information see Raymond Brady
Williams, A New Face of Hinduism, 1984.
SYDA
(Siddha YogaDham America) Religious
organization founded by Swami
Muktananda (1908–1982), which has
ashrams and centers around the world.
Siddha Yoga’s metaphysics are a modi-
fied form of Kashmiri Shaivism, but its
signature teaching is the notion that the
guru’s gracecan immediately awaken
the disciple’s latent kundalini(spiritual
power, the most vital substance of the
subtle body) and speed the process of
spiritual development. This teaching
puts an even greater emphasis on the
importance of the guru as spiritual
teacher, and the overwhelming empha-
sis pervades the whole movement.
Although it has Indian members, most
of its followers are non-Indian converts,
who may be engaged in a spiritual
search but who have little interest in
becoming culturally Indian. The organi-
zation was headed by Muktananda until
his death in 1982; for most of the time
since then it has been presided over by
his successor, Chidvilasananda.
SYDA