Within most pre-modern, Indian traditions of yoga, the role of the guru is absolutely central. Indeed, it was often understood that yoga would simply not work without the grace of the guru. The modern period saw the dawn of new, democratic, scientific modes of yoga practice and teaching. While teachings and gurus have always adapted to the times and circumstances, the sheer pace of cultural change ushered in by modernity has led to some unprecedented innovations in the way gurus present themselves and their teachings, and the way they are received by their students.Gurus of Modern Yoga explores the contributions of individual gurus to the formation of the practices and discourses of yoga today. The focus is not limited to India, but also extends to the teachings of yoga gurus in the modern, transnational world, and within the Hindu diaspora. Each section deals with a different aspect of the guru within modern yoga. Included are extensive considerations of the transnational tantric guru; the teachings of modern yoga's best-known guru, T. Krishnamacharya, and those of his principal disciples; the place of technology, business and politics in the work of global yoga gurus; and the role of science and medicine. As a whole, the book represents an extensive and diverse picture of the place of the guru, both past and present, in contemporary yoga practice.

ContributorsNote on TransliterationIntroduction - Mark Singleton and Ellen GoldbergPart One: Key Figures in Early Twentieth-Century YogaChapter 1: Manufacturing Yogis: Swami Vivekananda as a Yoga Teacher - Dermot KillingleyChapter 2: Remembering Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: The Forgotten Lineage of Integral Yoga - Ann Gleig and Charles I. FloresChapter 3: Shri Yogendra: Magic, Modernity and the Burden of the Middle-Class Yogi - Joseph S. AlterPart Two: The Lineages of T. KrishnamacharyaChapter 4: T. Krishnamacharya, ''Father of Modern Yoga'' - Mark Singleton and Tara FraserChapter 5: ''Authorized by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois'': The Role of Parampara and Lineage in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga - Jean ByrneChapter 6: B.K.S. Iyengar as a Yoga Teacher and Yoga Guru - Frederick M. Smith and Joan WhiteChapter 7: The Institutionalization of the Yoga Tradition: ''Gurus'' B. K. S. Iyengar and Yogini Sunita in Britain - Suzanne NewcombePart Three: Tantra Based GurusChapter 8: Swami Krpalvananda: The Man Behind Kripalu Yoga - Ellen GoldbergChapter 9: Muktananda: Entrepreneurial Godman, Tantric Hero - Andrea R. JainChapter 10: Stretching toward the Sacred: John Friend and Anusara Yoga - Lola WilliamsonPart Four: BhaktiyogaChapter 11: Svaminarayana: Bhaktiyoga and the Aksarabhraman Guru - Hanna H. KimChapter 12: Sathya Sai Baba and the Repertoire of Yoga - Smriti SrinivasPart Five: TechnologyChapter 13: Engineering an Artful Practice: On Jaggi Vasudev's ISHA Yoga and Sri Sri Ravi Shakar's Art of Living - Joanne Punzo WaghorneChapter 14: Online Bhakti in a Modern Guru Organization - Maya WarrierPart Six: Nation-BuildersChapter 15: Eknath Ranade, Gurus and Jivanvratis (life-workers): Vivekananda Kendra's Promotion of the ''Yoga Way of Life'' - Gwilym BeckerleggeChapter 16: Swami Ramdev: Modern Yoga Revolutionary - Stuart SarbackerIndex