Table of Contents
Part I
- Question: At the start of the spiritual life, sometimes the Supreme will give the seeker a small experience of the goal, which gives the seeker inspiration. Then that vision becomes vague. Why is this?
- Question: If we are conscious that we have failed repeatedly to achieve something, how can we still be happy and cheerful?
Part II
- Question: What is your opinion about the pollution of the environment?
- Question: To what degree does the Oriental philosophy influence the West?
Part III
- Question: What should we do if we find ourselves becoming bored when we sit down to meditate and also just in our day-to-day life?
- Question: How do we get rid of insecurity totally, so that it never comes back?
- Question: When the physical body is not in good condition, how can we still make the fastest progress?
- Question: I just got a job two weeks ago working with the homeless people in Berkeley.
- Question: A lot of people who are genuinely interested in meditation and become disciples disappear after the first few months. I am wondering what are some things we can do to try to make new people feel more comfortable and more a part of this group?
- Question: How can we have more heart-power?
Part IV
Part V
- Question: How can we prepare ourselves to be more receptive for our Wednesday night meditations?
- Question: What is the difference between your love and your concern?
Part VI
- Question: Are the souls of your songs different?
- Question: You have been singing Jiban debata at every concert. Has the soul of the song made progress because you have sung it so many times?
Part VII
- Question: If somebody wants to choose one time of the year to make a new start —- such as your birthday, or the anniversary of our joining the Centre, or our own birthday, or the beginning of the New Year —- are each of these times equally good?
- Question: I used to meditate for half an hour every morning, but recently I have only been meditating for fifteen minutes. Is it better to meditate longer?
- Question: Every time you give a special talk, I become so inspired. Then, after a few days or a week, it goes away. Is there any way I can remain inspired?
- Question: Sometimes the outer conditions make it difficult to meditate.
Part VIII
- Question: Are you a famous painter?
- Question: Why are so many things going wrong in the world?
- Question: How do you feel about your music?
- Question: As a teacher, I become impatient for the children to do well. I do not want to discipline them outwardly, but I find that I am unable to bring about discipline in any other way.
- Question: My son is not doing at all well. I am simply at a loss how to help him.
- Question: Why do bad people kill the good ones?
- Question: We encourage parents to come to the school and even assist us in teaching the children. Do you agree with that approach?
Part IX
- Question: Are there some very advanced seekers in Germany who are inwardly looking for a spiritual path?
- Question: You recently said that after the fall of the Berlin Wall a new soul has appeared for Germany. What happened to the other souls for East and West Germany?
Part X
- Question: You have said that your philosophy is a merging of the inner and the outer. Most people would interpret meditation as being an inner process and I wonder if you could explain for us how you feel marathon running has a place in spiritual development.
- Question: Does that mean that people who are not physically healthy cannot reach enlightenment?
- Question: I have heard from some teachers in the Shankaracharya tradition that yoga asanas are good because they lower the metabolism of the body and help lay the foundation for meditation. But running, or Western sport, would seem to be in the other direction. You do not see it in this way?
- Question: So in this philosophy are you creating something new, something different from what has been created generally in the East and in the West?
- Question: I do not think that Western sports people in the past have considered that their sport would lead them to enlightenment!
- Question: How do you see the new movement in the West towards the merging of scientific principles, like the quantum theory, with the ancient Vedic traditions or understanding of enlightenment?
- Question: If we look at your meditation technique itself, can you explain a bit about it?
- Question: You said in particular that meditating on the moon is for tenderness. Can you tell us some more of these particular relationships? Meditating on the sun?
- Question: How do you know which one is right for you?
- Question: So it is really the joy that creates the enlightenment?
- Question: Can you tell us a little about the state of enlightenment?
- Question: So there is no point in talking about it before?
- Question: Many teachers that have come out of the East don't particularly like talking about their past.
- Question: I was not thinking so much of going that far back, but I was just thinking about your early days before you came to the West.
- Question: You had a teacher?
- Question: Can we look at the world situation? What do you think of it?
- Question: There are a lot of people who would suggest that the world situation is fairly tense right now.
- Question: But in the scheme of things, according to Vedic thought, we are in the kali yuga now. Is that not correct?
- Question: What does kali yuga mean then?
