Dr. Douglas Brooks - is among the world’s leading scholars of Hindu Tantrism and the esoteric traditions of the Goddess. After receiving a Masters degree from Harvard Divinity School, he continued his studies in the history of religions, Sanskrit, and Indian studies going on to receive a Masters and Doctorate from Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions. Douglas has held academic positions both in India and the United States and has lectured around the world. Currently, he is Professor of Religion and Chair of Asian Studies at the University of Rochester in New York.

In addition to his formal Western education, Douglas lived for many years in India in the house of his Teacher according to the traditions of Guru Kulam in which the student is initiated into all facets of the Indian classical Sanskrit education, including philosophy, yoga, ritual, and worship. Douglas’s Teacher, Gopala Iyer Sundarmoorthy was not only an eminent scholar of Hinduism, but a Master of the Tantric Goddess tradition known as Auspicious Wisdom, or Shri Vidya. He is the author of a number of books and scholarly articles on Hinduism and the Comparative Study of Religion. His forthcoming work will include a new translation of an introduction to yoga philosophies that compares Tantric views with those of Classical Yoga and non-dualist or Advaita Vedana. These works are part of his collaboration with John Friend, a world-renown yoga teacher and the founder of Anusara Yoga.