Table of Contents

Introduction: An “All-In-One Guru”
Chapter 1. Methods in a “Buddhafield”: Interchanges Between a Scholar and a Sant
Chapter 2: What’s New about New-Age Gurus?
Chapter 3: Gurus and Disciples: Situating Gurumaa in Tradition
Chapter 4: Death at Darshan and Other Narratives of Guru-Bhakti
Chapter 5: A Sufi, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist TV Guru
Chapter 6: Shakti, in Word, Activism, and Hagiography: “Listen to My Voice!”
Chapter 7: New Media, Same Old Magic: “This Is the Siddhi”
Conclusion: Conversations with a “Twenty-First Century Mystic”

About the Author

Angela Rudert is lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Ithaca College.

Reviews

In Shakti’s New Voice, Angela Rudert, a scholar working at the intersection of anthropology and the history of religions, fills a lacuna in the field with her in-depth and empathetic exploration of the transcultural guru movement centered on Anandmurti Gurumaa. Based on more than ten years of research with Gurumaa and her middle-class Indian (and a few non-Indian) devotees in India and the United States, Shakti’s New Voice offers a critical ethno-historical examination of global guru devotion (bhakti) as it is “performed” on stage and through song, gender activism, and new media. This book will appeal to academics and non-academics interested in South Asia, religion, globalization, religious pluralism, and gender and women’s religious leadership. Expertly written, its dialogical style makes the book highly accessible to undergraduates, and its delicate balancing of culturally specific and generalizable insights will be of much interest to scholars and graduate students working in these and related fields.... Rudert’s book pushes against the old school dichotomies of “insider” and “outsider” in religious studies and other Humanistic disciplines. The book charts out a new modality for representing the (female) scholar’s voice and those of the people with whom she works and creates relationships, while casting a sobering glance on the ethics and politics of appropriating others’ worlds in the production and commodification of scholarship.
*Reading Religion*

Angela Rudert has written a fascinating study of the contemporary Punjabi female spiritual leader Anandmurti Gurumaa, generally simply referred to as ‘Gurumaa’. This is a rich account of an important, but as yet little known Indian-derived spiritual movement. . . . Rudert’s book is highly accessible and yet deals with some important and complex issues. It is relevant to anyone interested in the appeal of contemporary gurus, the globalisation of spirituality, and the increasing significance of new media platforms in spiritual movements.
*Journal of Contemporary Religion*

The book manages to retain the apposite scholarly rigour demanded of a dissertation, while donning the relaxed and casual armchair readability expected by wider audiences. . . . There is much in this book that both a lay audience as well students and scholars of religion would enjoy.
*Nidan: International Journal for Indian Studies*

Shakti's New Voice is a rich addition to studies on gurus, women’s leadership in religion, and the tension of continuity and change in religious traditions. Rudert nimbly situates the ‘modern’ and 'New Age’ eclecticism and cultural challenge of Gurumaa into broader historical patterns found in longstanding North Indian sant traditions while illuminating the innovations facilitated by twenty-first century technology. Creative, empathetic, and self-aware, Rudert’s book makes a worthy contribution to on-going scholarly analyses of ‘gurudom’ while also offering noteworthy and fascinating insights on method. Written with scholarly expertise along with a personal and approachable style, Shakti's New Voice should appeal both to professional academics and anyone intrigued by the magnetic pull of gurus and wisdom figures.
*Thomas A. Forsthoefel, Mercyhurst University, co-editor of Gurus in America*

Rudert’s remarkably rich and insightful ethnographic study of the contemporary Indian ‘revolutionary mystic’ Swamiji Anandmurti Gurumaa reveals how the call of the Divine Beloved is played out in the lives of disciples in a globalized and transnational context, whether through her songs, or through digital, electronic or face-to-face encounters. Framed as an interplay between tradition and innovation, the book is essential reading for understanding how Gurumaa’s pluralism and gender activism are embodied within Indic spirituality even as they reformulate traditional understandings of the boundaries between religious faiths and the role of women.
*Zayn Kassam, Pomona College*

Angela Rudert’s fascinating book introduces the contemporary transnational female guru Anandmurti Gurumaa, ‘a fresh, fiercely independent, feminine manifestation of Master who is poet, sant and activist.’ Central to the study is the theme of conversation across multiple registers. The author’s special access to the guru enabled discussions that animate her ethnography and theorizing. Gurumaa’s emphasis on pluralism rejects labels in favor of listening to historical voices from a multiplicity of religions that are relevant to spirituality today. Through socially-informed activism, she empowers girls by her educational Shakti NGO, and by encouraging global communication through social media the guru engages her devotional community in discussion about her teachings. This fine study demonstrates that Gurumaa and gurus of today transform the received idea of the New Age to bring spirituality into potent contemporary dialogue with self and service.
*Karen Pechilis, Drew University*