Stillson. Hare Krishna and the Counterculture. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1974.

Knott, Kim. My Sweet Lord. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Aquarian Press, 1986.

Prabhupada, Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta. Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. New York: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972.

Rocheford, E. Burke, Jr. Hare Krishna Transformed. New York: New York University Press, 2007.

Isha Foundation

Dhyanalinga Temple, Isha Yoga Center, Semmedu (PO), Coimbatore, India 641 114

The Isha Foundation is a yoga fellowship founded in 1992 by Satguru Jaggi Vasudev (b. 1957). Vasudev was born in Mysore, Karnataka, India, and as a young man graduated from Mysore University. He had also studied yoga since his childhood years under Shri Raghavendra Rao, also known as Malladihalli Swami. Then, at the age of 25, he had a mystical experience that he described as a spontaneous experience of the Self (Divine or Ultimate Consciousness). The experience altered his life and led him to develop a new form of yoga that he called the Yoga of the Divine and offered as a spiritual science that could lead to a transcending of the body and mind. The ultimate goal was the awareness of the essential divine nature within all human beings. Along the way Vasudev authored four books: Encounter the Enlightened, Dhyanalinga: The Silent Revolution, Eternal Echoes, and Mystic’s Musings.

Vasudev envisioned the Isha Foundation as an organization that would transmit inner sciences of universal appeal. The operative word in the foundation’s name, Isha, is understood as the formless primordial source of creation. The foundation offers instruction in the new system of yoga developed by Vasudev, which he renamed Isha Yoga. Vasudev sees it as distilling ancient yogic methods for the modern person. Very early in learning Isha Yoga, the individual is introduced to a process of inner engineering, Shambhavi Maha Mudra, a powerful kriya (or inner energy process) designed to facilitate deep inner transformation.

The foundation has completed the erection of the Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple, located in a forest at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains. Within the temple is a Dhyanalinga. At 13’9”, it is the largest mercury-based linga (or stylized phallus, a common a symbol of the deity Shiva) in the world. Vasudev consecrated it in 1999 following three years of intense yogic practice. Believed to be alive, Dhyanalinga provides the spiritual seeker an opportunity to perform yogic practices in intimate proximity to what can be considered a guru.

Above and beyond its yoga teachings, the foundation also sponsors several large-scale human service projects in India aimed at rural revitalization, reforestation, and implementation of an education program designed to assist village schools. These are being carried out through a large volunteer program.

Membership

In 2008, the foundation reported 18 centers in the United States and 2 in Canada. The several programs initiated by the foundation are carried out by more than 250,000 volunteers from more than 150 city-based centers spread worldwide.

Sources

Information on the Isha Foundation can be found on its various Web sites: www.dhyanalinga.org/about.htm, www.ishafoundation.org, www.ruralrejuvenation.org, www.projectgreenhands.org, www.ishavidhya.org, www.sadhguru.org.

Simone, Cheryl, and Satguru Jaggi Vasudev. Midnights with the Mystic: A Little Guide to Freedom and Bliss. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2008.

Vasudev, Satguru Jaggi. Dhyanalinga: The Silent Revolution. Coimbatore, India: Isha Foundation, 2000.

———. Encounter the Enlightened: Conversations with the Master. New Delhi, India: Wisdom Tree, 2004.

ISKCON Revival Movement

93 St. Marks Pl., New York, NY 10009-5141

Alternate Address

PO Box 1056, Bushey, Great Britain WD23 3XH.

The ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM) is a movement working for the revival and reordering of the larger International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founded by Hindu guru A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977). The IRM was created in 1999 as a vehicle for ISKCON members who believe that the ISKCON movement has erred in the guru structure it adopted after the death of Prabhupada and thus needs to be exposed and reformed.

Born in in Calcutta, Prabbhupada studied at Scottish Churches’ College, was married in 1918, and spent most of his life as a pharmacist and business manager. He was initiated as a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur in 1933. In 1965 Prabhupada traveled to the United States to bring the message of Krishna consciousness to the West. He attracted a significant number of followers in New York City, and the movement began to spread to other parts of the country and the world. He died in 1977 in India.

The ISKCON Revival Movement believes that ISKCON disobeyed the will and wishes of Prabhupada in adopting a zonal guru leadership after his death. The IRM has offered signed documents and papers arguing that the leadership in the movement was assigned to 11 gurus—Harikesa Swami, Jayatirtha dasa Adhikari, Hamsaduta Swami, Hrdayananda Gosvami, Ramesvara Swami, Bhagavan dasa Adhikari, Kirtanananda Swami, Tamala Krsna Gosvami, Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami, Bhavananda Gosvami, and Jayapataka Swami—instead of keeping Prabhupada as sole guru. In 2008 there were approximately 70 gurus in the worldwide ISKCON movement.

The IRM was formed through the efforts of longtime ISKCON devotee Krishnakant Desai, a British citizen of Indian ancestry. Krishnakant began researching the issue of guru succession in the late 1980s; his work resulted in initial publication of the Back to Prabhupada magazine in 1995. The book The Final Order was released the next year. After the governing body commission of ISKCON failed to accept Krishnakant’s arguments, he started the ISKCON Reform Group (IRG) which was expanded into the IRM. The group’s Web site contains extensive material on the issues related to guru succession.

Membership

In 2008 the movement reported approximately 500 members. The IRM is present in the United States, Canada, and 13 other countries, and has 10 centers.

Periodicals

Back to Prabhupada.

Sources

ISKCON Revival Movement. www.iskconirm.com/.

Krishnakant. The Final Order. 1996. Available from www.iskconirm.com/tfo.pdf.

Jean Klein Foundation

Box 2111, Santa Barbara, CA 93120

Jean Klein (d. 1998) was an Eastern European teacher of advaita, a teaching of nonduality. According to the advaita, our essential being or consciousness is beyond subject/object duality, beyond the thought process. In the year following the end of World War II, Klein, a musicologist and medical doctor, traveled to India on a spiritual quest. He had been stimulated to go to India by reading some of the writings of Rene Guenon. Within weeks he met a teacher who initiated him into the teachings of advaita vedanta, a teaching shared by such Indian teachers as Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Atmananda Krishna Menon. He returned to France in 1960 and held dialogues and yoga seminars. His first book, L’Ultimate Realité, was published in France in 1968. His first book in English, Be Who You Are, appeared in London, England, in 1978.

During the 1980s, Klein visited the United States for seminars and in 1989 he formed the Jean Klein Foundation to spread the teachings of advaita vedanta as presented by Klein. The foundation carries on an active teaching program through seminars held throughout the United States. Third Millennium Publications of Santa Barbara, California, is closely associated with the foundation and publishes Klein’s books.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Listening, The Jean Klein Foundation Newsletter.

Sources

Klein, Jean. Be Who You Are. London, England: Watkins, 1978.

———. The Ease of Being. Durham, NC: The Acorn Press, 1984.

———. I Am. Santa Barbara, CA: Third Millennium Publications, 1989.

Kali Mandir

c/o Kali Mandir Puja Shop, PO Box 4700, Laguna Beach, CA 92652-4700

Founded in 1993 by Elizabeth Usha Harding, author of Kali the Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, Kali Mandir was formed to facilitate worship of the Divine Mother in the form of Kali and to make worship available to all. The worship is modeled on the teachings and practice of Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi as established in the Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Calcutta, India. In adopting the Indian Hindu temple ideal, the leaders of the mandir are initially attempting to provide a place of worship for the seeker of God in the form of the Mother, especially in the form of Kali. Kali Mandir does not have a resident guru and is not based on any particular guru’s teachings. Rather than seek to convert people away from previously held beliefs, the mandir simply welcomes all.

Daily pujas (worship ceremonies), monthly amavasyas (New Moon worship), and yearly festivals are led by temple priests Sri Haradhan Chakraborti and Sri Pranab Ghosal. The organization aims to create a tangible spiritual atmosphere through worship, ritual, singing, chanting, volunteer service, reading of scriptures, and spiritual discussions.

A new temple was under construction in Laguna Beach, California, in mid-2008. Each summer the mandir sponsors an annual Kali Puja in Laguna Beach, officiated by the priests from the Dakshineswar Kali Temple in India.

Membership

Kali Mandir has no membership. The organization is financially supported primarily by donations and in part by income from gift shop sales.

Sources

Kali Mandir. www.kalimandir.org.

Kashi Church Foundation

11155 Roseland Rd., No. 10, Sebastian, FL 32958

The Kashi Church Foundation was founded by Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, a spiritual teacher who emerged as a result of an intense experience in the mid-1970s. She had been born Joyce Green into an orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, where she grew to adulthood. She married into a Roman Catholic family and settled into life as a housewife. Then in December 1972 she had a vision of someone whom she recognized as Jesus Christ. He subsequently reappeared three more times. Hesitantly at first, she turned for guidance to residents of a nearby Catholic seminary. Then in the spring of 1973 she had a second set of apparitions, this time of a person who called himself Nityananda.

As the apparitions began, she had no knowledge that such a person as Nityananda had actually lived. In fact, Swami Nityananda had been a prominent Hindu guru in India, had initiated a movement later headed by Swami Muktananda, and had an American disciple named Swami Rudrananda who initially brought his teachings to the United States. Nityananda, as he appeared to her, taught her about what he termed chidakash, the state in which love and awareness are one. He appeared to her almost daily for a year. He gave her a new name, Jaya (Sanskrit for “victory” or “glory”). Green, who began to call herself Joya Santanya, sought out Swami Rudrananda and shortly thereafter discovered Hilda Charlton, an independent spiritual teacher in Manhattan who encouraged her to become a teacher.

The final events in her transformation began on Good Friday 1974, when she began to bleed in a manner similar to Jesus’crucifixion wounds. On Easter Sunday morning, much to the consternation of her Roman Catholic in-laws, she bled profusely from both her hands and her forehead. The stigmata presaged a third set of apparitions, which began a few months later. An older man wrapped in a blanket appeared and introduced himself as her guru, and she was especially drawn to him as he seemed to share her devotion to Jesus. She would later see a picture of someone identified to her as Neem Karoli Baba (who had died the year before). This person had been a prominent Indian spiritual teacher who had deeply influenced Baba Ram Dass, who in turn had first introduced American audiences to his teachings.

Through the mid-1970s, 13 small communities that responded to Joya’s teachings were founded. In July 1976 she moved to central Florida with a small group of disciples and founded Kashi Ashram. Over the next few years she regularly visited the several houses and expanded her teaching work to the West Coast. Then in 1978 she fell ill, and many thought she might die. Responding to her condition many of the people living in the cooperative houses moved to Florida. After she regained her health, the people decided to stay at what had become an expanded ashram.

TEACHINGS

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati teaches a form of advaita vedanta, the traditional monistic worldview derived from the Indian scriptures, the Vedas and the Upanishads. Vedanta sees the diversity of the visible world and human experience dissolve in the perception of the Oneness of ultimate reality. This insight is common to mysticism and may be found in esoteric forms of the major faiths and thus provides a meeting ground for people of other faiths.

Residents at Kashi come from different backgrounds and are drawn more by their relationship to Ma as guru than the acceptance of any particular religious beliefs. They also bring varying foundations to the religions in which they were raised. No attempt is made to convert people; rather, the individual’s devotion to a particular religion is recognized and nurtured as one expression of the mystical unity. In this manner Kashi is following the tradition of Neem Karoli Baba, who counted members of all the religions of India among his followers. Ma and members of the ashram assumed a prominent role at the centennial Parliament of the World’s Religions gathering in Chicago in 1993 as well as the Parliament of World’s Religions meeting in 1999 in Capetown, South Africa, and have been among those who arose to continue its work.

Through the 1990s Ma developed an impressive ministry to people affected by AIDS and HIV. Beginning with a small ministry in Los Angeles, southern Florida, New York, and Atlanta, the AIDS-related work has become a dominant element of ashram life. Ma regularly invites terminal AIDS patients to spend the last weeks of their life at the respite home at the ashram in Florida and enjoy the loving care it offers. The AIDS ministry grew out of Anadana into the River Fund, the ashram’s community service organization, which facilitates the participation of Kashi members in a variety of service projects in their community, from delivering food for meals-on-wheels recipients to manning the local crisis hotline. As the ashram’s ministries have grown and diversified, Ma established the River Fund as Kashi International, devoted to helping people in need. The community also has shown particular concern for ministering to children and has created a quality school to serve both the children of residents and the neighborhood.

ORGANIZATION

Kashi is headed and tied together by Ma. The Florida ashram is organized on a semi-communal basis with each adult resident responsible for an equal share of the community’s needed support. Most of the members hold jobs outside of the ashram. Residents follow a vegetarian diet. Narcotics, alcohol, and tobacco are forbidden. Family life is encouraged and married couples live together though celibacy is practiced except when couples are trying to have a child.

Members of the community gather daily for puja (worship ceremony) in the morning and for darshan (gathering with Ma) in the evening. Various different religious festivals are celebrated, especially Christmas and the Durga Puja (a major Hindu festival). Above community spiritual life, each individual is encouraged to follow personal devotional activities. Some are active in local churches.

In the early twenty-first century, Kashi has been developing some of its land in Sebastian, Florida, as a senior adult community called By The River, for adults age 62 years and older.

Membership

In addition to the Florida ashram, Kashi has centers in New York, New York, Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, each providing spiritual, educational, and service programs to its participants. Other programs and affiliated groups are located in the United States, Canada, and Africa. Through its network of thousands of volunteers, the Kashi Foundation touches the lives of 300,000 people worldwide annually.

Educational Facilities

Kashi Center for Advanced Spiritual Studies.

Sources

Kashi Ashram. www.kashi.org.

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. Bones and Ash. Sebastian, FL: Jaya Press, 1995.

———. The River. Roseland, FL: Ganga Press, 1994.

Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

57 Interlaken Rd., PO Box 309, Stockbridge, MA 01262

The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health was founded in 1966 as the Yoga Society of Pennsylvania by Amrit Desai, who had learned yoga as a teenager in his native India. Desai came to the United States in 1960 and began teaching yoga while otherwise pursuing a secular career. In 1970, however, a significant moment in his developing work occurred as he was performing his daily yoga practices. He experienced a spontaneous flow of yoga postures in which the innate and autonomous intelligence of his body performed the postures without conscious or willful direction from his mind. Through repetition and study of his experience, he developed a technique by which others could experience the same spontaneous flow. He termed this new technique Kripalu yoga in honor of Swami Kripalvanandji, his yoga teacher in India.

In 1971 the first Kripalu residential community was established in Sumneytown, Pennsylvania, as a small retreat where Desai and his students could live the contemplative lifestyle. By 1974, the community had grown in number and became a nonprofit organization known as the Kripalu Yoga Fellowship. In 1975 a retreat center was founded on a 370-acre plot near Summit Station, Pennsylvania, and approximately 170 residents moved into the new facilities. Then in 1983 the community moved to Shadowbrook, a former Jesuit novitiate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The ashram offered a full range of yoga and related programs, and many teachers who trained there went forth to found affiliated yoga centers across the United States. By the mid-1990s there were some 2000 certified yoga teachers working in more than 130 affiliated support groups in North America and some 35 countries of Europe and Central America.

The work built around Yogi Desai was prospering. The 270 residents at the ashram in Lenox constituted the largest such yoga center in North America. Then in the fall of 1994 the center’s board had to face the accusations of several women that Yogi Desai, who preached a celibate existence, had been forcing himself sexually upon them. In the face of the scandal, and following his admission of guilt, Desai was forced to resign as the spiritual director of the organization, which has since continued under the leadership of the center’s board.

The following years led to a restructuring, and by 1999 Kripalu was organized as a nonprofit rather than a religious order. By 2004, the board hired current executive leaders Garrett and Ila Sarley, whose focus was to upgrade aging facilities and strengthen and revitalize programs and outreach. The main focus of Kripalu as it stands today is education and outreach for yoga practice, yoga teacher training, training in ayurvedic practice and massage, as well as the development of several formal schools and institutions.

The center offers yoga retreats, programs, and festivals year-round.

Educational Facilities

Kripalu School of Ayurveda; Kripalu School of Massage; Institute for Integrated Leadership; Institute for Extraordinary Living; Institute for Integrated Healing.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

The Kripalu Experience.

Remarks

Among other disciples of Swami Kripalvanandaji in the United States is Shanti Desai, brother of Yogi Amrit Desai, head of the Shanti Yoga Institute and Yoga Retreat in New Jersey.

Sources

Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. www.kripalu.org.

Desai, Amrit. Guru and Disciple. Sumneytown, PA: Kripalu Yoga Ashram, 1975.

Gurudev, Sukanya Warren. The Life of Yogi Amrit Desai. Summit Station, PA: Kripalu Publications, 1982.

Kripalvanandji, Swami. Premyatra. Summit Station, PA: Kripalu Yoga Fellowship, 1981.

———. Science of Meditation. Vadodara, Gujarat, India: Sri Dahyabhai Hirabhai Patel, 1977.

MacDowell, Andie, and Isabella Rossellini. “Bad Karma.” Boston 87, 12 (December 1995): 66–71, 78–92.

Krishnamurti Foundation of America

Box 1560, Ojai, CA 93024-1560

The Krishnamurti Foundation of America was founded in 1969 to protect and disseminate the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, a spiritual teacher who emerged into prominence early in the twentieth century and carried on a unique independent teaching mission until his death in 1986.

Krishnamurti was born May 12, 1895, at Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India, into a Brahmin family. When he was 14 years old he was designated by Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater of the Theosophical Society as the vehicle for the coming world teacher whose appearance they had come to expect in their lifetime. Besant adopted Krishnamurti and took him to England, where she saw to his education and groomed him for his messianic role. In 1911 he was made head of a newly formed organization, the Order of the Star of the East, and through the 1920s he traveled around the world speaking on its behalf.

In 1929, after several years of questioning himself and his role, he dissolved the order, repudiated its claims, and returned all of the assets given to him for its furtherance. Setting the perspective that would dominate his future, he declared, “Truth is a pathless land and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. My only concern is to set humanity absolutely, unconditionally free.”

Renouncing any allegiance to caste, nationality, particular religion, or tradition, he spent the rest of his life traveling the world and lecturing until shortly before his death. He suggested that individuals had to free themselves from all fear, conditioning, authority, and dogma through self-knowledge, and that the gaining of such self-knowledge would result in order and psychological mutation. Only this psychological mutation by enough individuals, brought about by self-observation, not by a guru or organized religion, could transform the world. No social engineering would bring a world of goodness, love, and compassion.

His assertion that humans have to be their own guru and his rejection of all authority, including his own, attracted many people. A number of intellectuals and religious leaders engaged him in dialogue, and scientists discussed the bridging of science and mystical thought with him.

Krishnamurti was optimistic about the possibilities of education that emphasized the integral cultivation of the mind and heart and not just the intellect. Such education would allow students to discover the conditioning that distorts their thinking. To this end, he led in the founding of many schools in the United States, Great Britain, and India. The Krishnamurti Foundation of America supports the Oak Grove School in Ojai, California.

Krishnamurti also established foundations in those countries where support for his work was manifest. During his lifetime, the foundations provided a focus for his teaching work and assisted in the publication and dissemination of his teachings. In the years since his death their role of protecting and continuing the process of making his material available has come to the fore. Krishnamurti’s lectures and dialogues became the sources of numerous books and booklets, and during the last year of his life his lectures were taped on both audio and video.

The Krishnamurti Foundation of America works cooperatively with other foundations around the world including: Krishnamurti Educational Centre of Canada, the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, the Fundacion Krishnamurti Latinoamericana, and the Krishnamurti Foundation of India. The Krishnamurti Foundation of America houses a library and archives of Krishnamurti’s talks and related materials. Krishnamurti’s teachings are available via streaming video and audio presentations through www.kfa.org or jkrishnamurti.org.

Educational Facilities

Oak Grove Teacher’s Academy, Ojai, California.

Membership

In 1995 there were approximately 1,000 friends of the foundation who contribute to its work.

Periodicals

Newsletter.

Remarks

After Krishnamurti’s death, the foundation announced that it would continue to facilitate the distribution of Krishnamurti’s tapes and books and to channel support to Oak Grove School.

Sources

Krishnamurti Foundation of America. www.kfa.org.

Alcyone [Jiddu Krishnamurti]. At the Feet of the Master. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, n.d.

Krishnamurti, Jiddu. Commentaries on Living. 3 vols. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, n.d.

Krishnamurti, Jiddu, and David Bohm. The Ending of Time. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1985.

Lutyens, Mary. Krishnamurti, The Years of Awakening. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1975.

———. Krishnamurti, The Years of Fulfillment. London: J. Murray, 1983.

Kriya Yoga Centers

PO Box 924615, Homestead, FL 33092-4615

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Nimpur, PO Jagatpur, Cuttack 754021, Orissa, India.

The Kriya Yoga Centers were founded by Swami Hariharananda Giri, a teacher of kriya yoga from the same lineage as Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of Self-Realization Fellowship. Swami Yogananda was a disciple of Sri Yukteswar who settled in Puri in the state of Orissa, India, in 1906, and built an ashram (religious community). Yogananda succeeded Yukteswar as president of the ashram. He was succeeded in 1936 by Sreemat Swami Satyananda. In 1970 Satyananda was succeeded by Swami Hariharananda Giri (b. 1911), who had been associated with the ashram for many years. Hariharananda spread the work of the ashram through India and in 1974 made his first trip to the West, to Switzerland. By the end of the decade he had several ashrams in Europe and in New York City. He continued to travel to the West periodically until his death in 2002. Today, the organization is led by Hariharananda’s successor, Paramahamsa Prajnanananda.

Kriya yoga is a technique imparted to disciples in initiation. It is based on breath control, which is believed to bring about God realization by turning attention from the outward to the inner self. It transforms the life force into divine force by magnetizing the psychic centers believed to exist along the human spine.

The organization has 10 centers in the United States and others in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Soul Culture: A Journal of Kriya Yoga. Available from PO Box 9127, Santa Rosa, CA 95404.

Sources

Kriya Yoga Centers. www.kriya.org.

Hariharananda Giri, Swami. Isa Upanishad. Kriya Yoga Ashrams, 1985.

Kriya Yoga Tantra Society

633 Post St., Ste. 647, San Francisco, CA 94109

Amid the larger movement of Hinduism to North America, tantric forms have also come and a noticeable tantric movement has emerged around a set of independent tantric teachers. Several have established organizations propagating tantra, among them the Kriya Yoga Tantra Society. The society was founded by Andre O. Rathel, better known by his spiritual name, Sunyata Saraswati. Sunyata was a student of martial arts, the occult, and tantra. He traveled to India, where he studied with Satyananda Saraswati, the most important of the modern tantric teachers at his Bihar School of Yoga in Bengal. In the early 1980s he founded Beyond Beyond in Los Angeles, California. The Kriya Yoga Tantra Society supersedes Beyond Beyond.

While he has studied with additional tantric teachers, as well as Chinese Taoist masters in Hong Kong, Sunyata believes the kriya tantra tradition to be the purest and most elevating. This tradition is ascribed to Babaji, the legendary Himalayan teacher who Swami Paramahansa Yogananda first introduced to the West in his kriya yoga teachings, though Yogananda did not emphasize the left-hand tantrism as has Sunyata.

According to the society, the goal of tantric practice is to generate intense sexual energy through tactile sensations and yogic practices. That energy (usually termed kundalini) is then transmitted to the brain, and as the brain comes to life, the individual can perceive the Divine Order.

The society offers a wide variety of programs covering the range of tantric insight, and Sunyata travels the country giving workshops. Retreats are offered at a secluded center in Hawaii. He has also authored a basic text on the art of tantric union.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Jyoti.

Sources

Rathel, Andre O., and Annette B. White. Tantra Yoga: The Sexual Path of Inner Joy and Cosmic Fulfillment. Hollywood, CA: Beyond Beyond, 1981.

Saraswati, Sunyata. Activating the Five Cosmic Energies. San Francisco: Kriya Jyoti Tantra Society, 1987.

Saraswati, Sunyata, and Bodhi Avinsha. The Jewel in the Lotus: The Art of Tantric Union. San Francisco: Kriya Jyoti Tantra Society, 1987.

Kundalini Research Foundation

Box 2248, Darien, CT 06820

Gopi Krishna (1903–1984) was a Hindu master of kundalini yoga. After 17 years of meditation, he experienced the kundalini at the age of 34. He spent the years since exploring the nature of kundalini and has produced 14 books on the subject. In 1970, American Gene Kietter organized the Kundalini Research Foundation to disseminate Gopi Krishna’s books and writings and to continue his research.

Kundalini is the name given the divine energy believed to be lodged at the base of the spine. Often pictured as a coiled snake, the awakened energy travels up the spine and remolds the brain. It is identified with prana, the nerve energy which effects altered states of consciousness. The awakened energy is the biological basis of genius. Kundalini, according to Krishna, is concentrated in the sex energy. Awakening the kundalini redirects the prana from the sexual regions to the brain. In the awakening, a fine biological “essence” rises from the reproductive region to the brain through the spinal column. The flow can be felt behind the palate from the middle point of the tongue to the root and can be objectively measured.

In 2008 the foundation described its mission and purpose as promoting the scientific investigation of enlightenment, inspiration, genius, and the evolution of consciousness.

Membership

The foundation is not a membership organization. There are affiliated groups in India, Switzerland, and Canada.

Sources

Kundalini Research Foundation. www.kundaliniresearch.org.

Irving, Darrel. Serpent of Fire: A Modern View of Kundalini. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1954. 229 pp.

Krishna, Gopi. The Awakening of Kundalini. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1975.

———. The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

———. The Goal of Consciousness Research. Darien, CT: Friends of Gopi Krishna, 1998.

———. The Riddle of Consciousness. New York: Kundalini Research Foundation, 1976.

———. The Secret of Yoga. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

———. The Wonder of the Brain. Noroton Heights, CT: Kundalini Research Foundation, 1987.

———. Yoga, a Vision of Its Future. New Delhi, India: Kundalini Research and Publication Trust, 1978.

Life Bliss Foundation

9720 Central Ave., Montclair, CA 91763

The Life Bliss Foundation is an international community that has grown up around the life and work of Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Nithyananda was born in 1978 in Tiruvannamalai in South India and as a youth showed an inclination toward spiritual practices. He engaged in meditation and yoga and studied the Tantra, Vedanta, and Shaivite philosophies. As a college student, he completed a degree in mechanical engineering. In the early and mid-1990s he freely wandered the sacred Arunchala Mountain (made famous in the West by its association with Ramana Maharshi [1879–1950]) and studied with a variety of teachers, including one of Maharshi’s students. By the age of 22 he was considered to have gained the ultimate state of consciousness, termed nithyananda or eternal bliss. His inspiring and winsome personality soon drew followers to him, and Nithyananda extended his influence by allowing himself to be examined by scientists who were studying altered states of consciousness.

As Paramahamsa Nithyananda emerged as a teacher in the late 1990s, he founded the Life Bliss Foundation, which grew at a rapid rate in India. Early in the new century he began to travel the world, resulting in the formation of a number of meditation centers in different countries. In 2005 the Vedic Temple in Duarte (near Pasadena), California, was opened. This now serves as the Western headquarters for the foundation.

Nithyananda teaches that the goal of life is self-realization and that an effect of such realization is intense joy and bliss. To that end, he teaches his students the technique of Life Bliss Meditation (LBM), described as a simple and natural procedure through which to connect the meditator to their inner resources. Practice frees up creativity, energy, intelligence, and bliss. Nithyananda also teaches Nithya Yoga, a form of Ashtanga Yoga that he developed from his early study with Raghupati Yogi. He came to believe that Raghupati Yogi was a reincarnation of Patanjali (generally recognized as the founder of yoga).

Membership

Not reported. As of 2008, Life Bliss centers are found in 33 countries, including Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Kenya, France, and Italy. Centers are located across the United States.

Sources

Life Bliss Foundation. www.lifebliss.org/.

Life Bliss Meditation. www.lifeblissmeditation.org/intro.htm.

Nithya Yoga. www.nithyayoga.org/.

Nithyananda (Glimpses from the Biography of Paramahamsa Nithyananda). Bangalore, India: Life Bliss Foundation, 2006.

Life Mission

c/o Kirit N. Shah, 936 Commons Rd., Naperville, IL 60563

Alternate Address

c/o Mehul H. Patel, 515 Merril Lane, Peachtree City, GA 30236.

Life Mission (or more fully, the Lakulish International Fellowship’s Enlightenment Mission) was founded in 1993 by Swami Rajarshi Muni, a yoga teacher and a student of Swami Kripalvanandji (1913–1981), best known in the West as the teacher of Yogis Amrit and Shanti Desai. In the 1970s, Kripalvanandji focused his attention on the task, given to him by his guru, of reviving Indian culture, especially its cultural and moral values. He envisioned an expansive program of yoga education, and to that end Swami Rajarshi Muni drew up plans for a yoga institute, outlined its curriculum, and trained its first teachers. Kripalvanandji inaugurated the Lakulish Yoga Vidyalay (Lakulish Institute of Yoga) in 1976. Lakulish is the reputed ancient founder of the Pashupata sect of Shaivism; some see him as the real founder of yoga (rather than Patanajli).

Once the institute was set in motion, Swami Rajarshi Muni retreated into seclusion until 1993, when he had a vision of Lord Lakulish, who asked him to pick up the task left unfinished by Kripalvanandji. In response to this vision, Swami Rajarshi Muni established the Life Mission. The Mission has four objectives: to work for spiritual and cultural awakening around the globe; to promote the practice of yoga; to direct people toward the highest values; and to serve all humanity.

The Life Mission sees itself as an international fellowship that includes all who have received initiation from either Swami Kripalvanandji or Swami Rajarshi Muni; those who join and participate in the activities at the mission’s centers; and those rendering services in the work of the Mission. It is organized into two basic wings: renunciates (monks) and non-renunciate (lay) members, all of whom follow a code of conduct that includes simple rules concerning goodness and devotion. Also enjoined upon members is a daily set of devotions built around the practice of japa (mantra) yoga, utilizing the mantra given during initiation. Renunciate members strive to live a life in seclusion and to pursue a more intensive form of the practice of yoga.

Since its founding, the Life Mission has spread outside India to Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Life Mission. www.lifemission.org.

Rajarshi Muni, Swami. Classical Hatha Yoga. Gujarat, India: Life Mission Publications, 2007.

———. Divine Body through Yoga. Gujarat, India: Life Mission Publications, 2007.

———. Yoga. Gujarat, India: Life Mission Publications, 2005.

Light of Sivananda-Valentina, Ashram of

3475 Royal Palm Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33140

The Ashram of the Light of Sivananda-Valentina was established in the early 1960s by Sivananda-Valentina, a guru whose name came from the experience of merging her consciousness with that of her teacher, Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887– 1963), the famous guru from Rishikish, India. Sivananda taught integral yoga, a combination of the several aspects of yoga with some attention to hatha yoga, the physical postures (or asanas) as preparation for the higher disciplines of yoga.

Sivananda-Valentina followed the integral yoga tradition, stressing particular aspects. For example, she emphasized the mystical aspect of performing the yoga asanas which makes them more than a therapeutic exercise. She also concentrated on nada yoga, the yoga of sound, and the use of music—the singing of bhajans (devotional songs) forms an important part of satsangs (student gatherings with their guru).

A weekly round of yoga and meditation classes, informal prayer classes, and Wednesday evening meditation were undergirded with periodic celebrations, many observed from those of the world’s religions (Wesak, Christmas, Chanukah, etc.).

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Light of Sivananda-Valentina. lightsv.org.

The Heart and Wisdom of Sivananda-Valentina. 5 vols. Miami Beach, FL: Light of Sivananda-Valentina, 1970–1973.

Sivananda-Valentina. Meditations at Dawn. Miami Beach, FL: Light of SivanadaValentina, 1977.

Wings of Sivananda-Valentina. Miami Beach, FL: Ashram of the Light of SivanandaValentina, 1976.

Lokenath Divine Life Fellowship

c/o Mr. Paul Juneja, 211 Gunther Ln., Belle Chase, LA 70037

Alternate Address

Lokenath Divine Life Mission, P-591 Purna Das Rd., Calcutta 700 029, India.

The Lokenath Divine Life Mission was founded in 1987 by Swami Shuddhananda (b. 1949), a swami who has become famous for his social service work in Calcutta, India. Frequently compared to Mother Teresa, he has led in the founding of a variety of schools and medical services, and a number of economic ventures aimed at improving the life of city residents. As a young man, he had had a series of visions of the nineteenth-century saint Baba Lokenath. In the meantime he had become a professor of business at Hyderabad University. He eventually quit his job, wandered in the Himalayas for several years, and then opened the mission, in which he combines the spiritual teaching with social outreach in a manner reminiscent of Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikish, the founder of the Divine Life Society.

In the 1990s, Swami Shuddhananda traveled to the United States to share his spirituality and information about his work in India. A small number of American disciples have begun to appear.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Cushman, Anne, and Jerry Jones. From Here to Nirvana. New York: Riverhead Books, 1998. 399 pp.

Lovers of Meher Baba

c/o Meher Spiritual Center, 10200 Hwy. 17 N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29572

Meher Baba (1894–1969) was an Indian spiritual master born Merwan Sheriar Irani of Zoroastrian parents living in Pune, India. Baba is believed by his followers to be the avatar of the age. As a young man, he met Hazrat Babajan (b. 1931), a Muslim woman considered by some to be one of the five perfect masters (i.e., spiritually enlightened or “God-realized” persons) of the age. From her he received what he described as self-realization. According to Baba, the five perfect masters are always responsible for unveiling the avatar when he comes. Thus, in 1921, the last master, Upasani Maharaj, folded his hands and said, “Merwan, you are the Avatar; I salute you.”

That same year he gathered his first disciples, who began to call him Meher Baba, which means “compassionate father.” In 1924 he opened a permanent colony near Ahmednagar, India, called Meherabad. There he established a free hospital and clinic for the poor, and a free school for students of all creeds and castes. In 1925, he began observing silence, which he maintained for the rest of his life. For many years he communicated by pointing to the letters of the alphabet painted on a wooden board. In the last period of his life, he relied on hand gestures alone. Baba asserted that he kept silent in order to speak the Word of God in every heart. He also said that enough words had been spoken and it was now time to live God’s words.

Baba came to the West, including the United States, for the first time in 1931. Some of the Westerners he met on this and subsequent trips became disciples and went to live and work with him in India. His number of followers in the West grew steadily, spurred by his occasional visits (he made a total of six trips during his lifetime).

Baba said that he had not come to establish a new religion or sect, but rather to awaken people to the love of God. He declared himself the avatar, the same “ancient one” who has come age after age as Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, to renew divine love in the world. He also indicated that his advent required that he shed blood in both the East and the West, which, it is claimed, occurred in two automobile accidents: one in the United States (1952) and one in India (1956). He stated that suffering was a necessary part of his mission as avatar to bring about what he called a new humanity. He spent much of his life in service to others, especially the poor, the lepers, and those he termed masts or God-intoxicated. He considered these activities to be outward manifestations of transforming consciousness by awakening humanity to the oneness of all life. According to Baba, God was within every living thing and the goal of all life was to become one with God through love.

Because Baba said that his only message was of divine love, people who follow him are often called “lovers of Meher Baba.” Over the years many have been inspired to become Meher Baba lovers though there is no formal organization or membership. In the 1950s, many Americans came into contact with Meher Baba during his three visits to Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a place he called “my home in the West.”Today, the center and his tomb shrine in Meherabad, India, have become places of pilgrimage for thousands of Meher Baba lovers each year. Groups of followers gather informally throughout North America, India, Europe, and Australia. There are no set practices or creeds, and no formal organization to join. Meetings usually consist of sharing Meher Baba’s love through film, music, discussion, and readings from his discourses.

Membership

Since there is no formal membership, estimates of the number of Meher Baba’s followers varies widely. The number of newsletters and centers suggest that there may be some 10,000 in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and hundreds of thousands in India.

Periodicals

Glow International.

Remarks

With in the larger body of Baba lovers, there is one special close-knit group called Sufism Reoriented. This group derives from the original Sufi groups organized early in the century by Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927), founder of the Sufi Order International. Khan appointed Rabia Martin of San Francisco, California, his successor, an appointment not recognized by members in Europe largely because Martin was female. Toward the end of her life, Martin heard of Meher Baba and began to correspond with him. She became convinced that he was the Qutb, that is, the hub of the spiritual universe in Sufi understanding. Though Martin never met Baba, her successor, Ivy Oneita Duce, did. He confirmed her succession, but more importantly, in 1952 during a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Meher Baba presented the group with a new plan contained in a document titled “Chartered Guidance from Meher Baba for the Reorientation of Sufism as the Highway to the Ultimate Universalized.”

Within Sufism Reoriented, the Sufi path begins in submission and obedience to the murshid as the arm of Baba. For the student, there must be a need to know that God exists, to be able to discriminate between the real and the unreal, to be indifferent to externals, and to be ready to gain the six mental attitudes: control over thoughts, outward control, tolerance, endurance, faith, and balance.

Sources

Baba, Meher. Discourses. Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Press, 1987.

———. God Speaks: The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1973.

Davy, Kitty. Love Alone Prevails: A Study of Life with Meher Baba. Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Press, 1981.

Duce, Ivy Oneita. How a Master Works. Walnut Creek, CA: Sufism Reoriented, 1975.

Hopkinson, Tom, and Dorothy Hopkinson. Much Silence: Meher Baba, His Life and Work. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1975.

Ma Yoga Shakti International Mission

114-41 Lefferts Blvd., South Ozone Park, NY 11420

The Ma Yoga Shakti International Mission was founded in 1979 by Ma Yoga Shakti Saraswati, an educator, reformer, philosopher, renunciate, and guru. Her followers have considered her primarily as a loving mother. Saraswati has traveled internationally and established centers in India, England, and the United States and now spends her time traveling between them. In her teachings, presented in a number of books she has written, she emphasizes the unity of bhakti, gyaan, karma, and raja yoga for self-unfoldment and the adaptability of the ancient wisdom to modern life. Her centers offer regular devotional services and yoga and meditation classes, workshops, and retreats.

Membership

In 2008 the mission reported centers in South Ozone Park, New York, and Palm Bay, Florida, as well as in the United Kingdom and India.

Periodicals

Yoga Shakti Mission Newsletter.

Sources

Yogashakti Mission. www.yogashakti.org.

Chetanaschakti, Guru. Guru Pushpanjali. Calcutta: Yogashakti Mission Trust, 1977.

Yogashakti, Ma. Yoog Vashishtha. Gondia, India: Yogashakti Mission, [1970].

Yogashakti Saraswati, Ma. Prayers & Poems from Mother’s Heart. Melbourne, FL: Yogashakti Mission, 1976.

———, trans. Shree Satya Narayana Vrata Katha. Melbourne, FL: Yogashakti Mission, n.d.

Mahayog Foundation

51 E 42nd St. #521, New York, NY 10017

The Mahayog Foundation supports the teaching of Mahayogi Pilot Baba. As a young man Babaji, as he is popularly known, joined the Indian Air Force and as a wing commander fought in India’s 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. His career in the air force led him to question his life, and after the 1971 war he resigned his commission and took up the renounced life of a yogi. He had concluded that no religion could give absolute peace, nor could any political organization impart peace.

In his search for peace he came to advocate inward exploration. The deeper one goes within, the purer the sources of consciousness that are found. When the center is reached, the individual reaches the center of the universe. Then and there wisdom unfolds and the individual become a realized one, and the self is liberated.

According to Babaji, his work is an enquiry into the ultimate truths that he teaches, including that the soul exists after death and transmigrates to another form of life or dissolves into the universe. He does not see himself as teaching a new religion but as showing his followers a path and offering himself as a bridge leading to the self’s true destination, one’s inner self. The path he outlines leads from “misery to happiness, from bondage to libration, from ignorance to enlightenment, and from this world to yourself.”

Babaji established his primary center in northern India in the Himalayan Mountains. He has several centers in India and two overseas, one in Japan and one in New York, the latter being his one North American outpost.

Membership

Not reported. There is one center in New York City.

Sources

Mahayog Foundation. www.pilotbaba.org/.

Mata Amritanandamayi Center

10200 Crow Canyon Rd., Castro Valley, CA 94552

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, Amritapuri P.O., Kollam DT., Kerala, India 690 525.

The Mata Amritanandamayi Center was established in 1987 as an outgrowth of the worldwide ministry of Mataji “Amma”Amritanandamayi (b. 1953), an Indian spiritual teacher. A devoted worshipper of Krishna from childhood, at the age of seven she began to compose bhajans (devotional songs) to him. She so completely identified with God, that she was able to manifest any aspect or form of the Deity and would assume the mood of Krishna or Devi (the Divine Mother) in order to facilitate devotion. Gradually during the 1970s, people began to recognize Amritanandamayi as a realized (enlightened) soul and her father gave her the family land upon which to build an ashram (religious community). Since 1988, she has built a number of temples, called Brahmastanams or the Abode of the Absolute, in which four deities are installed as part of a single image representing the principle of the Unity of God.

Amritanandamayi teaches a form of bhakti, or devotional practice, built around her singing and meditation. She believes that all religions lead to the same goal; hence, meditation upon any of the prominent deity figures, including Jesus, is acceptable.

In 1987 Amritanandamayi made her first trip to the West, a trip prepared by a small number of Western devotees who had encountered her in India. She tours the United States, Japan, and Australia.

Humanitarian efforts are central to the center and focus on care for the needy. The organization runs an orphanage as well as elderly care homes, and other efforts offer food and health care for those in need.

Membership

In 2008 there were three regional centers in the United States in California, New Mexico, and Michigan, with more than 80 affiliated satsang groups throughout the country. Additional centers are found in Canada, South America, India, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East.

Periodicals

Immortal Bliss (Published in the U.S.) • Matruvani (Published in the U.S.).

Sources

Mata Amritanandamayi Center. www.amma.org.

Amritanandamayi, Mataji. Awaken Children! 2 vols. Vallickavu, Kerala, India: Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, 1989—1990.

———. Bhajanamritam: Devotional Songs. Vallickavu, Kerala, India: Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, 1987.

Balagopal. The Mother of Sweet Bliss. Vallickavu, Kerala, India: Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, 1985.

“Holy Woman Brings the Mother Spirit to the West.” Hinduism Today 9, no. 4 (July 1987): 1, 15.

Matri Satsang

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Matri Satsang is an organization of devotees of Sri Anandamayi Ma (1896–1982), one of the most prominent gurus in twentieth-century India. Born Nirmala Sundari in a Bengali Brahmin family, she had little schooling and was married at the age of 13. Five years later she went to live with her husband. Her husband recognized her as an unusual person; as her mystical nature clearly emerged, he became her disciple. Her ecstatic state attracted others, and in 1929 her followers built an ashram (religious community) for her. She began to travel widely around India. A second ashram was built at Dehradun, India, in 1932. As the number of ashrams grew, Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha was formed to administer them.

Anandamayi Ma did not lecture, but would answer questions put to her by seekers. Her writings consisted mainly of letters answering similar inquiries. Excerpts were later gathered into books. Anandamayi Ma supported traditional Hinduism and had no new message. Disciples seem to have been attracted to her because of the awakenings they had in her presence and the wisdom they attributed to her because of her answers to their questions.

Matri Satsang began in 1974 in Sacramento, California, as a point of focus for North American disciples of Anandamayi Ma. A small group, they see their task as supplying the world with materials, primarily those published in India by the Sangha, that communicate Anandamayi Ma’s presence through her words and the books of those who knew her. Devotees of Anandamayi Ma are scattered around the world.

Sources

Anandamayi Ma, Sri. Matri Vani. 2 vols. Varnasi, India: Shree Shree Anandamayee Charitable Society, 1977.

———. Sad Vani. Calcutta, India: Shree Shree Anandamayee Charitable Society, 1981.

Lipski, Alexander. Life and Teachings of Sri Anandamayi Ma. Delhi, India: Motilal Banaridass, 1977.

Matri Darshan: Ein Photo-Album Uber Shri Ananda Ma. Seegarten, Germany: Mangalam Verlag S. Schang, 1983.

Singh, Khushwant. Gurus, Godmen, and Good People. New Delhi, India: Orient Longman, 1975.

Metamorphosis League for Monastic Studies

4130 SW 117th Ave., Ste. 171, Beaverton, OR 97005

The Metamorphosis League for Monastic Studies was founded in 1987 by Kailasa Chandra Das (birth name, Mark Goodwin), formerly a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON; see separate entry). The league was established at a time of intense controversy within ISKCON over the role of the leadership status of those individuals who had been appointed initiating gurus by founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The league provides guidance for aspirants so they can come to a point of understanding about the nature of the guru (teacher, spiritual guide) and decide who might be a genuine guru. A bona fide guru must be a self-realized Vaishnava, that is, a devotee of Vishnu, who has realized the Supreme Personality of Godhead (i.e., Krishna).

Members of the league are advised to avoid both the wild card guru, the charismatic figure whose own personality and personal attributes become the center of attention, and the institutional guru, who derives authority from the group in which s/he functions and operates as an agent of the governing body of that institution. The genuine guru, of which Swami Prabhupada is the prime example, derives authority from God, and that authority is manifest in the purity of his/her life.

The league follows the beliefs and practices as transmitted by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Members must be vegetarians and do not use any intoxicating substances. They cannot be associated with ISKCON or gurus or groups that are considered bogus. Kailasa Chandra Das has published several booklets covering the major emphases of the league.

Membership

In 1995 the league reported nine members.

Moksha Foundation

PO Box 2360, Lenox, MA 01240

The Moksha Foundation was founded in 1976 as the Self-Enlightenment Meditation Society by Bishwanath Singh, known by his religious name Tantracharya Nityananda. Nityananda began studying yoga at the age of seven. He became a student of Shri Anandamurti and eventually served as a monk with the Ananda Marga Yoga Society. In 1969 he realized that he was a siddha yogi in his previous incarnation and that he had been reincarnated in this life to teach meditation and yoga. He left the Ananda Marga Yoga Society and began independent work, eventually establishing centers in India and England. He also renounced his vows as a monk and married.

In 1973 Nityananda moved to Boulder, Colorado, and established the Self-Enlightenment Meditation Society. The center served as a residence for several of his closest students. He taught meditation, tantric yoga philosophy, and lathi, a martial art, and offered personal instruction and initiation for his followers. From his Colorado headquarters he regularly journeyed to meet with students in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles.

In 1981 Nityananda traveled to Europe on a speaking tour. While on the Continent, he was invited to lecture in Sweden. After leaving the plane in Stockholm, he disappeared. His body was found several months later; he had been murdered. Mira Sussman, a resident student at the Boulder center, succeeded to leadership of the foundation and has continued the program initiated by Nityananda.

Membership

Not reported. At the time of Nityananda’s death in 1981 he had approximately 50 students in Boulder, with other groups in several U.S. cities. The centers previously founded in London and in Bihar, India, continued, and he regularly visited them.

Periodicals

The Tantric Way.

Mother Meera Society

C.P. 38, Ste-Justine-de-Newton, Quebec, Canada J0P 1T0

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: Mother Meera, Oberdorf 4a, 65599 Dornburg-Thalheim, Germany.

The Mother Meera Society was founded in Canada in the early 1980s by disciples of Mother Meera, an Indian spiritual leader believed by followers to be an incarnation of the Divine Mother, one of several currently present on earth. She was born Kamala Reedy in 1960 in a small village in Andhra Pradesh, in southern India. Her family were not religious people and she was given no religious training and had no guru. However, at the age of six she first entered that trance-like state called samadhi. When she was 14, her uncle and leading disciple, B. V. Reddy, noted her spiritual activities and took her to the ashram of Sri Aurobindo in Ponticherry. She told of receiving visionary guidance from Aurobindo and his colleague, the Mother. As might be expected, she was not accepted by many at the ashram, and she left after a short stay and began holding darshan (sessions in which she met with her followers) throughout India.

In 1979 she left India with her uncle for Europe and a side trip to Canada, where the initial Mother Meera Society was formed. In 1983, due to her uncle’s illness, she settled in Thalheim, a small town near Frankfurt, Germany, where she has since resided. Her uncle died in 1985. She made her first trip to the United States in May 1989 to attend a conference at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Mother Meera describes her work as that of the Cosmic Shakti, to bring down the light of Paramatma to prepare humanity for spiritual transformation. Not known for a specific body of teachings, disciples revere her for the transformations and healings they have experienced in her presence. She offers a simple discipline to people: “Remember the Divine in everything you do. If you have time, meditate. Offer everything to the Divine. Everything good or bad, pure or impure. This is the best and quickest way.” Devotion to Mother Meera has especially spread through the writing of Andrew Harvey, a professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, who has written a book about his encounter with her in the late 1970s.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Mother Meera Darshan Calgary. www.mothermeeradarshancalgary.com.

Adilakshmi. The Mother. 2nd edition. Thalheim Germany: n.p., 1995.

Brown, Mick. The Spiritual Tourist: A Personal Odyssey through the Outer Reaches of Belief. London: Bloomsbury, 1998.

Cox, Christine, and Jeff Cox. “Germany’s Meera.”Hinduism Today 11, 4 (April 1989): 1, 18.

Harvey, Andrew. Hidden Journey. New York: Henry Holt, 1991.

———. Harvey, Andrew. The Return of the Mother. Berkeley, CA: Frog, 1995.

Mother Meera. Answers. 2 vols. Ithaca, NY: Meeramma Publications, 1991.

Narayanananda Universal Yoga Trust

c/o N. U. Yoga Ashram, W 7041 Olmstead Rd., Winter, WI 54869

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: N. U. Yoga Ashrama, Gylling, DK 8300 Odder, Denmark.

Narayanananda Universal Yoga Trust was founded by Sri Swami Narayanananda (1902–1988) in 1967 in Rishikesh, India. In 1929 he renounced the world, became a monk, and then went to the Himalayas in search of God-realization. After a mental struggle, he attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi (Cosmic Consciousness) in 1933. After this struggle, he remained in seclusion until 1947, when he witnessed the bloodshed between the Hindus and Muslims during the partition of India. He then focused his energies on writing books about religion, philosophy, mind-control, and Kundalini Shakti. He began to work and guide spiritual seekers during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1971 he went to Europe to visit his international headquarters in Denmark.

Narayanananda uses the term “The Universal Religion” for his teachings. This religion is based on his perception of Ultimate Truth and contains both philosophy and practical spiritual advice. It states that there is only one God, which can be compared to the center of a circle, while the many different religions of the world are like the radii of a circle—all ultimately reaching the same goal. With its motto: “Help a man from where he stands. Supplement but never supplant,” it embraces all people irrespective of caste, creed, color, or sex.

The Universal Religion stresses the importance of a moral life, sex sublimation, and mind-control for spiritual growth. It also emphasizes the value of an education, which combines practical, intellectual, and ethical training, and it works to promote understanding between the different religions and ideologies of the world.

The religion is of a monastic order as well as lay disciples. The monks and nuns living in the same ashramas (monasteries) follow the teachings of the founder— they combine meditation and mind control with an active life in society and earn their own livelihood.

Membership

In 1998 the trust had approximately 30 centers in India, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and the United States. There are approximately 5,000 members worldwide.

Periodicals

Yogandash; Magazine for the Universal Religion.

Sources

Narayanananda, Swami. The Mysteries of Man, Mind and Mind Functions. N.p., n.d.

———. A Practical Guide to Samadhi. Rishikish, India: Narayanananda Universal Yoga Trust, 1966.

———. The Primal Power in Man. Rishikish, India: Narayanananda Universal Yoga Trust, 1970.

———. The Secrets of Mind-Control. Rishikish, India: Narayanananda Universal Yoga Trust, 1970.

———. The Secrets of Prana, Pranayana, and Yoga-Asana. Gylling, Denmark: Narayanananda Universal Yoga Trust & Ashrama, 1979.

New Vrindaban Community

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), R.D. 1, Box 319, Moundsville, WV 26041

This rural Hare Krishna Community was founded in 1968. One of its pioneering founders was Keith Ham, son of a Southern Baptist Minister; another was Howard Wheeler, a friend of Ham. They were among an initial group of young American spiritual seekers who encountered A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) in New York in the late 1960s, after they had gone on a spiritual search to India. Prabhupada was beginning the task of establishing his worldwide mission. Believing that Prabhupada was genuine, the young Americans dedicated themselves to him. They received Vaisnava initiation from him, taking on the names Kirtananda Swami Bhaktipada and Hayagriva.

In 1968 Bhaktipada noticed an advertisement offering a lease on 100 acres to anyone willing to start a spiritual commune in West Virginia. He ventured out to Moundsville, eventually signed a lease, and began New Vrindaban, which in turn became part of ISKCON, founded by Prabhupada.

After Prabhupada’s departure to India in 1977, Bhaktipada secured for himself a prominent role within the ranks of ISKCON. He was also the spiritual leader of New Vrindaban, by then a thriving community. The members of the community had turned an intended residence for Prabhupada into a memorial, attracting media coverage. Bhaktipada was New Vrindaban’s de facto singular spiritual leader from the mid-1970s until the beginning of the 1990s, when legal difficulties caught up with him.

During the 1980s, several gurus were expelled and others resigned due to the organization’s standards, particularly in the area of illicit sexual relations and the use of psychedelic drugs. The tension led to demands for reform, and the most intense debate centered upon the role of the guru in relation to Prabhupada. Some members of the governing body commission (GBC) called for a more democratic structure, a lessening of the status of the guru vis-a-vis his disciples, and an end to the acceptance of guru puja (worship) by the current society leaders.

The debate on reform, largely confined within the GBC, became public in 1986 with the publication of the Guru Reform Notebook by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, which demanded reform of the society’s understanding of the guru, especially the elimination of any practices which tended to place current gurus on the same level as Prabhupada (as demonstrated in their receiving guru puja). Bhaktipada quickly emerged as the major antagonist in the debate, arguing that organization and structure must remain as Prabhupada left them. The argument reached a culmination point on March 16, 1987, when the GBC expelled Bhaktipada from ISKCON. The GBC cited four major reasons for the expulsion by claming that Bhaktipada (1) had minimized the position of Phadhupada; (2) had rejected the authority of the GBC (thus destroying the society’s unity); (3) had established temples in areas assigned to other gurus; (4) had, while acting independently of the society’s authority, misrepresented the society to the public.

Bhaktipada answered the charges by noting that he had been merely following the pattern of life established by Prabhupada and the particular mission to which he had been assigned. Further, he noted in his book, On His Order, an answer to the Satsvarupa, that it was the GBC that was guilty of deviating from Prabhupada’s teachings through their reform movement and the re-editing of Prabhupada’s commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita.

While Bhakipada was accusing ISKCON of deviating from the teachings and pattern of life established by Prabhupada, he was in turn accused of also deviating by his adoption of elements from the Christian tradition. He moved to have an organ installed in the temple at New Vrindaban, and members of the community began to wear, at times, brown monk-like habits. ISKCON leaders charged that these changes were far more drastic than those which they had been accused of making.

Except for the issues mentioned above, including those which led to Bhaktipada’s expulsion from the society, New Vrindaban and its subsidiary temples follow the same pattern of worship and belief as the temples and centers of ISKCON. In the wake of the expulsion, New Vrindaban and its aligned centers (mostly in Ohio), having been founded originally as a separate corporation, merely reorganized as an independent entity under its corporate name, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness of West Virginia. Almost immediately, leaders from New Vrindaban were sent out to found new centers in such places as Philadelphia and New York City.

The year of Bhaktipada’s leadership of the independent ISKCON of West Virginia was one of intense controversy. He tried to exert leadership in the interfaith community and initially attracted a number of people to New Vrindaban from various religious communities. He also initiated plans for the creation of a large community on the ISKCON property. However, he was continually distracted by controversy. Shortly after his expulsion from ISKCON, authorities raided the community searching for evidence supportive of allegations of fraudulent fund raising and information on the death of a former resident, Charles St. Dennis, killed in 1983, and in the 1986 murder of vocal critic Stephen Bryant. Earlier in 1985, Bhaktipada was almost killed when a former devotee attacked him.

A variety of court actions followed, including Bhaktipada being found not guilty of arson in a trial in which he was charged with setting fire to a building owned by the community in order to collect the insurance. And a follower, Thomas Dreshner, was found guilty in connection with the murder of St. Dennis. Finally, on August 28, 1996, Bhaktipada pled guilty to a racketeering charge that included conspiracy to murder (Stephen Bryant). Dreshner, who had previously denied Bhaktipada’s involvement in any illegal acts, eventually turned and offered testimony against him. Bhaktipada began serving a 20-year prison term in September 1996, a sentence since reduced to 12 years. In the wake of his conviction, as well as revelation of his breaking his vows of sexual abstinence, there was a move to integrate ISKCON of West Virginia back to the International Society of Krishna Consciousness.

In 2000 the community was accepted again as part of ISKCON and allowed representation in the worldwide leadership council. New Vrindaban’s management has focused on reintegrating the community into the global Hare Krishna network while working to rectify illegal activities and other mistakes of Bhaktipada’s leadership. Current residents prefer to focus on the primary role that Swami Prabhupada played in bringing Krishna Consciousness from India to the West.

The reputation that New Vrindaban had enjoyed of being the first farming community in ISKCON has yielded to the community’s function as a place for spiritual holiday among the community of Indian immigrants to the United States. The community claims to host more overnight staying guests than all the other temples in North America. A primary draw is the memorial to Swami Prabhupada, referred to as “The Palace of Gold.” Replacing the previous central communal ownership of all property is a more natural system of individual or family ownership.

The community celebrates many festivals that are a distinct feature of India’s 5,000-year-old culture. The community’s festivals provide vegetarian feasts for which Hare Krishnas are famous; the community does not allow alcohol, tobacco, or nonvegetarian foods.

Membership

The community extends various categories of membership to persons not resident at New Vrindaban. Most contributing members are Indian professionals and businesspeople. There are approximately 7,000 individuals on the community mailing list.

Periodicals

New Vrindaban Today.

Remarks

Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada and New Vrindaban have been the object of intense controversy which began in the early 1980s, when charges of drug dealing and the stockpiling of weapons were published in newspapers and magazines across the United States. In October 1985, a fringe member of the society attempted to murder Bhaktipada with a lead bar. Then in 1986 a former member, Stephen Bryant, came to West Virginia and threatened Bhaktipada’s life. In May, Bryant was murdered in Los Angeles. Following Bryant’s murder, the local sheriff called for a federal probe of New Vrindaban. It was convened in September 1986, just a few weeks before two ex-members, Daniel Reed and Thomas Dreshner, went on trial for the murder of a man who raped Reed’s wife. Both ex-members were convicted. Reed was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter and he received one to five years. Dreshner, an accessory after the fact (he assisted Reed in burying the body), was given a life sentence. Later Dreshner was accepted back as a full member by Bhaktipada, who accepted him into the renounced or sanyassin order. Subsequently, Dreshner has frequently but incorrectly been cited in the press as a swami (teacher) and spokesperson for the group.

As a result of the federal investigation, Bhaktipada was indicted for setting fire to a building owned by the group in order to collect the insurance. At a trial in December 1987, he was acquitted of all charges.

Embarrassed by the events at New Vrindaban, the GBC included the accusations and subsequent federal probe as a secondary reason for Bhaktipada’s expulsion.

Sources

New Vrindaban Community. http://newvrindaban.com

Bhaktipada, Kirtanananda Swami. Christ and Krishna. Moundsville, WV: Bhaktipada Books, 1985.

———. Eternal Love. Moundsville, WV: Bhaktipada Books, 1985.

———. “A Community Struggles for Reinstatement.” Hare Krishna World 5,5. (January/February 1997).

———. On His Order. Moundsville, WV: Bhakti Books, 1987.

———. The Song of God. Moundsville, WV: Bhaktipada Books, 1984.

Shinn, Larry D. The Dark Lord. Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1987.

Nityananda Institute, Inc.

PO Box 13310, Portland, OR 97232

Swami Rudrananda (1928–1973), born Albert Rudolph, was a spiritual seeker who had participated in groups following the methods of Georgei Gurdjieff and Subud, and later with the shankaracharya of Puri, prior to traveling to India. There, in 1958, he met Swami Nityananda (d. 1961) and his student Swami Muktananda (1908–1982). In these two swamis he found an end to his quest. He also arranged Muktananda’s first visit to America in 1970 and helped launch his movement. However, after studying first with Nityananda and later with Muktananda for 15 years, he broke with Muktananda in 1971 and founded the Shree Gurudev Rudrananda Yoga Ashram. The teachings followed essentially the Saivite teachings of Nityananda and Muktananda, both of whom emphasized the role of the guru who gave shaktipat to awaken the kundalini. Kundalini is the cosmic power believed to be resting dormant like a coiled snake at the base of the spine. Its awakening allows the power to travel up the spine to the crown of the head, thus producing enlightenment.

Rudrananda founded a string of ashrams across the United States and Europe and wrote one book, Spiritual Cannibalism, published within months of his death in an airplane accident. The largest and most substantial remnant of Rudrananda’s following was organized under Swami Chetanananda, head of the ashram in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1971. Several years later Chetanananda moved his headquarters to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in 1993 to Portland, Oregon.

The ashram is a community of disciples living the practical spiritual life under the direction of Swami Chetanananda. The Nityananda Institute is a meditation center whose aim is to make the spiritual life accessible to westerners. The Rudra Press is the publishing arm of the organization.

Membership

In 2008 the institute was based in Portland, Oregon, with meditation centers in Santa Monica, California, New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, and Oslo, Norway. A retreat and research center was located in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 2002 there were approximately 2,000 people involved with the ashram and centers.

Periodicals

Rudra. • Institute News.

Sources

Nityananda Institute. www.nityanandainstitute.org.

Chetanananda, Swami. Songs from the Center of the Well. Cambridge, MA: Rudra Press, 1983.

Hatengdi, M. U. Nityananda, the Divine Presence. Cambridge, MA: Rudra Press, 1984.

———, and Swami Chetanananda. Nitya Sutras. Cambridge, MA: Rudra Press, 1985.

Nevai, Lucia. “Rudi, The Spiritual Legacy of an American Original.” Yoga Journal no. 65 (July/August 1985): 36–38, 68–71.

Rudrananda, Swami. Spiritual Cannibalism. New York: Links, 1973.

Oneness Movement North America

PO Box 35507, Monte Sereno, CA 95030

The Oneness Movement has grown from the vision of two Indian spiritual teachers, Sri Bhagavan and Sri Amma, a husband-wife team viewed by their followers as a single consciousness operating in two bodies. Their vision is to awaken humanity to our oneness and unity with the divine, and to elevate us to an altered state of consciousness—an awakened state of “oneness.” To this end, they founded the Oneness University; the Oneness Movement consists of a group of independent but interconnected national affiliates of the Oneness University.

The primary means of spreading the experience of oneness is the Oneness Blessing (also known as Oneness Deeksha or Diksha), during which a transfer of divine energy occurs. Over time, that energy brings about a state of oneness and initiates a neurobiological change in the brain. Once the blessing is complete, the senses are freed from the interference of the mind, leading to new clarity of perception and feelings of joy, calmness, and oneness.

The Oneness Blessing is performed by people who have been trained at the Oneness University in India or Fiji, who are called Oneness facilitators or Oneness Blessing givers.

The Oneness Movement was brought to North America by Sri Raniji, a Malawian disciple of Sri Bhagwan and Sri Amma. As a young woman Sri Raniji met Anandagiri, one of Sri Bhagavan’s Oneness facilitators, who gave her the Oneness Blessing. She later met Sri Bhagwan and Sri Amma, and impressed with their teachings, stayed in India to work with them. She eventually became a dasa, or lay monk, and Sri Bhagavan appointed her the spiritual leader of the Oneness Movement in North America, which includes not only the United States and Canada but also Australia, New Zealand, and Italy.

The Onenness Movement holds annual conferences that bring together large groups to pray for oneness. In 2008 a large Oneness temple in India, conceived as a temple for all religions, was nearing completion.

Membership

In 2008 the movement claimed more than 100 million members in more than 50 countries. In the United States there are more than 1,000 Oneness facilitators, and in Canada more than 200.

Sources

Oneness Movement. https://www.onenessmovement.org/index.cfm.

Arjagh, Arjuna. Awakening into Oneness: The Power of Blessing in the Evolution of Consciousness. Boulder, CO: Sounds Good, 2007.

Windrider, Kara. Deeksha: The Fire from Heaven. Nocato, CA: New World Library, 2006.

Parmarth Niketan

c/o Hindu Jain Temple, 615 Illini Dr., Monroeville, PA 15146

Parmarth Niketan is an ashram in Rishikish, India, that serves as the headquarters of the Swami Shukdebanand Trust, an Indian spiritual community founded in 1942 by Pujya Swami Shukdevanandji Maharaj (1901–1965). In the twenty-first century, Parmarth Niketan extended its influence to the West through the activities of its president, H. H. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji Maharaj. Trained in the ashram from childhood for his leadership role, at the age of 17 Chidanand was sent from Rishikish to complete his education. He emerged with master’s degrees in Sanskrit and philosophy. After assuming leadership of the ashram, Swami Chidanand has emphasized his beliefs in the unity and harmony of reality, especially as they relate to the many paths to God that are available to humanity. His beliefs have made him a leader in interfaith work, and he has participated in a number of internationals conferences, such as the Parliament of World Religions gatherings (1993 and 1999), the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations (2000), the World Council of Religious Leaders at the United Nations in Bangkok (2002), and the Global Youth Peace Summit at the United Nations in New York (2006).

In his many travels, Swami Chidanand has inspired the development of a number of temples in Australia, Europe, and North America, among the most notable being the first Hindu-Jain temple in America, located in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Swami Chidanand serves as the spiritual head of this temple, which is dedicated to providing a means for unity between Hindus and Jains across North America. Begun in 1981, the temple was constructed by the Hindu Temple Society of North America. Under Swami Chidanand’s influence, the temple changed its name from Hindu Temple to Hindu Jain Temple in 1986. It was completed in 1990 and now serves the Indian American community in the Greater Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Hindu Jain Temple. www.hindujaintemple.org/.

Parmarth Niketan. www.parmarth.com/.

Prana Yoga Ashram

Yogalayam, 1723 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley, CA 94703

The Prana Yoga Student Center was founded by Swami Sivalingam, formerly with the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. Swami Sivananda Saraswati established the academy at Rishikish on the Ganges River. Sivalingam began his stay at Sivananda’s center in 1959. In 1962 he began his international work by bringing the yoga teachings first to Japan and then to Hong Kong, where he established several Sivananda Yoga Centers. He moved to the United States in 1973 and successively founded the Prana Yoga Foundation (1974), the Prana Yoga Ashram (1975), the Prana Yoga Center (1976), and the Ayaodhyanagar Retreat (1977). In 1975 he extended his work to Vancouver, British Columbia. As a result of this work and subsequent travels, he has established a string of centers that ring the globe from India to Japan, to North America to Denmark, and Spain.

Sivalingam follows the yogic teachings and practices of Sivananda with an emphasis upon hatha yoga asanas (positions) and the practice of pranayama (precise breath control). Through this practice, prana, or energy, is manifested and controlled and leads to purification of the nervous system and inner spiritual balance.

Membership

Not reported. In 1980 there were six centers in the United States and nine centers in other countries.

Periodicals

Prana Yoga Life. Send orders to Box 1037, Berkeley, CA 94701.

Sources

Yogalayam Prana Yoga Ashram. www.yogalayam.org.

Sivalingam, Swami. Wings of Divine Wisdom. Berkeley, CA: Prana Yoga Ashram, 1977.

Pranayana Institute

PO Box 40731, Albuquerque, NM 87196

The Pranayana Institute was founded by Sankara Saranam, a writer, philosopher, and proponent of pranayama (sense introversion), a yoga practice that consists of various techniques of regulated breathing and concentration. Practicing pranayama is said to confer various positive results, including a calm, balanced, and focused mind, increased vitality, and longevity. Pranayama also is believed to awaken the brain and the cerebrospinal nerve centers to their limitless potential. Many of great spiritual and intellectual figures have been adept in pranayama, or something closely resembling it.

Saranam researched pranayana for many years and in 1997 produced a book, Yoga and Judaism, in which he claimed that asceticism and pranayama are evident in the practices of the early Hebrews. More recently he authored God without Religion (2005), which gets to the heart of the Pranayana Institute by offering an alternative to the divergent and divisive cultural views of God—one drawn from the experience of personal introspection and pranayana.

Saranam, an ascetic and mystic with a background in yoga, founded the Pranayama Institute to further his belief in pranayana and to make the basic techniques available to all at little or no cost. Complementing the institute is the Whirlwind Community, where people may come to study and practice pranayama in an environmentally friendly social context.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Pranayana Institute. www.pranayama.org/.

Saranam, Sankara. God without Religion: Questioning Centuries of Accepted Truths. East Gillajay, GA: Pranyana Institute, 2005.

———. Yoga and Judaism. Astrologue, 1997.

Raj-Yoga Math and Retreat

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Raj-Yoga Math and Retreat is a small monastic community formed in 1974 by Fr. Satchakrananda Bodhisattvaguru. Satchakrananda began the practice when he experienced the raising of the kundalini, an internal energy pictured in Hindu thought as a snake coiled and resting at the base of the spine that, upon awakening, rises to the crown chakra (psychic center at the top of the head). That event produced an awareness of Satchakrananda’s divine heritage. Following that event, he spent a short time in a Trappist monastery, attended Western Washington University, then became coordinator for the Northwest Free University, where he taught yoga in the early 1970s.

In 1973 Satchakrananda was “mystically” initiated as a yogi by the late Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), the founder of the Divine Life Society, through a trilogy of “female Matas” at a retreat he attended on the Olympic (Washington) Peninsula. The following year, with a small group of men and women, he founded the math (monastery). In 1977, he was ordained a priest by Abp. Herman Adrian Spruit of the Church of Antioch (see separate entry) and has attempted to use both Hindu and Christian traditions at the math. Spiritual disciplines include the regular celebrations of the mass, though the major practice offered is the Jaya Yoga Sadhana, consisting of the successive practice of japa (mantra) yoga, meditation, kriyas (cleansings), mudras, asanas (hatha yoga postures), and pranayam (disciplined breathing). Jaya yoga allows practitioners to become aware of their divine nature.

The math is located in the foothills of Mt. Baker overlooking the Nooksuck River near Deming, Washington. It accepts resident students for individual instruction but offers a variety of retreats/workshops for nonresidents. For those unable to travel to the math for instruction, Satchakrananda has put together a jaya yoga workshop packet.

Membership

The resident community at the math fluctuates between 2 and 12. Several hundred individuals are associated with the math through an oblate order of men and women.

Sources

Letters to Satchakrananda. Deming, WA: Raj-Yoga Math & Retreat, 1977.

Satchakrananda, Yogi. Coming and Going, The Mother’s Drama. Deming, WA: Raj-Yoga Math & Retreat, 1975.

———. Thomas Merton’s Dharma. Deming, WA: Raj-Yoga Math & Retreat, 1986.

———. To Create No Freedom. Deming, WA: Raj-Yoga Math & Retreat, 1983.

Ramakrishnananda Yoga Vedanta Mission

96 Ave. B, New York, NY 10009

The Ramakrishananda Yoga Vedanta Mission was founded in 2003 by Swami Ramakrishnananda, an American citizen of Indian heritage born in Chile in 1958. Ramakrishnananda’s religious quest began with a spontaneous mystical experience that occurred when he was only eight years old. He was eventually led to VRINDA, an organization that followed the bhakti (devotional) yoga originally brought to the West by A. C. Bhaphktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977), founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. However, his search would later lead him to a number of the other Indian gurus working in the West, including Swami Vishnu Devananda (1929–1993), from whom he received his first initiation and was given the religious name Ramakrishna. Ramakrishnananda also studied Vishnu Devananda’s integral yoga teachings and was recognized as a Yoga Acarya or Master Acarya of Yoga in 1989. He later studied with Brahmananda Sarasvati (d. 1993) of Ananda Ashram and Swami Jyotirmayananda (b. 1931), founder of the Yoga Research Foundation in Miami. In 1991, he was ordained as a brahmana by Kirtanananda Swami of the Divine Life Society in India. Four years later Swami Jyotirmayananda received him into the renounced life, as a sannyasi, under the name of Ramakrishnananda Swami.

In 1995, Ramakrishnananda met and received initiation from His Divine Grace Sri Baba Brahmananda Maharaja (b. 1931). It is from Brahmananda Maharaja that he received what he considers his primary lineage. Brahmananda Maharaja was a disciple of His Divine Grace Bhagavan Mastarama Babaji Maharaja (d. 1986), a renowned siddha yogi. In the end, however, the Vaishnava devotional yoga with which he started reasserted itself and Ramakrishnananda sought reconfirmation of his renounced monk vows from a Vaishnava sannyasi in the Ashram of VRINDA, His Divine Grace B. A. Paramadvaiti Swami Maharaja.

In 2000, Swami Ramakrishnananda moved to the United States, where three years later he founded the Ramakrishnananda Yoga Vedanta Mission and began accepting disciples for study in the ancient Vedic tradition. The center of the Mission is the Ramakrishnananda Mandir, a traditional Hindu Temple in New York City. The temple attempts to serve the needs of a broad range of Hindus. The central hall of the larger temple contains smaller temples for Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, Durga Ma, Kali Ma, Lakshmi Ma, and Saraswati Ma and a separate hall with the temple to Lord Krishna. The temple celebrates all the major Hindu holidays and festivals.

Since the opening of the New York City temple, a second center has been opened in Monroe, New York, and there are also two affiliated centers in the Dominican Republic.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Ramakrishnananda Yoga Vedanta Mission. www.ramakrishnananda.com/.

Ramakrishnananda has written several books, the texts of which are posted on the Mission’s Web page.

S. A. I. Foundation

3491 Clover Oak Drive, San Jose, CA 95148

The first miracle related to Satya Sai Baba (b. 1926) concerned a mysterious cobra found under his bed, proclaiming, say his followers, Sai Baba’s role as Sheshiasa, Lord of Serpents. As a child he worked miracles for his classmates, producing objects out of nowhere, a favorite practice still continued.

In 1940, he fell into a coma that lasted for two months. Upon awakening suddenly, he announced, “I am Sai Baba of Shirdi.” Sai Baba of Shirdi (1856?–1918) was an Indian holy man who had left behind a large following who still venerated him and observed his teachings. Satya Sai Baba, by his statement, claimed to be his reincarnation. Followers assert his ability to recall conversations between individuals who were disciples of the original Sai Baba.

The thrust of the Sai Baba Movement is veneration of Sai Baba and recounting the miracle stories about him. Teachings are mainline Hinduism with emphasis on four aspects—Dharma Sthapana (establishing the faith on a firm foundation), Vidwathposhana (fostering scholarship), Vedasamrakshana (preservation of the Vedas), and Bhaktirakshana (protection of the devotees from secularism and materialism).

The Indian headquarters in Prasanthi Nilayam (Home of the Supreme Peace) are the focus of the Sai Baba movement. Here each Thursday devotees gather for a darshan or vision of Sai Baba. Special darshans are held during the Dasara holidays in October and his birthday celebration in November.

Interest in Sai Baba in America began with a set of lectures given in 1967 at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Movies of Prasanthi Nilayam were shown by Indra Devi, who had recently visited Sai Baba. The movement spread during the 1970s and groups have formed across the United States.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Sathya Sai Newsletter. Send orders to 1800 E Garvey Ave., West Covina, CA 91791.

Sources

S.A.I. Foundation. www.thesaifoundation.org.

Brooks, Tal. Avatar of Night. New Delhi, India: Tarang Paperbacks, 1984.

Hislop, John. Conversations with Sathya Sai Baba. San Diego: Birth Day Publishing Company, 1978.

Lessons for Study Circle. Prasanti Nilayam, India: World Council of Sri Sathya Sai Organizations, n.d.

Manual of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Dal and Guidelines for Activities. Bombay: World Council of Sri Sathya Sai Organizations, 1979.

McMartin, Grace T., ed. A Recapitulation of Sathya Sai Baba’s Divine Teachings. Hyderabad, India: Avon Printing Works, 1982.

Murphet, Howard. Sai Baba, Man of Miracles. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1976.

Sandweiss, Samuel H. Sai Baba, The Holy Man…and the Psychiatrist. San Diego, CA: Birth Day Publishing, 1975.

Sacha Dham Ashram

c/o Ganesh Foundation, 1750 30th St., PMB No. 137, Boulder, CO 80301

Alternate Address

International Center: Laxman Jhulla, P.O. Tapovan Sarai Pin 249192, Tehri Garhwal, U.P., India.

Sacha Dham Ashram was founded by Maharajji Hans Raj Swami (b. 1924), an advaita vedanta teacher. As a guru, like Ramana Maharshi, he gives few verbal teachings, inviting devotees merely to sit in his presence instead. In the silence they can surrender to the unconditional love of the guru and contact the limitless love of Being itself. The reality of Maharaj, as he is usually referred to by his disciples, was brought to the West in the early 1990s by Shantimayi (b. 1950), an American woman who discovered him and sat at his feet for seven years. These sessions were usually accompanied with a period of chanting and the singing of bhajans (holy songs). She was sent to the West as Maharaj’s spiritual ambassador, and as a result a number of Europeans and Americans began to find their way to the Indian ashram, and from their visits a community of disciples has begun to appear in the West. These remain small, as the essence of the devotion is sitting in the presence of the guru, which can only be done at the ashram in India.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Shanti Mayi. www.shantimayi.com/ashram/sachadham.html.

Cushman, Anne, and Jerry Jones. From Here to Nirvana: The Yoga Journal Guide to Spiritual India. New York: Riverhead Books, 1998. 399 pp.

Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary

830 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94710

The Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary was founded in 2001 by Swami Khecaranatha (born Steven Ott). Ott had been a student of Swami Rudrananda (1928–1973), the founder of the Nityananda Institute. After only a year of study, Rudrananda recognized Ott as a teacher in 1972. When Rudrananda died in 1973, Ott continued to live in the ashram through several relocations under Swami Chetananda, Rudrananda’s successor. Ott left the ashram in 2001 and founded the new sanctuary as a independent center continuing Rudrananda’s system of kundalini yoga.

In 2002 Ott took his sannyasa (renounced life) vows in the presence of Ma Yoga Shakti, a swami who heads centers in New York and Florida. She gave him the name Swami Khecaranatha (“moving in the fullness of the divine heart”). Recognizing that in most Hindu traditions sannyasa requires a divestment of worldly things and assuming the role of a monk, Khecaranatha noted that he took the vows as a tantric yogi, understanding renunciation to be an inner state that might take different manifestations. For Swami Khecaranatha, it means living as a householder.

Swami Khecaranatha continues the kundalini yoga teachings passed through Swami Muktananda (1908–1982) from Swami Nityananda (c. 1897–1961) to Rudrananda to him. He offers to his disciples shaktipat, a transmission of energy to awaken the kundalini energy. The main center at the sanctuaryis the rudramandir, where spirit takes up residence and destroys all pain and suffering. Besides regular weekly meetings at the rudramandir, the sanctuary offers periodical retreats and workshops.

In 2008 there was one center of the Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, but Swami Khecaranatha had begun to train teachers to form new centers.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Sacred Space Yoga. sacredspaceyogasanctuary.com/.

Sadhana Ashram

2414 Keystone Ct., Boulder, CO 80304-1936

The Sadhana Ashram dates to 1981 and a vision of the Divine Mother imparted to Shankar Das, an American yogi. Shankar Das spent several years in India as a seeker, and many of the teachers he met encouraged him to establish an ashram, originally in Tennessee, then California, and now Colorado.

Shankar Das teaches an eclectic spiritual outlook drawn from a variety of Indian religious traditions. He acknowledges inspiration from Sai Baba, Swami Muktananda, Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Anandamayi Ma. He has stated that “Many are the Ways,” and he holds that any one aspect of God represents all aspects. Shankar Das operates as a Mahashakti yoga master and practices shaktipat, the spiritual teacher’s conferring a form of spiritual “power” or awakening on a disciple/student. In this case, the power is awakened through the stimulation of the kundalini (an unconscious, instinctive or erotic force or energy) believed to lie dormant at the base of the spine. When awakened, the kundalini travels upward along the spinal column and brings enlightenment.

The daily routine at the ashram begins early in the morning with chanting, meditation, and shaktipat. Sunday is dedicated to the Divine Mother (often seen as synonymous with the kundalini energy) and often includes a fire ceremony (yajna) and feast. During weekdays residents scatter to secular jobs in the area but begin and end the day in spiritual activity. The ashram’s diet is vegetarian.

The Acharya Training Program is for formal practitioners of this order who have been with Shankaracharya for more than a year; it covers all aspects of teaching in this tradition, including philosophy, mantras, pujas/fire ceremony, biography/ashram history, teachers/psychology, shaktipat/kundalini (including diet and meditation aids), basic Hindu mythology, the worship of Chandi (the supreme Goddess of Devi Mahatmya), daily practice, holy days, spiritual texts and references, and the science of Tantra. There is no set time span for the course of study; the rate of completion varies with each student’s pace of assimilation of the material.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Sadhana Ashram. www.sadhanaashram.org

Saeejis Temple of Peace

5627 Lexington Ave., No. 6, Los Angeles, CA 90038-2232

The Saeejis Temple of Peace is a small Hindu organization founded in Los Angeles in 1977 by Govindram T. Lathi, an Indian American teacher known to his followers as Gurudev Saeeji or, simply, Saeeji. His goal is to fill the spiritual void of seekers left unfulfilled by the material blandishments and diversions of contemporary high-technology societies. He offers prayer, meditation, and yoga as the solutions to their needs.

Although his organization is small, Saeeji has developed plans for a large retreat center in southern California that will replicate the spiritual atmosphere available at the sacred ashrams of India.

Membership

Not reported.

Sahaja Yoga Center

4565 Sherman Oaks Ave., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-3011

Alternate Address

56 Cedars Ave., Walthamstow, London E17 7QN, England.

Among the fastest-growing Hindu-inspired movements in Europe and the United States is Sahaja Yoga, as taught by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. Born on March 21, 1923, into a Christian family in Chindawara, India, she is a direct descendant of the royal Shalivahana dynasty. She is married to the retired secretary general of the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations.

Devi’s career as a guru grew from her disappointment with some of the other gurus who had come to the West from India. She knew she had been born a realized soul, and she sought a means to bring realization to masses of people. In her frustration, on the evening of May 5, 1970, she sat all evening under a bilva tree. During this time her crown chakra (believed to be at the top of the head) opened and the kundalini force (the cosmic power believed to be resting like a coiled snake at the base of the spine) began to rise. She then felt ready to begin her work.

Her followers believe that Nirmala Devi is connected with the power of the life source. She offers self-realization as the starting point rather than the end or goal of the practice of yoga or austerities. When one experiences self-realization, the kundalini energy rises. In her personal appearances Devi attempts to bring self-realization to her audiences. She also offers a meditation technique for those unable to be physically present. The meditation is done before one of her pictures.

Sahaja Yoga spread from centers in Delhi, India, and London, England, especially during the 1980s. This practice came to North America in the mid-1980s. Centers have opened across the United States and in Canada: in Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1989 Devi made her first trip to Russia and Eastern Europe.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Nirmala Yoga. Available from 43 Banglow Rd., Delhi 110007, India.

Sources

Devi, Shri Mataji Nirmala. Sahaja Yoga. Delhi, India: Nirmala Yoga, 1982.

Mathur, Rakesh. “The Russians’Love for Yoga: Nirmala Devi Shares Her Adventure.” Hinduism Today 12, no. 10 (October 1990): 1, 7. Available from www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1990/10/1990-10-03.shtml.

Sahaja Yoga Center. www.sahajayoga.org/

Saiva Siddhanta Church

107 Kaholalete, Kapaa, HI 96745

The Saiva Siddhanta Church, originally known as the Subramuniya Yoga Order, was founded by Master Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927–2001), a native of California who traveled to Sri Lanka and in 1949 was initiated by a guru, Jnaniguru Yaganathan, more popularly known as Siva Yogaswami. He returned to the United States and spent some years following his sadhana (spiritual discipline). In 1957 he founded the Subramuniya Yoga Order and opened the Christian Yoga Church in San Francisco. He founded a periodical, Christian Yoga World; developed a radio program, the “Christian Yoga Hour”; and authored a correspondence course. Other centers were founded in Redwood City, California, and Reno, Nevada, and an ashram was opened in Virginia City, Nevada. During the 1960s, all remnants of Christianity, which had earlier been woven into his teachings, were jettisoned in favor of the Saivite Hinduism of Subramuniya’s guru. The Subramuniya Yoga Order became known as the Wailua University of Contemporary Arts; in 1973 its name changed again, this time to the Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order, and in the late 1970s it took its current name, the Saiva Siddhanta Church.

The teachings of the church derive from the Vedas, the ancient Saivite scriptures: the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva. The church also draws on the Saiva Agamas (the authoritative practical scripture of Saivism) and the Tirumantiram, written by Saint Tirumulkar approximately 2,000 years ago. The latter volume is written in Tamil (not Sanskrit) and is a summary of Saivism. The teachings have been passed through a lineage of teachers (the Siva Yogaswami Guru Paramparai) to Yogaswami and Subramuniya; since November 12, 2001, the main bearer of the doctrine has been Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswani.

The church is built around the worship of Siva, known as the only absolute reality, both immanent and transcendent. Siva is worshipped under the forms of the Siva Lingam, Ardhanarisava (as Siva/Sakti in whom all apparent opposites are reconciled), and Nataraja, the Divine Dancer. Siva created the other deities and the human soul, but not the essence of the soul, which is eternally one with God. This essence is the timeless, formless, spaceless Self—Parasivam. Realization of this self is the ultimate goal of existence. Dharma is Siva’s divine law, which governs creation.

The soul is immortal but veiled by the bonds of ignorance (anava), the consequences of thoughts and deeds (karma), and illusions of matter (maya). In order to continue its spiritual evolution, the soul periodically reincarnates in a physical body. It is the human task to follow the established dharma (pattern) in his/her personal and social life. The doctrine also encourages good conduct, as summarized in the yamas (codes of conduct) and niyamas (observances or rituals) of classical yoga.

The communal life of Saivites centers on the temples of Siva, considered the abodes of the deity. One such temple has been constructed in Hawaii on a 458-acres estate that also houses the church’s headquarters. Here puja, the invocation of Siva and the other deities and an expression of love for Siva, is offered daily. Most homes also have a home shrine where the deity is invoked.

The church is headed by Bodhinatha and the Saiva Swami Sangam, the ordained priesthood of 15 swamis, all of whom live at the Hawaiian monastery. Swamis train for 12 years before qualifying to join the order of sannyas by taking lifetime vows of poverty, purity (chastity), renunciation, confidence, and obedience.

In 1970 land was purchased in Hawaii on the island of Kauai for a temple and headquarters complex, which also houses the theological seminary. One education facility, the Himalayan Academy, distributes the San Marga Master Course, a correspondence course for new and prospective members, as well as the academy’s periodical, Hinduism Today. In 1994 the Hindu Heritage Endowment was created to support Hindu institutions and projects worldwide. In 2002 it held funds in excess of $4 million. A daily chronicle of the church’s activities is available at www.gurudeva.org.

Membership

In 2002 the church reported 700 tithing families as members, 7,000 students with various levels of commitment, and 125,000 readers of its magazine. There were 32 missions in eight countries: the United States, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, and Germany.

Educational Facilities

Himalayan Academy, Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, 107 Kaholalele Road, Kapaa, Hawaii.

Periodicals

Hinduism Today.

Sources

Saiva Siddhanta Church. www.himalayanacademy.com/ssc/

Saiva Dharma Shastras. Kappa, HI: Siddhanta Press, 1986.

Siva’s Cosmic Dance. San Francisco: Himalayan Academy, [1983].

Subramuniya, Master. Beginning to Meditate. Kapaa, HI: Wailua University of Contemplative Arts, 1972.

———. Raja Yoga. San Francisco: Comstock House, 1973.

———. The Self God. San Francisco: Tad Robert Gilmore and Company, 1971.

———. Yoga’s Forgotten Foundation. Kapaa, HI, n.d.

Subramuniya, Sr. Gems of Cognition. San Francisco: Christian Yoga Publications, 1958.

The Sambodh Society, Inc.

c/o Swami Bodhananda, Spiritual Director, 6363 N 24th St., Kalamazoo, MI 49004

The Sambodh Society is the American branch of the Sambodh Foundation, an Advaita Vedanta organization based in India and founded by H. H. Swami Bodhananda Saraswati, a teacher of Vedanta and meditation in the tradition of Shankaracharya. A graduate in economics at Christ College, Irinjalkuda, Kerala, India, Saraswati forsook graduate studies to wander the Himalayan Mountains on a spiritual quest. Upon finally settling down, he joined the Saraswati order, one of 10 sannyasa (monastic) orders established by Shankaracharya.

Bodhananda began his teaching work in 1978 and a decade later was offered the opportunity to establish a teacher training school called Sandeepani in Kerala. From that beginning he went on to found the Sambodh Foundation (1991), which serves as an umbrella organization for a set of ashrams and related organizations through which Bodhananda’s students receive spiritual training and engage in service to the community at large.

Swami Bodhananda began his mission in America in 1997 with an initial visit to New York, Michigan, Illinois, and California. Before he returned to India, a group of devotees incorporated the Sambodh Society, established to teach meditation and Vedanta according to Swami Bodhananda’s principles. Land outside Kalamazoo, Michigan, was purchased the next year for a temple and American headquarters. Bodhananda now visits America and Canada annually.

Drawing on his college work, Bodhananda has supplemented the traditional perspectives of Advaita Vedanta with some unique contemporary teachings that integrate traditional Vedantic values with modern economics and corporate management philosophy. Through these teachings he offers a means for students to hold to the Vedantic ideal of remaining inwardly detached even as one is active in the world.

Membership

The Sambodh Society has two centers: one in Michigan and one in California.

Sources

Sambodh Society. www.sambodh.com/.

Bodhananda, Swami. The Gita and Management. New Delhi: Bluejay Books, 2003.

———. Indian Management and Leadership. New Delhi: Srishti Publishers & Distributors, 2007.

———. Lectures on Vedanta Philosophy. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2007.

Sant Shri Asarmaji Ashram

c/o Shri Yoga Vedanta Ashram, 45 Texas Rd., Matawan, NJ 07747

The Sant Shri Asarmaji Ashram was founded in 1971 by Param Pujya Sant Shri Asaramji, generally referred to affectionately as Bapu. Bapu was born in the early 1904s in what is now Pakistan, but following the partition of India in 1947, he moved with his parents to Gujarat. As a youth he was drawn to meditation, at which he spent many hours. Following his father’s death, he assumed financial responsibility for his family and was eventually married, though he wanted to live a life apart and to meditate. Bapu was still a young man when he renounced his family life and moved to the Himalayas as a wandering student. He eventually found a place at the ashram of Swami Shri Lilashahaji Maharaj at Rishikish, and later at the ashram of Shri Lalji Maharaj on the banks of the river Narmada at Moti Koral. Bapu was 23 years old when he finally attained Samadhi (control over consciousness) while sitting with Sad Gurudev Lilashahji Maharaj in Mumbai (Bombay).

After seven years of wandering, Bapu returned to Gujarat and settled at a spot at Motera on the Sabarmati River. A short time later, some devotees constructed a small room in which he could live. The reputation of this meditating renunciate spread, and hundreds and then thousands of people began to come to Motera to see him. The original room became the seed from which, beginning in 1971, a large ashram developed. By 2000, there were over a hundred affiliated ashrams operating across India. Some of the ashrams have Maun Mandirs (a temple for silent spiritual practice) that provide space for serious practitioners to enjoy complete seclusion for seven or more days at a time.

Bapu has emerged as a teacher of Kundalini Yoga and during gatherings will impart shaktipat to followers. Shaktipat is seen as a bestowing of divine love and the transmission of Divine Energy, allowing the student to begin to work with his own kundalini energy.

Bapu operates out of the pluralistic religious environment of modern India and emphasizes the existence of One Supreme Conscious in every human being. He downplays the differences between Hindu, Muslim, Jain, and Christian beliefs.

Through the 1990s, the movement spread across India and overseas to Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. As it grew, Sant Shri Asarmaji Ashram developed a number of social programs to deal with hunger, disaster relief, education, and medical care. The group also supports a nursing home for the elderly.

Membership

Not reported. In 2008, Sant Shri Asarmaji Ashram had 21 centers of activity in the United States and 2 in Canada.

Periodicals

Rishi Prasad, Amdavad, Gujarat, India.

Sources

Sant Shri Asaramji Ashram. www.ashram.org/.

Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda SRV Associations of Oregon, San Francisco, and Hawaii

c/o SRV San Francisco, 465 Brussels St., San Francisco, CA 94134

The Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda SRV Associations of Oregon, San Francisco, and Hawaii are an independent West Coast parallel to the SRV Association of America originally established by the American poet, philosopher, spiritual practitioner, and teacher Lex Hixon (1941–1995). The Independent SRV Associations were founded in 1993 by Bob Kindler (b. 1950), a musician and a student of the Vedanta tradition as taught by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda. Kindler was initiated into Vedanta by Swami Aseshananda, a disciple of Sri Sarada Devi, Ramakrishna’s wife and spiritual partner. He later received instruction from two additional teachers of the Ramakrishna Order— Swami Nityasvarupananda and Swami Damodarananda.

Kindler, known affectionately as Babaji, created Jai Ma Music, a sacred arts ensemble to express the teachings of India through devotional music. In this endeavor he was encouraged by Hixon, a friend and fellow believer. He toured with Jai Mai Music through the 1980s and 1990s.

The teaching of the ashrama is essentially the nondualistic form of Adavaita Vedanta popularized by Vivekananda and the Vedanta societies. Babaji’s training in yoga, Vedanta, and music informed the teaching at the SRV ashramas, where the wisdom of India is integrated with devotional music from both East and West. Babaji visits the various centers approximately four times annually. He leads up to four retreats per year and a group pilgrimage to India every two to three years. Personal initiation into the SRV Association and individual guidance in spiritual life are offered to those who accept the universal teachings of Sanatana Dharma in the tradition of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Advaita Vedanta Journal.

Sources

Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda SRV Associations of Oregon, San Francisco, and Hawaii. www.srv.org.

Kindler, Bob. Swami Vivekananda Vijnanagita: The Wisdom Song of Vivekananda. Portland, OR: Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda, n.d.

———. An Extensive Anthology of Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories. Portland, OR: Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda, n.d.

———. The Avadhut and His Twenty-Four Teachers in Nature. Portland, OR: Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda, n.d.

———. The Ten Divine Articles of Sri Durga: Insights and Meditations. Portland, OR: Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda, n.d.

Sarva Dharma Sambhava Kendra

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Sarva Dharma Sambhava Kendra was founded in the 1970s in India by Nemi Chand Gandhi (b. 1949), usually known by his religious name, Chandra Swami Maharaj. His family moved from his birthplace in Rajasthan to Hyderbad, where the young Chandra was involved in two popular social movements: one to save the Hindi language and the other to save the cows, which led to the assassination of a prominent political figure, Gulzarilal Nanda. Shortly afterward he began a spiritual search that took him to Kathmandu, where he met and studied with a tantric master. During this time he absorbed the worship of the Indian goddess Durga into his inherited Jain faith. After three years, in 1972, he returned as Chandra Swami. He is purported to be fluent in at least seven languages.

Soon after his return from Kathmandu, Chandra organized a yagna (an offering of praise, offering, or sacrifice) in Madhuban. The goddess Durga is one of the forms of the consort of Siva. Durga is pictured as the “delighter in blood” and is frequently worshiped with a yagna fire ceremony in which animals are sacrificed. (Before legal action by the British, the yagna often included a human sacrifice.) Since that first yagna Chandra has annually organized Durga Puja (worship) at various locations around India. Many of these are attended by famous people and political figures.

In the 1980s Chandra expanded his activities to a number of locations around the world, including Fiji, Canada, and the United States, where headquarters were established in Los Angeles, California.

Membership

Not reported.

Remarks

Chandra Swami Maharaj has become famous as the confidant and guru to the rich and powerful. In the United States he has had connections with tennis star John McEnroe, the actress Elizabeth Taylor, the actor George Hamilton, and U.S. House of Representatives majority leader James Wright. He is a frequent visitor to the multimillionaire Arab arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (one of the participants in the Iran-Contra arms deal in 1986–1987), Prince Rainier of Monaco, and numerous political leaders in India. In 2004 Chandra Swami Maharaj was acquitted on charges of conspiracy in a St. Kitts forgery case. He has also been linked to political scandals and exercised considerable influence on former prime minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao during his administration.

Sources

Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). www.tribuneindia.com/

Sarvamangala Mission

c/o Srividya Center, 366 Grapevine Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765

The Sarvamangala Mission, established in California in the 1980s, is an outgrowth of the Hindu shakti (sacred force, power, or energy) tradition of Srividya. The mission is under the spiritual direction of Sri Rajagopala Anandanatha, a tantric saint and mystic. His followers claim that he was born by divine dispensation, was specially baptized by God, and attained spiritual perfection at the age of 38 following a period of testing and temptations and an interval of four years spent in prayer without food, drink, or sleep. According to his disciples, once he ascended to the higher levels of consciousness, he was commissioned by God to cure the sick and lead people to God.

Sri Rajagopala Anandanatha is a devotee of the Divine Mother and calls upon people to follow a path of realization through effort, self-surrender, and worship of the Divine Mother. He teaches that it is possible, no matter how many lifetimes a person has lived, to reach self-realization in this life. Vegetarian food is considered helpful in achieving mental concentration.

Membership

As of 1995 more than 50 families were contributing to the work of the mission.

Periodicals

Shakti.

Sources

India Currents. www.indiacurrents.com/news/

Satsang with Robert

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Robert Adams (b. 1928) is a disciple of the Indian sage and guru Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950). At the age of 14, while preparing for a math test, Adams claims to have had a profound mystical experience, a realization that the world was not real; there was only the self, the immutable, all-penetrating, all-prevailing source of existence. The visible world was merely a set of images superimposed by the unchangeable self on reality. Some time after this life-changing event, he discovered Ramana Maharshi’s book Who Am I? Upon seeing a picture of Maharshi, he recognized him as a little man he had seen standing at the end of his bed during his childhood years.

He soon became a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and became a monk at the monastery of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinatas, California. Yogananda advised him to go to Ramanashram, near Tiruvannamalai, India, and Adams remained with Ramana during the last three years of the guru’s life.

For 17 years after Ramana’s death, Adams traveled, met with other gurus, and discussed his enlightenment. Since 1967 he has traveled and taught, never staying in one place for very long. In the mid-1980s Adams had a vision of many great teachers coming together and merging like a mountain. He understood the vision as a sign to cease his traveling and take a group of students. He settled in the Los Angeles, California, where he has been teaching on a freelance basis.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Adams, Robert. There Is No Suffering, There Is No Death: Satsang with Robert. Canoga Park, CA: Author, 1991.

———. Silence of the Heart: Satsang with Robert Adams. Atlanta, GA: Acropolis Books, 1999.

Satsang with Stuart

Current address could not be obtained for this edition.

Stuart Schwartz was a student of Robert Adams (1928–1997) in the 1990s. Adams in turn was a direct student of Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) and perpetuated Ramana’s teachings of Advaita Vedanta and his methods of sitting in silence and engaging with students based on the questions they posed to him.

In the years following Adams’s death, Schwartz began his teaching career following the same model. Those drawn to Schwartz discover that being in his presence draws their attention inward and that their thoughts and mental activities are replaced by what is labeled the no-thing, which lies at the center of our being. To cease striving and abide in the Presence is the surest way to discover truth.

Schwartz maintains contact with students through his Internet Web page, where he publishes transcripts of his dialogue sessions.

Membership

Not reported. Most of Schwartz’s dialogue sessions are offered from his hometown in Boynton, Florida, but he regularly visits several sites on the East (Philadelphia, New York City, Boston) and West (California and Arizona) Coasts.

Sources

Satsang with Stuart. www.satsangwithstuart.com/.

Ramana Maharshi. Talks with Ramana Maharshi: On Realizing Abiding Peace and Happiness. Carlsbad, CA: Inner Directions, 2000.

Self-Realization Fellowship

3880 San Rafael Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065-3298

The Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) traces its beginning to 1861 and the work of Mahavatar Babaji, who revived and taught kriya yoga, a system of meditation that purports to induce a deep state of tranquility and communion with God. He chose Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) to bring the teachings to the West. Born in India, Yogananda joined the strict Swami Order after his graduation from college and became the disciple of Sri Yukteswarji. In 1916 he discovered the techniques of Yogoda, a system of life-energy control for physical and spiritual development, which, combined with traditional yoga, became the central concern of his teachings.

Yogananda was trained by Swami Sri Yukteswar (1855–1936), who declared Yogananda his successor and left him his ashram properties. Yogananda founded the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India in 1917. In 1920 Swami Yogananda came to the United States to attend the Pilgrim tercentenary anniversary of the International Congress of Religious Liberals. Impressed by what he found in America, he decided to stay (one of the last Indians to come into America before the change in immigration laws stopped Asian migration to America). With the Americans who flocked around him he formed a small center of the Yogoda Satsang in Boston, Massachusetts. From that center he traveled throughout the eastern United States.

In 1924 he made his first transcontinental lecture tour of the United States, which culminated in the founding of a headquarters for his work on Mt. Washington in Los Angeles, California, in 1925. In the late 1920s he toured the principal cities of the United States as a lecturer and concentrated on compiling two volumes of inspirational writings: Whispers of Eternity (1929) and Songs of the Soul (1925). A magazine, East-West (now Self-Realization), and a course of printed lessons aided the rapid spread of the movement, but nothing was as effective as the personality of Yogananda himself. According to the reports of his followers, he was no less charismatic in death than in life. His demise was heralded by his disciples as an extraordinary event because of “the absence of any visual signs of decay in the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda … even twenty days after his death,” according to a notarized testimony from the Forest Lawn Mortuary in Glendale, California.

The spread of the work in America led, in 1935, to the incorporation of the Self-Realization Fellowship as an international society. In addition to the headquarters in Los Angeles, other California centers were opened in Encinatas, San Diego, Hollywood, Long Beach, and Pacific Palisades; smaller groups were organized throughout the United States. The emphasis of the Self-Realization Fellowship is teaching the way to ananda (bliss), or self-realization or God realization. The way to bliss is through “definite scientific techniques for attaining personal experience of God.” The technique is kriya yoga, a system of awakening and energizing the chakras or psychic centers believed to be located along the spinal column. The basic practice is regular deep meditation, which leads to a focusing of spiritual cosmic energies and a consequent direct perception of the divine. Yogananda’s disciples believe that by the practice of kriya yoga, blood is decarbonized and recharged with oxygen, the atoms of which are transmuted into “life current” to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers.

The essential unity of Eastern and Western religious traditions is also stressed by SRF; lecture services include interpretations of parallel scriptural passages from the New Testament and the Bhagavad Gita. Readings are also given from Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, considered a modern spiritual classic; it has remained in print since its publication in 1946 and is widely used as a textbook and reference work in colleges and universities around the world. Worship centers on the inner communion (meditation) practices of Yogananda. Followers can study his teachings in depth through the many books of his lectures and writings that have been published as well as through a series of lessons designed for home study.

Yogananda was succeeded by Swami Rajarsi Janakananda (James J. Lynn). Lynn died in 1955 and was succeeded by Sri Daya Mata, the present head of the fellowship.

Membership

In 1998 the fellowship reported nine temples and ashram centers: six in California and one each in Phoenix, Arizona; Front Royal, Virginia; and Nuremberg, Germany. There are also an additional 172 centers and meditation groups in the United States and 220 in 47 other countries. The Yogoda Satsang Society of India had 100 centers and operated a variety of charitable facilities.

Educational Facilities

There are four Yogoda Satsanga Society colleges in India: one each in Suraikhet and Palpara and two in Ranchi.

Periodicals

Self-Realization.

Sources

Self-Realization Fellowship. www.yogananda-srf.org.

Mata, Sri Daya. Only Love. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1976.

New Pilgrims of the Spirit. Boston: Beacon Press, 1921.

Self-Realization Fellowship Highlights. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1980.

Self Realization Fellowship Manuel of Services. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1965.

Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971.

———. Descriptive Outlines of Yogoda. Los Angeles: Yogoda Satsang Society, 1928.

———. The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, n.d.

Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism

4748 Western Ave., Washington, DC 20816

Several movements have grown out of the work of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda’s disciples. The Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism is an independent church founded by Swami Premananda, who was called from India by Yogananda in 1928. It now operates independently of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Besides the tradition of kriya yoga (self-realization) as taught by Premananda, the church highlights the life and work of Gandhi; the church operates the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation as an affiliate educational and cultural center.

Swami Premananda established the Swami Order of Absolute Monism for those who wish to follow the ideals of advaita vedanta. The current leader of the church and the Gandhi Memorial Center is Srimata Kamala. She was ordained a minister in the Swami Order in 1973 and a swami in 1978.

Membership

There is no formal membership. In 1995 there was one center in Washington, D.C., two other centers in the United States, and a mission in Midnapur, West Bengal. There are four ministers.

Educational Facilities

The Gandhi Memorial Center administers a correspondence course on Mahatma Gandhi that is accorded independent-study credit at some American colleges. The course leads to a certificate from the Gujarat Vidyapith, the university founded by Gandhi in 1920. The Church of the Children, the original chapel, contains a small collection of books that began the Library of India; it contains more than 500 volumes of esoteric wisdom from the world’s great religious traditions and a complete collection of Swami’s own works.

Periodicals

The Mystic Cross. • The Gandhi Message Self-Revelation.

Sources

Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism. www.self-revelationchurch.org.

Premananda, Swami. Light on Kriya Yoga. Washington, DC: Swami Premananda Foundation, 1969.

———. The Path of the Eternal Law. Washington, DC: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1942.

———. Prayers of Self-Realization. Washington, DC: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1943.

———. Prayers of Soul. Washington, DC: Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism, 1996.

Shanti Mandir

51 Mulktananda Marg, Walden, NY 12586

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: c/o Greenfield School, A/Z Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029, India

Before Swami Muktananda died in 1982 he picked a brother-and-sister team, Swami Nityananda and Swami Chidvilasananda, to succeed him. For three years they coadministered the large global organization, Siddha Yoga Dham, that Muktananda had built. The apparent smoothness of the transition was soon disrupted by controversy and accusations, and in 1985 Swami Nityananda withdrew from Siddha Yoga Dham, renounced his vows as a sannyasin, and entered private life as a teacher of meditation in California. In July 1987 he founded Shanti Mandir (Temple of Peace) and began holding meditation retreats and other programs in America, Europe, Australia, and India.

On December 26, 1989, with a dip in the near-freezing water of the Ganges River at Haridwar, India, Nityananda reaffirmed his sannyas vow and his commitment to Muktananda and to God’s work. A lengthy period of conflict and harassment followed as members of Siddha Yoga Dham challenged his authority.

In May 1995 the Mahamandaleshwars, a network of spiritual leaders in Haridwar who act as advisors to the governing bodies of their respective regions, inducted Nityananda into their association in a ceremony at Suratgiri Bangla in Haridwar. Swami Nityananda, at the age of 32, became history’s youngest Mahamandaleshwar.

Swami Nityananda continues to spread the teachings of Swami Muktananda, offering introductory meditation lessons while emphasizing chanting as a powerful meditation practice and encouraging his followers to see all life as a manifestation of God’s energy.

Membership

Not reported. There are centers in India, Germany, Spain, United States, Mexico, and Australia.

Periodicals

Eternally Blissful.

Sources

Shanti Mandir. www.shantimandir.com.

“Nityananda, One of Swami Muktananda’s Successors, ‘Retakes’Sannyasin Vows.” Hinduism Today 12, 4 (April 1990). Available from www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1990/04/1990-04-09.shtml.

Shanti Temple

43 S Main St., Spring Valley, NY 10977

The Shanti Temple is a Hindu center founded in the 1980s by Swami Shantanand Saraswati. Swami Shantanand teaches a simple way of regulation of the self, selfless service, and awareness. Awareness is attained through a seven-stage path of self-realization. The stages begin with shubhechchha (good desire), suvicharana (discrimination between the unreal and real), and tanumansa (steadfastness of mind). In the third stage the practice of concentration inaugurates the process of the development of detachment. In the fourth stage, sattwapatti (self-realization), one realizes the self as the light of pure awareness, the nonjudgmental observer of the mind. The fifth stage, asansakti (detachment), is a new level of detachment above ego, right and wrong, pride, and humility. The sixth stage, padarthabjavni, brings the ego into attunement with spirit and leads to the final stage, turyaga, in which the ego is completely immersed in spirit.

The Shanti Temple operates out of a single center in Spring Valley, New York. Swami Shantanand is the author of several books.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Shantanand Saraswati, Swami. The Challenge of Wisdom. Spring Valley, NY: Shanti Temple, 1987.

Shanti Yoga Institute and Yoga Retreat

943 Central Ave., Ocean City, NJ 08226

The Shanti Yoga Institute and Yoga Retreat was founded in 1974 by Shanti Desai. Yogi Desai became a disciple of Swami Kripalvanandji at a young age and was initiated at age 15. He came to the United States to pursue graduate studies in chemistry at Drexel University, earning his master’s degree in 1964. In 1972 he left his job as a chemist to devote his life to teaching yoga. He returned to India and received shaktipat (conferring of spiritual power on a student by a guru) initiation from his guru. On his return to the United States, he founded the Shanti Yoga Institute of New Jersey. In 1974 he opened the Yoga Retreat in Ocean City, New Jersey, and in 1981 he opened Prasad, a holistic health food store and restaurant. Shanti has published four books, an instructional yoga video, and a two-volume audio cassette, Healing Mantra Chants. Shanti designed his instruction of yoga for a Western audience and has trained several thousand students and a number of yoga teachers.

Membership

There was one center in New Jersey.

Remarks

Shanti Desai is the brother of Amrit Desai, founder of the Kirpalu Yoga Fellowship.

Sources

Shanti Yoga Institute and Yoga Retreat www.yogishantidesai.com

Desai, Yogi Shanti. The Complete Practice Manual of Yoga. Ocean City, NJ: Shanti Yogi Institute, 1976.

———. Hatha Yoga Practice Manual. Ocean City, NJ: Shanti Yogi Institute, 1977. 72pp.

———. Meditation Practice Manual. Ocean City, NJ: Shanti Yogi Institute, 1981. 152 pp.

———. Personal to Global Transformation. Ocean City, NJ: Shanti Yogi Institute. 265 pp.

———. Yoga, Holistic Practice Manual. Ocean City, NJ: Shanti Yogi Institute, 1976. 260 pp.

Shiva-Shakti Kashmir Shavite Ashram

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Shiva-Shakti Kashmir Shavite Ashram is a small Hindu group that emerged around the leadership of Swami Savitripriya. Beginning in 1968, Swami Savitripriya (b. 1930) had a series of mystical experiences that led her in the mid-1970s to proclaim herself a siddha (perfected master) guru of the highest level. She began to teach what she calls maha siddha yoga and to bring together a closely knit group of disciples who worked together as monks and nuns. During the 1980s they founded an ashram in Groveland, California.

The movement ran into problems in 1990 when the Siddha Yoga Dham challenged Swami Savitripriya’s use of the term maha siddha yoga; a Siddha Yoga Dham claimed ownership of the term siddha yoga. The conflict was part of a larger conflict within Hindu circles over the trademarking of various terms common to Hinduism that had been pioneered in America by various organizations. At last report the issue remains unresolved.

Swami Savitripriya lives in her small private ashram and devotes her time to translating Hindu scriptures and original books.

Membership

Not reported.

Educational Facilities

Holy Mountain University, Groveland, California.

Sources

Shiva-Shakti Kashmir Shavite Ashram. sanskritdocuments.org/sites/savitripriya/home.htm.

Palani, Sivasiva. “The Trademark Wars.” Hinduism Today (November 1990): 1, 23. Available from www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1990/11/1990-11-02.shtml.

Savitripriya, Swami. From Darkness to Light: My Autobiography. Sunnyvale, CA: New Life Books, n.d.

———. Mysteries of the Cosmos Unveiled: Truths about the Universe, God and Man. New Word Hinduism.

———. Practice the Yoga Dharma at Home Workbook. New World Hinduism.

———. Psychology of Mystical Awakening. Sunnyvale, CA: New Life Books, 1991.

Shri Krishna Pranami Association of U.S.A. and Canada

c/o Shree Krishna Pranami Mandir of Houston, 14303 FM 762, Richmond, TX 77469

The Shri Krishna Pranami Association of U.S.A. and Canada (formerly the Shri Krishna Association of the U.S.A.) is the North American representative of the Pranami religion, a form of Hinduism that originated in India in the sixteenth century during the midst of a Hindu-Muslim conflict. It was founded by Shri Devchandraji (1581–1655), a seeker who as a young man resided for a time at Jamnagar, where he was given a vision of Krishna during which the deity gave him the “Highest Knowledge” and initiated him with the Tartam Mantra. Shri Devchandraji was given the task of spreading this unique knowledge. He subsequently found an assistant in the person of Shri Prannathji (1618–1694), a government official in the state of Jamnagar who became a disciple of Shri Devchandraji’s during the reign of Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707), a Muslim. In response to an Islamic evangelistic campaign launched by Aurangzeb that was disrupting the Hindu community, Prannathji resigned his post and dedicated his life to saving Hinduism. He preached a monotheistic form of faith that rejected the many Hindu gods and goddesses in favor of Krishna, whom he believed to be the only god. Based upon this monotheism, he called for rapprochement between Hindus and Muslims.

The lineage of Shri Prannathji was continued into the twentieth century when it came to be held by Guruji Shri Mangaldasji (1896–1985). He spread the work to eastern India and founded the Guruji Pranami Mission Trust. He also oversaw the beginnings of the work in the West. Though he never came to the United States, his successor and the present head of the Trust, Guruji Shri Mohan Priyacharyaji, has on several occasions.

The Pranamis have a holy book, Tartam Sagar, composed of some 18,000 verses written by Prannathji. It draws on concepts from the Bhagavad-Gita, the Qur’an, and other scriptures. The movement took hold in Jamnagar and eventually spread across India into Nepal.

The Pranami religion was initially brought to the United States in the 1970s by immigrants. Followers can now be found in most major urban areas with a significant Indian-American population, including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta. There are also followers in Canada. The current president of the Shri Krishna Pranami Association of U.S.A. and Canada, Ved P. Bhagat, resides in Washington, D.C.

Membership

Not reported. The movement claims some four million followers and 400 temples in India and Nepal.

Sources

Guruji Pranami Mission Trust. www.pranami.org/pranami\_mission.shtml.

Dongre, Archana. “Int’l Conference of Pranami Religion Held.” India-West, July 3, 1992.

Priyacharya, M. An Introduction to Krishna Pranami Religion. Ed. D. Clinch. Detroit, MI: Shri Krishna Pranami Association, 1992.

Sharma, S. Mahamati Prannath: The Saviour. New Delhi, India: Shri Prannath Mission, 1984.

Shri Ram Chandra Mission

Rte. 1, Box 122-5, 5611 GA Hwy. 109, Molena, GA 30258

Alternate Address

International Headquarters: c/o Gayathri, 19 North St., Sri Ram Nagar, Madras, 600 018, India.

The Shri Ram Chandra Mission in India was established in 1945 by Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur; he is popularly known as “Babuji.” The mission was founded in memory of Babuji’s master, Samarth Guru Mahatma Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj of Fatehgarh, who is affectionately known as “Lalaji.” Its objectives are to educate and propagate among the masses the art and science of yoga, formulated to meet present-day conditions and needs; to promote the feelings of mutual love and universal brotherhood, irrespective of caste, creed, or color; and to conduct research in the field of yoga and establish research institutes for that purpose.

The son of a scholar, Ram Chandra was born to a Kayastha family on April 30, 1899, in Shahjahanpur. He was not an outstanding student but by his teen years had developed an interest in philosophy, literature, and geography. In his secular life, he joined the court and retired in 1954 after 30 years of service. He eventually found his way to Sri Ram Chandraji of Fategarh, who taught a forgotten method of pranahuti (divine transmission) used by yogis in ancient times. Ram Chandra commenced his spiritual training under the guidance of Sri Ram Chandraji and gave up the discipline of pranayama (lengthening of the prana or breath), which he had been practicing for the previous seven years.

When his guru died in 1931, Ram Chandra felt that his spiritual instruction had been completed. He had a sense of total convergence with his guru’s spirit. In 1932 he received a further transmission from his guru but was not able to bear it fully, and he was overfilled with divine energy. He gave the guru credit in 1944, when he had the vision of a light like that which Moses saw and also Sri Krishna’s viratsvarupa. The Sri Ram Chandra Mission was founded to carry out the mission of his master.

Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj died on April 19, 1983. He was succeeded by his disciple, Sri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari of Chennai, the current president of Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Also known as “Chariji,” Sri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari was born in 1927 in a village called Vayalur near Madras. He graduated from Benaras Hindu University with a B.S. degree and found employment with Indian Plastics Limited in chemical engineering. He rose to an executive position with the T. T. Krishnamachari group of companies in Bombay and stayed with this firm until his retirement in 1985. In the meantime, his conscious spiritual aspirations had been awakened at the age of 18 by a lecture on the Bhagavad Gita. He discovered Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj in 1964, and both he and his father accepted him as their new guru after hearing about this system of raja yoga. In recent years Chariji has traveled extensively around the world, conducting public seminars in which he gives instruction on the sahaj marg system of meditation.

The way of sahaj marg is embodied in the 10 maxims, which lay out a daily schedule for the disciples. They rise before dawn to offer puja (worship) that begins with a prayer for spiritual elevation. Each day the disciples’goal is complete oneness with God. They strive to live a truthful, plain, and simple life and treat all people as their brothers and sisters. They eschew revenge and live out of gratitude, seeking to inspire feelings of love and piety in others. The day ends in a feeling of the presence of God and the asking for forgiveness for any wrongs committed.

Membership

The mission has several hundred centers in India and numerous countries around the world. The training is imparted by the president of the mission and more than 1,000 trainers (called preceptors) throughout the world.

Periodicals

Sahag Marg Magazine, SRCM Danmark, Vrads Sande, Vej4, 8654 Bryrup, Denmark.

Sources

Shri Ram Chandra Mission. www.srcm.org.

Chandra, Ram. Autobiography of Ram Chandra. 3 vols. Shahjahanpur, India: Shri Ram Chandra Mission, 1974, 1986, 1997.

———. Complete Works of Ram Chandra. Vol 1. Pacific Grove, CA: North American Publishing Committee, 1989.

———. Letters of the Master, Volumes I & II. Shahjahanpur, India: Shri Ram Chandra Mission, 1992. Vol. 1, 363 pp.; Vol. 2, 338 pp.

———. Letters of the Master, Volume III. Shahjahanpur, India: Shri Ram Chandra Mission, 1996. 332 pp.

———. Messages Universal, Volume I. Shahjahanpur, India: Shri Ram Chandra Mission, 1986. 122 pp.

Shri Shivabalayogi International Maharaj Trust

PO Box 293, Langley, WA 98260

Alternate Addresses

Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trust, J. P. Nagar, Bangalore 560 078, India. • 2 Olleff Rd., Langford Town, Bangalore 560 025.

The Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trusts dates back to 1961, the year in which Bala Yogi completed a spiritual quest that led to his self-realization. Bala Yogi was born in 1935 to a poverty-stricken family in Adivarapupeta, a village in Andhra Pradesh, India. As a child he went to work as a weaver of sarees. His commercial endeavors were derailed when, at the age of 14, he had an intense experience of jyoti, the divine light, and he heard the sound of om, the basic generative sound of the universe. A person identified as Jangam Shiva, a Hindu deity, appeared before him, and he went into samadhi, a mystical state of consciousness.

The experience changed the course of Bala Yogi’s life. He began a period of tapas, intensive meditation and austerity, that lasted for 12 years. On August 7, 1961, he emerged as a yogi. He began a mission that consisted of initiating students into the practice of meditation with the goal of darshan (vision of the realized person). He also gave consecrated vibhuti (ash) for healing of body and mind and trained disciples to achieve bhava samadhi (divine trance).

Shivabalayogi does not teach in words but through silence and experience. He gives dhyana diksha (initiation into meditation) to all who seek earnestly. His only verbal instruction is to meditate daily. Through our own meditation, we come to know the truth of who we are and our purpose in life. In the yogi’s subtle body presence devotees often gather to sit in meditation, which is followed by bhajans, songs in praise of God; during this singing devotees may experience varying degrees of divine ecstasy.

Numerous ashrams were dedicated to Shavabalayogi in towns throughout India: Adivarapupeta, the location of the Mother Ashram; Bangalore, the site of the largest ashram; Dehradun, Sambhar Lake; Hyderabad; and Agra. In the late 1980s he established his first Western center in London and moved to the United States, establishing trusts in Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Shri Shivabalayogi International Maharaj Trust. www.shiva.org.

Bala Yogi Maharaj, Shri Shiva. Life and Spiritual Ministration. Bangalore, India: Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trust, n.d. 128 pp.

———. Spiritual Essence and Luminescence. Bangalore, India: Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Trust, n.d. 18 pp.

Palotas, Tom. Divine Play: The Silent Teaching of Shiva Bala Yogi. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, n.d. 290 pp.

“Shiva’s Own Bala Yoga.” Hinduism Today. 12, 8 (August 1990): 1, 25. Available from www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1990/08/1990-08-01.shtml.

Shri Yoga Vedanta Ashram

45 Texas Rd., Matawan, NJ 07747

Alternate Address

International headquarters: Sabarmati, Motera, Ahmedabad-380005, Gujrat, India • Canadian headquarters: 2647 Crystalburn Ave. Mississauga, ON, Canada L5B 2N7.

The Shri Yoga Vedanta Ashram is the vehicle for the ministry of the Indian spiritual teacher Pujya Sant Sri Asaramji Bapu (b. 1942). He was born in what is now Pakistan; his family moved to Gujarat, India, following the partition of India. He was raised in a devout Hindu home. As a young man he made a pilgrimage to Vrindavan, the holy city, where he met Swami Sri Lilashahaji Maharaj. Upon his return home, he started a period of intensive spiritual practice at a site near the river Narmada at Moti Koral. His practice culminated in his meeting with SadGurudev Lilashahji Maharaj in Mumbai. He emerged from the experience as Swami Sri Asaramji Maharaj. He was instructed to continue to serve humanity by remaining a householder. Having attained a state of self-realization, he spent the next seven years in seclusion.

He chose to reside at a site in Motera, a village on the banks of Sabarmati River where some of his devotees constructed a small room for him. That room was the beginning of what became the first site of Shri Yoga Vedanta Ashram. His followers came to see him as the embodiment of an ancient Vedantic ideal of perfection, one who, after attaining liberation for himself, strives for the liberation of others. He is thus known as a rishi.

His message emphasizes traditional Hindu themes of Vedanta, yoga, divine love, bhakti (devotion), and mukti (salvation). He bestows “divine love” through shaktipat (the act of a guru or spiritual teacher conferring a form of spiritual “power” or awakening on a disciple/student), by which he releases kundalini (an unconscious, instinctive, or erotic force or energy) in his disciples. He has developed “Maun Mandirs,” special temples for spiritual practices (primarily meditation) where adherents may stay in complete seclusion for seven days. These small structures (many in the shape of pyramids), available at all his ashrams, are reserved for those who wish to make rapid progress in the spiritual life.

After the formal establishment of the ashram in 1971, Pujya Bapuji began to travel and speak, first around India and then internationally. His popularity in the United States dates from his appearance in 1993 at the World’s Parliament of Religions. Headquarters were established in New Jersey, and additional centers opened in Chicago, Boston, and California. There is one center in Canada.

An ashram for women was also established at Ahmedabad; there the residents devote their time to spiritual practices and performing services for the ashram. They are led by the honorable mother Laxmidevi. The ashram residents also mix and distribute various ayurvedic medicinal products. Their activity is part of a larger effort to assist people around India with ayurvedic medicine.

Membership

In 2000 there were 111 ashrams in India and 450 meditation centers around the world.

Periodicals

Rishi Prasad.

Sources

Shri Yoga Vedanta Ashram. www.ashram.org/njashram.

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers

673 8th Ave., Val Morin, QC, Canada J0T 2R0

Alternate Address

International affiliate: (unofficial) Divine Life Society, P.O. Shivanandanagar, Dist. Tehri-Garwal, Uttar Pradesh, India.

The first of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers was founded in North America in 1959 by Swami Vishnu Devananda (b. 1927), the North American representative of the late Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), who was sent to the West in 1957.

Swami Sivananda Saraswati (born Kuppuswami Iyer) was one of several renowned twentieth-century Hindus who became revered as saints and holy men. Reared by devout parents who encouraged his education, he began to study medicine but interrupted his studies after the death of his father. He moved to Malaysia to work as a hospital administrator, but after 10 years, in 1923, he returned to India to pursue a spiritual quest. He was initiated as a sannyasin, a follower of a life of renunciation, and settled at Swargashram, near Rishikish, where many sannyasins lived. He began to write, teach, and make pilgrimages around India. He advocated a life of bhakti yoga (devotion) and karma yoga (service).

Unwilling to forget the life of service upon which he had embarked as a youth, he moved to Rishikish and established an ashram. As part of the ashram facility, he opened a medical dispensary to serve the local community. By 1936 the work had grown considerably. He formed the Divine Life Trust and the Divine Life Society, an open-membership auxiliary. The dispensary grew into a major medical facility, and the ashram became a major center for the propagation of yoga. It soon attracted many of the best teachers from various parts of India.

Sivananda’s teaching is summarized in the motto “Serve, love, give, meditate, purify, realize.” He led his students upon a sadhana (path to enlightenment) that included bhakti (practicing love) and ahimsa (constant striving to do no harm and cause no pain). He developed a synthesis of yoga that he called integral yoga; it included the four traditional forms of bhakti, jnana, karma, and raja, to which he added a fifth, japa (repetition of a mantra).

Sivananda never visited North America, but he sent several of his students. As early as 1959, Swami Chidananda, his successor as leader of the ashram in India, visited the United States. Even before Sivananda’s death, his student began to establish work outside of India. Sivananda sent Swami Vishnu Devananda (1927–1993) to work in Canada and the United States. Although other students of Sivananda’s have come to the United States, Vishnu Devananda is the teacher recognized by the Divine Life Society in India.

Swami Vishnu Devananda was originally attracted to Swami Sivananda by reading his books and formally became his disciple in 1947. In 1949, at the Sivanandashram in Rishikish, Sivananda initiated him into the ancient sannyasin order of the renounced life, and Vishnu Devananda, through his studies and practice of the rigorous spiritual disciplines, became one of Sivananda’s most accomplished pupils. He came to the West in 1957 at Sivananda’s direction. He founded several centers in the United States before settling permanently in Canada in 1958. He established his North American headquarters in Montreal.

Swami Vishnu Devananda follows the teachings of Sivananda. He emphasizes the benefits of a rigorous spiritual discipline and has focused upon raja and hatha yoga. He also purveyed the complete yoga doctrines of his teacher. The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashrams are headed by Vishnu Devananda, and the various centers are headed by teachers trained by him. In 1962 he founded the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Camp in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec; in 1967 he established the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. Both provide intensive yoga training in a vacationlike setting. He has established ashrams (sanctuaries for the systematic practice of yoga for residents) in Val Morin, Quebec; Woodburne, New York; Grass Valley, California; and Trivandrum, India. Other centers are located in Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, and Uruguay.

The True World Order, Vishnu Devananda’s continuing world peace and brotherhood mission, was founded in 1969. To demonstrate his concern for peace and the importance of nonviolence, he has flown around the world dropping leaflets and organizing peace demonstrations at various trouble spots. He conducted one famous peace mission to Belfast, Northern Ireland, with the late actor Peter Sellers. He also has showered the Suez Canal and the Berlin Wall with leaflets and flowers.

Membership

There are four Ashrams and six centers located throughout North America. In addition, several thousand followers have been trained as yoga teachers and are now active in a wide variety of locations apart from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.

Periodicals

Yoga Life. Available from Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, 243 W 24th St., New York, NY 10011.

Remarks

Among the disciples of Sivananda was Swami Venkatesananda, who did spiritual work in Australia and South Africa. During the 1980s the Chiltern Yoga Foundation was established in San Francisco, California, for the sole purpose of publishing and distributing Swami Venkatesananda’s books in the United States and Canada.

Sources

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers. www.sivananda.org.

Behera, Sarat Chandra. The Holy Stream: The Inspiring Life of Swami Chidananda. Sivanandanagar, India: Divine Life Society, 1981.

Devananda, Swami Vishnu. The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. New York: Julian Press, 1960.

———. The Hatha Yoga Pradhipika. N.p., n.d.

———. Meditation and Mantras. New York: OM Lotus Publishing Company, 1978.

———. The Sivananda Upanishad. New York: OM Lotus Publishing Company, 1987.

Krishna, Copala. The Yogi: Portraits of Swami Vishnu-Devananda. St. Paul, MN: Yes International Publishers, 1995. 149 pp.

Sivananda, Swami. Sadhana. Sivanandanagar, India: Divine Life Society, 1967.

The Sivananda Yoga Center. The Sivananda Companion to Yoga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.

Tawker, K. A. Sivananda, One World Teacher. Rishikish, India: Yoga-Vedanta Forest University, 1957.

Venkatesananda, Swami. Gurudev Sivananda. Durban, South Africa: Divine Life Society of South Africa, 1961.

SMVA Trust

14516 Rumfeldt, Austin, TX 78725

The SMVA Trust is the vehicle of the work and teaching of Sri Karunamayi (b. 1958), a female spiritual teacher from India who is generally known simply as Amma. Amma’s spiritual and humanitarian inclinations manifested in her teen years, and at one point she locked herself in the family meditation room for a month. She emerged with a new demeanor, which was described as intensely reflecting an impersonal, universal love. Soon afterward, she left home to spend a period in solitary meditation in the forest. She was 21 when she left home for good. She remained alone for the next 10 years, and through her spiritual practices during this time attained insights about which of the Vedic teachings and practices would be of greatest benefit to people in the modern world. She then returned to society to begin life as a teacher.

Amma initially settled in Bangalore, India, where an early disciple provided her a room in which to live and teach. Along with sharing her spiritual insights, she conducted ceremonies aimed at promoting world peace and universal well-being and worked toward the goal of supplying medical care for people living in the villages of the region. Out of this latter effort came the Sri Karunamayi Free Hospital.

Amma initially came to the United States in 1995 after accepting an invitation to present some public programs. She has subsequently returned annually for a national tour that has included lectures, classes, retreats, and homa (fire) ceremonies. Simultaneously, she began to develop a following in Europe.

Amma has emphasized the need for humans to cultivate inner beauty and ultimately reach spiritual liberation in order to reach a state in which they can provide selfless service to all. According to Amma, the purpose of human life is found in the development of a range of virtues, such as compassion, truthfulness, dispassionate wisdom, contentment, and selfless love. Manifesting such virtues leads to a peaceful state of mind that allows the deep meditation conducive to direct contact with the Atman, or divine inner self. Merging with the Atman is the destiny of all.

The international headquarters of the movement remains at the ashram in Bangalore. Humanitarian efforts have led to the development of the hospital and a Free School serving the surrounding region.

Membership

Not reported. In 2008 there were 15 satsang groups that met regularly at various locations across the United States.

Sources

SMVA Trust. www.karunamayi.org/.

Karunamayi: A Biography. Bangalore, India: SMVA Trust, 2005.

Karunamayi, Sri. Blessed Souls: The Teachings of Sri Karunamayi. 2 vols. Bangalore: SMVA Triest, 1998, 2000.

———. Sri Gayatri: The Inner Secrets Revealed. I & II. Bangalore: SMVA Trust, 2005.

Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT)

1834 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060

The Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT), founded in the mid-1970s, is consecrated to the teaching of nonduality, especially as revealed by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the south Indian sage who flourished (1879–1950) at the holy mountain called Arunachala. SAT is under the spiritual guidance of Nome, with a background influence of advaita Vedanta, Russell Smith, and nondual Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism.

The teaching of nonduality proclaims that the true nature of the self, one’s own being or consciousness, is that of the absolute (i.e., God, Brahman, or Buddha nature). It proclaims that the self, undivided being-consciousness-bliss, is infinite and eternal, the one reality that pervades and transcends all. This teaching places special emphasis on self-knowledge attained by inquiring “Who am I?” Such self-questioning, it is believed, reveals the real self and overcomes the illusion of a separate ego to reveal the homogeneous, infinite presence of reality. The result is self-realization, characterized by permanent peace and happiness.

The teaching has its roots in the Upanishads, the wisdom portion of the Vedas, and scriptures of Hinduism (also called sanatana dharma [the way of eternal truth]). This outlook was also expounded by Sri Sankaracharya, the eighth-century Indian sage, as well as in numerous scriptures and sayings of many other sages and saints of this tradition. It also has roots in nondual Buddhism, as exemplified by the Zen master of China during the T’ang Dynasty.

SAT endeavors to preserve and disseminate the wisdom of this spiritual tradition. The group maintains a center in Santa Cruz, California, where seekers can learn about the teaching, practice it, and strive to realize self-knowledge. Other activities include the distribution of every book in English by or about Sri Ramana Maharshi; the distribution of Vedanta and Zen literature; and the translation and publication of books such as the Ribbu Gita (an ancient treatise on nondual truth), Sri Sankara’s works, and teachings given by Nome and Russell Smith. SAT also conducts weekly satsangs (gatherings of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth) and other holy events and retreats. It also sponsors performances of sacred music from around the world.

Membership

As of 2002, the SAT reported members scattered throughout the world, but most are concentrated in the area around Santa Cruz, California.

Periodicals

Reflections.

Sources

Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT). www.satramana.org.

The Journey Home. Santa Cruz, CA: Avadhut, 1986.

Maharshi’s Gospel. Tiruvannamalai, India: T. N. Venkataraman, 1957.

Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Raman Maharshi. Tiruvannamalai, India: T. N. Venkataraman, 1939.

Maharshi, Sri Ramana. The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Thiruvannamalai, India: Sri Ramanasramam, 2007. 318 pp.

Nome. The Four Requisites for Realization and Self-Inquiry. Santa Cruz, CA: Society of Abidance in Truth, 2003. 32 pp.

———. Ribhu Gita. Santa Cruz, CA: Society of Abidance in Truth, 1995.

———. Self-Knowledge. Atma Jnana Publications, 2003.

Sankara, Adi. Svatmanirupanam (The True Definition of One’s Own Self). Santa Cruz, CA: Society of Abidance in Truth, 2002.

———. A Bouquet of Nondual Texts. Santa Cruz, CA: Society of Abidance in Truth, 2006.

Source School of Tantra Yoga

PO Box 368, Kahului, HI 96733

Source School of Tantra Yoga was founded in 1978 by Charles Muir. Muir began to study yoga in 1965 and took his instructor training from Richard Hittleman. In 1974 he founded and directed the “Yoga for Health” Schools in California. In the meantime he became interested in tantra. Caroline Muir is a yoga instructor and massage instructor. The pair began working together in the early 1980s and now teach tantra as a means of physical, mental, and spiritual awakening.

The Muirs strive to facilitate their students to fully express themselves as both physical and spiritual beings and believe that sex and spirit are inextricably connected. Sexual activity thus becomes a means of profound meditation and sexuality a unifying, harmonizing, and spiritualizing force of the universe.

The school offers workshops and seminars in Hawaii, California, and Colorado, and the Muirs’teachings are spread through several tapes and one book.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Source School of Tantra Yoga. www.sourcetantra.com

Muir, Charles, and Caroline Muir. Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1989.

Spiritual Realization Institute

c/o Sri Puri Dhama Vaishnava Community, PO Box 305, Lockport, NY 14095-0305

The Spiritual Realization Institute was founded by Geoffrey Giuliano (b. 1953), who has now legally changed his name to Jagannatha Dasa. As Geoffrey Giuliano he was well known for his books on popular music and various celebrities. He has written a number of books on the Beatles, including the controversial Dark Horse: The Life and Art of George Harrison and, more recently, Two of Us: John Lennon and Paul McCartney Behind the Myth. He also played the role of Ronald McDonald (the clown figure of the McDonald’s fast food chain) in personal appearances for several years. As Jagannatha Dasa, he has been a student/practitioner of the Chaitanya devotional tradition of Hinduism and the founder of an ashram in Lockport, New York, the home of the Spiritual Realization Institute.

Giuliano initially became a devotee of Krishna consciousness in 1970, though only part time. After his graduation from college (with a degree in acting) in 1978, he took a job playing the Marvelous Magical Burger King and in 1980 began a two-year stint as Ronald McDonald in Canada. As he became more serious about his Krishna attachments and his belief in vegetarianism, he quit that job.

Giuliano joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) but left in 1980, when he found that “certain improprieties of my god-brothers came to light.” That same year, while in Toronto, he met B. H. Mangal Niloy Goswami Maharaja, a Krishna-consciousness guru, and in 1982 both he and his wife took initiation and accepted their new spiritual names, Jagannatha Dasa and Vrndarani Devi. He eventually decided to follow the path of Krishna devotion. He recommitted himself to his religious faith in 1990. Three years later he and his wife established Sri Puri Dhama Vaishnava Community in Niagara County, New York. It was legally incorporated in 1996 as The Spiritual Realization Institute (SRI), which describes itself as an “international resource for those interested in the Vedic arts and sciences as well as a fully functioning educational and cultural institution.” In the 1990s he also operated as an anti-McDonald’s activist. SRI has become a member of the Food Bank of Western New York and, under the name Dasa Food For All, operates the only vegetarian food pantry in the area.

Membership

As of 1999 SRI had about 30 initiated disciples who have been given spiritual names and another 50 members from across western New York.

Sources

Michelmore, William V. “Renowned Rock Biographer Reincarnates As Hindu Leader.” www.vnn.org/usa/US9908/US30-4615.html.

Sree Rama Dasa Mission

Current address could not be obtained for this edition.

The Sree Rama Dasa Mission is the product of two extraordinary Indian spiritual teachers. The first, Brahmashree Neelakanta Gurupadar (1900–1965), was an original teacher who attained high states of consciousness without benefit of a teacher of his own. In 1920, as a young man, Gurupadar moved into a small ashram, after which he spent the next 45 years engaged in what is termed Atmarama worship, defined as a practice in which the worshipper and the worshipped attain absolute communion. He was watched by people and attained a reputation for leading a humble and disciplined life, as well as one filled with various manifestations of a variety of siddhas, or supernatural powers.

In 1962 Gurupadar formally established the Sree Rama Dasa Mission, consecrated the Rama-Sita-Anjaneya temple, and introduced regular worship. Three years later, he anointed his chosen successor, Jagadguru Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi (d. 2006). Swami Sathyananda shared many characteristics of his predecessor. Following Gurupadar’s death, he engaged in 14 years of intense devotional practice based on a rigorous regime of conducting pujas (offerings to the divine) five times each day. He was believed to have attained a mystical union with the Divine Mother, at whose command he subsequently pursued an effort aimed at the comprehensive uplift of Indian society. Like his predecessor, he was also believed to have developed a number of siddhas, most notably the ability to bilocate. Sathyananda was also an advocate of the various paths of yoga.

Swami Sathyananda began his mission in the West in 2000. That year he was given the Hindu of the Year award by the Federation of Hindu Associations in Los Angeles. The next year he organized the first Kerala Hindu Convention of North America, which met at Dallas, Texas, in April 2001. Sathyananda subsequently took the lead in holding the Second and Third National Conventions of the Kerala Hindus of North America (2003 and 2005, respectively). His worldwide travels resulted in the formation of branch centers of the Mission in Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, the Caribbean Islands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The majority of affiliates are immigrants from Kerala State, India.

Membership

Not reported. As of 2008, American centers of the Sree Rama Dasa Mission were located in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Richmond, Virginia, Dallas and Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles and San Jose, California.

Sources

Sree Rama Dasa Mission. www.srdm.org/.

Sri Caitanya Sanga

Sri Chaitanya Saraswati Math, Kolerganj, PO Nabadwip, Dist. Nadia, West Bengal, India

The Sri Caitanya Sanga (formerly the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society) was founded in the mid-1980s by B. V. Tripurari Swami, previously a leader in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Tripurari Swami had met A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) in 1972, a year after he had joined ISKCON. Tripurari was initiated into sannyas (the renounced life) in 1975, two years prior to Prabhupada’s death. In the years after Prabhupada’s death, ISKCON was divided between reformists who denied the new initiating gurus (teachers) a status similar to that held by Prabhupada and the more conservative leaders who saw the new gurus as carrying on a guru lineage that made it proper to receive veneration much as Prabhupada had. Tripurari was among the reformists who left the organization and turned to Bhakti Rakshak Sridhara Maharaj (1895–1988), Prabhupada’s godbrother. (The godbrother relationship exists when two or more are initiated by the same guru.) Remaining in India when Prabhupada went to America, Sridhara Maharaj based his work in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswati Math center in West Bengal. However, he slowly acquired a worldwide network of centers that had placed themselves under his guidance.

Tripurari and a small group of like-minded ex-ISKCON devotees placed themselves under Sridhara Maharaj’s direction. The Gaudiya Vaishnava Society emerged as the organizational expression of the group’s work in the United States. Almost immediately, the group ran into resistance from the city of San Francisco, California, which had passed an ordinance regulating the society’s selling of their literature on the streets. In 1986 they took the city to court and won an injunction against the enforcement of the ordinance. For a number of years, beginning in 1988, the sanga issued a magazine, The Clarion Call.

The sanga is at one with ISKCON in belief and practice. The issues that divided them have largely been resolved with the dominance of the reform party in ISKCON in the 1980s. However, the society now flows out of the lineage of Sridhara Maharaj, a lineage not found in ISKCON. The sanga emphasizes a theistic Vaishnava Hinduism, follows a path of devotional service and temple worship (bhakti yoga), and emphasizes as a primary spiritual practice the repetition of the Hare Krishna Mantra:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

B. V. Tripurari Swami currently resides at Audarya, a retreat center near Philo, Mendocino County, California.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Sri Caitanya Sanga. www.swami.org/.

“Clarion Call, a Classy New Journal from S. F. Gaudiyas.” Hinduism Today 10, no. 9 (September 1988): 1, 17.

Sridhara Deva Goswami, Srila Bhakti Raksaka. The Golden Volcano of Divine Love. San Jose, CA: Guardian of Devotion Press, 1984.

———. The Guru and His Grace. San Rafael, CA: Mandala Publishing, 1983.

———. The Hidden Treasure of the Absolute. West Bengal, India: Sri Chaitanya Saraswati Math, 1985.

Thakur, Srila Bhaktivedanta. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life and Precepts. Brooklyn, NY: Gaudiya Press, 1987.

Tripurari, Swami B. V. Ancient Wisdom for Modern Ignorance. Eugene, OR: Clarion Call Publishing, 1994.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Mandal

2900 N Rodeo Gulch Rd., Soquel, CA 95073

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) was the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the Hare Krishna movement in the West. Before he died, he informed his senior disciples that in his absence they should consult a higher authority. He instructed them to approach his trusted and revered godbrother (godbrother in the sense that they were both initiated by the same guru), Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami. Both Prabhupada and Sridhara were initiated by Bhaktisiddanthanta Sarswati Thakur, the president-archarya of the Guadiya Math, which had been the main Krishna-consciousness organization in Bengal. In the wake of the disruption of the Guadiya Math in India, Sridhara was one of several disciples who founded an independent organization; his was called Sri Chaitanya Saraswati Math.

In the wake of Prabhupada’s death, intense theological and organizational disputes emerged within the society and its governing board. Some of Prabhupada’s disciples, following his instructions, turned to Sridhara for guidance and subsequently broke with the society and founded Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Mandal as an American branch of the math. Since its founding in the early 1980s, the Mandal has carried on an active publishing program through its Guardian of Devotion Press, which has issued many of Sridhara’s books.

Membership

There is one temple affiliated with the mandal, with approximately 100 members. There are affiliated U.S. centers in California, Utah, Oregon, Oklahoma, New Jersey and Hawaii. There are also centers in England, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Italy, Netherlands, Hungary, India, Canada, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, New Zealand, Fiji, Russia, Ukraine, Abkhazie, Ecuador, Mauritius, and Australia.

Sources

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Mandal. www.scsmath.com/centers.html.

Sridhara Deva Goswami, Bhakti Raksaka. Parpanna Jivanamrta: Lifenectar of the Surrendered Souls. Nabadwip Dham, West Bengal, India: Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, 1988.

———. The Search for Sri Krsna: Reality the Beautiful. San Jose, CA: Guardian of Devotion Press, 1983.

———. Sri Guru and His Grace. San Jose, CA: Guardian of Devotion Press, 1983.

———. Srimad Bhagavad Gita. 374 pp.

———. Subjective Evolution of Consciousness: Play of the Sweet Absolute. San Jose, CA: Guardian of Devotion Press, 1988.

Thakura, Bhaktivinoda. The Bhagavat: Its Philosophy, Its Ethics, and Its Theology. San Jose, CA: Guardian of Devotion Press, 1985.

Sri Chinmoy Centre

PO Box 32433, Jamaica, NY 11432

Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose was born in Bengal, India, in 1931. He entered the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at the age of 12. After two decades of intensive spiritual discipline, he responded to an inner command and came to the West in 1964 to be of service to seekers in that part of the world. He taught a path of yoga that directed the practitioner to conscious union with God. He also encouraged an active, dynamic life of service to the divine in humanity. His path called for a disciplined life involving regular meditation, living and working in the world, vegetarianism, and celibacy. Sri Chinmoy passed away on October 11, 2007, at his home in Queens, New York.

As a spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy guided his students’meditative discipline and spiritual growth. He never charged any fee for his service and taught that the path of love, bhakti (devotion), and surrender to the divine is the easiest way to God, but he accepted all religions and had the utmost devotion for Christ, Buddha, Krishna, and the other great religious figures of the world. He encouraged athletics as a means to the illumination of the physical consciousness, and his centers around the world have sponsored many running events. Among other activities, his students sponsor the Sri Chinmoy Oneness–Home Peace Run, a 70-nation relay run for the cause of world peace that has been held every other year since 1987.

Sri Chinmoy was a prolific author, composer, and artist. He wrote more than 1,300 books of poetry, essays, and questions and answers, and he composed more than 13,000 devotional songs in English and his native Bengali. He also completed more than 4 million “soul-bird” drawings, depictions of the human spirit in the form of birds, which have been exhibited worldwide. Often described as an international ambassador of peace, he offered hundreds of meditative concerts to the cause of world peace and discussed peace with dozens of world leaders.

Inspired by his activities, authorities around the world have dedicated natural wonders or other sites to the cause of peace in his name. Collectively known as “Sri Chinmoy Peace–Blossoms,” these have spread throughout the world, to Ottawa, Canada; Canberra, Australia; Auckland, Australia; the Swiss Matterhorn; Vietnam’s Mekong Delta; Niagara Falls in Canada; Russia’s Lake Baikhal; and various locations in the United States.

Membership

In 1995 the centers reported 5,000 members worldwide; 1,500 in the United States, and 1,000 in Canada.

Periodicals

Anahata Nada.

Sources

Sri Chinmoy Centre. www.srichinmoycentre.org.

Chinmoy, Sri. Arise! Awake! New York: Frederick Fell, 1972.

———. Astrology, the Supernatural, and the Beyond. Hollis, NY: Vishma Press, 1973.

———. My Lord’s Secrets Revealed. New York: Herder and Herder, 1971.

———. A Sri Chinmoy Primer. Forest Hills, NY: Vishma Press, 1974.

Madhuri [Nancy Elizabeth Sands]. The Life of Sri Chinmoy. Jamaica, NY: Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, 1972.

Sri Premananda Center

For information: [email protected]

Sri Premananda (b. 1951) is an enlightened teacher from Sri Lanka who as a child was reported to be spiritually precocious, with abilities to materialize objects, to heal people, and to know the past and future. By age 14 he had realized that these abilities were not common to everyone and that he could use them to assist others. He subsequently dedicated his life to the divine and to helping people to know the truth and purpose of their existence. As a following developed, he took the vows of the renounced life and emerged as Swami Premananda.

At age 17 he started an ashram, Sarva Matha Shanti Nilayam (Abode of Peace for all Religions) in the Gandhi Hall, Matale, as an expression of his desire to find harmony in the different religious communities—Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. He later adopted the more expressly Hindu name Poobalakrishna Ashram. That ashram was bombed in 1983 during conflict between Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka. He relocated to Fathimanagar (near Trichy), Tamil Nadu, India, where he built a new ashram. The Sri Premananda Ashram formally opened in 1989. Here he was free to advocate his ideal: that people should see the divine in all religions. Foreigners came to India, discovered his ashram, and stayed to learn from him, then went home and founded Sri Premananda centers in countries around the world.

Sri Premananda’s global mission was blocked in 1994 when he was arrested and in 1997 convicted of the rape of several girls who lived in the orphanage he had founded. He received two life sentences and remains in jail in India. Many of his devotees around the world remain convinced that he was wrongly accused and convicted, and his movement continues in 19 countries.

Membership

Not reported. There are Sri Premananda centers in the United States and Canada.

Sources

Sri Premananda Centers. www.sripremananda.org/.

Sri Rama Foundation

PO Box 2550, Santa Cruz, CA 95063

The Sri Rama Foundation was formed in 1974 as the vehicle for the teachings of Baba Hari Dass; the foundation claims to direct any profits to support homeless children in India. Baba Hari Dass was born in Almora District, India, in the Himalayan foothills. He left home at the age of eight to join a renunciate group in the jungle. He became a mauni sadhu (a person who accepts a vow of silence); nevertheless, he has led an active life managing ashrams and teaching yoga. He developed his own system of teaching the traditional ashtanga (eightlimbed) yoga. In 1971 some Western students persuaded him to come to the United States, and he began to hold regular satsangs (gatherings of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate spiritual truths) with a group of disciples who gathered around him.

Ashtanga yoga is the system of the legendary figure Patanjali; it was compiled from early teachings on yoga. Baba Hari Dass continues Patanjali’s teachings of a process involving eight parts: yama (restraints); niyama (observances); asana (postures); pranayama (breathing); pratyahara (withdrawal of the mind from sense perception); dharana (concentration); dhyana (meditation); and samadhi (superconsciousness). His teaching is based on a strong foundation of Samkhya philosophy, a spirit of devotion, and a deep understanding of Vedantic nondualism.

The major center of Baba Hari Dass’s students is the Mount Madonna Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences in Watsonville, California. In the mid-1970s a group of Babi Hari Dass’s devotees In Vancouver, British Columbia, inaugurated the Dharma Sara series of publications, which included several books and a magazine, Dharma Sara, now discontinued. Another group formed the Ashtanga Yoga Fellowship in Ontario and sponsors annual events with Baba Hari Dass. In 1980 Baba Hari Dass founded Shri Ram Orphanage in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. The orphanage is home to 50 children. The foundation also supports a school for 300 children and a medical clinic in Haridwar, India.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Sri Rama Foundation. sriramfoundation.org/sriramfoundation/.

Between Pleasure and Pain: The Way of Conscious Living. Sumas, WA: Dharma Sara Publications, 1976.

Dass, Baba Hari. Ashtanga Yoga Primer. Santa Cruz, CA: Sri Rama Publishing, 1981.

———. Hariakhan Baba, Known, Unknown. Davis, CA: Sri Rama Foundation, 1975.

———. Silence Speaks. Santa Cruz, CA: Sri Rama Foundation, 1977.

———. Sweeper to Saint. Santa Cruz, CA: Sri Rama Publishing, 1980.

SRV Association of America

c/o Interfaith Peace Temple, 20 Jennings Rd., Greenville, NY 12083

The SRV Association of America is an international fellowship the promotes the teachings of Advaita Vedanta as taught by Sri Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda. The group’s outlook includes an affirmation of the “absolute oneness of all existence, the underlying harmony of all religions and cultures, and the practice of contemplative disciplines along the path of spiritual realization, not simply to benefit oneself but to benefit humanity.”

The association was founded by Lex Hixon (1941–1995). As a young man Hixon was inspired to undertake a spiritual search through an encounter with the Zen Buddhist teacher Alan Watts and, later, with the Vedanta teacher Swami Nikhivananda, who encouraged his entrance into the Ph.D. program in comparative religion at Columbia University in New York City. In 1980 Hixon became a sheikh with the Khalwati-Jerrahi Sufi Order and assumed the care of four communities of Sufis. In 1983 he and his wife, Sheila, began a formal three-year study of the mystical theology of Eastern Orthodoxy at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, the American seminary of the Orthodox Church in America. In the last decade of his life, he tried to integrate the four spiritual traditions: Vedanta, Buddhism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Jerrahi Sufism.

Hixon saw the key to life, however, in his encounter with Vedanta, a fact highlighted in his 1992 book, Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna. He saw Ramakrishna as an inspiration for creating a global society based on the intuitive sense of the sacred. The SRV Association reflects this central concern.

Today the SRV Association is headed by an international board of directors. Although it provides guidance and teachings in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta, it emphasizes no single doctrinal or denominational affiliation. This outlook allows it to be open to all “authentic” religious practices and philosophical teachings as well as all forms of altruistic, nonpolitical activity.

The association’s present endeavors are centered in the Upstate New York Interfaith Peace Temple/Center for Spiritual Living near Albany, New York, a place for meditation, reflection, and interfaith worship. The temple is dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada, and Swami Vivekananda as symbols of universal truth; it is modeled after the principles of “global education for human unity and world civilization” as presented by Swami Nityasvarupananda, a disciple of Sarada Devi.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

SRV Association of America. www.universaltemple.org/3version/alexsrv.html.

“Lex Hixon.” www.srv.org/LexHixonBio.html.

Nityaswarupananda, Swami. “Global Education for Human Unity and World Civilization.” www.members.global2000.net./\~sarada/WC/WCC1.html.

Swami Kuvalayananda Yoga Foundation

339 Fitzwater St., Philadelphia, PA 19147

The Swami Kuvalayanananda Yoga (SKY) Foundation was founded by Dr. Vijayendra Pratap, who earned a Ph.D. in applied psychology in India at the Bombay University. Dr. Pratap was the student of Swami Kuvalayanandaji, the founder of Kaivalyadhama, the famous yoga center in Bombay, and served as its assistant director before coming to the United States.

The SKY Foundation offers classes in hatha yoga at all levels, trains teachers, and holds classes on yogic philosophy based on Patanjali (the ancient writer who put into simple, cogent language the theory and techniques of yoga). One of the purposes of the foundation is to research the older yogic traditions in the light of modern knowledge; it has sponsored several conferences on science and yoga. The Yoga Research Society was started in 1924 in order to help students and researchers better understand yoga through a scientific approach. The Philadelphia headquarters are above the Garland of Letters Bookstore, which is operated by the foundation. The foundation considers itself an educational organization rather than a religious or spiritual center.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Swami Kuvalayananda Yoga Foundation. www.skyfoundation.org/home.asp • www.yogaresearchsociety.com/aboutYRS.asp.

SYDA Foundation

371 Brickman Rd., Box 600, South Fallsburg, NY 12779

Alternate Address

International headquarters, Gurudev Siddha Peeth, PO Ganeshpuri, Dist. Thoma, Maharastra, India.

Swami Muktananda Paramahansa (1908–1982) was the leading disciple of Bhagwan Nityananda (d. 1961), a Siddha master who in his later years settled in Ganeshpuri, India. Muktananda, or Baba, as he was called by his followers, left home at the age of 15 to wander through India studying philosophy and mastering the different branches of yoga. In 1947 he sought out Bhagawan Nityananda, whom he had met in his youth, and received shaktipat initiation (for the awakening of kundalini, the inner transformative energy) from him. After nine years of intensive spiritual practices under his guru’s guidance, Muktananda attained self-realization. Before his death Nityananda transferred the power of the Siddha lineage to Muktananda. Following his guru’s wishes, Muktananda established an ashram, Gurudev Siddha Peeth, in a small village called Gavdevi near the town of Ganeshpuri. It is considered the mother ashram of the movement.

In the 1960s, the first American seekers began to arrive. In 1970 some of these devotees requested Muktananda to undertake his first world tour, which lasted three months and included stops in Europe, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Australia. Baba Ram Dass accompanied Muktananda on much of this tour. Soon after the tour the first centers began to appear in the United States. Also as a result of this visit, Westerners came in even greater numbers to Ganeshpuri; among them was Werner Erhard, the founder of Erhard Training Seminars (EST). At Erhard’s invitation, Muktananda returned to the West in 1974, this time for two years. His final journey to the West, made in 1978, lasted for three years.

In 1974 the foundation was established to make the teachings of Siddha Yoga available to seekers around the world. SYDA oversees the Siddha Yoga curriculum, the publication of books and magazines, the production of audiovisuals, and the administration of the several educational and humanitarian projects, including the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute (in India), the PRASDA Project, and the Prison Project, sponsored by the practitioners. The foundation is headed by a board of directors.

The Muktabodha Indological Research Institute is dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the scriptures and traditions of India through scholarly publications, research and study programs, and archival projects. The Vedashala Project preserves the mantras and rituals of the Vedas. The institute is accredited by the University of Pune, India, for postgraduate studies.

Before his death Swami Muktananda designated Swami Chidvilasananda, known as Gurumayi, as his successor. He had trained her since childhood to succeed him. At that time he also appointed another successor, Swami Nityananda, Chidvilasananda’s brother, who retired from that position in 1985.

The path of Siddha Yoga is based upon shakipat initiation, or the awakening of the spiritual energy (kundalini) through the grace of the guru. The practice of the yoga includes meditation, chanting, selfless service, contemplation, and devotion to the guru.

Membership

There is no formal membership in Siddha yoga meditation. In 1997 there were more than 500 Siddha Yoga Meditation Centers throughout the world and residential centers in Australia, England, Mexico, and the United States.

Educational Facilities

Muktabodha Indological Research Institute, South Fallsburg, New York.

Periodicals

Darshan • Transformation Neeleswari • Siddha Yoga. Both are available from Gurudev Siddha Peeth, PO Ganeshpuri, Dist. Thoma, Maharastra, India.

Remarks

During the 1980s the Siddha Yoga Dham had to weather two major scandals. Shortly after Swami Muktananda’s death, several of his close associates left the movement and denounced him for taking sexual liberties with female disciples. The accusations became an occasion for widespread discussions of the nature and qualification of leadership in Indian-based movements in the West. Then, in 1986, the Illustrated Weekly of India published two stories concerning charges made by Subash Shetty, until his retirement in 1985 known as Swami Nityananda, about his sister, Swami Chidvilasananda. A defamation case was filed against the magazine, which resulted in a full retraction and apology in 1987. Neither incident significantly undermined the membership or influence of the group. Swami Nityananda, following his withdrawal from work with Swami Chidvalasananda, established a new organization, Shanti Mandir Seminars, and is continuing his work through it.

Sources

SYDA Foundation. www.siddhayoga.org.

Brook, Douglas Renfrew, et al. Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage. South Fallsburg, NY: Agama Press, 1997. 709 pp.

Caldwell, Sarah. “The Heart of the Secret: A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga.” Nova Religio 5, 1 (October 2001): 9–51.

Muktananda, Swami. Guru. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.

———. Light on the Path. Oakland, CA: SYDA Foundation, 1972.

———. Play of Consciousness. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.

———. Reflections of the Self. New York: SYDA Foundation, 1982.

Paramahansa, Muktananda. Bhagawan Nityananda, His Life and Mission. Ganespuri, India: Shree Gurudev Ashram, n.d.

Prajananda, Swami. A Search for the Self. Ganeshpuri, India: Durudev Siddha Peeth, 1979.

Tantrika International

PO Box 516, Loveland, OH 45140-3065

Tantrika International was founded by Bodhi Avinasha, a prominent tantric yoga teacher who began her spiritual career as a sannyasin (one who practices a renounced way of life) with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) and Osho International Commune. She later claimed mystical contact with the legendary Himalayan master known as Babaji (first introduced to the West by Pramahansa Yogananda). She gained initial fame as the coauthor of the best selling book Jewel in the Lotus (now available in seven languages). Through the 1990s she was a popular workshop and seminar instructor.

As an independent tantra teacher, Bodhi Avinasha developed Ipsalu Tantra, which she offers as an accelerated path for the mastery of sexual, emotional, and mental energies; she claims that this method safely activates the kundalini (a latent energy that tantrics believe resides at the base of the spine). Tantric practice traditionally aims at activating the kundalini, which, according to this teaching, travels up the spine and brings enlightenment. The key to this practice is the use of the cobra breath, a form of breathing that purportedly heightens the rise of kundalini.

Tantrika International bases its teachings on everyday experience (as opposed to abstract analysis or the search for absolute truth). It understands that one’s perspective will continue to change throughout life. Individuals are invited to see the external world as a mirror of their internal states. They create their life experience. Freedom from the past comes from taking responsibility for the present. Then, as the individual identifies with his or her divine inner self, he or she can see the divine order in the totality.

Tantrika International offers a variety of events, including weekend intensive seminars, week-long retreats, and correspondence courses. Tantrika International also offers support and resources for the nurturing of Ipsalu Tantra communities around the world. Such communities begin with partnering with one of the Ipsalu-certified teachers and a couple who wish to share tantra with others in their hometown. Tantrika International teachers trained to offer Ipsula Tantra may be found in Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Norway, Bulgaria, and New Zealand.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Tantrika International. http://ipsalutantra.org

Avinasha, Bodhi, and Sunyata Sanaswati. Jewel in the Lotus: The Tantric Path to Higher Consciousness. Fairfield, IA: Sunstar Publishing, 2000.

———. The Ipsalu Formula: A Method for TantraBliss. Valley Village, CA: Ipsalu Publishing, 2006.

Temple of Cosmic Religion

174 Santa Clara Ave., Oakland, CA 94610

In 1966, while attending the Kumbha Mela (ritual bathing) Festival in the Ganges River, an independent Hindu teacher, later known as Satguru Sant Keshavadas (1934–1997), was told by a holy man named Lord Panduranga Vittala, “Go to the West; spread the cosmic religion.” When Keshavadas returned to Delhi, the advice was reinforced in a vision. The following year he began a tour of Europe and the Middle East and arrived in the United States in May. In 1968 he founded a center in Washington, D.C., as the U.S. headquarters of the Dasashram International Center in India. In the mid-1970s the headquarters moved to Southfield, Michigan, near Detroit, and adopted the name of the Temple of Cosmic Religion, a title long used in the movement.

In bringing Hinduism to the West, Keshavadas envisioned the beginning of a world cosmic religion that would unite all faiths. According to this cosmic religion, truth is one, and all paths lead to the realization of God. Keshavadas teaches yoga, meditation, and devotion to God through chanting and singing (bhakti yoga, as discussed in the introductory material for this volume). The concepts of karma and reincarnation are central to the beliefs of the religion.

The world headquarters of the Temple of Cosmic Religion is located in Bangalore, India, at the Panduranga Temple. Five other temples have been established in India; there are additional temples in England, Trinidad, and the United States.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Temple of Cosmic Religion. www.templeofcosmicreligion.org.

Keshavadasasji, Sadguru. The Doctrine of Reincarnation and Liberation. Bangalore, India: Dasasharama Research Publications, 1970.

Keshavadasji, Sant. This Is Wisdom. Privately printed, 1975.

———. The Purpose of Life, New York: Vantage Press, 1978.

———. Sadguru Speaks. Washington, DC: Temple of Cosmic Religion, 1975.

Life and Teachings of Sadguru Sant Keshavadas: A Commemoration. Southfield, MI: Temple of Cosmic Religion, 1977.

Mukundadas (Michael Allen Makowsky). Minstrel of Love. Nevada City, CA: Hansa Publications, 1980.

Temple of Kriya Yoga

2414 N. Kedzie, Chicago, IL 60647

The Temple of Kriya Yoga was founded by Goswami Kriyananda (born Melvin Higgins and not to be confused with the Swami Kriyananda, who founded the Ananda Ashrama). The temple is headquartered in a temple building on the north side of Chicago.

Kriyananda studied with a guru, spoken of only as Sri Sri Shelliji in the temple literature, who passed to him the kriya yoga tradition of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Kriyananda began teaching yoga in the 1940s and opened the temple in Chicago in the 1960s. Kriyananda, an accomplished astrologer, also opened the College of Occult Sciences, which offered classes in a variety of esoteric subjects.

During the late 1970s the temple abandoned its rented facilities in downtown Chicago for its new headquarters. Associated with the Chicago center is a retreat in South Haven, Michigan. In 1977 the Kriyananda Healing Center was established as a holistic health facility adjacent to the temple. There traditional Western medicine is supplemented by a program emphasizing yoga and meditation, fasting, biofeedback, and massage.

Kriyananda follows the yoga system of Yogananda, and over the years he has authored a variety of books elucidating kriya yoga, meditation, and astrology. In his view religion provides a deep personal understanding of the nature and purpose of God and the Universe. He teaches the oneness of law, spirit, and love and their identity with God. He affirms the meaningfulness of the universe and the possibility of attaining illumination and fulfillment (through the practice of kriya yoga) in this lifetime.

Membership

There are several hundred temple members and many more individuals who receive the benefits of the temple through its classes, programs and astrology services.

Periodicals

The Flame of Kriya.

Sources

Temple of Kriya Yoga. www.yogakriya.org.

Kriyananda, Goswami. The Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God. Chicago: Temple of Kriya Yoga, n.d.

———. The Blue Lotus Sutra. Chicago: Temple of Kriya Yoga, n.d.

———. Dictionary of Basic Astrological Terms. Chicago: Temple of Kriya Yoga, n.d.

———. Pathway to God-Consciousness. Chicago: Temple of Kriya Yoga, 1970.

———. Yoga: Text for Teachers and Advanced Students. Chicago: Temple of Kriya Yoga, 1976.

Traditional Yoga Academy

6530 Annie Oakley Dr. #2825, Henderson, NV 89014

The Traditional Yoga Academy is the U.S. outpost of the Movement for Spiritual Integration in the Absolute (M.I.S.A.). M.I.S.A. was founded in 1990 in postrevolutionary Romania by Gregorian Bivolaru (b. 1952). As a child, Bivolaru had recurring dreams in which he was a Tibetan yogi who had attained a high level of spirituality. From these dreams he began to “remember” various yoga techniques that he began to practice on his own. His practice led to spiritual experiences that culminated in his attaining spiritual enlightenment when he was nineteen years old. He later was able to connect what he had experienced with the teachings he found in the books of several modern spiritual teachers, especially Ramakrishna (1836– 1886), Sivananda (1887–1963), and Yogananda (1893–1952).

Bivolau, or Grieg, as he is generally called, started to teach yoga in Bucharest in 1978. Initially he was received warmly by the authorities with the Romanian Ministry of Health and the Association of Psychosomatic Medicine of Bucharest, but in the 1980s he fell victim to dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s negative opinions of transcendental meditation. Romania banned yoga as part of a general ban on all oriental teachings, and for several yeasr Bivolau was imprisoned.

It was not until 1990 that Grieg was allowed to resume teaching. Once opened, however, M.I.S.A. expanded rapidly, and soon Grieg’s unique approach to yoga was being taught all over the country, and then expanded throughout Europe as accomplished students became teachers.

M.I.S.A. yoga is based in ancient teachings. Patanjali’s ancient compendium of yoga, the “Yoga Sutras,” provided a definition built around eight steps to perfection: asthanga (aspiration); yama (perfection in social morality) and niyama (perfection in individual morality); asanas (postures); pranayama (breathing exercises); pratyahara (withdrawing); dharana (concentration); dhyana (meditation); and samadhi (sublime ecstasy). M.I.S.A. situates this practice in a larger context of tantra and meditation. Together, yoga, tantra, and meditation become a path for continuous transformation. In the tantric discipline, students learn to control and sublimate the creative potential of sexual energy, but tantra embraces all aspects of life, with applications for all.

The Traditional Yoga Academy is located in Henderson, Nevada. It offers regular classes and workshops in Las Vegas and Sandy Springs (suburban Atlanta), Georgia.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Traditional Yoga Academy. www.traditionalyogacenter.com.

Truth Consciousness

c/o Sacred Mountain Ashram, 10668 Gold Hill Rd., Boulder, CO 80302-9716

Alternate Address

68 Lulla Nagar, Pune 411040, Maharashtra, India.

Truth Consciousness was founded by Swami Amar Jyoti in 1974 and is devoted to a vision of what it perceives as truth and the transformation of human consciousness into divine consciousness. Prabhushri Swamiji, as he is called by his devotees, was born in northwest India in 1928. A few months before his graduation from college, he renounced his seemingly destined life of comfort and success to follow an inner dictum, “Know yourself and you shall know everything.” After a decade of sadhana (spiritual practices) and meditation in the Himalayas, he achieved his goal. He then began traveling throughout India and in 1960, at the request of disciples, founded Jyoti Ashram in Pune, in the state of Maharashtra. In 1961 Prabhushri Swamiji visited the United States for the first time and then returned to Pune, concentrating for a decade on his work in India.

Prabhushri Swamiji’s way is a classical path of spirituality based on the principles of dharma (living according to divine law). He stresses principles such as truthfulness, humility, purity, and devotion. With compassion, patience, and wisdom, the guru attempts carefully to guide each disciple toward a natural unfolding toward the divine.

Prabhushri Swamiji visited the United States again in 1973 and at that time founded his first ashram in the West, Sacred Mountain Ashram in Boulder, Colorado. Truth Consciousness is the nonprofit corporation that ties together the American centers. There are two ashrams (for renunciates) and two community centers for individuals, couples, and families who wish to live a spiritually oriented life under the direct guidance of the master.

The ashrams and community centers offer programs year round, and sincere seekers are welcome. Satsang (an assembly of persons who listen to and talk about spiritual truth) is held twice weekly and includes devotional music (chanting) and meditation. Other regular programs include guru aarati (morning prayers and worship), weekly group meditations, and weekend and extended retreats.

Membership

There is no formal membership. There are two Truth Consciousness ashrams in the United States: Sacred Mountain Ashram in Boulder, Colorado, and Desert Ashram in Tucson, Arizona. A community center is located adjacent to or near each Ashram. An estimated several hundred individuals are affiliated with the organization. In India, Ananda Niketan, the trust founded by Swami Amar Jyoti, maintains Jyoti Ashram in Pune, four hours from Bombay. There is also a center in New Zealand.

Periodicals

Light of Consciousness–Journal of Spiritual Awakening (USA). • Chinmaya Jeevan–Conscious Living (India).

Sources

Truth Consciousness. truthconsciousness.org/TC_Ashrams.htm.

Frey, Kessler. Satsang Notes of Swami Amar Jyoti. Boulder, CO: Truth Consciousness, 1977.

Jyoti, Swami Amar. Dawning: Eternal Wisdom Heritage for Today. Boulder, CO: Truth Consciousness, 1991.

———. Retreat Into Eternity, Boulder, CO: Truth Consciousness, 1981.

———. Spirit of Himalaya. Boulder, CO: Truth Consciousness, 1985.

Vedanta Centre and Ananda Ashrama

130 Beechwood St., Cohassat, MA 02025

Alternate Address

Box 8555, La Crescenta, CA 91224-0555.

The Ananda Ashram of La Crescenta, California, and the Vedanta Centre of Cohasset, Massachusetts, continue the work begun in the early twentieth century by Swami Paramananda, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda and a monk of the Ramakrishna Order. Paramananda (1884–1940) was born Suresh Chandra Guha Thakurta. A pioneer swami of the Ramakrishna Order, he came to the United States in 1906 to assist Swami Abhedananda at the New York Vedanta Society. In 1909 he moved to Boston to open a Vedanta center there. He also established a monastic community for American women. His first disciple was Laura Glenn, better known by her religious name, Sister Devamata. She became his assistant in 1910 but is best remembered for her literary work. She wrote many books, edited both Swami Vivekananda’s and Swami Paramananda’s lectures, and was the chief editor of the Message of the East, a monthly periodical published without interruption for 52 years.

During his 34-year ministry in the United States, Paramananda lectured all over the United States and Europe. He established the Ananda Ashrama in La Crescenta in 1923 and a second ashrama in Cohasset in 1929. In 1931 Sri Ramakrishna Ananda Ashrama was established in his name in Dacca, now in Bangladesh. This ashrama was moved to Calcutta after the partition of the India and Pakistan. There are now two branches that serve destitute women, orphan children, and others in need. During Paramananda’s lifetime all of these centers were part of the Ramakrishna Math (monastery) and Mission, whose headquarters are at Belur Math, near Calcutta.

After Paramananda’s death in 1940, his centers were excommunicated from the parent order because he designated as his successor an Indian woman, Srimata Gayatri Devi (1906–1995). She came to the United States in 1926 and became the first Indian woman to teach Vedanta in the West. In 1952 she consolidated the eastern work by moving the Boston Vedanta Center to the ashrama in Cohasset, some 20 miles south of Boston.

The ashrama and center teach Vedanta. The essence of Vedanta’s tenets are that truth or God is one without a second; that an individual’s real nature is divine; that all paths lead to the same goal; and that the purpose of human life is to realize God within one’s own soul. It shares these beliefs with the Ramakrishna Order (the break between the ashrama and the order being purely administrative).

For 55 years, until her death in 1995, Srimata Gavatri Devi was the spiritual mother of the several ashrams in the United States and India. She appointed an American woman, Srimata Sudha Puri Devi (Dr. Susan Schrager, b.1942) as her successor. The ashramas are home to monastic women. Associated with them are number of dedicated householders who consider them their spiritual home. Many others attend the weekly services and classes. Vedanta Centre (Cohasset) publishes the books of Swami Paramananda and several of the female leaders, including Sister Daya (Georgina Walton Jones) and Srimata Gayatri Devi. It also sells casettes and CDs of ashrama devotional music.

Membership

Neither the ashrama nor the center is a membership organizations. There are approximately 60 residents of the four ashramas (two in India and two in America). An estimated 1,500 persons look to the ashramas for spiritual guidance.

Sources

Vedanta Centre and Ananda Ashrama. www.vedantacentre.org.

Devamata, Sister. Swami Paramananda and His Work. 2 vols. La Crescenta, CA: Ananda Ashrama, 1926–1941.

Devi, Srimata Gayatri. One Life’s Pilgrimage. Cohasset, MA Vedanta Centre, 1977.

Hold Aloft the Light. La Crescenta, CA: Ananda Ashrama, 1973.

Levinsky, Sara Ann. A Bridge of Dreams. West Stockbridge, MA: Inner Traditions, 1984.

Paramananda, Swami. The Path of Devotion. Boston, MA: Vedanta Center, 1907.

———. Vedanta in Practice. Boston, MA: Vedanta Center, 1917.

Vedantic Center

3528 N. Triunfo Canyon Rd., Agoura, CA 91301

The Vedantic Center was founded in 1975 in Los Angeles by Alice Coltrane (b. 1937), an initiate of Swami Satchidananda, the founder of the Integral Yoga International, with whom she had journeyed to India and Sri Lanka. Raised in Detroit, Coltrane devoted her early life to music, as did her late husband, the jazz legend John Coltrane, and like him attained a high level of success and fame (Alice on the piano, John on the saxophone). In 1968, at the age of 31, she entered a period of both spiritual isolation and reawakening. She also received an initiation into the renounced order of sannyas but was instructed not to don the ochre robe, symbol of the renounced life, until 1975. During the early 1970s she released a series of albums expressing her spiritual pilgrimage and devotional life.

In 1975 Coltrane emerged as Swami Turiyasangitananda. A few months later she organized the Vedantic Center. She authored several books, including Monument Eternal and Endless Wisdom, and began to build a following. In 1983 the center purchased 48 acres of land in rural southern California, near the town of Agoura, and established a community, Sai Anantam Ashram, for the center’s members.

The Vedantic Center is unique among Hindu organizations in being led by an African-American and in drawing members predominantly from the African American community. Although beginning with the yoga system passed to her by Swami Satchidananda, Turiyasangitananda has developed an eclectic blend of Eastern philosophy that draws on Western spiritual traditions as well. She teaches that the purpose of human life is to advance spiritually. The highest stage of life is devotional service (bhakti yoga), rendered unto the supreme lord (known in his three aspects as Brahma, Vishnu or Krishna, and Siva). In this light devotional singing has attained an important role at the ashram, and Turiyasangitananda has composed new music with a decidedly Western flavor for the traditional bhajans (devotional songs).

The weekly schedule at Sai Anantam Ashram begins with Sunday school for children. There is worship, including chanting and satsang discourses by Swami Turiyasangitananda, on Sunday afternoons. A prayer service occurs on Wednesday evening. The center operates a bookstore at the entrance to the ashram grounds.

Membership

As of 1995 approximately 30 people lived at Sai Anantam. A small number of nonresidents also attend the ashram’s worship services.

Periodicals

Sai Anantam.

Sources

Vedantic Center. www.saiquest.com.

Turiyasangitananda, A. C. Endless Wisdom. Los Angeles: Avatar Book Institute, 1981.

———. Monument Eternal. Los Angeles: Vedantic Book Press, 1977.

Vedic Society of America

PO Box 926, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272-0926

The Vedic Society of America was founded by Maha Guru Ji Dr. Pandit Bhek Pati Sinha, a Brahmin priest from Bihar, Bengal, India. He had studied at the Universities of Calcutta and Patna in India and eventually received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York City. Between 1948 and 1952 he lived in various parts of the world and then settled in the United States. Through the 1960s he taught political science in several institutions of higher learning on the East Coast.

Sinha founded the Vedic Society of America in New York City in 1950 at a time when there were very few Hindu options available to religious seekers. The society was designed to encourage spiritual disciplines, provide a sense of reverence for all life, promote brotherhood, and offer an awareness of the Vedas, the ancient scripture of India. A second center was opened in Pacific Palisades, California, in 1960. Sinha trained leaders who assumed ministerial duties at the two centers, leading the weekly worship services.

The society taught the 10 Vedic moral commandments of nonviolence (ahimsa), truthfulness, honesty, inhering in the consciousness of God, detachment, purity of body, contentment, perseverance in the consciousness of truth, study of the scriptures, and devotion to God. It taught that truth was God and true religion was the perception and realization of truth. Each individual is substantively divine and has the ability to realize that divinity. The society taught that humans are their own saviors and that growth in spiritual illumination and love and service to all is the only alternative in life.

The society operated a retreat center, Vedashram, and offered a correspondence course in its religious teachings. It published a periodical, Lila. Sinha authored several books, and the society members recorded two records of Vedic music and chants that were distributed through the Vedic Book and Gift Shop in Pacific Palisades.

The society continued to exist through the 1970s, but in recent years attempts to contact it have not been successful. Its present status is uncertain.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Jayne, Linda. The Vedic Society of America: New York and California. Pacific Palisades, CA: Vedic Publishing House, 1968.

Veerashaiva Samaja of North America

PO Box 360380, Milpitas, CA 95036-0380

Veerashaiva Samaja of North America, founded in 1978, is an organization operating primarily among Indian Americans that seeks to perpetuate a form of Shaivite Hinduism known as Veerashaivism (or Lingayatism). Veerashaivism is traced to Shri Basaveshwar, a politician with a mystical temperament who lived in twelfth-century India. During his years in office (1157–1167), Shri Basaveshwar took leadership of a revitalization movement centered on worship of and devotion to Shiva as personified in a symbolic emblem known as the Shiva linga (hence the group’s alternate designation as Lingayats). The distinctive mark of Veerashaivism is its advocacy of the wearing of the linga, an act that allows the believer’s body to become a temple in which God dwells. The movement also stood out for its early attempt at egalitarianism, and made an effort to include untouchables.

Worship of Shiva is centered on the five Panchacharas, rules of conduct which when followed are believed to assist in making the body a suitable home for the deity. They call for daily devotion to one’s personal Shiva linga; attention to one’s vocation and duty; affirmation of Shiva as the single deity and of the equality of his devotees; humility; and defense of the community and its beliefs and practices. In addition to the Panchacharas, eight “shields” known as the Ashtavaranas guard believers from the things of the world that can pull them away from their devotion. Chief among these Ashtavaranas are the gurus (spiritual teachers). But the list includes the water used to wash both the linga and the guru’s feet, the food offered to the deity (prasad), holy ash, holy beads, and the mantra (sacred words intoned during worship). The practice of Veerashaivism leads to heightened levels of attainment and eventually to the state of Aikya Sthala, in which the soul separates from the body and merges with Shiva. Veerashaivites tend to ascribe more authority to the Hindu writings known as the agamas than they do to the Vedas.

Veerashaiva Samaja of North America organizes U.S. and Canadian followers of Veerashaivism, many of whom belong to families that have lived outside of India since 1965, into chapters and holds an annual convention. As a whole, it has not built its own temples, and followers often attend local Shaivite temples built to serve the larger Hindu community.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Veerashaiva Samaja of North America. www.vsna.org/.

Lord Shiva. www.shivayoga.net/veerashaiva/welcome.htm.

Vimala Thakar, Friends of

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address

International address: Vimala Thakar Foundation, Huizerweg 46, 1261 Az Balricum, Holland.

Vimala Thakar (b. 1932) is a teacher in the tradition of Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895– 1986). For several years she was a disciple of Vinoba Bhave (1895–1982). Bhave, a close associate of Mohandas Gandhi, initiated a voluntary land reform program in 1951. He traveled throughout India to solicit land from large landowners to give to the landless. The program failed, however, when it was recognized that the land actually transferred to new owners was almost worthless agriculturally. After graduating with a degree in philosophy from Nagpur University, Thakar traveled the country as an exponent of the Land Gift Movement.

A chance meeting with Krishnamurti in 1956 began to change Thakar’s life. She encountered him several times over the next five years and absorbed his message of the need for total inward revolution or transformation. She resigned from the Land Gift Movement and began to travel, teaching and lecturing about her experience and its implications. She advocated the meditative life, which, in her view, begins with the observation and transcendence of mental processes. In her view meditation is not an activity but a state of total being in which there is no movement—a dimension of full life.

Thakar’s travels in Europe and America during the 1960s drew followers who organized the Vimala Thakar Foundation (on the pattern of the Krishnamurti Foundation) in Holland and Friends of Vimala Thakar in California. The organizations facilitate lecture tours, publish and distribute books and tapes of Thakar’s lectures, and organize conferences. Emulating Krishnamurti, she created a group with a minimal structure because she wishes to speak as an individual teacher rather than as the representative of an organization. Thakar resides in Mount Abu, in western India, and no longer travels outside her native land.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

Contact with Vimala Thakar. Available from Vimala Thakar Foundation, Huizerweg 46, 1261 AZ Balricum, Holland.

Sources

Vimala Thakar. www.ul.ie/\~sextonb/vt.

Thakar, Vimala. Mutation of Mind.

———. On an Eternal Voyage. Ahmedabad, India: New Order Book Co., 1972.

———. Totality in Essence. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971.

———. Towards Total Transformation. Berkeley, CA: Friends of Vimala Thakar, 1970.

“Vimala Thakar Speaks on Yoga.” Yoga Journal (March/April 1977).

Why Meditation? Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1977.

Vivekananda Vedanta Society

5423 W. Hyde Park Blvd., Chicago, IL 60615

Alternate Address

International headquarters: Ramakrishna Math and Mission, PO Belur Math, Dr. Howrah. W. Bengal 711 202, India.

A branch of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, the Vivekananda Vedanta Society (formerly the Vedanta Society) is the only Hindu organization that was founded in the United States before 1900. In part because of its longevity, it has had a greater impact on the United States than any other Hindu group. The society grew out of the vision of Sri Ramakrishna (1836–1886) and the work of his best-known disciple, Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902).

Ramakrishna was a priest in a Calcutta temple of Kali, a branch of Hinduism in which God is worshiped as universal mother. Through long meditation and intense yearning for direct experience of the divine, Ramakrishna attained the state of samadhi, or God-consciousness. Continuous samadhi became his goal, and he followed a number of sadhanas, or paths to enlightenment, both within and outside the Hindu tradition. He became convinced that the divine mother wished him to remain on the threshold between the absolute and the relative in order to serve as an instrument for the spiritual uplift of humanity and that all religions (including Hinduism) are different paths to the same goal, all gods being different revelations of the same Godhead.

A number of disciples, some of them college-trained intellectuals, gathered around Ramakrisha. Before his death some revered him as an avatar, a divine incarnation. Vivekananda, commissioned by Ramakrishna, forged the younger disciples into a monastic brotherhood and gradually convinced them that, as Ramakrishna’s followers, they had a mission not only to seek enlightenment but also to work to alleviate the suffering of humanity through spiritual ministration and social service.

In 1893 Vivekananda came to the United States to teach the universal religion realized by Ramakrishna. He took the World Parliament of Religions by storm, and for two years he lectured throughout the United States, gathering followers. In November 1894 the Vedanta Society of New York was formed, and in the next few years centers were added in San Francisco and Boston. Each is autonomous but works under the Ramakrishna Order. In 1897 Vivekananda returned to India and organized the Ramakrishna Mission, dedicated to serving humanity in a spirit of worship of the divine dwelling within each person.

The three central ideas of Vedanta monistic philosophy are as follows:

Brahman, or God, is the underlying unity manifested in all. Each person in essence is divine, and the goal of human life is to realize this divinity with oneself and in all others. This realization is the true basis of unselfishness; the divine unity is the basis of love.
Maya, the illusion of individual separateness, is an interpretation of the mind. One perceives variety rather than the underlying unity because of the condition of one’s mind—its prejudices, desires, and fears. Absolute reality can be known even in this life through the purified mind: This possibility has been verified by the great mystics of all religions.
The mind may be purified by a variety of means, and each person’s spiritual life evolves according to his or her mental makeup. Four basic yogas or spiritual disciplines have been codified by Vivekananda: devotion, intellectual discrimination, unselfish work, and psychic control. These correspond to the four basic aspects of the human mind: the emotional, intellectual, active, and reflective. The predominance of one or more of these in an individual determines what path that person should follow.

Vedanta differs from most other Hindu movements in stressing principles over personalities. Vivekananda and his successors have emphasized the universal teachings of Vedanta rather than the personality of Ramakrishna. At the same time freedom is given to the individual follower to worship Ramakrishna or any prophet of any religion as a means to enlightenment. Instruction by a qualified teacher is strongly recommended, although too much emphasis on the personality of the teacher is recognized as a danger. Vedanta’s intellectual approach to Hinduism has found expression in the publication of numerous books, including popular editions of the Upanishads, the Bhagava Gita, and the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali. The dissemination of these words stimulated interest in Hinduism among many prominent Western intellectuals, including Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, and Christopher Isherwood.

Membership

In 2002 the society reported a membership of 250, plus approximately 2,000 contacts. The society has centers with additional members in California; Florida; Illinois; Maryland; Massachusetts; Missouri; New York and Stone Ridge, New York; Portland, Oregon; Providence, Rhode Island; Seattle, Washington; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Australia; Bangladesh; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Bourne End, Buckshire, England; Fiji; Gretz, France; Germany; Kanagawa ken, Japan; Malaysia; Mauritius; Amstelveen, Netherlands; Moscow, Russia; Singapore; South Africa; Sri Lanka; and Switzerland.

Periodicals

Prabudda Bharata (Awakened India). Send orders to 5 Dehi Entally Rd., Calcutta, India 700 014. • Global Vedanta. Send orders to Vedanta Society of Western Washington, 2716 Broadway E, Seattle, WA 98102.

Sources

Vivekananda Vedanta Society. www.vedantasociety-chicago.org.

Gambhrananda, Swami. History of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1957.

Isherwood, Christopher. Ramakrishna and His Disciples. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.

———, ed. Vedanta for the Western World. New York: Viking Press, 1945.

Johnson, Clive, ed. Vedanta. New York: Bantam Books, 1974.

Rolland, Romain. The Life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1970.

VRINDA/The Vrindavan Institute for Vaisnava Culture and Studies

4138 NW 23 Rd. Ave., Miami, FL 33143

VRINDA (The Vrindavan Institute for Vaisnava Culture and Studies) was founded in 1984 by Srila Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Maharaja (b. 1954). A German, Swami Paramadvaiti joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in 1971 in Dusseldorf and eventually became a temple president. ISKCON’s founder, Swami Prahbupada (1896–1977), sent him to South America to spread word of the society there. He found his greatest success in Colombia.

In the year following Prabupada’s death, Swami Paramadvaiti developed an important relationship with Srila Sridhar Maharaja, a Vaisnava guru (and one of Prabhupada’s godbrothers) in India, and took his sannyas vows (a pledge to lead a renounced life) from him. Having broken with ISKCON in 1984, he founded both ISEV (Instituto Superior de Estudios Vedicos) and VRINDA (The Vrindavan Institute for Vaisnava Culture and Studies). In Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, and Peru, he brought a variety of centers (ashrams, farms, cultural centers, and schools) into the new organization, which subsequently spread to countries in Central and North America and to Europe (Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Switzerland). There are missions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States (Florida and Hawaii).

In 1990 VRINDA established its first center in India and later opened a world center in Vrinda Kunja. In Vrindavan VRINDA opened the first Gaudiya Vaisnava Bookstore, from which books and materials from all of the groups in the Krishna-consciousness tradition are distributed. VRINDA has committed itself to translating and publishing books in a variety of languages, especially German and Spanish.

VRINDA is a member of the World Vaisnava Association.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

VRINDA/The Vrindavan Institute for Vaisnava Culture and Studies. www.vrindavan.org.

Swami B. A. Paramadvaiti. Our Family the Gaudiya Math. www.vrindavan.org/English/Books/GMconded.html.

———. “The Temple President.” www.vrindavan.org/bap/index.html.

World Community

Rte. 4, Box 265, Bedford, VA 24523

In 1970 Vasudevadas (also known as Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid) and his wife, Devaki-Ma, founded Prema Dharmasala as a yoga ashram for dedicated lay disciples and renunciates; they also founded the World Community as a community of householders and families who looked to Vasudevadas/Rashid as their spiritual teacher. Throughout the 1970s Prema Dharmasala functioned as the main training center for those who had made a commitment to a life of renunciation and service to God and the human family. In the early 1980s, however, a shift of emphasis to the World Community occurred as the leaders embraced a vision of the community as a symbol of the oneness of truth and the transforming power of divine love. By 1984 Prema Dharmasala had been completely superseded by the World Community.

Rashid is a pir (master or leader) of five Sufi orders: Mujaddidiyya, Naqshbandiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadriyya, and Shadiliyya. He introduces innovative learning methods and helps to integrate Islamic values into mainstream curricula.

The World Community will be located on the acreage previously occupied by the Prema Dharmasala. Centered on a large Temple of All Religions will be a series of interrelated villages, an educational center, a holistic health clinic, and a research and training center for the New Age. The outlines of the emerging plan have remained open to allow for new insight as members become more attuned to truth.

Membership

In 2002 the community reported 150 members.

Sources

World Community. www.circlegroup.org

Love Offerings at Thy Lotus Feet. Bedford, VA: Prema Dharmasala, 1975.

Vasudevadas. Running Out of Time and Who Is Watching? Bedford, VA: Prema Dharmasala Fellowship, 1979.

———. A Time for Eternity. Bedford, VA: Prema Dharmasala and Fellowship Association, 1976.

———. Vasudevadas Speaks to Your Heart. Bedford, VA: Prema Dharmasala and Fellowship Association, 1976.

World Community Service

3676 Delaware Dr., Fremont, CA 94538

The World Community Service was founded in 1911 in Madras, India, by Yogiraj Vethathiri Maharaj, a successful businessman and teacher of kundalini (an unconscious, instinctive, or erotic force) yoga. Vethathiri was born in southern India into a family of weavers. While still a child he placed himself under a spiritual teacher. Early in his development he rejected the impersonal monism taught by many forms of Hinduism and became a devotee of Vinayaka, a Hindu deity. His own reflections on his devotional activity led him to the conviction that God was without shape or form. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Madras to continue his education and, later, to start his own business manufacturing cloth.

After World War II Vethathiri met Swami Paranjothi, a teacher of kundalini yoga and founder of the Temple of Universal Peace in Madras. The practice of kundalini yoga brought together the religious speculations that had held much of his attention throughout his life. He soon discovered that he could project kundalini energy into others and thereby help them. In 1958 Vethathiri established the World Community Service in Madras. Three years later he moved the headquarters to his home town of Guduvancheri, whence it spread throughout India.

Vethathiri teaches simplified kundalini yoga (SKY), a process of arousing the kundalini latent in each individual; this force is often pictured as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine, waiting to uncoil and bring enlightenment. SKY claims to be able to bypass the laborious techniques traditionally considered integral to kundalini yoga and, through shaktipat (the act of a guru or spiritual teacher imparting a form of spiritual power or awakening on a disciple), arouse the kundalini and teach the student how to control the working of the energy, a process called shanti yoga. Once having mastered shanti yoga, the aspirant can have the kundalini fully aroused by Vethathiri through a process called turiya (a state of pure consciousness) yoga and experience a state of tranquility and bliss. Finally, the aspirant is led into a still higher state of consciousness, turiyateetha yoga, in which the individual consciousness is merged with the infinite.

Vethathiri made his first visit to the United States in 1972 at the invitation of the younger brother of the leader of the New Delhi World Community Service Centre. He resided in Bound Brook, New Jersey, where Vethathiri gave his first American lectures and organized the first American World Community Service Centre. The organization spread along the East Coast primarily through the Indian American community. Since the organization of the center, Vethathiri has made annual visits to the United States, and centers have been established across America and in other countries, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Membership

Not reported

Sources

World Community Service. www.vethathiri.org/Home.

Vethathiri, Yogiraj. Atomic Poison. Madras, India: Vethathiri Publications, 2002.

———. Bio Magnetism. Madras, India: Vethathiri Publications, 2003.

———. Physical Transformation of Soul. Madras, India: Vethathiri Publications, 1982.

———. Sex and Spiritual Development. Madras, India: Vethathiri Publications, 1982.

———. The Story of My Life. Madras, India: Vethathiri Publications, 1982.

World Plan Executive Council-US

139 Waldemere Rd., Livingston Manor, NY 12758

The World Plan Executive Council is one of several organizations that claim they are not religious groups and hence should not be included in an encyclopedia of religion. Critics of the council and of the technique it teaches to those affiliated with Transcendental Meditation (TM) have argued forcefully that it is a religion; some go so far as to charge the council with hiding its religious nature in order to deceive the public and gain some benefits available only to nonreligious organizations in the West. Some of these critics took their case to court; in 1978 the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, ruled that the practice of TM was religious in nature and banned the teaching of TM in the public schools of New Jersey. Subsequently, the teaching of TM was dropped from other programs supported by public funds.

In response the World Plan Executive Council has argued that the 1978 court decision was a mistake; it draws attention to the extensive scientific research on the efficacy of TM that has been completed and published in reputable journals. It also argues that its basic theoretical base, the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI), was formulated as a scientific theory, not a religious teaching. It further notes the participation of people of many religions, even clergy, who not only practice TM but also teach it.

The argument between the council and its critics goes to the very heart of the discussion of the definition of religion in both the academic and legal uses of the term. TM emerged in the context of the growth of Eastern religious practice in the West. It is, in fact, impossible to tell the story of the rise of Hinduism in America without reference to TM, which helped to spur the initial wave of Indian teaching to come to America following World War II.

The founder of TM (or rather the modern rediscoverer) was Guru Dev (1870–1953), but its most influential exponent was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917–2008), who spent 13 years in seclusion with Guru Dev and, upon Guru Dev’s death, came forth in 1958 to tell the world about TM. Prior to his life of meditation, he had obtained a B.S. in physics at Allahabad University. In 1959 he made his first world tour, which brought him to the United States. His movement grew slowly until the mid-1960s, when some popular entertainers (including the Beatles, Mia Farrow, and Jane Fonda) identified with it.

In 1972 Maharishi announced his world plan, the overall strategy that guides the movement and from which the council takes its name. The goal of the world plan is to share the science of creative intelligence with the whole world. The immediate objective of the plan is to establish 3,600 world-plan centers (one for each million people on earth) and to staff each center with 1,000 teachers (one for each thousand people on earth.) The ultimate goal is to bring the age of enlightenment.

To carry out its agenda, the World Plan Executive Council has organized into five task-oriented structures. The International Meditation Society is the main structure for introducing the general public to TM. The Spiritual Regeneration Movement works with the “older” generation (people older than thirty), whereas the Student International Meditation Society targets the campus population. Maharishi International University is a four-year university that offers both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with instruction based on presenting traditional material with a TM perspective. The university is in Fairfield, Iowa. The American Foundation for the Science of Creative Intelligence is working within the business community.

In 1976 Maharishi created the World Government of the Age of Enlightenment, described as a nonpolitical global organization that “enjoys sovereignty in the domain of consciousness” and “activity in the eternally dynamic silence of the unified field of all of the forces of nature.” The World Government became an object of passing media attention in 1983, when Maharishi offered its services to the world’s governments to assist them in solving their problems.

The essence of TM is a form of japa yoga—meditation with a mantra, a sound constantly repeated silently during meditation and upon which the meditator concentrates. Each individual begins his process of meditation with initiation. At that time he is given an individual mantra for his/her own use; it is not to be revealed to others. The mantra is most often given by a certified TM instructor. The initiation ceremony, during which members repeat a number of “prayers” to Hindu deities and offer veneration to a long line of gurus, became a cornerstone of the case built by critics claiming TM is a religious practice.

The overall perspective of the council is spelled out in Maharishi’s book The Science of Being and the Art of Living, which presesnts a complete cosmology. According to Maharishi, underneath the universe is the absolute field of pure being, unmanifested and transcendental. Being is the ultimate reality of creation. The science of being teaches how to contact ultimate reality. TM is the tool. Once the meditation begins, one starts to “live the being,” and the council offers instruction on correct thinking, speaking, acting, and health. The goal is God-realization. Maharishi’s teaching is “the summation of the practical wisdom of the integrated life as advanced by the Vedic Rishis of ancient India.” That is to say, the ultimate goal of TM is to “achieve the spiritual goals of mankind in this generation.” At the time of his death in 2008, Maharishi had no legal affiliation to the World Plan Executive Council. He is looked upon as the founder of TM and the Science of Creative Intelligence. Through his books, taped lectures, and constant presence in picture and thought, his spirit still dominates the organization.

The council’s encouragement of widespread research and documentation of its effects have helped to impart credibility and popularity to TM. More than 500 research studies have been completed at universities and colleges in more than 25 nations. Many of these have been published in academic journals and later reprinted and circulated by the movement. Such studies document the role of the practice of TM in (among other things) curbing alcohol and drug abuse, assisting in the rehabilitation of criminals and delinquents, increasing productivity on the job, producing a more healthy body, improving athletic performance, and raising intelligence.

The growth of TM during the early 1970s was rapid, and widespread media coverage helped provide openings in the business world, the U.S. Army, and the school system. Growth began to slow in the mid-1970s and decreased rapidly following the 1978 court decision. That same year TM announced its siddha program, a course in advanced techniques that allowed the student to gain various super-normal capacities, including levitation, invisibility, mastery over nature, and fulfillment of all desires. The overall goal was the creation of the Age of Enlightenment. Although many signed up for the course, it aroused attacks from many who argued that it was impossible to produce the advertised results. In 1987 a former TM instructor sued the organization over the siddha claims and was granted a $138,000 judgment.

During the 1980s the council has continued to extend its programs into broader areas of life. In the late 1980s a major promotional program for Ayurvedic medicine was launched, and the Maharishi Center for Ayur-Veda opened in Fairfield, Iowa. The center’s directors have introduced “Maharishi Amrit Kalesh,” an herbal supplement. It is being marketed by Maharishi Ayurvedic Products International. The council has sponsored the establishment of the Natural Law Party, a political party active in the United States and several European countries. The Natural Law Party offers the council’s program to the electorate as an alternative to traditional political party platforms.

Membership

Not reported. By 2008 an estimated 6 million people had taken the basic TM course in the United States; many of those, however, are not continuing to practice TM. In 1978 the organization had more than 7,000 authorized teachers and 400 teaching centers. Researchers have noted that TM peaked in 1976, when it initiated 292,273 people. By the end of that year, however, it had begun a radical decline. In 1977 it initiated only 50,000.

Educational Facilities

Maharishi International University, Fairfield, Iowa • Maharishi Open University • Maharishi University of Management • Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment • Maharishi Academy of Total Knowledge • Maharishi Spiritual University • and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention.

Periodicals

MIU World. Send orders to 1000 N. 4th St., DB 1155, Fairfield, IA 52557-1155. • Modern Science and Vedic Science.

Sources

World Plan Executive Council—US. www.tm.org/resources.

Bainbridge, William Sims, and Daniel H. Jackson. “The Rise and Decline of Transcendental Meditation.” In The Future of Religion, eds. Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.

Bloomfield, Harold H., Michael Peter Cain, and Dennis T. Jaffe. TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress. New York: Delacorte Press, 1975.

Carrey, Normand J., and Lynn A. Suess. TM and Cult Mania. North Quincy, MA: Christopher Publishing House, 1980.

Ebon, Martin, ed. Maharishi, the Guru. New York: New American Library, 1968.

Goldhaber, Nat. TM: An Alphabetical Guide to the Transcendental Meditation Program. New York: Ballantine Books, 1976.

Lewis, Gordon R. Transcendental Meditation. Glendale, CA: G/L Regal Books, 1975.

Jefferson, William. The Story of the Maharishi. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.

Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. Life Supported by Natural Law. Washington, DC: Age of Enlightenment Press, 1986.

———. Love and God. N.p., Age of Enlightenment Press, 1973.

———. The Science of Being and Art of Living. London: International SRM Publications, 1966.

Orme-Johnson, David W., and John T. Farrows, eds. Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program: Collected Papers, I. Seelisberg, Switzerland: Maharishi European Research University Press, 1977.

Patton, John E. The Case Against TM in the Schools. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book ouse, 1976.

Roth, Robert. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation. Maharishi University of Management Press, 1994.

Scott, R. D. Transcendental Misconceptions. San Diego, CA: Beta Books, 1978.

White, John. Everything You Want to Know About TM, Including How to Do It. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.

Yasodhara Ashram Society

Box 9, Kootenay Bay, BC, Canada V0B 1X0

The Yasodhara Ashram Society was founded by Swami Sivananda (1911–1995) (Sylvia Hellman, a German-born Canadian citizen). In her forties, while meditating, she saw the face of Swami Sivananda Saraswati in a vision. She traveled to India and was initiated as a sannyasin (renunciate) by Sivananda into the Saraswati (monastic) Order in 1956. At Sivananda’s direction she returned to Canada to update Eastern teachings for a Western audience. From 1956 to 1963, the ashram was in Vancouver but then was moved to Kootenay Bay, in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia.

Swami Radha expanded the teachings of yoga to include Western psychology and symbolism in order to create a bridge of understanding between East and West. Swami Radha introduced numerous practical techniques that aim to enhance daily living and expand consciousness. She is one of the foremost authorities on kundalini (an unconscious, instinctive, or erotic energy) yoga. The ashram offers courses on various aspects of yoga, retreat packages for groups and individuals, and a three-month, personal-growth intensive course each winter. The Temple of Divine Light Dedicated to All Religions was completed in 1992. Connected with the ashram is the Association for the Development of Human Potential, also founded by Swami Radha, and the ashram’s publishing arm, Timeless Books, both located in Spokane, Washington.

Membership

In 2002 the Ashram reported 108 members. There are also affiliated centers, called Radha Houses, across Canada and the United States, as well as in England.

Educational Facilities

Yasodhara Ashram Society Centre, Kootenay Bay, British Columbia, Canada.

Periodicals

Ascent.

Sources

Yasodhara Ashram Society. www.yasodhara.org.

Radha, Sivannada. Gods Who Walk the Rainbow. Porthill, ID: Timeless Books, 1981.

———. Hatha Yoga, Hidden Language. Port Hill, ID: Timeless Books, 1987.

———. Kundalini: Yoga for the West. Spokane, WA: Timeless Books, 1978.

———. Light and Vibration: Consciousness, Mysticism, and the Culmination of Yoga. Timeless Books. 176 pp.

———. Mantras: Words of Power. Porthill, ID: Timeless Books, 1980.

———. Radha: Diary of a Woman’s Search. Porthill, ID: Timeless Books, 1981.

Yoga House Ashram

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Yoga House Ashram was founded in the mid-1970s by Vimalananda (b. 1942), a former leader of the Ananda Marga Yoga Society. Dadaji, as he is affectionately known to his followers, was born to a Brahmin family in Badwel, in the south of India. At the age of six, he had an intense initiation experience of divine light filling his room and a voice instructing him on the path of enlightenment. He began to pursue the inner life, and at the age of sixteen, he became an instructor of meditation. In 1962 he met Sri Anandamurti, the founder of the Ananda Marga Yoga Society, and was impressed with both his spirituality and his program of service to humanity, especially the sick, the elderly, and the poor. Anandamurti was equally impressed with his young disciple and quickly elevated him to the status of teacher of yoga. In 1966 Dadaji left India to spread Ananda Marga. He was responsible for starting centers in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. The government and the United Nations honored him for his efforts on behalf of the victims of the 1968 earthquake that struck Manila.

In 1969 Dadaji came to the United States and assisted in the spread of Ananda Marga. In the mid-1970s, however, he left Ananda Marga and founded the Yoga House Ashram. Since that time he has spent his time creating his own following in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Dadaji came to the United States with a strong desire to bridge the gap between East and West. He teaches a traditional yoga but has retained the emphasis on social action he found in Ananda Marga. He teaches his students to keep their role in society as they strive for God.

Membership

Not reported. The work of the Yoga House Ashram is confined to northern California, where Dadaji Vimalananda teaches yoga at a variety of locations in the greater San Francisco Bay area.

Sources

Vimalananda, Dadaji. Yogamritam (The Nectar of Yoga). San Rafael, CA: Yoga House Ashram, 1977.

Yoga in Daily Life

National Center, 2402 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA 22301

Yoga in Daily Life is the name of the organization and the system of yoga created by Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, affectionately known as Swamiji. As a youth in India, Swamiji met his teacher Paramhans Swami Madhavananda (generally referred to as “Holy Guruji”), under whom he gained self-realization when he was seventeen years old. In 1972 Swamiji moved to Europe to teach yoga. As he contemplated the pervasive problems faced by individuals struggling in the modern world, he developed the system he called Yoga in Daily Life, emphasizing the ancient yoga tradition recast to speak to modern civilization.

Yoga in Daily Life is built around a few basic principles: the building of physical, mental, and spiritual health; respect for life; tolerance for all religions, cultures, and nationalities; global peace; protection of human rights and values; and the protection of the environment and preservation of nature. The principles find expression in a variety of humanitarian projects sponsored and supported by Yoga in Daily Life, including several in Rajasthan, the area of India in which Swamiji was raised.

Membership

Not reported. There are centers in twenty-six countries worldwide; the American Association includes three centers, one each in Alexandria, Virginia, Atlanta, Georgia, and New York City.

Sources

American Association of Yoga in Daily Life. www.yoga-in-daily-life-usa.com/.

Maheshwarananda, Paramhans Swami. Meetings with a Yogi. Columbia, MO: South Asia Books, 1994.

Maheshwarananda, Paramhans Swami. Yoga in Daily Life: The System. Korneuburg, Germany: Ueberreuther, 2000.

Yoga Research Foundation

6111 SW 74th Ave., Miami, FL 33143

Alternate Address

Indian headquarters: International Yoga Society, Lal Bagh, Loni–201 102, Ghaziabad, U.P., India.

Swami Jyotirmayananda (b. 1931) began his religious pilgrimage as an ascetic, emerged into teaching and editing, and became a leading figure at Swami Sivananda Saraswati’s Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. He came to the United States in 1962 and founded the Sanantan Dharma Mandir, with headquarters in Puerto Rico. The headquarters were moved to Miami under the present name in 1969. Jyotirmayananda teaches integral yoga. The foundation offers classes in yoga philosophy, ancient Hindu texts from India (the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas, Puranas, Yoga Vasistha, Srimad Bhagavatam), hatha yoga, and meditation. He has developed a vast publishing program centered on his many books, cassettes, study courses, and monthly magazine.

Membership

In 1995 the foundation reported approximately 2,000 active members. There is one center in Miami and one near Delhi, India. The foundation considers the subscribers to the magazine and recipients of the International Yoga Guide to be members.

Periodicals

International Yoga Guide. • Integral Light.

Sources

Yoga Research Foundation. www.yrf.org.

Jyotir Maya Nanda, Swami. The Way to Liberation. Miami, FL: Swami Lalitananda, 1976.

———. Yoga Can Change Your Life. Miami, FL: International Yoga Society, 1975.

———. Yoga in Life. Miami, FL: Swami Jyotir Maya Nanada, 1973.

———. Yoga of Sex-Sublimation, Truth, and Nonviolence. Miami, FL: Swami Lalitananda, 1974.

———. Yoga Vasistha. Miami, FL: Yoga Research Society, 1977.

Dharma Mittra Yoga

297 3rd Ave. at 23rd St., New York, NY 10010

Yogi Gupta, born in Kanpur in the north of India, was a lawyer who left his profession to become a monk in the sannyasa (renunciate) order in Banaras. At that time he was renamed Swami Kailashananda and became a major teacher of yoga. He also founded the Kailashananda Mission at Rishikesh. Basic to Yogi Gutpa’s teaching is hatha yoga, with its various postures (asanas). Hatha is the entrance into various other disciplines, including psychic development, vegetarianism, and yogic philosophy. Proponents of this variant of yoga claim that it promotes self-mastery, self-fulfillment, success, and freedom. Yogi Gupta first came to the United States in 1954. He founded a center in 1974 in New York City. Shri Dharma Mittra, who studied under Swami Kailashananda, now runs the studio and yoga center; he speaks throughout the United States about yoga and philosophy.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Dharma Mittra Yoga. www.dharmayogacenter.com.

Gupta, Yogi. Shradha and Heavenly Fathers. New York: Yogi Gupta New York Center, n.d.

———. Yoga and Long Life. New York: Dodd, Mead, & Company, 1958.

———. Yoga and Yogic Powers. New York: Yogi Gupta New York Center, 1963.

Mittra, Dharma. Askanas. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2003.