Interviewer: This morning we have Sri Chinmoy here in the studio. He will give us an example of a prayer chant in Sanskrit to start the program.

(Sri Chinmoy sings a Shloka from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.)

Interviewer: Ladies and gentlemen, you have been listening to Sri Chinmoy Ghose chanting a prayer, which, to those of us in the Western world, was quite foreign. We are going to get into that and find out what that was about, and we have many questions to ask Sri Chinmoy this morning.

Interviewer: With us in our studio we have Miss Dorothy Eisaman, Mr. and Mrs. Jose L. Casanova, Miss Carmen Suro, Mr. Ramon Torres Pena, Mr. Ed Belville, and acting with me this morning in the process of asking the questions, is Mr. George Riddell.

Mr. George Riddell: One of the first questions that comes to us: there is evidently a very sacred note in that chant and I was wondering if you might interpret it for us in English, to know what it was about.

Sri Chinmoy: Thank you. This chant is one of the most famous chants in India. From time immemorial, this chant has been sung, chanted by the seekers of Truth. The seers, the sages of the Upanishads sang this chant. The significance, the meaning of this prayer is:

Lead me from the untruth to the Truth.
Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.

The firmament of India still resounds with this soul-stirring chant of the Vedic and the Upanishadic seers of India.

Mr. George Riddell: Typical themes like that seem to run through all religious hymns and chants, and now that you mention “Vedic,” I wonder if Yoga itself is a part of another religion of India or is it a religion in itself?

Sri Chinmoy: Yoga is no religion. Yoga transcends all varieties of religion. It is something infinitely deeper than the so-called “religions.” Yoga is the Living Breath that makes us feel that God is within us, of us and for us. Yoga is the direct communion with God. It is our union with God that Yoga teaches us. And at the same time, it is the language of our inner and spiritual life. Right now, I am speaking in English in order to convey my feelings, thoughts and ideas. Similarly, if I want to speak to God, commune with God, then the language that is required is called Yoga.