It's not that one needs physically to be in India to experience transcendence, duh! True transcendentalists are just that. But for me the energies in India are not so in-your-face material, so it's like getting instant access to the exquisite taste and touch of a lighter energy - energy not to do with the physical, or with things, but connected to me, to my heart and soul. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying India's all bliss, yoga and chanting and certainly material energy is in full, vibrant evidence at its best and worst. It's just that in spite of it all, permeating everything, is something rich and beyond words, an unfathomable depth of absolute knowledge long lost, forgotten and out-of-reach in the west, but always there within easy access, if you're open to it.