Editor's preface to the first edition

Sri Chinmoy delivered a series of seven lectures in early 1976 at Marvin Center, George Washington University, Washing­ton, D.C. The first three of these talks, to­gether with selected questions and answers, have been collected in this volume. The remaining four talks will be published in a subsequent volume, Self-Discovery and World-Mastery, Washington Lecture Series — Part 2.