Swami Dayananda Saraswati was a renunciate monk of the Hindu Saraswati order of sannyasa. He was also known as Pujya Swamiji and was a teacher of Advaita Vedanta. He was the founder of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulams in Pennsylvania, USA; Rishikesh, Uttarakhand and Coimbatore Tamil Nadu, India. He was also the spiritual Guru of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan,, for his service to the nation in the field of spiritualism in 2016.
Nisargadatta Maharaj was an Indian guru of nondualism, belonging to the Inchagiri Sampradaya, a lineage of teachers from the Navnath Sampradaya.
Thaipusam or Thaipoosam is a Tamil Hindu festival celebrated on the first full moon day of the Tamil month of Thai coinciding with Pusam star. The festival is celebrated to commemorate the victory of Hindu god Murugan over the demon Surapadman using a vel, a divine spear granted by Parvati.
Jnana guru Siva Yogaswami of Jaffna (1872–1964) was a spiritual master, a śivajnani and anatha siddhar revered by Hindus of the 20th century. He had Catholic and Buddhist devotees as well. He was the 161st Jagadacharya of the Nandinatha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara. Yogaswami was trained in and practiced Kundalini yoga under the guidance of Satguru Chellappaswami, from whom he received guru diksha (initiation).
Dasanami (IAST: Daśanāmī Saṃpradāya "Tradition of Ten Names"), also known as the Order of Swamis, is a Hindu monastic tradition of "single-staff renunciation" generally associated with the four cardinal mathas of the Advaita Vedanta tradition and, according to tradition, organized in its present form by Vedic scholar and teacher Adi Shankaracharya.
Gurunath is a commonly used term when praising what is considered by devotees the ultimate source of compassion, love and truth - irrespective of sectarian divides whether they may be devotees of Shiva, the Lord of Transformation in the Hindu pantheon (Shaivaite) or of Vishnu, the Lord of Preservation and Sustenance in the Hindu pantheon (Vaishnav) or any other devotee (bhakta) of a Hindu God or Goddess.
Abhishiktananda, born Henri Le Saux, was a French-born Indian monk. He moved to India in 1948 in search of a more radical form of spiritual life, adopted sannyasa in accordance with Indian tradition and became one of the pioneers of Hindu-Christian dialogue. Multiple contacts with prominent saints such as Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Gnanananda Giri and Sri H.W.L. Poonja, led him to profound advaitic experience as well as to final recognition of the truth of advaita during the last years of his life.
Sri Vaishnavism is a denomination within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. The name refers to goddess Lakshmi, as well as a prefix that means "sacred, revered", and the god Vishnu, who are together revered in this tradition.
The Nimbarka Sampradaya, also known as the Kumāra Sampradāya, Hamsa Sampradāya, and Sanakādi Sampradāya, is one of the four Vaiṣṇava Sampradāyas. It was founded by Nimbarka, a Telugu Brahmin yogi and philosopher. It propounds the Vaishnava Bhedabheda theology of Dvaitadvaita (dvaita-advaita) or dualistic non-dualism. Dvaitadvaita states that humans are both different and non-different from Isvara, God or Supreme Being. Specifically, this Sampradaya is a part of Krishnaism—Krishna-centric traditions.
The Swaminarayan Sampradaya, also known as Swaminarayan Hinduism and Swaminarayan movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava sampradaya rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, characterized by the worship of its charismatic founder Sahajanand Swami, better known as Swaminarayan (1781–1830), as an avatar of Krishna or as the highest manifestation of Purushottam, the supreme God. According to the tradition's lore, both the religious group and Sahajanand Swami became known as Swaminarayan after the Swaminarayan mantra, which is a compound of two Sanskrit words, swami and Narayan.
Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj was a yogi who claimed to have attained self-realization through twelve years of arduous tapas, meditating in samādhi for an average of twenty hours a day.
The Rajarajeswari Peetam in Rush, New York is a Hindu temple that practices the teachings of SriVidya. Sri Chaitanyananda Natha Saraswathi is the peetathipathy of the temple along with Gnanamba his wife. Aiya is a disciple of Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswathi who is the Peetathipathy of the Devipuram temple. The temple was founded in Zambia, then moved to the Aiya's home in Rush in New York state before the current, purpose-built temple was constructed.
Yogi Ramsuratkumar was an Indian saint and mystic. He was also referred to as "Visiri samiyar" and spent most of his post-enlightenment period in Tiruvannamalai, a small town in Tamil Nadu which is known for attracting spiritual seekers worldwide and has had a continuous lineage of enlightened souls. He acknowledges the contribution of three of the well known saints of his time in his evolution to enlightenment. These individuals were Sri Aurobindo, the founder of Integral yoga, Ramana Maharshi, one of the "spiritual supermen" of his time, and Swami Ramdas, Yogi's eventual guru.
Swami Raman Kalimuthu Murugesu was a Gayathri Siddhar and the creator of the Sri Lankatheeswara temple in Nuwara Eliya.
An ISKCON guru is a person who is permitted to initiate disciples into the International Society for Krishna Consciousness system. The guru system has undergone several changes and reform since its beginnings in the 1960s. Upanayana as a traditional "sacred thread ceremony" of the Gayatri Mantra, commonly known Hindu Samskara, is complemented by Pancaratric mantras of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya and follows the principal initial nama initiation ceremony, referred to respectively as brahmana diksa and Hari nama diksa.
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai is a monastic organisation for those men who were taught into existence by Sri Ramakrishna (1836–1886), a 19th-century saint of Bengal. The motto of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission is: "For one's own salvation, and for the welfare of the world". The math in Chennai is the first branch center of the Ramakrishna Order in Southern India. It was established in 1897 by Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. Besides Swami Ramakrishnananda, the Math was visited by Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Nirmalananda, Swami Shivananda, Swami Abhedananda, Swami Premananda, Swami Niranjanananda, Swami Trigunatitananda, and Swami Vijnanananda.
Gnanananda (Nia-na-nan-da) was an Indian guru, referred to by followers as Swami Sri Gnanananda Giri. He was the Chief Disciple of the Sri Sivaratna Giri Swamigal and one of the leaders (Peetathipathis) of the Jyotir Math, one of the four Maths established by Adi Sankara. This lineage of Peetathipathis is also called the 'Giri' Paramparai, as seen from the Peetathipathis' name which ends with 'Giri'. Gnanananda is a Mahayogi, Siddha Purusha, Himalayan sage and Indian philosopher. He believed in Advaita Vedanta because of his lineage. He had a number of disciples including Vidyananda, Triveni and Dasagiri. He blessed Hari to 1. Haridhos Giri to uplift and help mankind from sufferings through Guru Bakthi Prachara Swami had a number of accomplished disciples through his abnormally long tenure- Bramanamda who took samadhi at Puskar, Achutadasa of Polur. He loved obsurity. He changed identity to avoid being recognised.
The Advaita Guru-Paramparā is the traditional lineage (parampara) of divine, Vedic and historical teachers of Advaita Vedanta. It begins with the Daiva-paramparā, the gods; followed by the Ṛṣi-paramparā, the Vedic seers; and then the Mānava-paramparā, with the historical teachers Gaudapada and Adi Shankara, and four of Shankara's pupils. Of the five contemporary acharyas, the heads of the five Advaita mathas, four acharyas trace their lineage to those four pupils and one to Adi Shankara himself.
Bhausaheb Maharaj was the founder of the Inchegeri Sampradaya, to which the well-known Indian guru Nisargadatta Maharaj belonged.
Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath was an Indian spiritual master. Addressed as Sri Sri Thakur Sitaramdas Omkarnath, where "Omkar" signifies the supreme cosmic enlightenment and attaining supreme consciousnes, he was heralded as the Divine Incarnate (Avatar) of Kali Yuga and espoused the doctrines of Sanatan Dharma and Vedic spiritual path to countless devotees from across the world, with central theme and paramount importance on the beneficence of Divine Chanting Naam of Hare Krishna Hare Ram - regarded as the omnipotent "Tarak Brahma Naam" the chant of soul deliverance in Kali Yuga and "Moksha" liberation from cycle of birth and death. As such, his disciples continue to worship him as an incarnation of the Lord himself and is verily regarded as an eternal source of spiritual enlightenment and soul succour to all seekers. because his life had been predicted in a manuscript of Achyutananda Dasa. Sitaramdas Omkarnath wrote more than 150 books to promote the essence of Indian scriptures, built more than 60 temples and ashrams all across India, and founded His spiritual organisation Akhil Bharat Jaiguru Sampradaya, established many groups, temples, mutts, both within and outside the Sampradaya— and was also the initiator of multiple magazines like Pather Alo, Devjan, JaiGuru, Arya Nari, Paramananda, and The Mother.
