Question: That philosophy would have prevented many wars over the years.

Sri Chinmoy: When you pray and meditate sincerely, you immediately see that God has expanded your heart. At that time, for you there is no Hinduism, no Judaism, no Christianity, no Buddhism. It is all oneness. In oneness there is joy. Division is all frustration. If we sincerely pray and meditate, we will never dare to say that ours is the only religion worth following, that ours is the only saviour who will be able to save the entire world. We will simply say that ours is a way of life. If you like it, well and good. There are so many boats to take you to the Golden Shore. If you like this particular boat, you can enter into the boat. If you like another boat, you are more than welcome to enter into that boat. But the destination remains the same.

Let us take Rome as our destination. If we want to fly there, we can fly. If we want to take a boat, we can. Or if we want to go via another means, we can go. It is up to us to make the choice. You cannot say that just because I have taken the boat, I will never be able to reach Rome. No, we will all reach the destination at God’s choice Hour.