The YouTube Guru
Dattatreya Siva Baba was first introduced to mainstream America years ago when self-help writer Wayne Dyer dedicated a book to the Indian-born guru. But Baba has since discovered a cultural mover even more powerful than Dyer. Baba reports that some 3 million people have viewed his clips since he began putting short versions of his teachings up on YouTube 15 months ago. Whether expounding on the laws of cause and effect, or the god Ganesha's birthday, the snowy-bearded Baba sits in the same leopard-skin print chair; only his headgear changes color. The clips usually pull in 6,000 viewers the day he posts them. But "Guided Grace Light Meditation," which was posted in July when he announced that astronomical phenomena indicated that the world is due for a golden age, has been viewed on YouTube more than 300,000 times. "I think 300,000 people having that meditation every day has a great impact on world consciousness," he says, adding, "I have always wanted to reach the world inclusively so that people don't have to pay to listen to me and I don't have to pay a lot of money." Amen.