I wrote this piece in 2012 at the invitation of Amy Edelstein, assistant to Andrew Cohen. It didn't get published in the end, but it contains my thinking on the question of the guru. I have a debt to three key gurus - Osho, Krishnamurti and Douglas Harding - and to many others, including Andrew Cohen. The latter is controversial, and I understand that some of his ex-students are not happy with him. But the guru principle is one I will always defend.

(7,626 words).