center he founded. Many members of the com-
munity were saddened by the disclosure of Desai’s
behavior, but the Kripalu Yoga and Health Center
has remained a prominent, respected spiritual and
health center, reoriented around Desai’s teacher,
Swami Kripalananda.
Desai has returned to teaching and travels
throughout the United States, offering workshops
and teacher training. His new organization, Amrit
Yoga Institute, teaches the Amrit Method of Yoga
Nidra to provide tools for banishing unconscious
fears and habits. The institute also publishes
Sacred Pathways Magazine, a bimonthly journal of
yoga and higher consciousness. The Amrit Yoga
Institute is headquartered in Salt Springs, Florida.
Further reading: Richard Faulds, Kripalu Yoga: A Guide
to Practice on and off the Mat (New York: Bantam Books,
2006); Richard Faulds, Gurudev: The Life of Yogi Amrit
Desai (Lenox, Mass.: Kripalu Yoga Fellowship, 1982);
Kaviraj (Stephen Cope), Yoga and the Quest for the True
Self (Lenox, Mass.: Kripalu Yoga Fellowship, 2004).
Desai, Yogi Shanti (mid-20th
century) teacher of yoga and founder of Shanti Yoga
Institute
Born in Gujarat state, India, Yogi Shanti Desai
studied yoga and Hindu scriptures from an early
age. As a youth he met and was initiated by
Swami Kripalu, the inspiration of the Kripalu Yoga
Institute. After receiving a B.S. in India, Desai
immigrated in 1961 to the United States, where
he received an M.S. in chemistry from Drexel
University. He worked as a research chemist while
teaching yoga until 1972, when he turned to
teaching yoga full-time.
He opened the SHANTI YOGA INSTITUTE AND
YOGA RETREAT in Ocean City, New Jersey, in 1974
to provide instruction in yoga as a way of life.
From 1977 to 1985 he directed the Glassboro
(New Jersey) Ashram for spiritual communal liv-
ing, and after 1981 he directed Prasad, a yogic
health food store and restaurant. He personally
directs the Ocean City facility with his wife, Nay-
ana. The institute offers yoga classes, seminars,
and workshops.Further reading: Yogi Shanti Desai, Dynamic Balanced
Living (Ocean City, N.J.: Shanti Yoga Institute, 1985);
———, Meditation Practice Manual (Ocean City, N.J.:
Shanti Yoga Institute, 1981).Desjardins, Arnaud (1925– ) founder of
Hauteville Ashram
Arnaud Desjardins is a French teacher of ADVAITA
VEDANTA. After a successful career making docu-
mentaries about Indian and other Eastern reli-
gious leaders and traditions, Desjardins eventually
founded the first ASHRAM in France. He is the most
popular and influential spiritual teacher in the
francophone world.
Arnaud Guerin-Desjardins (he later dropped
Guerin) was born on June 18, 1925, into a devout
French Protestant family. His father, Jacques
Guerin-Desjardins, was a hero in both world wars,
and a prominent figure in Protestant circles. Close
to Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting
movement, to whom Arnaud was introduced as a
young boy, Guerin-Desjardins wrote books, gave
lectures, and gave his two sons and one daughter
a strict religious education. He earned a middle-
class living as an executive for Peugeot, while his
wife, Antoinette, also a devout Protestant, cared
for the children at home.
As a young boy, Arnaud, although afraid of
his father, was very interested in religious sub-
jects, but was also tormented by questions rather
uncommon for most children of his age, such as
What about Catholics? Could they really be so
wrong? If he had been born a Catholic, would not
he be convinced that the truth lay in the Catholic
Church? At the end of his teens, having seen plays
given at the Comédie Française in Paris as part of
his cultural education, Arnaud developed a pas-
sion for theater and acting, learning whole plays
by heart. His parents very reluctantly consentedDesjardins, Arnaud 125 J