Women Gurus in Hinduism Karen Pechilis indu female gurus are highly vis- ‘dispeller of darkness’.2 In the corpus of the earli- Hible in the contemporary world as spir- est scripture in Hinduism, the Vedas, the term is itual leaders. Examples of well-known used in the philosophical Upanishads, where it female gurus include Amma Sri Karunamayi, describes a person who has ultimate knowledge. Ammachi Mata Amritanandamayi, Ananda- The earliest references are found in two Upani- murthi Guruma, Gangaji, Gurumatha Amma, shads that probably date to about 300 bce. In Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Ma Jaya Sati Bhaga- the Mundaka Upanishad, a ‘great householder’ vati, Mother Meera, Sri Maa, and Sri Anandi named Shaunaka approached the Vedic sage An- Ma. All of these female gurus have worldwide giras and asked him: ‘O adorable sir, (which is outreach through their official websites on the that thing) which having been known, all this internet, which provide information on their becomes known?’3 The sage provided a detailed teachings and organisations, and sometimes reply, which included a description of the neces- biographical information.1 Two of these gurus, sity to become detached from the world and its Gurumayi Chidvilasananda of Siddha Yoga and swirl of action through teaching by a guru who Mata Amritanandamayi, Ammachi, are espe- is centered in the ultimate principle, Brahman.4 cially prominent in terms of number of global A second early reference is from the Shvetash- followers and ashramas. Many female gurus have vatara Upanishad, which refers to knowledge of received humanitarian awards; for example, Ma Brahman as a ‘supreme secret’ that ‘should not Jaya Sati Bhagavati, who attained mahasamadhi be given to one who is not at peace, nor yet to on 13 April 2012, has received numerous awards, one who is not a son or a student.’ The text also including the Gandhi Foundation Award in speaks of the necessity of devotion towards both 2007, in recognition of her service as an advo- god and guru.5 Thus, teaching, knowledge, initi- cate for people living with hiv/aids since the ation, and devotion are hallmarks of the guru in 1990s, which involved caring for infected per- these early scriptures. Significantly, the scriptures sons at her Kashi Ashrama in Sebastian, Florida. presume that the guru is male. The international fame and authority of these fe- Other classical texts apply these teachings to male gurus stands in marked contrast to the long the life of an upper-caste boy. An upper-caste historical pattern in Hindu tradition, which re- boy’s student hood, which transitioned him stricts the role of authoritative guru who has a from child to adult, was spent with a guru. Ini- public presence to men. tiation, upanayana, took place for boys of the permitted castes between the ages of eight and History twelve, as an important life cycle rite, samskara, ‘Guru’ is a classical term and role in Hinduism. that initiated the boy into three domains: human It has several meanings including ‘weighty’ and society, study of the Vedas, and the practice of PB June 2015 401 16 Prabuddha Bharata the fire sacrifice. It transitioned the boy from acknowledged as guru in the private sphere, biological birth to social status, replacing the Queen Chudala in the YV and Princess He- mother: ‘Upanayana was thus a socio-ontolog- malekha in the TR, suggest a new dimension ical birth in opposition to a defective natural to knowledge acquisition by joining spiritual birth, and was designed to rectify biological knowledge to personal experience in the world. faults and construct a more substantial existence Within the dominant tradition of male gurus, for the young boy.’6 Thus, it transformed the boy personal insight is valued in the context of struc- through sacred knowledge imparted by a guru, tures such as a guru lineage, received teachings, with whom the child was said to have a more and emulation of a specific guru as practised in intimate relationship than with his biological the intimacy of the gurukula system. In contrast, father, as demonstrated by the resemblance of a prominent theme in the tradition of female the initiation rituals to those of marriage, as well gurus is personal experience both in the sense as the custom of the boy becoming a member of of independent spiritual realisation outside of the teacher’s family.7 initiation in a lineage—many female gurus are Living with the guru highlights the serious- self-initiated—as well as a pragmatic orientation ness of the relationship and the teaching for that relates experience of the world to spiritual boys, while it indicates that this system excluded knowledge. Personal experience was especially young girls. Girls only left their family homes significant to women and served as a cornerstone after marriage and after puberty—marriage is the of their authority since they were not originally most important ritual for girls and it is the coun- included in the definition of guru. Thus, instead terpart to the boys’ upanayana. When we hear of relying on the de facto qualification by gender of educated women in classical Indian tradition, open to men, women who wished to have the they are firmly located in the family context. For authority of a spiritual teacher had to innovate example, the female sage Gargi Vachaknavi, who with what was at hand.9 acts as a guru to male disputants in a debate in It is important to contextualise classical one of the earliest Upanishads, the Brihadaran- stories of female gurus with the wealth of liter- yaka Upanishad (ca. 700 bce), is not repre- ary references to exemplary spiritual women in sented as having studied with a guru; rather, she Hindu history. For example, spiritual women is in the family line of the renowned sage Garga. are depicted in India’s great epics, such as Su- Later texts in which women are explicitly por- labha from the Mahabharata, who won a de- trayed as gurus, such as the Yoga Vasishtha (YV) bate with the philosopher-king Janaka in front and the Tripura Rahasya (TR) (both ca. 1300 of learned brahmin scholars, and Shabari from ce), represent them as wives who are gurus to the Ramayana, who was blessed with a vision their husbands, again joining women’s know- of Rama at her ashrama. Historical female ledge with family location. This suggests that for bhakti saints who authored devotional poetry, women, family is equivalent to staying with the such as Karaikkal Ammaiyar (sixth century guru—one learns from a relative who is a sage, ce), Andal (ninth century ce), Mahadeviy- or one takes spiritual instruction together with akka (twelfth century ce), and Mirabai (six- one’s husband from a guru.8 teenth century ce), demonstrate that women Stories of women acting as gurus in the have participated actively in Hindu tradition public sphere, Gargi in the Upanishads, and across the centuries. 402 PB June 2015 Women Gurus in Hinduism 17 There is a difference, though, between the of the public recognition of a woman as a guru categories of ascetic and devotee or saint on the that was controversial; Bahinabai was a wife and one hand, and guru on the other. In the main, the other three women were widows when they an ascetic or devotee can perform that role by began to act as gurus, and they experienced re- adopting established cultural ways of behaviour, sistance from husband and/or community.11 but a guru needs the recognition of an audi- This barrier was definitively dismantled by fe- ence in order to be a guru. Of course in certain male gurus at the turn of and into the twentieth cases the ascetic does need to be perceived by century, in part because their spiritual achieve- others as authentic, such as if the ascetic is a ments were supported by men. For example, member of an order, or if the ascetic plans to the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi (1853–1920), seek alms from householders. Also, devotees the wife and spiritual companion of Sri Rama- need to have public recognition in order to krishna Paramahamsa (1836–1886), supported become saints. In addition, there is elasticity her companion Gauri Ma (1857–1938), a dis- to the title of guru; in theory, anyone can be a ciple of Sri Ramakrishna, in establishing the first guru to anyone, and this does not require pub- women’s ashrama in 1895 in Kolkata, which was lic recognition. As well, there is an elasticity inspired by Sri Ramakrishna and named Sri Sri of content to the guru, which Jacob Copeman Saradeshwari Ashrama.12 The Mother (Mirra and Aya Ikagame have intriguingly discussed Alfassa, 1878–1983) was the appointed succes- as ‘uncontainability’: ‘Perhaps the quality most sor of Sri Aurobindo, and Anandamayi Ma’s common to the guru across its manifold indi- Mirabai viduals, institutions and logics is that of uncon- tainability. Guru-ship is a suggestible form: as a principle-cum-model it affords movement be- tween domains; the extension and transform- ation of modes of power; scaling up/down; the expansion/containment of persons.’10 However, even given these nuances the categories of as- cetic, devotee or saint, and guru were defined distinctively in classical tradition. An ascetic and a devotee or saint are associated with auton- omy. A guru requires a critical mass of followers or disciples to bestow that title. A guru cannot perform as a ‘guru’ without recognition as such by another; ‘guru’ is a third-person term, not something one calls oneself. Stories of historical female gurus from the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, such as Sita Devi (flourished in 1490), Bahinabai (1628– 1700), Gauribai (1759–1809), and Tarigonda IMAGE: WWW.IMGKID.COM/MIRA-BAI.SHTML Venkamamba (popularly Venkamma, flourished in 1840) make it clear that it was exactly the issue PB June 2015 403 18 Prabuddha Bharata (1896–1982) husband was her disciple.13 These enlightenment.