Shakti's New Voice: Guru Devotion in a Woman-Led Spiritual Movement by Angela Rudert (review)

Anandmurti Gurumaa, commonly referred to simply as Gurumaa by her followers, is a charismatic female guru who draws upon Hindu, Sikh, Sufi, Christian, and Buddhist religious traditions in her spiritual teachings. Born by the name of Gurpreet Grover in Amritsar, India, in 1966, this present-day guru has a growing following of predominantly Hindu and Sikh devotees living in urban India and North America, as well as a strong online presence. Gurumaa is particularly popular with women, for whom she is frequently said to embody shakti, a divine feminine cosmic power. This book provides a welcome academic account of Gurumaa's life and innovative teachings, set in the context of the long South Asian tradition of guru-bhakti, or devotion (bhakti) to a spiritual teacher (guru).

Rudert's style of writing is admirably accessible and methodologically reflexive, and her careful definition of all South Asian terminology and provision of relevant historical and cultural background information makes this book an excellent resource for the undergraduate classroom. The first three chapters of the book are primarily descriptive and pedagogically oriented, providing an overview of the ethnographic method the author employed to study Gurumaa and her teachings (chapter 1); describing the broader field of modern or "New Age" gurus in South Asia (chapter 2); and then contextualizing the long tradition of guru devotion in Indian religions (chapter 3). Together these chapters lay the groundwork for the second half of the book, wherein the author provides a close analysis of what is innovative in Gurumaa's teachings and why they appeal to her followers.

Rudert argues that Gurumaa is "a highly innovative female guru," who "remains grounded in Indian religiosity while at the same time challenging notions of what scholars and spiritual seekers alike call 'tradition'" (xviii). Following a bridge chapter that describes Gurumaa's devotional following in India and North America in detail (chapter 4), in the second half of this book Rudert focuses on three themes to analyze Gurumaa's innovative teachings. The first theme is Gurumaa's intentionally pluralistic spiritual instruction (chapter 5). Gurumaa was born to Sikh parents, educated in a Catholic school, and attained enlightenment at a famed Hindu pilgrimage site. In her embodied religious practice, as in her personal narrative, Gurumaa embraces an "expansive spirituality" (108) by refusing to identify with any single religious tradition or "ism," by singing devotional songs composed by poets from multiple South Asian religious traditions, by wearing religious attire associated with different religions, and by performing her religious services in Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim spaces.

The second theme is Gurumaa's activism on behalf of girls and women in India (chapter 6). Gurumaa is an outspoken activist for girls' education in India, where she has founded a nongovernmental organization called Shakti with the mission "to empower the girl child" (130), and where she speaks out regularly to promote the cause of girls' education and to call for an end to sex-selective abortions of female fetuses in light of the imbalanced child sex ratio in parts of India. The third theme is Gurumaa's usage of new and social media to interact with her growing global following (chapter 7). Gurumaa uses a variety of new and social media, not just to transmit her teachings to a larger audience or to sell her devotional recordings, but to interact with her global community in the form of a virtual satsang (religious gathering) and to enhance the traditional experience of guru-bhakti.

This volume is enriched by the author's reflections upon her own experiences in Gurumaa's ashram. At the same time, it is grounded in substantial ethnographic research conducted with Gurumaa and her devotees in both India and the United States. This book will therefore appeal to scholars and students of Indian religious traditions, as well as to the general reader with an interest in religion and gender, the globalization of religion, and/or guru-led movements...