A swami (one who has his own) is anyone who has proprietary rights, an owner, a lord, or a master. By extension, a person who is master of himself or herself, who has developed per-fect yogic self-control, is a spiritual swami. Any religious or spiritual being of the highest order is called a swami. The word is usually added to proper names, for example, Swami MUKTANANDA or Swami SACCIDANANDA.
Further reading: Pagal Baba, Temple of the Phallic Kin: The Mind of India, Yogis, Swamis, and Avataras (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973); Swami Agehananda Bharat, The Ochre Robe (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970); Marvin H. Harper, Gurus, Swamis and Avataras: Spiritual Masters and Their American Disciples (Philadel-phia: Westminster Press, 1972).
Encyclopedia of Hinduism. A. Jones and James D. Ryan. 2007.