Question: Can one be extremely devoted to a religious figure such as Jesus or Buddha and to a living spiritual teacher as well, or is it better just to follow one teacher?

Sri Chinmoy: If the seeker fails to feel and understand that the living teacher is an embodiment of Jesus or the Buddha, then it is advisable for the seeker to have faith either in Jesus or in Sri Krishna or in the Buddha or in another spiritual Master who is not in the physical. If the seeker finds it difficult to feel or see the presence of the previous Masters in the living Master, then he should meditate on the one who he feels is best, according to his inner capacity, inner receptivity, inner devotedness, inner surrender. But if the seeker can feel that the living Master embodies Krishna-consciousness or Christ-consciousness, then he has no difficulty in approaching either the Christ or Sri Krishna through the living Master. The living Master is also the son of God, who has assumed a different name and different form. And the new form means a new personality, a new divine personality. Sri Ramakrishna declared, “He who was Krishna, he who was Buddha, he who was Rama, in one form is Sri Ramakrishna.” Only the name or the form will change. The inner reality is one and the same.

So if the seeker is advanced, then he is bound to feel that if the living Masters are real, then they are serving the same purpose. They are leading humanity to one goal.