Mother Meera is an India-based guru with an ashram in Colorado.

Sai Baba was an Indian-born guru who claimed between 6 million and 100 million adherents and 130 centers around the world before his death in 2011. He taught the unity of all world religions as different paths to the same God. Sai Baba’s followers credit him with many miracles.

The Rev. Leith Anderson is president of the National Association of Evangelicals and the former senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is credited with bringing Transcendental Meditation to the West. TM was a major component of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and had many celebrity adherents, including the Beatles and Mia Farrow. He died in 2008, but since 9/11, his followers have pursued “the Maharishi effect,” a power they believe can be found […]

Gurumayi Chidvilasananda is the leader of Siddha Yoga, which was founded by Baba Muktananda. There are ashrams and meditation centers around the world. In the U.S., there are ashrams in New York, Boston and Oakland, Calif.

Mata Amrtanandamayi Devi, also known as Ammachi or Amma, is called the “hugging saint.” Her main ashram is in New York City.

The Hindu Temple Society of North America is based within the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, N.Y. Its president is Dr. Uma Mysorekar.

Carol S. Anderson is an associate professor in the departments of religion and women’s studies at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich. She wrote a chapter about Gauri Ma in The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States.

Polly Trout is the author of Eastern Seeds, Western Soil: Three Gurus in America. She lives in Seattle.