Among the Hindus there are many different sorts of sages. There are the followers of Shankaracharya, there are those belonging to some sect of before the time of Shankaracharya, and there are those belonging to different groups that have arisen among them later. Some are priests, some are ascetics. Some live far away, in a remote seclusion, others are seen in the crowd, their bodies covered with ashes, with hair reaching sometimes to their knees, sometimes beyond. We have a saying in Hindustani "Khilvat dar anjuman" - seclusion in the crowd. They are among the crowd, but they are not of it. Those who have been in India may have seen some of them, and written of what they have seen, and have not understood at all.