ABSTRACT
The study of high-profile Indian spiritual gurus and their milieus can tell readers much about contemporary middle-class predicaments and sensibilities. This chapter explains the anti-guru paradox and considers the extensibility of the guru model such that the guru, as a kind of principle, may appear in many different forms. Each instance describes different facets of the guru's uncontainability. The chapter describes the idea of the guru as an inclusive singularity. Magnified persons, they contain a devotee constituency mobilisable not only for electoral but also for developmental purposes. The chapter explores the guru's expansive agency, but it is necessary to re-emphasise the differential multiplicity of meanings condensed within guru-ship that are the condition of possibility of such agency. Indian guru-led movements' profile is increasingly prominent as a key component of the quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations that 'fill in' for a state in the process of abandoning its commitment to socialist principles.
