With more than 30 yoga studios across the world, I take pride in the fact that this shared process has empowered many students to turn into associates, as they help me in making people healthier, fitter and beautiful. I do believe in the concept of ‘artistic yoga’. An experimental and powerful form, it combines the wisdom of ancient yogic techniques with the demands of contemporary lifestyles. It is aesthetic, graceful and, most importantly, strives to create harmony between one’s inner and outer self. There is so much that the human body is capable of. Unfortunately, we have allowed it to become a victim of modern-day comforts and conveniences, making us unaware of its true endurance and potential. It is my belief that a beautiful, flexible and easily pliable body will lead to freshness and openness of the mind, and liberate the soul from all stressful factors that threaten to invade our peaceful living.

What keeps me going is the awareness that I am incorruptible. I can never get spoilt by ‘gurudom’ and fame. Hailing from an aristocratic Thakur family, I have seen abundance in my early years. Living a frugal life has brought out the nomad in me. I am certainly ambitious about reaching out to as many people as I can and I see nothing immoral in that. It is my calling and I am convinced that even if God were to come down to planet Earth, he would have to work for a living and do the things that most of us are driven to do.

I know I am not going to live long. I will be killed by those who I speak against. But if I do, in the next 10 years, I will destroy all the ‘isms’ which society is obsessive about. I will expose the entire breed of babas, swamis and astrologers as fraudsters who are nothing but criminals in the garb of godmen. I wonder how people can call themselves prodigies claiming to have memorised scriptures or read the Bhagavadgita at the age of four. Human consciousness cannot be groomed that young. It is illogical, farcical and a lie. Indians are all about being multi-skilled. They have tremendous depth, resilience and reserves of mental and physical stamina. Yet, they are the most gullible when it comes to playing into the hands of babas, munis and gurus. They have ruined the entire concept of Indian spirituality. Ideally, their credo should be, "I have acquired some knowledge and I want to use/share that to enrich your lives" instead they have just shamelessly enriched their own lives. They misguide by claiming they are gods. I don’t allow people to put me on that elevated platform or to create that haloed ring around me. I indulge in plainspeak and don’t hesitate to expose mendicants who come and impress you with their mumbo-jumbo mantras and cheap tricks like silver turning into ash or smoke arising out of clenched fists, which anyone with some basic understanding of chemical reactions can see through.

I don’t know why we cannot retain the romance of life and enjoy the surprise and challenge which unpredictability of events throws up. Why is there such desperation to run to anyone who hints he can see into your future? Do they really know it all? Each man has to be responsible for his life. In the olden times, there used to be genuine fakirs who never turned into commonplace palmists. They did not even let people know that they knew.

Funnily, I don’t know which law of spirituality imposes so many do’s and don’ts, extolling people to turn vegetarian, to give up tea, coffee and alcohol. If you go up to the Himalayas, you might just come across a sadhu who might have had charas but he will just touch you and you will find yourself in samadhi. I don’t know how spirituality and human indulgences or so-called vices have been segregated. What matters is that you should be aware and conscious of the present moment, know what you are doing and retain your natural and spontaneous goodness.

I believe in life. Thankfully for me, the root of my life was strong and clear.

I was chosen by my master, Sukhdev Brahmachari, at the age of four and taken to the Himalayas where I lived for 14 years. Under his guidance, along with three other disciples, I studied yoga, ayurveda, tantra and mantra besides Sufism, Jainism and Buddhism. On my return, I finished my studies and mastered in exercise physiology and yoga from the Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, Gwalior, and went on to do my PhD in physiology and biomechanics. I am grateful for all the formal and non-formal education and learning that I have gone through. It keeps me grounded, helps me connect to people without getting affected by their adulation and allows me to not take myself too seriously. I have authored three books — Yoga for all, Yoga for Stress Relief and Yoga for Weight Loss — and am looking forward to bringing out a volume on poetry and another one where I will be talking of my favourite subject, "The making of a baba".

(As told to Taru Bahl)