Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in any of its forms, whether religious or not. The role implies being well-known and having a large following; in contrast to the old guru-shishya tradition, the modern guru-follower relationship is not secretive, not exclusive, and does not necessarily involve a tradition. Many such gurus, but not all, teach a form of yoga as exercise; others teach forms which are more devotional or meditational; many teach a combination. Some have been affected by scandals of various kinds.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced The Beatles, and the West, to gurus, mantras, and meditation in the late 1960s.
The guru–shishya tradition involved a long-term, one-to-one relationship between master and pupil. Watercolour, Punjab Hills, India, 1740
Yogendra, an acknowledged pioneer of modern yoga, rejected the traditional guru role in favour of something more modern.
Modern yoga is a wide range of yoga practices with differing purposes, encompassing in its various forms yoga philosophy derived from the Vedas, physical postures derived from Hatha yoga, devotional and tantra-based practices, and Hindu nation-building approaches.
"The father of modern yoga" Krishnamacharya teaching postural yoga in Mysore, 1930s
Vivekananda, Vedanta-based, 1893
Sathya Sai Baba, Tantra-based, 1996
Jaggi Vasudev, "inner technology", 2013
