Gyan Sankar, a Chennai resident, was a postgraduate in physics eking out his living doing odd jobs. He has a gift of the gab and a liking for the oratory, power and pelf of the charismatic swamis. Though he was an atheist, he attended every public discourse of any popular swami who visited Chennai. Off and on, from a friend’s system he listened to the spiritual discourses of various swamis available on YouTube.

  Over a year he could manage to get the hang of their philosophy. Most of them spoke of advaita which fascinated him for its speculative brilliance and near fool-proof logic. One fine morning he donned a long ochre robe and gatecrashed into a spiritual seminar held at IIT Kanpur known for its periodical spiritual get-togethers.

   Organizers were pleasantly shocked by the entry of this unknown swami who looked too young to be one. Nevertheless, they allowed him to speak for a couple of minutes at the closure of the....