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guruvina gulaamanaaguva tanaka doreyadaNNa mukuti
Unless one surrender to Right Guru, he/she will not find salvation.
- SrI PuraMdara daasaru

But again, books/video cant completely substitute for a teacher, but can definitely be a lot more useful in the absence of a live teacher.

While the most important thing in teaching is the knowledge of the teacher, the most important thing in learning is the passion of the student.

Thanks to Gurudev & Thanks to All.

Sarve Janaha Sukhino Bhavantu.

If Gnana has to be Vignana one needs virtuous Guru.

I shall post why one needs Guru. and what are the characteristics of suitable teacher.

What I intend to say is that, the existence of a teacher makes you learn things quickly and in the right direction in the right steps, since the teacher is already experienced. But in the absence of a teacher, if you start learning things on your own with passion, then your mind gets tuned into a self teacher over a period of time fueled by the thirst to know more.
So if you are not able to find the right person, you can start off on your own! In fact my teachers have been the books I read and now the videos and documents on the internet.

There are two Kali (pronounced differently) in vedic culture. Both are differently pronounced and dont sound similar, but unfortunately since English is a language of spellings, both are spelled same way in English.
In Sanskrit and other Indian languages there is no concept of spellings, we right what we speak.

So veronica is not written as v e r o n i c a
instead it is written as Ve ro ni ca where four compound letters represent the word and there is no spelling as such

So, For kali – one is kali (the daemon) and the other is actually kaaaLi (The Goddess)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_%28Demon%29

I certainly will try to find someone to guide me along.

Please read these links.
http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/india3.html
and this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/south_asia/3935861.stm
and also
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/siddi.htm

There is no colour based discrimination (Apartheid) in India. Only caste system exists in some parts, and this too doesnt have roots in Indian culture. Please see http://hitxp.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/caste-system-is-not-vedic/

You may come to India any time and will be welcomed with open arms just like any other visitor. In fact most Indians believe in Athithi Devobhava meaning ‘Treat Guest like a God’!

Indians ourselves are both dark skinned as well as light skinned. India is a mixture of all skins black, brown, white, yellow. And this is just the melanin pigment in the skin, and it has got nothing to do with being beautiful or not

Many Indian movie stars are dark skinned also, many vedic gods including Rama and Krishna are dark skinned. At the same time there are light skinned movie stars too, and also Gods!

If we say that we dont like dark skinned people then Its like saying we dont like ourselves

And moreover dark skin is more healthy than white skin. The more darker you are means more melanin you have in the skin, and melanin protects against harmful radiation from sun, which is why people near equator have developed this. People from culture who are less exposed to sun dont have enough melanin and hence look white, while the reality is that they cant really survive in hot regions and will get sun burns very soon and are at higher risks for skin cancer than dark skinned people.

Right in my place there are about 15-20 Africans in the next street living a happy life in India. Even they go to shops, movie theatres, for a walk on the streets, etc. As far as the India I have seen is concerned, there is absolutely no color based discrimination here.

And yes, you do have a culture /race which you belong to. The common human race and culture which we all share

There is an entire African community living in India in the coasts of Guajarat state at a place called Jambur. They came to India during the ancient times of trade, but today they are very much a part of India, and since this region lies in one of the poor belts in the state, the local state government is helping them with employment, land etc under an affirmative actions program. They are called Siddis and are actually sufi muslims who believe that God can be reached by dance and music.
In fact some of the Africans like Ambar (who came to India as an Ethiopian slave) became rulers of a part of India before the British came to India!
In fact most Africans came to India in the ancient days as traders and ambassadors to Indian states, they came as slaves with Arab merchants and Europeans!
See http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/article.aspx?d=Asia&x=Habshi
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/africa_india0s_african_communities/html/1.stm

Below is a kannada movie comedy scence (just for fun, nothing else), even though you dont understand the kannada language, a part of the dialogue is in English too. In this scene, the workers in the garage (in India of course) initially think that some American white people have come to buy some petrol and will talk to them about America and Americans, only to be fooled later when they come to know that these white people are actually local Indians who have developed Albinism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voOItj7t7mc