Osho, born Chandra Mohan Jain (11 December 1931 - 19 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, calling himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and taking the name Osho in 1989, was an Indian mystic and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following. His syncretic teachings emphasise the importance of meditation, awareness, love, celebration, creativity and humour – qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialisation. His teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought,[2][3] and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.[4][5]

Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj (24 January 1935 - 28 March 1994) is a Self realized master of meditation in the tradition of the ancient and modern yogis of India. He attained Self realization through twelve years of arduous tapas, meditating in Sam?dhi (state of total thoughtlessness) for an average of twenty hours a day. Tapas is the most advanced stage of meditation in which one remains absorbed for long periods in the non-dualistic state of consiousness known as Sam?dhi.[1] Shri Shri Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj 1935-1994

After he completed tapas, he assumed the name Shivabalayogi, which some devotees had already begun to use for him. The name means "Yogi devoted to Shiva and Parvati." Shiva is God in the form of a yogi. Bala is one of the many names for Parvati, God in the form of a yogini. The name reflects that Shivabalayogi is a manifestation of both the male and female aspects of the divine (Ardhanarishwara).[2] The female aspect represents the invisible energy of the Divine through which the entire creation operates, while the male aspect represents the pure consciousness of existence beyond all imaginations. Generally, devotees called him simply "Swamiji" meaning "respected Master".

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (February 18, 1836 - August 16, 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay[2], was a famous mystic of 19th-century India.[3] His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda[4][5][6] - both were influential figures in the Bengali Renaissance[7] as well as the Hindu renaissance during the 19th and 20th centuries.[8][9] He was considered an avatar or incarnation of God by many of his disciples, and is considered as such by many of his devotees today.[10]

Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin Vaishnava family in rural Bengal. He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali, which had the influence of the main strands of Bengali bhakti tradition.[2] His first spiritual teacher was an ascetic woman skilled in Tantra and Vaishnava bhakti.[11] Later an Advaita Vedantin ascetic taught him non-dual meditation, and according to Ramakrishna, he experienced nirvikalpa samadhi under his guidance. Ramakrishna also experimented with other religions, notably Islam and Christianity, and said that they all lead to the same God.[2] Though conventionally uneducated, he attracted attention of the Bengali intelligentsia and middle class.

The Ramakrishna movement was brought to the West by Swami Vivekananda,[12] and has been termed as one of the revitalization movements of India.[13]

Kaleshwar Anupati was born just before dawn on Tuesday, the 8th of January 1973, in the township of Madhavaram, Cuddapah District, in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India. His father, Subaraiyadu, a respected professor, and his mother, Subbamma, a devoted housewife, raised their son, his elder brother and three sisters in the Hindu tradition. In almost all respects, they were a typical Indian family. Except for their middle child. From the start, Kaleshwar was clearly different.

Miracles occurred around him: once his grandfather observed the divine appearance of the Goddess Saraswati standing guard over him while he slept.

Kaleshwar did not speak for the first seven years of his life and would often accept only a single drop of water as his daily sustenance. When asked years later the reason for this unusual behavior, he said, simply, that he was absorbing cosmic energy. Miracles occurred around him: once his grandfather observed the divine appearance of the Goddess Saraswati standing guard over him while he slept; another time, it was a king cobra, its mantel spread, that shaded him as he napped soundly on the ground in the backyard at his grandfather's farm.

Sai Baba of Shirdi (Unknown - October 15, 1918), also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian guru and yogi, regarded by his followers as an incarnation of God. Some of his Hindu devotees believe that he was an incarnation of Shiva or Dattatreya. Many devotees believe that he was a Sadguru. There are many stories and eyewitness accounts of miracles he performed. He is a well-known figure in many parts of the world, but especially in India, where he is much revered.

The name 'Sai Baba' is a combination of Persian and Indian origin; S?? (Sa'ih) is the Persian term for "well learned" or "knowledgeable", usually attributed to Islamic ascetics, whereas Baba (honorific) is a word meaning "father; grandfather; old man; sir" used in Indo-Aryan languages. The appellative thus refers to Sai Baba as being a "holy father" or "saintly father".[1] His parentage, birth details, and life before the age of sixteen are obscure, which has led to a variety of speculations and theories attempting to explain Sai Baba's origins. In his life and teachings he tried to reconcile Hinduism and Islam: Sai Baba lived in a mosque which he called Dwarakamayi, practised Hindu and Muslim rituals, taught using words and figures that drew from both traditions and was buried in a Hindu temple in Shirdi. One of his well known epigrams says of God: "Sabka Malik Ek" ("One God governs all") which traces its root to the Bhagavad-Gita and Islam in general, and Sufism, in particular. He always uttered "Allah Malik" - Lord is the sole protector. He had no love for perishable things, and was always engrossed in self-realization, which was his sole concern.

Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois was born on the full moon day of July, 1915, Guru Purnima day. His ancestral village, Kowshika, near Hassan in Karnataka State, is inhabited by maybe 500 people and has one main street. At one end of the street is a Vishnu temple, just next to Pattabhi Jois' home. At the far end of the street, just 100 yards away, lies a small Ganapati temple, and just opposite, a Siva temple. Both are several hundreds years old, and are the focus of the village.

Pattabhi Jois's father was an astrologer and a priest, who acted as the pujari for many of the families in the village. From an early age, as most brahmin boys, Pattabhi Jois was taught the Vedas and Hindu rituals. When Guruji was 12 years old, he attended a yoga demonstration at his middle school in Hassan. The next day he went to meet the great yogi who had given the demonstration, a man by the name of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, who had learned yoga for nearly eight years from his Guru, Rama Mohan Brahmachari in a cave in Tibet. For the next two years, Guruji learned from his Guru every day. When Guruji turned 14, he had his brahmin thread ceremony. Krishnamacharya left Hassan to travel and teach, and Guruji left his village to go to Mysore.

Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja (BKS) Iyengar was born on December 14, 1918. His father Sri Krishnamachar was a school teacher and therefore Guruji has all his father's qualities even at this age. Guruji was a victim of malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis in his childhood .

At the age of 16, he was introduced to yoga by his Guru Sri T. Krishnamacharya. At the age of 18, he was sent to Pune, Maharashtra by his guru to teach and preach yoga as he knew a little of English. This missed his opportunity to learn a lot about yoga directly from his guru.

Guruji was a sincere and committed practitioner. His own practice helped him to explore and achieve perfection in yoga asanas. This is reflected in his teachings all over these years.

In 1928, when Tirumalai Krishnamacharya left the Himalayas after a long, eight-year apprenticeship with his teacher, Yoga was a dying art practiced by a handful of ascetics living on the fringes of society. But this was soon to change. For the next sixty-one years, Krishnamacharya shared his knowledge of Yoga as a holistic healing discipline with thousands in his own country and with many others who came to study with him from Europe and America. He started a quiet revolution that revitalized Yoga for the modern age and produced some of the most influential Yoga masters of our time, all of whom were his students: Indra Devi, TKV Desikachar, BKS Iyengar, and Pattabhi Jois.

Krishnamacharya was the only master in the modern era to have been trained in the complete art of Yoga Cikitsa. Helping people to heal through Yoga was his life's work, and he devoted himself to this work for seventy years. His work is now carried on through the efforts of TKV Desikachar and the KYM, a renowned center for Yoga Therapy practice, education, and research for thirty years. If Yoga Therapy is the future of Yoga, then the future has been here for a long time, waiting for us to be ready to learn. The legacy of Krishnamacharya - our legacy as students and teachers of Yoga - is not a style of Yoga, it is Yoga - past, present, and future.

David Williams has been practicing Yoga daily, without interruption, since 1971. In 1972, David met K. P. Manju , the son of K. Pattabhi Jois, and saw him demonstrate the Ashtanga Yoga 1st series. This was at Dr. Swami Gitananda's Ananda Ashram in Pondicherry, South India, where David received his 6 month Yoga teachers training course certification.

In 1973, David began studying Ashtanga Yoga with K. Pattabhi Jois at his home in Mysore, India, and became the first non-Indian to be taught the complete Ashtanga Yoga system of asanas and pranayama directly from Jois. David introduced K. Pattabhi Jois and Manju to America and the western world when he, along with Nancy Gilgoff, organized and sponsored their first visit to Encinitas, California, in 1975.

David is responsible for teaching the Ashtanga Yoga system to many of today's leading teachers and practitioners, including David Swenson, Doug Swenson, Danny Paradise, Bryan Kest, Jonny Kest, Tracy Rich, Chuck Miller, and Maty Ezraty.

"It took a devastating car accident, paralysis from the chest down, and dependence on a wheelchair before I truly realized the importance of waking both my mind and my body."

Matthew Sanford has inspired and enhanced the lives of thousands by sharing the fundamental importance of the mind-body relationship. For him, connecting mind and body is not just a health strategy; it is a movement of consciousness that can change the world. He works on a variety of fronts to spread his message.

In 2001, Matthew founded Mind Body Solutions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming trauma, loss and disability into hope and potential by awakening the connection between mind and body.

Matthew teaches at national yoga conferences, studios and institutions around the country. He teaches traditional students and is a pioneer in adapting yoga for people living with disabilities. The fact that he teaches people in both demographics tells you something not only about Matthew, but also about yoga. "We all live on a continuum of abilities and disabilities," he says. "The principles of yoga apply to all people, to all bodies."

Sri Dharma Mittra has spent most of his life in service to humanity, disseminating the ancient knowledge of how to achieve radiant health and spiritual development. Dharma was born in the late 1930's, and has studied Yoga since 1958. After meeting his teacher guru, Sri Swami Kailashananda, he immersed himself in intense study and practice of the classical eight limbs of Yoga, and nine years of dedicated full time practice of Karma Yoga. He was accepted and initiated as a sannyasi (one who renounces the world in order to realize God). During these years Dharma had the esteemed honor of being the personal assistant to the Guru attending to all his needs. Sri Swami Kailashananda is known as the first Guru to bring the practice of Hatha Yoga to the west in the early 1950's.

Dharma taught only for his Guru with selfless expectation, after years as a full-time yogi and brahmachari, a celibate religious student who lives with his teacher and devotes himself to the practice of spiritual disciplines. He was the main demonstrator for the Yoga asanas at the many lectures the Guru gave to the public in the 60's and 70's. After being a celebrated teacher for many years at his guru's Ashram, he left in 1974 and founded the Yoga Asana Center, currently known as Dharma Mittra Yoga New York Center.

John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga, is widely recognized as one of the most charismatic and highly respected hatha yoga teachers in the world. Blending a life-affirming Tantric yoga philosophy with Universal Principles of Alignment and a delightful sense of humor, John's teaching style guides each student to live every moment fully from the heart. Students often comment in amazement that they can perform their yoga poses under John's guidance with a level of creative freedom and inner power that they have never experienced before. Above all, John respects and honors his students with a great deal of loving-kindness and inspires them to see their own unique beauty and divine goodness.

Born Harbhajan Singh in what is now Pakistan to a family of healers and community leaders, Yogi Bhajan studied comparative religion and Vedic philosophy in his undergraduate years, going onto receive his Masters in Economics with honors from Punjab University. Years later, he earned his Ph.D. in communications psychology from the University of Humanistic Studies in San Francisco.

He emerged as a religious, community and business leader with a distinguished reputation as a man of peace, world-vision, wisdom, and compassion. He has authored and published more than 30 books on topics ranging from spirituality and consciousness to communication and psychology. He has founded several foods companies that manufacture and distribute natural products based on these teachings. He has fostered economic development in every community in which he participates, annually conducts business seminars, and has authored several books that provide guidance to both the aspiring entrepreneur and seasoned business executive alike. As the Siri Singh Sahib, or the Sikh leader in the Western Hemisphere, he has met with Pope John Paul II to discuss inter-religious dialogue and worked side-by-side with the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop of Canterbury to foster world peace.

One of the best known and most respected Zen masters in the world today, poet, and peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh (called Thay by his students) has led an extraordinary life. Born in central Vietnam in 1926 he joined the monkshood at the age of sixteen. The Vietnam War confronted the monasteries with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and remain meditating in the monasteries, or to help the villagers suffering under bombings and other devastation of the war. Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, helping to found the "engaged Buddhism" movement. His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of individuals and society.

Thich Nhat Hanh continues to live in Plum Village in the meditation community he founded, where he teaches, writes, and gardens; and he leads retreats worldwide on "the art of mindful living."

Shiva is the destroyer of the world, following Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver, after which Brahma again creates the world and so on. Shiva is responsible for change both in the form of death and destruction and in the positive sense of the shedding of old habits. In Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram or Truth, Goodness and Beauty, Shiva also represents the most essential goodness.

Shiva is the god of the yogis, self-controlled and celibate, while at the same time a lover of his spouse (shakti). Shiva's first wife was Sati and his second wife was Parvati, also known as Uma, Gauri, Durga, Kali and Shakti. His sons are Ganesha and Kartikeya. Shiva lives on Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas.

Shiva's main attributes are the trident that represents the three gunas and the snakes that show he is beyond the power of death and poison and also stand for the Kundalini energy. The vehicle of Shiva is the white bull called Nandi (the joyful). He is often seated on a tiger skin or wears a tiger skin, with the tiger representing the mind.

All Tantric and spiritual worship in the Hindu tradition begins with the invocation of Ganesha (or Ganesh), the elephant-headed god.

Ganesha became the Lord (Isha) of all existing beings (Gana) after winning a contest from his brother Kartikay. When given the task to race around the universe, Ganesha did not start the race like Kartikay did, but simply walked around Shiva and Parvati, both his father and mother as the source of all existence (more about this story here).

Many stories describe how Ganesha got the elepant head. One tells how Parvati created Ganesha in absence of Shiva to guard her quarters. When Shiva wanted to see her Ganesha forbid it, at which point Shiva cut of his head. Later Shiva restored Ganesha to life and provided him with the head of an elephant, because no other was available. In another story, Ganesha's head is burned to ashes when Saturn is forced by Parvati to look at her child and bless him.

Acceptance of the somewhat funny looking elephant man Ganesha as the divine force stills the rational mind and it's doubts, forcing one to look beyond outer appearances. Thus Ganesha creates the faith to remove all obstacles.

Meditation on the Ganesha Yantra creates internal balance.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the age of two the child, who was named Lhamo Dhondup at that time was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems.

Since 1959 His Holiness has received over 84 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, etc., in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion. His Holiness has also authored more than 72 books.

His Holiness describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.

TKV Desikachar, son and student of T Krishnamacharya had the privilege of living and studying with T Krishnamacharya from 1960 until Krishnamacharya's death in 1989. For over 45 years, TKV Desikachar has devoted himself to teaching yoga and making it relevant to people from all walks of life and with all kinds of abilities. His teaching method is based on Krishnamacharya's fundamental principle that yoga must always be adapted to an individual's changing needs in order to derive the maximum therapeutic bT Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikacharenefit. In addition to the three decades of yoga training he received from his father, TKV Desikachar holds a degree in structural engineering. One of the world's foremost teachers of yoga and a renowned authority on the therapeutic uses of yoga, TKV Desikachar continues to oversee KYM's work in therapy as well as training and guiding the faculty of KYM.

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje*, Macedonia, on August 26**, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.

Patanjali, undoubtedly the greatest expounder of Yoga, lived sometime between 500 and 200 B.C. The life of Patanjali is an enigma to modern historians, and almost nothing is known about this great Master who epitomizes Yoga. It is only with the help of legends that one can draw inferences about him. Undoubtedly he was a great Yoga adept and was perhaps the head of a school in which "Swadhyaya", study of the Self, was regarded as an important aspect of spiritual practice.

Indian history is presumptive of several individuals by the name of Patanjali. Three of them were well-known; the first one being the famous grammarian who wrote the commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi (the Mahabhashya) and compiled the Yoga Sutras, the classical text on Raja Yoga. The Mahabhashya symbolises the perfection of the discipline in grammar. The object of grammar is to supply rules for control of current speech (laukika) for the preservation of the integrity of the Vedas and the comprehension of proper meaning. The second person named Patanjali wrote the Nidana-Sutras, considered indispensable for the study of the Vedic ritual literature; while the third was a well-known teacher of Samkhya Philosophy. The above three people, in the historian's view, happen to come from different time periods and are considered to be different personalities. The Indian Tradition however, differs in opinion strongly and advocates that the above different treatises were done by a single person and even further, attributes various medical treatises to him.