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When I applied my logical mind — see, I grew up on European philosophy and Kafka — I had no words to describe what was happening within me. It was too beautiful. When I spoke to the closest friends I had, the only question they asked me was, did you drink something, did you take some drug? This started happening over and over again and in about six weeks time it became a reality. Everything about me changed in six weeks.

• In your case it did not happen with sadhana, going to the hills, praying for years, growing a beard. You did not renounce your family or family life.

I must tell you this incident. I don’t know whether it is relevant for you. When I was just about 14 years of age, my mother always treated me like her elder brother. I was the youngest in the family. My other three siblings were all older to me. Even when I was a child, somehow they didn’t treat me as a child. I was never cuddled, taken on to the lap; somehow they couldn’t deal with my extremely logical questions. In India, mothers don’t have to come and say, ‘I love you’ because in India they are not given to such public expressions of love. So one day, she expressed herself in some way. For me, it was just a casual question: suppose I was born in the next house, would you still feel about me in the same way? She just broke down, tears came to her eyes, and she went away. And I thought, what did I do? I just asked her a simple question. But 15 minutes later, she came back and touched my feet and she was still crying. Why I made the point is that renunciation is not about going away.

• So as you went through this experience, you evolved into what you are. You did raise a family; you did bring up a daughter. She is turning 18 and you didn’t give up anything and go away to the hills or some place. You never thought of it.

No, I have embraced the million-strong family. I have not given up anything.

• So that was what I was saying. Your mother would be very proud of you: more than a million devotees and now a wonderful centre here, in the Velliangiri foothills, but also one coming up in Tennessee in America. Have you had to face scepticism in America after the experiences they had with Osho in one end of the country and Iskcon at the other end.

I don’t think anybody compares me with either Rajneesh . . . but one mistake religious leaders have made repeatedly across the world is that they want to form a community, to form a world of their own. That has never been my thing: I’ve always wanted and encouraged people to embrace the world, not to become a separate island of their own. What’s the point of creating a world of their own? After all, the creator’s creation is wonderful. Creating a centre is different (from creating a community).

• We will go next to your Dhyanalinga temple. Tell us about it. It took you a long time to make that.

What we refer to as Dhyanalinga is the very essence of yogic sciences. This temple is not created for worship or ritual. This is purely for mediation. It is in total silence always. Nobody speaks in the temple. It is always in silence. The whole science of how to use forms is called the science of consecration. This ancient science fell on bad times when Bhakti movements took over. When Bhakti movements took over, for a devotee his emotion is all-important, the science of it is not important.

• You are not into idol worship, the Hindu rituals, in a conventional sense.

No, we are on the yogic path. What you call the Hindu way of life is essentially a geographical and cultural identity. This is the only culture in the world where there is no crystallised belief system. There is no one form of God as such. You can worship a man, a woman, a snake, a cow, or a monkey. It is not rational for you to call somebody a monkey, because it is a god.

• That’s the problem with cricketers today.

Actually, he didn’t say monkey.

• I can see which side you are on. At least in cricket, you are not equidistant from everybody.

No. He said something worse.

• So this yogic temple is an answer to that (Bhakti making emotion all-important).

Yes, it is built according to a science and even a structure, with the dome. All the buildings standing here are not standing because of the strength of their material — it is brick, lime, mud; no cement and steel. They stand because of the perfection of their geometry. When you create a building with concrete and steel, there is a tussle between gravity and the building. One day, gravity would win anyway. Here there is no tussle, they are in proper harmony. They are in relaxation and no tension. I would say that the buildings themselves are meditating.

• You ride a motorbike, you wear designer glasses, you drive a Land Rover, and you dance at disco parties. Is it part of your brand image? Or is it to say that you can be normal and spiritual (at the same time)?

Being spiritual is being normal. If you are not spiritual, you can be handicapped. What you call spiritual is an experience that is beyond the physical.

• Are you sending a message to devotees by doing all the unusual things for a mystic to do — playing Frisbee, golf?