Advaita Vedanta Gurus

Kabir Das (IAST: Kabīr, Hindustani pronunciation: [kəbiːr d̪aːs]; 1398/1440 – 1448/1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism’s Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism’s scripture Guru Granth Sahib. Born in the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, he is known for being critical of both organized religion and religions. He questioned meaningless and unethical practices of all religions primarily the wrong practices in Hindu and Muslim religion....

Kanada (Sanskrit: कणाद, romanized: Kaṇāda), also known as Kashyapa, Ulūka, Kananda and Kanabhuk, was an ancient Indian natural scientist and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian physics. Estimated to have lived sometime between 6th century to 2nd century BCE, little is known about his life. His traditional name “Kanada” means “atom eater”, and he is known for developing the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra....

Kanaka Dasa (1509 – 1609) was a Haridasa, a renowned composer of Carnatic music, poet, philosopher and musician. He is known for his keertanas and ugabhoga, compositions in the Kannada language for Carnatic music. Like other Haridasas, he used simple Kannada language and native metrical forms for his compositions. Kanakadasa Jayanti is celebrated on the commemoration to their great poet, saint, philosopher, composer and musician.

Kapila (Sanskrit: कपिल) Rishi (sage) was the 10th child of sage Kardam and Devbhuti. As per Vedas, Kardam was provided a boon by Lord Narayan that he would himself be born as his son, attaining which Kardam had decided to leave for the forest for penance and research on vedic studies. Kardam had 9 daughters who were very learned and went ahead to marry great sages. Kapila was then born into great knowledge and wisdom....

Kashyap (Sanskrit: कश्यप, IAST: Kaśyapa) is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the Rigveda, as well as numerous other Sanskrit texts and Indian Religious books. He is the most ancient Rishi listed in the colophon verse in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Kashyap is a common ancient name, referring to many different personalities in the ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts.

Swami Krishnananda Saraswati (25 April 1922 – 23 November 2001) was a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati and served as the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, India from 1958 until 2001. Author of more than 40 texts, and lecturing extensively, on yoga, religion, and metaphysics, Krishnananda was a prolific theologian, saint, yogi and philosopher. Krishnananda was President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute and the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee....

Kumārila Bhaṭṭa (fl. roughly 700) was a Hindu philosopher and a scholar of Mimamsa school of philosophy from early medieval India. He is famous for many of his various theses on Mimamsa, such as Mimamsaslokavarttika. Bhaṭṭa was a staunch believer in the supreme validity of Vedic injunction, a champion of Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā and a confirmed ritualist. The Varttika is mainly written as a subcommentary of Sabara’s commentary on Jaimini’s Purva Mimamsa Sutras....

Shyama Charan Lahiri (30 September 1828 – 26 September 1895), best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi, guru and a disciple of the Kriya Yoga master Mahavatar Babaji. In 1861, he was chosen by his guru to revive the yogic science of Kriya Yoga to the public after centuries of its guarding by masters. He was unusual among Indian holy people in that he was a householder: marrying, raising a family, and working as a government accountant, he lived with his family in Varanasi rather than in a temple or monastery....

Madhusudan (Sanskrit: मधुसूदन) is another name of Lord Vishnu and is the 73rd name in the Vishnu Sahasranama. According to Adi Sankara’ s commentary on the Vishnu sahasranama, Madusudanah means the destroyer of Madhu.

Madhvacharya (IAST: Madhvācārya; Sanskrit pronunciation: [mɐdʱʋaːˈtɕaːɽjɐ]; CE 1238–1317), sometimes anglicised as Madhva Acharya, and also known as Purna Prajna (IAST: Pūrṇa-Prajña) and Ānanda Tīrtha, was a Hindu philosopher and the chief proponent of the Dvaita (dualism) school of Vedanta. Madhva called his philosophy Tattvavāda meaning “arguments from a realist viewpoint”. Madhvacharya was born on the west coast of Karnataka state in 13th-century India. As a teenager, he became a Sanyasi (monk) joining Brahma-sampradaya guru Achyutapreksha, of the Ekadandi order....

Mahavatar Babaji (IAST: Mahāvatāra Bābājī; literally; Great Avatar (Revered) Father or Elder or Wise One) is the name given to an Indian yogi by Yogiraj Lahiri Mahasaya, and several of his disciples, Sri Yukteswar Giri, Baba Nasib Singh Ji, Ram Gopal Muzumdar, Swami Kebalananda, and Swami Pranabananda Giri who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his 1946 book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a report of Yogananda’s own meeting with the yogi....

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918 – 5 February 2008) was an Indian yoga guru, known for developing and popularizing Transcendental Meditation, and for being the leader and guru of a worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways including as a new religious movement and as non-religious. He became known as Maharishi (meaning “great seer”) and Yogi as an adult. After earning a degree in physics at Allahabad University in 1942, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became an assistant and disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (also known as Guru Dev), the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of the Jyotir Math in the Indian Himalayas....

Matsyendra, also known as Matsyendranātha, Macchindranāth, Mīnanātha and Minapa (early 10th century) was a saint and yogi in a number of Buddhist and Hindu traditions. He is traditionally considered the revivalist of hatha yoga as well as the author of some of its earliest texts. He is also seen as the founder of the natha sampradaya, having received the teachings from Shiva. He is especially associated with kaula shaivism. He is also one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas and considered the guru of Gorakshanath, another important figure in early hatha yoga....

Narahari Tirtha (c. 1243 - c. 1333) was a Dvaita philosopher, scholar, statesman and one of the disciples of Madhvacharya. He is considered to be the progenitor of the Haridasa movement along with Sripadaraja. Though only two of his scholarly works are extant, they are characterised by their verbosity and lack of digressions. A few songs of his survive under the nom de plume Raghukulatilaka. As a minister of considerable influence to the Eastern Ganga rulers and later as the pontiff of Madhvacharya mutt, Narahari converted the Simhachalam temple into an educational establishment of renown and a religious centre for Vaishnavism....

Narayana Guru, IPA: [n̪ɐːɾɐːjɐɳɐ guɾu], (20 August 1856 – 20 September 1928) was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India. He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.