Gurus in America

Thomas A. Forsthoefel And Cynthia Ann Humes - Editors

Description

Gurus in America provides an excellent introduction to the guru phenomenon in the United States, with in-depth analyses of nine important Hindu gurus—Adi Da, Ammachi, Mayi Chidvilasananda, Gurani Anjali, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Osho, Ramana Maharshi, Sai Baba, and Swami Bhaktivedanta. All of these gurus have attracted significant followings in the U.S. and nearly all have lived here for considerable periods of time. The book's contributors discuss the characteristics of each guru's teachings, the history of each movement, and the particular construction of Hinduism each guru offers. Contributors also address the religious and cultural interaction, translation, and transplantation that occurs when gurus offer their teachings in America. This is a fascinating guide that will elucidate an important element in America's diverse and ever-changing spiritual landscape.
Introduction: Making Waves

Thomas A. Forsthoefel and Cynthia Ann Humes

1. Raja Yoga and the Guru: Gurani Anjali of Yoga Anand Ashram, Amityville, New York
Christopher Key Chapple

2. Weaving the Inward Thread to Awakening: The Perennial Appeal of Ramana Maharshi
Thomas A. Forsthoefel

3. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the TM Technique
Cynthia Ann Humes

4. Krishna and Culture: What Happens When the Lord of Vrindavana Moves to New York City
Tamal Krishna Goswami and Ravi M. Gupta

5. Baba’s World: A Global Guru and His Movement
Norris W. Palmer

6. Passage to America: Ammachi on American Soil
Selva J. Raj

7. The Perfectibility of Perfection: Siddha Yoga as a Global Movement
Lola Williamson

8. Osho, from Sex Guru to Guru of the Rich: The Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism
Hugh B. Urban

9. Riding the Dawn Horse: Adi Da and the Eros of Nonduality
Jeffrey J. Kripal

Epilogue: Elevated Gurus, Concrete Traditions, and the Problems of Western Devotees
Daniel Gold

List of Contributors
Index

Sujets

• East Asian religions
• Hinduism

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791482698
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Gurus in America

S U N Y s e r i e s i n H i n d u S t u d i e s

Wendy Doniger, editor

G U RU S I N A M E R I C A

Edited by Thomas A. Forsthoefel and Cynthia Ann Humes

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S A LBANY

© 2005 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Fran Keneston

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Gurus in America / edited by Thomas A. Forsthoefel and Cynthia Ann Humes. p. cm. (SUNY series in Hindu studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6573-X (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6574-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Gurus—United States. 2. Spiritual life—Hinduism. I. Forsthoefel, Thomas A. II. Humes, Cynthia Ann, 1958– II. Series.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In memory of

Tamal Krishna Goswami

disciple, guru, teacher, scholar, friend

you are dearly missed

Time is running out. I have perhaps another twenty years to serve. I must seriously consider how I can best utilize this remaining time. Our movement is now firmly established. Hare Krishna is a household word around the world. Yet I think that we are still largely misunderstood by others. Rooted in their own cultures and traditions, they often find our ways strange. To help them understand, we must first seek to know them better—their history, their mores, their faiths. To transmit the finer aspects of Krishna consciousness, we must first educate our own members. An intelligent learned clergy with broad educational backgrounds will then be able to relate our teachings and traditions to those of other persuasions. Both will be benefited. Tamal Krishna Goswami A Hare Krishna at Southern Methodist University (Dallas: Pundits Press, 1998), 26–27.

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C o n t e n t s

Introduction: Making Waves Thomas A. Forsthoefel and Cynthia Ann Humes

Raja Yoga and the Guru: Gurani Anjali of Yoga Anand Ashram, Amityville, New York Christopher Key Chapple

Weaving the Inward Thread to Awakening: The Perennial Appeal of Ramana Maharshi Thomas A. Forsthoefel

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the TM Technique Cynthia Ann Humes

Krishna and Culture: What Happens When the Lord of Vrindavana Moves to New York City Tamal Krishna Goswami and Ravi M. Gupta

Baba’s World: A Global Guru and His Movement Norris W. Palmer

Passage to America: Ammachi on American Soil Selva J. Raj

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v i i i

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G u r u s i n A m e r i c a

The Perfectibility of Perfection: Siddha Yoga as a Global Movement Lola Williamson

Osho, from Sex Guru to Guru of the Rich: The Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism Hugh B. Urban

Riding the Dawn Horse: Adi Da and the Eros of Nonduality Jeffrey J. Kripal

Epilogue: Elevated Gurus, Concrete Traditions, and the Problems of Western Devotees Daniel Gold

Contributors

Index

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INTRODUCTION

M A K I N G W A V E S

T H O M A S A . F O R S T H O E F E L A N D C Y N T H I A A N N H U M E S

EVERYTHING CHANGES. Mystics and storytellers in South Asia have woven this deceptively simple observation into the Indic consciousness for millennia. Hindu scriptures warn that the true nature of endlessly changing phenomenal reality can be lost to us as we thrash about the crashing waves of life. Yet the Hindu emphasis on the phenomenal fact of impermanence is tempered by the promise of something substantial, enduring, and utterly liberating beyond the very flux of life, so often likened to a roiling ocean, the “ocean ofsamsaraphenomenal flux.” The of mundane reality, staggering in its chaos and suffering, nonetheless motivates the journey to cross the “far shore,” the quintessential Indian metaphor for lib- eration. Among the premier rafts for this tumultuous crossing is the spiritual teacher, theguru, a term that, not incidentally, also means “heavy.” The word intimates the higher truth that there is something weighty, substantial, and enduring about life, a truth borne witness to by extraordinary spiritual teach- ers. Gurus assist in the journey to make the crossing—from the ocean ofsam- sarafrom the changing flux of phenomenal realityto the ocean of awareness, to the far shore of liberation, from death to immortality. The far shore is the “site” for an ultimate ground that suffers no loss or change, understood vari- ously in Hinduism to be an enduring soul, consciousness, an unchanging Absolute or a deity with form. This book is about gurus who have crossed the far shore, but not necessar- ily to ultimate liberation. They have indeed crossed roiling oceans—in this case, Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific—landing upon the far shore of America. In making this passage, from the sacred land of India to the bewildering world of

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