time was when we stilled our minds making a pathless journey with jiddu krishnamurti or doing a jonathan livingston seagull flight with that gypsy barnstormer richard bachif we didnt approve of either way we stayed content with mainstream religion in all its trappings a chain of rituals unquestioned worship monastic vows and severe austerities but religion is all too expansive truly personal yet dependent on the community based on holy texts but still incoherent about lay existence and so when modernday living is constantly punctuated by stress and struggle the burden of keeping harmony with our environment increaseshail the new age faith it is attainable it addresses the individual in his presentday avatar whether he be a geek or a painter most of all it does not question his personal faith he can be a practising catholic and a feng shui besides a new age cult is a network without geographical frontiers most groups are taboo and ritualfree end result clarity in life new age is also heterogeneous it has no common goal if it has a centre its the belief in core ideas of man and his relationship with nature and this as seen from the individuals personal self in their sweep the new age faiths have a prescription for many daytoday problems be it a dramatic change in your personality flattening your abs removing that sting of guilt handling a relationship or even managing a team in your corporate setupbasic tenetsthe yin and yang of health and happiness suryayog which has 30 centres in mumbai and about 25 centres in delhi believes in connecting with nature practised outdoors during sunrise it doesnt encompass rituals except for arogya sanskriti havan which is conducted to balance male and female elements in the body this balance leads to perfect health says dr yamuna iyer surya swamis deputymumbaibased healerastrologer sunita menon trusts in her sixth sense she helps clients heal themselves through mantras and japas she also gave karan johar and ekta kapoor the moneyspinning ktip for their projects kyonki kuch to hoga kamaal sri sri ravi shankars art of living aol headquartered in bangalore propagates inner contentment with the aid of breathing techniques and refined asanas vikas malkani an unlikely guru with his crewcut and casual dressing heads the soulcentre which teaches people to become soulwarriors we belong to our own self a man grows by overcoming his limited thoughts and ideas vikas teaches people about the spirituality of relationships of business of self all with a hereandnow approachmata amritanandamayi also known as the hugging guru instils in her believers simple truths of meditation devotion and service our greatest ritual is service to humanity says swami amritaswarupananda vicechairman of amrita mathdiscipline humility and concentration are the principles on which delhibased yoga expert mini thapars yoga philosophy is founded yoga she says is about leading a