Table of Contents
Part I — Yoga and meditation
- Question: What is Yoga?
- Question: Does Yoga mean more than oneness with God? Does it mean that we have to act a certain way?
- Question: Some people who say they practise Yoga are often rude to others. Why is that?
- Question: Guru, how do you meditate?
- Question: Do you have to sit in a certain posture or close your eyes to meditate?
- Question: Can everyone learn to meditate?
- Question: What is the best way to begin to study Yoga and meditation?
- Question: If someone has read about Yoga and meditated on his own, should he seek a Guru?
- Question: What does the Guru demand from his disciples and what should the disciples expect from their Guru?
- Question: How do Gurus help their students in the daily outer life?
- Question: God-realisation sounds like such a difficult goal. Why do people strive to attain it?
- Question: Are all Gurus the same, or are there good ones and bad ones, like regular people?
- Question: Guru, how can someone tell whether he is following a good Guru or a bad one?
- Question: What is the human soul really like?
- Question: Can a real spiritual Master help the soul of a disciple?
- Question: Can disciples feel that feeding?
- Question: Is there life after death?
- Question: Guru, why don't we remember any of our past lives?
- Question: Can meditation help people overcome their fear of death?
- Question: Back in the 1960's a number of intelligent people said that they had intense spiritual experiences through drugs, and a lot of people still make this claim. How do you see the relationship between drugs and the spiritual life?
- Question: Suppose someone comes to you, Guru, and says, "I take drugs. Can you help me get off drugs?" Could you help him?
- Question: Sir, why is it that so many American people are following Indian Gurus?
- Question: Guru, is Yoga really for everybody?
- Question: How can a person tell which Guru he should follow?
- Question: But how can you tell whether you are linking up with a fake or not?
- Question: Without naming names, are many people following fakes?
- Question: What are the ways that a God-realised Master can help his disciples realise God?
- Question: Sri Chinmoy, what is your philosophy on sex?
- Question: Guru, America is rather preoccupied with sex. Is it harder now for people to practise the spiritual life than it was, say, twenty years ago?
- Question: What is God-realisation and how can you recognise it in somebody?
- Question: How does one achieve God-realisation?
- Question: Guru, can you tell us what happens when you chant Aum?
- Question: What happens inside you when you do that?
- Question: Why are your eyes half-closed so often?
- Question: Many people seem to have the idea that a spiritual Master shouldn't have any dislikes or likes. He should never feel happy or sad. He should never be sick or tired, or have a favourite food. But why shouldn't a Master be normal?
- Question: Guru, when you enter into a trance and go into samadhi, what does it actually feel like? Do you see God there, or do you feel certain kinds of experiences?
- Question: Guru, how would you describe the people who have become your disciples?
Part II — Progress and spirituality
- Question: How can I make the fastest progress?
- Question: Guru, how is it possible to tell whether you are ascending or descending when the movement takes place in such small steps?
- Question: Guru, how do we get so fooled that we don't know exactly when we lose some divine qualities?
- Question: How can I regain the spiritual height that I once achieved?
- Question: Is suffering necessary for spiritual progress?
- Question: How can we avoid tension in our aspiration?
- Question: If something wrong happens or if I miss some good opportunity, I just pray for surrender, but I don't achieve it.
- Question: Why do we still experience anger and irritation?
Part III — Selfless service
- Question: When you ask us to do selfless service, sometimes we seem to have things to do on the outside. Are we consciously creating burdens on the outside so that we don't have to work for the Centre?
- Question: Should we do selfless service if we cannot do it in a good consciousness, with surrender? Should we go ahead and do this service even though we can't do away with our negative feelings about it?
Part IV — Questions on science
- Question: Do people today have more confidence in what they know because of science?
- Question: What is the supreme goal of the scientist?
- Question: Scientists say that the physical universe is expanding all the time. Some of them say that it is going to keep expanding forever and others say that it is going to contract again. What is your view?
- Question: How does giving your body to science affect you spiritually?
