"Bitter Winter: You have written very personally about Vissarion. How would you describe him to someone who has never met him? Katya [Palkina]: I say this after meeting many respected teachers in the East: he is the most whole, luminous, and deeply humane person I have encountered. There is nothing authoritarian or manipulative in him. Nothing of the power‑hungry guru. His wisdom is profoundly practical. It teaches how to build a home, raise children, cultivate the land, and build relationships with love. His teaching is not a religion of the past. It is a guide to the future—a future humanity is desperately searching for."