AS THE song Hoshiyar rehna re nagar mein chor aavega (stay alert or a thief could enter the city) drifts through the Panchagiri Hills outside Bengaluru, Karthik K explains why Kabir’s doha always grounds him. “The city is a metaphor for the human body and mind, and the ‘thief’ represents all that robs a person of awareness — ego, desire, anger, greed, illusion, pride, distraction, even time and death itself,” says the 22-year-old tech professional, swaying gently before returning to stillness. For Karthik, Kabir’s centuries-old verse holds a mirror to his own restlessness. Seated around him are content creators and influencers, a young farmer, students, an IIM graduate, foreign students on a gap-year tour of India, retirees and solo women travellers. Together, they form the evening satsang at the Art of Living (AOL) ashram, spread across 80 acres off Kanakapura Road.…