Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Swami Vivekananda are all considered prominent yogis who significantly influenced the spread of yoga and Hindu philosophy in the West. In researching the 200-year transmission of India’s spiritual teachings to the West, I found that these three gurus stood out for their immense impact on public awareness. They combined a steadfast reverence for tradition with skillful adaptation to the modern world.
They came to America at intervals of about 30 years, in eras that were vastly different, culturally and technologically. They were, of course, Hindu monks. At the same time, they were well-educated, fluent in English, and knowledgeable about science.
Vivekananda, born in 1863, arrived in Chicago at age 30 as a delegate to the World’s Parliament of Religions. It was the first parliament, and it might have been the last if the ‘handsome monk in the orange robe,’ as one writer described him, had not made it memorable. He stole the show with an eloquent refutation of misconceptions about Hinduism and a dignified demonstration of that tradition’s vaunted respect for all pathways to the divine.
Yogananda was born the year of his predecessor’s triumph in Chicago and landed in Boston in 1920 to speak on ‘The Science of Religion.’ The first major guru to make the U.S. his home, he fell in love with Los Angeles, which he called ‘the Benares of America,’ establishing the world headquarters of his Self-Realization Fellowship on a rustic hilltop with a view of downtown.
The third member of the trio is destined to be known forever as ‘the Beatles’ guru.’ Born in 1918, 
had been circling the globe for nearly 10 years, teaching his Transcendental Meditation, by the time the Fab Four found him in 1967. He touched down in the U.S. annually for much of that time, attracting small numbers of grown-up middle-class seekers. Then TM caught on among students, and spread to the burgeoning counterculture, and when the Beatles followed him to India, Maharishi’s face became the global symbol of guruhood. It was on the cover of national magazines, the front pages of newspapers, and on national TV.
Meditation was suddenly hip, and soon it would be something more substantial, as Maharishi prodded scientists to investigate what goes on in the body and brain when people meditated. As a result of those early studies, meditation — and with it Indian philosophy — moved quickly from the youth culture to the mainstream. That trend line peaked in 1975, when Maharishi occupied the full hour of Merv Griffin’s talk show (the Oprah of its day) twice, with scientists and meditating celebs like Clint Eastwood and Mary Tyler Moore. Now, a thousand experiments later, yoga and meditation are routinely recommended by healthcare professionals.”
https://www.huffpost.com, Philip Goldberg
