Wasteland of swamis/gurus/yogis in the second half of 20th century and beyond N K Srinivasan This article surveys the scene

of nearly a hundred swamis/gurus/yogis of Indian origin who started to spread yoga/Vedanta in various streams in the west---- in western Europe and the USA . Most of them were beginners in yoga ; several of them were charlatans or sexual perverts who spoiled the fair name of Hindu traditions. While the great ones like Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society, Swami Chinmayananda and Paramahansa Yogananda [the author of "Autobiography of a Yogi"] taught thousands of sincere seekers with high degree of rigor and sincerity, most

others pandered to the needs of restless westerners . Their aim seemed to be rapid expansion of their

clientele; some even have started 'franchising" their yoga teaching ,like McDonald chain of restaurants, using instructors with a few weeks of training. Some have

correspondence courses and

certification procedures with

three or more levels of short training for the aspirants. While yogis like B K S Iyengar had taught routine "hatha yoga" in a disciplined manner, others mix and match different techniques with tall claims. The reputation of such masters like Iyengar is impeccable.But how many such masters are there in this field? { I do not include those teachers who taught only 'Hatha Yoga' in this survey article.] The Yogis/Gurus claim special powers and also tell others that a "guru can do no wrong", and 'a guru is doing everything for betterment of the chelas or disciples", adding that "one's ego should be crushed at the feet of a Guru"--like the mythical crushing of asura or demon at the feet of dancing God, Lord Nataraja. Such statements imply investing enormous power with a guru over disciples,

especially over women disciples leading to sexual exploitation. Statements like these which are stated in advaitic terms for true celibates or sannyasis do not

apply to perverted ,half-baked gurus we find today.

Training of Gurus It is very important to investigate closely the training a guru had received or experiences--- he/she has had in this area of work. Most yogis and gurus I have heard about had received only very short training for a few months to a couple of years of formal tutorship. This is different from the long training with a master spanning several years in secluded places---the classical ashram process for any guru. Some have even faked their experience with false information too. One Advaitic guru , though a highly educated professional ,had no formal training at all ,but had listened to an enlightened master and translated the master's speech from local language to English. After some years, he would become an authority of Advaita in his own manner and try to train others.

While one need not be a sannyasin or celebate monk to teach yoga or Vedanta, if one had taken sannyas vows ,he should remain celibate. I cannot strongly emphasize this point; many had violated their vow of celibacy after taking Sannyas or monastic vows.. This had led to sexual perversions or exploitation by these gurus both in India and abroad.[There were many great householder gurus in India--- for instance Lahiri Mahasay.] In fact only a sannyasi can wear a saffron colored or gerua garment in Hindu tradition. This dress code marks them as celebate monks. While those who had not taken Sannyas, can move around with a white dress and they are

free to marry later.Their status in the Hindu tradition is considered much less than that of a fully ordained Sannyasi or monk belonging to a swami order.. I am elaborating all these points because many westerners are misinformed about such matters.

Wave of Gurus in the West

Following the initial success of

Srila Prabhupada of

Hare Krishna Movement [ISKCON] and the TM ["Transcendental Meditation "]marketing by Mahesh Yogi [ with trade mark symbol too!], a wave of Gurus landed in the USA from India. The condition was also favorable. Many youth were taking to drugs ; the hippie culture was in full swing; Many parents were worried about the life style and "dropping out" of young people from the normal,disciplined life. They thought that these yogis /gurus would wean them away from these behavior and help the youth. It is fair to say that many youth did get such benefits from following these gurus,whatever may be the mode of their teaching. So, some of the gurus became immensely popular and gathered lot of money from wealthy supporters, usually parents of those students. It was also the scene of Vietnam War and the youth

protests against it in college campuses.. [On a personal note, I was a graduate student at Columbia University, New York at that time.The year was 1967.] I was watching the

arrival of all these gurus---with

different level of

authenticity---talking to students and recruiting them for their yoga/vedanta courses. Timothy Leary and Ram Dass [Alpert] were also famous among the youth. There was a fascination for Hinduism and Buddhism.[The pop culture was enamored of the classical Indian music of Pandit

Ravishankar.] I could mention the arrival of many these gurus--not in chronological order: Swami Satchitananda, Swami Chinmoy, Yogi S A A Ramaiah,Swami Rama , Swami Muktananda, Swami Vishnudevananda [Canada], Swami Sivananda Radha [canada], Yogi Bhajan... Branding the merchandise These yogis/swamis learned the American business culture very fast. They would develop their own brand of yoga: integral yoga, tantric yoga, kriya yoga in various forms,pranayams of different kinds,kundalini yoga, Laya yoga, Sudh Sahaja yoga and so on...

Each claimed that his own brand of yoga was the best to follow ---- the easy and fast track for self-realization

or enlightenment and all the others are pedestrian approaches. In order to capture the potential market, the swamis expanded fast---with short training programs [1 to 3 months] and retreats, and training instructors to teach others. They opened yoga centers in all major cities [ New York , LA, Chicago, San Francisco being main ones] with branches in bigger towns. They even franchised the operations to local instructors who have been initiated into yoga in a few weeks --like the McDonald Chain! Most of them had several short courses and certification programs in which some rudimentary knowledge was imparted. Almost all the swamis became super-rich in a short time; many built large ashrams in the USA; some could even own private jets in the name of the ashram. A greedy master did not know what to do with the money after developing a commune; to satisfy his bloated ego, he bought several

expensive

cars [nearly 90 of them] and parked them in a

row in the open yard. With their limited and shallow knowledge of yoga and Vedanta, they would write several books---mostly compiled from their lectures and talks. It was almost mandatory that they should bring out a book on the Bhagavad Gita ,the sacred scripture of the Hindus ;--a translation and commentaries on the text would increase the prestige of the Guru. They may also write annotations on a few Upanishads or Vedanta texts. Writing on the Gita and the Upanishads did not prove very difficult since literally dozens of English translations with commentaries were available. While most swamis could not speak or write English well, they were ably assisted by western women who were English majors or ghost writers. In many books, the Gurus filled the pages with personal anecdotes and stories from Hindu mythical texts--- much of them common knowledge to Indian school children.

In a sense such writings did help Americans and Europeans to learn more about Hinduism and Yoga , and brought many concepts home. Book publishing was a major source of income for all these gurus. The gurus prevailed upon

their devotees to sell these books in their neighborhood. One swami's group even set targets for sale of books by their chelas. Among the various paths, 'Kundalini yoga' is a tough path and poorly understood even by great yogis. Shaktipat and Chakra healing , related to Kundalini yoga, are difficult processes. Yet some yogis ,in their eagerness to popularize these resorted to short cuts, promising instant realizations or awakening, thereby misguiding many westerners. Such misdirected training goes on even today.It is not possible to provide 'instant awakening" by this path as claimed by many gurus who are ill trained in the first place. Contrary to various assertions, Kundalini yoga involves considerable practice of devotional path or bhakti yoga and chanting of mantras and meditation.Mass

awakening by these techniques is misguided teaching. The kundalini practices are money spinners for the gurus. Some subtly included sexual perversions as part of the

practices. The damage done to many followers are too hard to quantify.Yet, those who preached these became immensely popular in a short time. Positive effects of gurus There were,indeed, some positive effects in the society in North America and elsewhere because of these gurus. Besides helping young persons not taking to drugs, the swamis were welcomed in many communities. The yoga practices help to reduce stress and promote some measure of calmness and peace within. This was touted as the main benefits for highly materialistic, over strung, stressed men and women. Some scientific studies showed positive results in the laboratories. For instance, TM of Mahesh Yogi was shown to reduce blood pressure, metabolic rate and change brain

waves during the meditation session. Dr Herbert Benson at Harvard Medical School became a strong advocate of TM meditation and wrote a book. Swami Rama demonstrated that pulse could be stopped for several seconds and other effects by his yogic practice at the clinic of Menninger Foundation in Kansas. Such studies lend credence to the [physiological] positive effects of Yoga. Mental and spiritual benefits are more subjective and could not be proven easily in the laboratory! [TM team even claimed that crime rate in a city could be reduced by about 1% of population meditating in the TM way.] The merchandising of yoga became a profitable venture for many yogis and swamis that soon they bought large property for ashrams and retreats and also built several Hindu temples. In ashrams devoted students would, presumably,get intense training and also handle administrative functions.Many

swamis, with their large public relation efforts , needed help to keep the media flooded with information.

Some swamis cleverly interpreted the path of Karma Yoga. In Yoga methods, "Karma Yoga" means selfless service, rendered as an offering to the Divine. These swamis demanded physical labor at the ashrams-- without payment --- as part of "karma yoga" practice. With the concept of volunteerism deeply rooted in American culture, this became easy to demand from the devotees. Some ashramites would protest against such practice which was brushed aside by the Swamis. There were other positive effects of the swami waves. Since many Americans had stopped going to church [except the elderly] and were not exposed to church music or choir, many were attracted to Hindu bhajans and formal worship [with incense and chanting,clapping hands to a rhythm, making hand waving with lamp called "Arati" with hymnal singing using tabla [a drum] and sitar or violin string instruments and with harmonium] which had hypnotic, often soothing effect. It is a moot point how much of the esoteric meaning or

devotional content of the hymns were absorbed by the singing crowd. Many could hardly pronounce the words of the songs properly.[The context of many of the hymns are the mythical stories related to gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. Much of it would take many months or years for a westerner to absorb or one should read large books of Joseph Campbell to fully appreciate them. ]The novices felt that it was part of their devotion to learn and sing those hymns, rewritten in English script. Another positive effect was the spread of vegetarianism since almost all ashrams and swamis would allow only vegetarian foods.The devotees would consume vegetarian food at least within the ashram premises. There was a major positive effect in India. All the swamis,with a few exceptions,owned large ashrams and initiated several local charity activities to help the poverty stricken neighborhoods and villages. Soon they would build schools and colleges,dispensaries and hospitals ,big and small, promote Ayurvedic

medicines,old-age homes and orphanages. Some upgraded their colleges into universities. Many westerners ,touched by the abject poverty in rural areas ,sponsored many "projects" in India and raised funds in the USA and Europe. Besides increasing the tourism part, the social service element of swami circuits gained importance in India. In fact the locals welcomed swamis in their midst for the obvious social benefits and turned a blind eye to the shallow interpretations of the scriptures or sexual perversions of the swamis. The charity and educational and health activities of these swamis are considerable and do have a large impact towards poverty alleviation in India. Again many of these activities have also come under some criticism for the way in which some of these institutions are run. In several instances, the institutions and trusts of these swamis are not transparent with poor accountability; nepotism and mild forms of corruption, peculiar to India, have seeped in. [The trust that

was run

by the late Sathya Sai Baba [who passed away in

April 2011] is being scrutinised now for lack of transparency.] Yet, these works generate lot of employment for the poor and bring about some development at the

local level. There is yet another effect, not usually expressed: these charity/edu/medical activities have blunted the proselytising or religious conversions attempted by other religious groups in India--which were always resented by devout Hindus. In general Hindus are highly tolerant people for any deviations, stating that these are minor aberrations and in fatalistic tone, they would say that 'if they [swamis']misbehave ,God would punish them sooner or later and they would pay their price for accumulating bad karma.".This would silence the local critics and journalists/media persons. Sexual Exploitation

In the 1980's, several reports emerged from the hallowed gurudom of sexual abuse and exploitation by the gurus. Most gurus have been carrying on affairs with their women devotees far too long.The victims were often silenced or made to believe that such sexual encounter with a master is a kind of spiritual experience or for the good of the devotee!. Oftentimes, the victims were brainwashed and terrorized so that they would not speak out. Some swamis used the tantric label to their sexual practices, giving some legitimacy for their perversions. While some swamis openly encouraged tantric sex, others covertly suggested that. Soon enough, several women devotees would express the sexual abuse of the masters or gurus and take legal action against them. The ugly developments often filled news reports. Unfortunately most of the swamis accused of sexual molestation were old---in their sixties and seventies.Why they were not prosecuted earlier? Were they protected by some senior members for many years?....no one

can tell. It so happened that many swamis/gurus fled the scene and migrated to Europe from America or reached India. One swami had to pay a heavy compensation to the victims. He went back to his parent ashram near the Himalayas and passed on after a year.Another famous Guru, due to criminal charges had to flee from USA. After several failed landed attempts for asylum in other countries, he finally in his mother-land--India to revive his old

ashram. The tolerant local residents accommodated this notorious ,prodigal son in their midst.I have also heard of one swami ending his own life .Some swamis were clever.They married their loved one and settled down to

family life--calling the spouse 'rishi-patni" and starting a lineage of their own with children, but continuing to wear the saffron robe of a sannyasi! Bhakti Cults The devotional path or the path of Bhakti to Hindu gods

and goddesses, a kind of pagan worship, though Hinduism is based on Absolute Brahman,is a valid path for

self-realization. This path is considered easier,compared to Jnana or Raja Yoga. This path can be followed by all---even those with poor health and limited knowledge of scriptures. This path ,which is no different from the methods of Catholic church or Anglican Church [minus their doctrines], with lot of rituals,prayers,fasting and festivals ,would appeal to a few moderns.When this was packaged by Hindu yogis, there was something exotic about that and also the charisma of Swamis carried much weight. Hare Krishna movement or Krishna Consciousness [ISKCON] is basically a Bhakti movement in the tradition of Gaudia math in Bengal state of India;it is a part of Vaishnava [Vishnu worshipping] sect which is steeped in devotional

methods. Srila Prabhupada could establish in a short time [when he was of 69 years age] several centers in USA with very large following. This means that Hindu-style

devotional path would also attract students in rationalminded, non-church going America. Many western boys and girls took to this movement at a very young age, shaving their heads, donning Indian style clothes, playing Indian instruments and wearing caste marks.. The Swami would give nice Indian names to the girls---Jane would become "Janaki", the name of consort of Lord Rama in the epic "Ramayana" and Shirley would be rechristened 'Sharada" and so on. Silent preachers There were many docile preachers, mostly lay-persons with interest in yoga and particular saints. They helped to spread quietly what the high flown swamis could not establish on solid grounds ---men like Lex Hixon,Eknath Easwaran, Tweedale ,several lay disciples of Paramahansa Yogananda like Oliver Black and Norman Paulson, disciples of Meher Baba, among others.The work of monks of Ramakrishna Order with their vedanta centres has been a shining example and beacon light in this dark,murky world

of half-baked gurus.The monks fo Chinmaya Mission and Divine Life Society of Swami Sivananda have been spreading the knowledge of vedanta both in the west and in Africa and in Australia. Sannyas in the gurudoms Sannyasis are ordained Hindu monks while Sannaysinis are nuns.In India such sannyashood is difficult to attain. The preparations are long;intense discipline is imposed ; one has to renounce many things and take vows of poverty and celibacy for life. The process would take many years. Most important ,one should sever connections with family and kith and kin.Most swamis would test the novice very

carefully and postpone such ordination till the novice is fully prepared to take to sannyas. Mere scholarship is not sufficient. Though the rigor of Sannyashood had decreased over the decades in India in the 20th century,even now the disciplines imposed are heavy and cannot be borne by all

aspirants. The biggest mistake many swamis did in USA and in western countries is to offer Sannyas to many after very little preparation or mental discipline. It became easy to don the ochre robe and preach to others and roam around with the names 'Swami --------ananda' .Some of them became sexual predators easily because of their outward cloak of monkhood--like the proverbial wolf in sheep skin.. Needless to add that their knowledge and spiritual attainments were meagre and yet their pomposity would be shocking. One acharya [who later was called Bhagavan] would give sannyas after a week in his ashram, once they buy their saffron robes and bead necklaces and pay a nominal sum at the office. I am very much turned against the self-styled gurus and charlatans mainly for this tendency to offer sannyas to unworthy persons in the society. This had spoiled the fair name of Hindu practices in the west.Furthermore many of the swamis lacked the basic traits of simplicity and humility.

Preachers/Gurus in India What about the more recent phenomena in the 1980-2000 period, when many westerners flocked to gurus in India ? --for learning or for serious spiritual practice. [Many combined such trips with tourism in India---visiting Taj Mahal in Agra and Jaipur in Rajasthan and a few temples

in the South.]One Vedanta teacher, trained with a great swami,even called India as a "spiritual superpower". There are traditional ashrams in India ,providing long training and intense study. These western students would not find easy access there. So they preferred Gurus who can explain a few things,give them instant 'selfrealization" or "enlightenment" if possible, and plenty of lecture notes and books and some authenticity or testimonial to teach in USA after their return up --- to set

a 'shop' in the USA. They would also write books after

their return, with provocative titles such as "How to Know God" or " Awakening Consciousness". Most of them stayed for about three months or less; the longest stay would be

about a year.They would pick up some Sanskrit terms and loaded with books and malas [rosary] they would call themselves new age gurus.If they aspire for a broad understanding, that is alright,but they are ill prepared for teaching to others back in Europe or USA or Canada. For their requirements they found two very easy gurus/teachers: H W L Poonja [aka Poonjaji or Papaji] in Lucknow and Ramesh Balsekar in Mumbai [Bombay]. Both were considered advaitic masters, teaching 'Advaita" or Non-duality , a part of Jnana Yoga--" the path of Knowledge." Advaita or non-duality is a well defined path, too

scientific for intellectual minds; There had been great advaitic teachers/sages down the ages. Adi Shankara is well known ,[788 -820 AD according to most scholars]and started Advaitic mathas or monasteries and wrote extensively his interpretations of the scriptures. There were other advaitic sages---Madhusudhan Saraswathi[15th

century],Sadashiva Brhamendra [17th century], Appayya Dikshitar [18th century] to mention a few. One of the recent and highly illumined sage was Bhagwan

Ramana Maharshi [of Thiruvannamalai] about which much had been written in English. Poonjaji was an early disciple of Ramana Maharshi along with many others at that time.[Incidentally my father was also a devotee and a student of Ramana Maharshi and I visit this ashram

often.] Poonjaji had association with Ramana for many years and learned the Advaitic doctrine and the method of Self-inquiry or 'Atma Vichara', a particular technique propounded by Ramana as the easy one for modern people. Advaita as such is well understood by modern scholars and several works are available. While it is possible to 'learn' this branch of Jnana Yoga for self-realization with some effort, it is extremely difficult to "practise' this method. It is deceptively simple in theory, but extra-ordinarily difficult to incorporate in daily life.In fact many start with such a path and then move on

to others. It is well suited for monastics, who have already renounced many things, but not easy for householders.Why?--because we live in an essentially dualistic world---the world of names and forms for

everything.When we are born,we are either male or female.We experience heat and cold,good and bad, light and darkness, sweet and bitter, wealth and poverty and so on. Therefore great masters always combined pure 'advaita ' with generous doses of devotional practices. A few brave souls have attempted Advaita and had succeeded in recent

times, both in India and in the West.But the number is very small. Many from the west were attracted to Advaita because it is intellectually stimulating and satisfying and felt that it can be "easily learned". This assumption of 'easy learning' is a part of the problem. It is easy to understand with some mental constructs or theorising ,and a master like Poonjaji could help towards that... The

practice of this method and attaining self-realization is altogether a different matter.It is one thing to know what Advaita is all about and even give lectures with some competence but a different matter to 'experience' advaitic state. Be that as it may, many westerners flocked to Lucknow to

study with the master H W L Poonja [ Papaji] for some time and came out with the feeling that they had understood advaita and perhaps experienced higher states of consciousness. Whether Poonjaji authorized them or not, they started teaching what is now called "neo-advaita" in USA. I have great personal regard for Poonjaji who had come from an illustrious family and who sought Jnana seriously with Ramana. But his manner of teaching or training was mainly lectures and question and answer sessions which could hardly help to train Jnana yogis.The disciples were often mistaken into thinking that they had attained Jnana after listening to Papaji and would thereby qualify for

teaching to others. Poonjaji himself perhaps realised this mistake towards later part of his teaching ministry, but it was too late. According to some, there was another current for the wide popularity of Poonjaji ; after the passing of Osho Rajneesh, many sought another guru and Poonjaji was easily accessible. So they moved from Pune to Lucknow.I would not delve into further details about Poonjaji's work and personal life. Interested reader may read David Godman's book on this master. Nisargadatta Maharaj was a well-known Jnani in the tradition of Advaita. He was a typical householder, living in a tiny tenement in a crowded market-area or bazaar of

Mumbai. He was a shop-keeper selling bidis or native cigarettes using leaf-wrapping for tobacco which the poor in India use .He was an enlightened master because he had a great guru whom he served with devotion. Leading a simple,humble life, Nisarga taught every one in his small one-room apartment without charging any fee. In fact, he

never collected money and did not move out of

his

tenement for a large mansion or ashram. In the 1970's he attracted a large number of advaita seekers, especially those who had heard attained samadhi in about Ramana but Ramana had already 1950. His teachings were compiled in

English by Maurice Frydman who was an earlier Ramana devotee --the title is "I Am That"[Chetana books/Acorn Books.]There are other books by later devotees as well. Nisarga could speak only in his native language--marathi. So, his talks were translated by many others for western seekers. Ramesh Balsekar ,for whom I have high respect, was a very senior bank executive who used to frequent Nisarga's humble abode and help with translation. After his retirement from bank service in 1977,he devoted more time with Nisarga. After the passing away of Nisarga in 1981, Rameshji started giving lectures on Advaita in an informal manner in his own apartment in central Mumbai. His English was lucid and he had sufficient grasp of Advaita to expound to those who sought his knowledge. Soon

he became very popular with western devotees and wrote many books and gave seminars and retreats.

Many in the west were thrilled by Rameshji's expositions that they were carried away. Many thought that they had attained self-realization by their own thinking process, perhaps triggered by the wise words of Ramesh Balsekar. These students of Ramesh also started preaching Advaita and established the USA. While I have great respect for Poonjaji and Rameshji , I must add that both of them diluted the Advaita method with simplifications or even misinterpreted certain concepts several satsanghas or group discussion in

for the westerners. In the process, they had spawned an "advaita rash" like an allergic reaction and had given rise to shallow perceptions of this great spiritual path. It is not the fault of the masters alone.This is partly due to lack of preparation on the part of seekers who were eager to adopt and to preach yoga to others.

It is possible that some of the later devotees could achieve high state of spiritual attainment, enlightenment or awakening or even self-realization---it is not unlikely, but if they did so, it would be a result of much striving on their part besides the teachings of these masters. Again, in Advaita, it is not the knowledge that counts,but one's own effort and experience. The only favorable outcome is that the word 'advaita' had become more commonplace , like meditation in the sixties and had given rise to sale of lot of books from India and elsewhere. There are other teachers in the traditional style--teaching vedanta and scriptures [Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brhama Sutras] for extended periods, one to three years, with considerable sanskrit teaching. They conduct courses in a structured way in residential schools. I mention here two of them: The Vedanta Institute, Lonavla, near Mumbai run by Swami Parthasarathy and Arsha Vidya Peetham, near Coimbatore, Rishikesh and

at other centers ,run by Swami Dayananda Saraswati. While they are authentic schools for scriptural learning, the spiritual training as in regular ashrams would be limited.I would consider them as extensions of universities or 'patashalas' in Hindu style. IN the last ten years or so, several Swamis with devotional fervor have sprung up.They teach the easier path---given to singing,offering worship and observing rituals and festivals.Some are women teachers of saintly character. Goddess worship takes the main seat here.[Even Ramana encouraged Goddess worship indirectly in his ashram.]Goddess worship is considered powerful because of emotional overtones. Sometimes,some swamis cleverly mixed in tantric forms of worship,even with mild sexual content. Though devout Hindus would frown on these, some in the west have taken these worships into 'sacred sexuality' modes. All these account for much publicity about Goddess worship.

Several swamis still cling onto the regular chanting or upasana with sacred mantras such as Gayathri mantra and offer training in these.But their numbers, unfortunately, are decreasing in the highly commercial realm of gurus. Recent trends in Gurudom Goddess worship has become more acceptable in the west.

Many seek formal means of this form of worship ,lacking in their own religions for many historical and doctrinal reasons. For Hindus, goddess worship is part and parcel of their daily rituals and temple worship. Hindus worship the Supreme Being or Unitary God in three representations: he, she or It: The masculine representation or "he" form ,the father figure , is one of the three gods: Brahma [the creator], Vishnu [the protector or sustainer] and Shiva [the destroyer ](Worship of Brahma had almost disappeared.) So either Vishnu or Shiva are the main deities for worship.

The female representation again takes three forms: Saraswathi ,the Goddess of learning and consort of Brahma; Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth and consort of Vishnu; Parvathi or Sakthi or Durga ,the goddess of power and justice,consort of Shiva. {Interestingly, while Brahma worship had vanished, Saraswathi is still worshiped devoutly,especially by scholars and students. Much of Goddess worship had centered around worship of Parvathi or Shakti or Devi, again in various forms such as Durga, Lalita, Bhuvaneshwari or Jagan Mata.[Tantric cults are again worshippers of either Shakti or Lakshmi.] Shakti is a ferocious goddess who may destroy personal or social enemies to preserve order in the world. Many westerners have taken interest in the forms and rituals of Goddess worship. Mother Goddess or Earth Goddess [Giaia or Bhuvaneshwari] are also forms of worship. Goddess worship appeals to our emotions.A goddess

is always full of compassion and love, ready to forgive a bad child. The worship of "it" is the vedic Brahman, impersonal,genderless, without attributes.This form appeals to Advaitins and some sects. In recent years, a few female Gurus of saintly disposition have emerged. I shall mention only two of them. Mata Amritanandamayi [a.k.a "Ammachi" , "hugging saint"] is too well-known to need elaboration here. Hailing from a fishing village in Kerala state, she had become a loving guru for millions in the West and in India.She had promoted devotional path, with singing bhajans, formal pujas and festivals.Her charismatic influence and simplicity have enormous influence on people of different countries.Her service activities in India are well established.She had also contributed much for natural disaster relief projects. Mata Karunamayi ,hailing from a backward region of Andhra

Pradesh, is also of devotional path and gaining popularity in the west.Her social service activities are also extensive and commendable. There are other gurus---too many to mention here---who promise instant nirvana for a hefty fee.One resourceful guru titled himself as an avatar of Vishnu, with his wife as Goddess Lakshmi , and claimed several miracles. He would offer self-realization by his touch for a substantial fee . Another woman guru, a teacher of

Advaita ,attracted many with her smattering of philosophy and again claimed supernatural powers. When faced with personal and financial problems , she chose to end her life by self-immolation. Another famous guru with little or no knowledge of yoga or vedanta and no proper guru, claimed an awakening of some sort and would build an ashram with strange meditational practices and construct modern temples with consecration of 'mystic energies'. Two gurus in recent times were prosecuted for sexual misconduct with loss of their large clientele. Many such

gurus have had their rub with local law and order officials and faced criminal charges..Yet they carry on

their trade with greater vigor. But then public always have a short memory. It is high time that both th elocals and westerners investigate the past record and credentials of these self-styled gurus.By normal reckoning,a guru must have had at least ten years of training under a master in an ashram or gurukul. [Ramana , after his initial awakening as a boy of 17 years, practised penance for nearly 22 years in various caves.]He or she must have practised meditation or penance with austere lifestyle for several years.In a lighter vein,I would add that it is safer for women devotees to fall at the feet of gurus who had crossed sixty years or more.! Concluding remarks While some positive benefits have accrued from these swamis/yogis and the knowledge of Hindu methods including