Turiyasangitananda, Swami (Alice
Coltrane) (1937– ) jazz pianist and
spiritual teacher
Swami Turiyasangitananda combined her spiritual
learning and musical talent to create a unique
teaching in the YOGA tradition.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on August 27,
1937, Alice MacLeod was a rare female jazz
instrumentalist, playing piano, organ, and harp.
She married the famous jazz musician John Col-
trane in 1965. In 1968 she received a spiritual
awakening and received initiation into SANNYAS
(renunciation). She traveled to India with Swami
SATCHIDANANDA, founder of the INTEGRAL YOGA
INTERNATIONAL and studied his teachings. She
began publishing books and recording devotional
music, reflecting her spiritual life. In 1975 she
was given the name Swami Turiyasangitananda
and began to establish a small following in the
United States. In 1983 she established the Vedan-
tic Center on 48 acres of land in the Santa Monica
Mountains near Agoura, California, and built an
ASHRAM to serve its growing membership. The
ashram was renamed Sai Anantam Ashram in
Chumash Pradesh in 1994.
Sai Anantam incorporates both the teachings
of Swami Satchidananda and Western spirituality.
Music and singing have a central role at the ash-
ram. Devotional compositions influenced by Turi-
yasangitananda’s musical talents mix traditional
BHAJANS with modern Western features. Studies at
the center include readings from the VEDAS and
the Hindu scriptures as well as Christian, Islamic,
and Buddhist texts.
Sai Anantam is open to seekers of all faiths.
Turiyasangitananda emphasizes basic Vedic prin-
ciples including the advancement of human life,
self-purification, selfless service, and unity with
God. The center has primarily African American
members. Approximately 30 residents live at Sai
Anantam and others from the surrounding com-
munity attend regular worship services. Activities
at the ashram include Sunday school for children,
weekly worship, chanting of services, and prayer.
The ashram has a bookstore and a vegetarian res-
taurant. Radio and television programs are also
produced by the center. Avatar Book Institute
of Agoura Hills distributes Turiyasangitananda’s
writings and recordings.Further reading: Alice Coltrane-Turiyasangitananda,
Endless Wisdom (Los Angeles, Calif.: Avatar Book Insti-
tute, 1981); ———, Monument Eternal (Los Angeles,
Calif.: Vedantic Book Press, 1977).Twitchell, Paul See ECKANKAR.
Tyberg, Judith M. (1902–1980) Theosophist
and U.S. Sri Aurobindo disciple
Judith Tyberg was a convert to Hinduism who
worked to introduce the faith to the West.
Judith was born on May 17, 1902, in Califor-
nia. Her parents were both Danish Theosophists;
her mother reportedly chanted a Vedic hymn to
the entering soul throughout her pregnancy carry-
ing Judith. Her parents sent her to the THEOSOPHI-
CAL SOCIETY’s Point Loma Raja Yoga School and the
Theosophical University. She earned an M.A. and
Ph.D. in Religion and Philosophy with a concen-
tration in Oriental thought and SANSKRIT studies.
While working on her degrees, she began to teach
at the Raja Yoga School. In 1932 she became its
assistant principal, a position she left to become
the dean of studies at the Theosophical University
in 1935.
As a scholar, she began to work on the SAN-
SKRIT terms that had been introduced into Theo-
sophical teachings. Her first book, Sanskrit Keys to
the Wisdom-Religion, appeared in 1940.
In 1947, Tyberg moved to India to pursue fur-
ther studies at Benares Hindu University and to
follow a spiritual quest that was leading her from
Theosophy to Hinduism. Soon after her arrival, she
was introduced to the writings of SRI AUROBINDO.
Impressed, she traveled to Pondicherry and met the
MOTHER, who related to Judith that both she andK 458 Turiyasangitananda, Swami