Vishnudevananda Saraswati
Vishnudevananda Saraswati was an Indian yoga guru known for his teaching of asanas, a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams. He established the Sivananda Yoga Teachers' Training Course, possibly the first yoga teacher training programs in the West. His books The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga (1960) and Meditation and Mantras (1978) established him as an authority on Hatha and Raja yoga. Vishnudevananda was a peace activist who rode in several "peace flights" over places of conflict, including the Berlin Wall prior to German reunification.
Vishnudevananda Saraswati
With Sivananda (seated on tiger skin) by the Ganges, c. 1950
Page layout of The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, 1960, showing Vishnudevananda demonstrating "Soorya Namaskar" (salute to the sun) in large monochrome photographs
As "The Flying Swami" in his Piper Apache
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.