Word: muktananda
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...country they have Father's Day and Mother's Day, and they might as well have a Guru's Day," said the small, closely cropped Indian dressed in a red wool ski hat, red silk robes and red knee socks. He was himself a notable guru, Muktananda Paramahansa. So, last week at a secluded retreat that was once a Catskill Mountains resort hotel in upstate New York, more than 2,000 followers staged a day-long celebration in honor of the man they consider a saint...
There were prayer sessions from which rose chants of Sanskrit verses. Then the blue lights in the meditation hall dimmed, and the faithful swayed rhythmically to and fro. Finally, Muktananda proclaimed (in Mindi, a Hindi dialect), "Now is the auspicious hour of the auspicious day. The sun and moon are strong." That heralded the main event: the marriage of 16 couples, the women in saris, with garlands of flowers. The guru, who is licensed to perform weddings as a minister in an ordination mill called the Universal Life Church, blessed the rings and said, "May you live together in love...
...Muktananda, 68, known to his followers as Baba (father), is America's newest fashionable guru. With 62 centers in North America besides the Catskills ashram, he has attracted more than 20,000 devotees since his arrival in 1974. He has also received respectful visits from such celebrities as California Governor Jerry Brown, Singers James Taylor and Carly Simon, Anthropologist Carlos Castaneda and Astronaut Edgar Mitchell. At home in India, too, he has a considerable following. There are centers of his disciples all over the subcontinent. He will return there this fall in a chartered Air India 747, together with...
...principles of Muktananda's teachings are traditionally Hindu: "Meditate on yourself. Honor and worship your own inner being. God dwells within you as you." But whereas most gurus lead their disciples through a slow evolutionary process, Muktananda transmits shakti-energy or elemental force-in one two-day ritual of teaching and meditation called an "intensive" (fee, plus modest room and board: $100). In the climactic moment, the guru places his fingers on the disciple's closed eyes and gently pushes the head back and forth. The disciple is then supposed to feel the power flowing into...
Married. Raul Julia, 36, star of Joseph Papp's Lincoln Center production of Threepenny Opera; and Merel Poloway, 26, dancer in the long-running Broadway musical Pippin; he for the second time, she for the first; in a Hindu ceremony performed by Swami Muktananda Paramahansa; in the Catskill Mountains near South Fallsburg...