Table of Contents
Part I: A few questions on patriotism
- Question: What is patriotism?
- Question: How can we be patriotic without separating ourselves from other countries?
- Question: If we love our country but live elsewhere, how can we serve our country?
- Question: Is not patriotism restrictive even at its highest level?
- Question: When a person who doesn't belong to the chosen few is faced with a decision in life, how does he or she know what is God's Will in matters like marriage, studies, professions and things like that?
- Question: How does spirituality help one decide between what is right and what is wrong?
- Question: Could you please explain why you give your followers spiritual names?
- Question: Why should spiritual people accept life around them?
- Question: How can I be more soulful and devoted in my work at the United Nations?
- Question: How can we have more feeling of oneness with our fellow workers?
- Question: How can I illumine my mind?
- Question: If we find that certain situations disturb us, should we avoid the situations or try to face them and cope with them?
- Question: How can I develop and maintain a feeling of worthiness and self-respect?
- Question: How can I be more selfless?
- Question: If someone comes to me and speaks sharply in a negative way, is it undivine on my part to ask that person not to speak to me in that way or should I be more compassionate?
- Question: How can we not bother about other people's opinions of us?
- Question: How can we keep our awareness?
- Question: How can we conquer the dark forces in us?
- Question: What is meditation?
- Question: How can one increase one's purity?
- Question: What Is God? Where is He?
- Question: How can one maintain inner tranquillity at work when he is in an atmosphere with a great deal of pressure?
- Question: How can spiritual seekers working at the United Nations make other workers feel that prayer and meditation are a tangible way of dealing with world problems?
- Question: Is meditation for everybody regardless of whether a person is consciously seeking God?
- Question: Can you tell us the place of good character in the spiritual life?
- Question: What does it mean to be a spiritual Master?
- Question: How can we as individuals encourage a world-wide recognition of the basic unity of all major religions?
- Question: How can the different religions best respect and value each other?
- Question: I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, but when I grew up I stopped attending church. Now that I am again interested in the spiritual life, my mother cannot understand why I don't want to attend church again. How should I explain this to her?
- Question: Can we transcend our religion for a more vast spirituality?
- Question: Is it possible to reach the state of God-realisation by devotedly practising one's religion?
- Question: Why does reference to God or religion embarrass so many people?
- Question: Please explain the difference between "religious fervour" and "Delight". Can the two complement each other?
- Question: Is religion indispensable for our Self-realisation?
- Question: How does religious discipline differ from spiritual discipline?
- Question: How can self-offering be distinguished from other kinds of actions?
- Question: Sometimes when I am meditating I fall asleep, not because I am tired, but because I feel that I am somehow trapped in my mind. I try to get into my heart, but I do not succeed; thoughts keep racing through my mind, and then I fall asleep.
- Appendix: these quotes, from other writings of Sri Chinmoy, were included in the first editions.
- Editor's preface to the first edition
