Once I was lecturing at the Oxford University, when a journalist asked me, “What is yog?” I told him, “Yog is guru”. He replied, “If you talk like this, we will not be able to publish this article, because in this part of the world, we do not believe in gurus.” I could not help but smile. I told him, “We are one billion Indians, we can export yog in a billion ways to you, but if you ask me about yog, there is only one. Yog is guru. You and I can do nothing to change that.” This is a problem that one faces not just in the West, but in this yug. I was asked recently, “Why is India, which boasts of great discoveries and inventions in the past, today a ‘third-world’ country? What happened to the richness of our culture and advancement of our sciences?” It disappeared with disrespect of the guru. Start respecting him, and it will be back. Take a look at anyone from the age of 18 to 80, across nations— hardly anyone is willing to accept the guru. In the guru’s absence, neither...