If you visit any of the “spiritual centres” in India today, you will find these “shops” selling innovative and, at times, unrecognizable forms of yoga and Vedic sciences. I recently visited one such place and was amazed to read the promises made on the boards that hung outside. The streets were filled with aspirants from all over the world who were eager to learn the ancient Vedic sciences and it was pitiable to see what we had to offer to them in return. The place I visited was the tapobhoomi of some great yogis and rishis, and their ashrams are still there. Right outside one such ashram there was a huge garbage dump where stray animals were feeding on plastic and toxins, saffron-clad men sat at the side of the road and struck deals with the tourists for a spiritual experience. If those evolved souls were to visit their own ashrams today, they sure would be relieved that they left long back... At the Maha Kumbh underway at Prayag, another spiritual centre where dro...