Part I: Aspiring intensity and over-eagerness

• Don't pull
• Question: How can I have intensity in my spiritual life?
• Question: Sometimes I really want the life of God and I aspire very intensely and I am very happy. But sometimes my mind makes me think that the spiritual life is just a wild goose chase, and then I feel sad and sort of lost. How can I maintain my aspiration at a high level all the time?
• Question: What does it mean when you have a pain in your chest when you meditate?
• Question: When I meditate I feel a lot of pressure in my head and my eyes. Can you tell me why that is and how I can get rid of it?
• The heart of light

Part II: Patience and will-power

• Sincerity speaks
• Question: Although we get along well, at times my husband's lack of aspiration is sheer torture to me, and I feel that if I want to make inner progress perhaps I should leave him.
• Question: Sometimes when I am meditating I feel that my vital being tries to create a noise in my mind and fill my head with darkness.
• Question: Do we need to use our will in our spiritual journey?
• Question: Can self-effort ever be detrimental to our meditation?

Part III: Sleep-world

• His mistakes
• Question: When I am meditating in the morning and feel sleepy, it is a real struggle to concentrate. But if I don't struggle, then there is complacency. How can I prevent this feeling of struggling with sleep?
• Question: Sometimes when I wake up at night and I am lying awake in bed, I feel as if I am meditating; I feel very blissful. But if I sit up it all goes away.
• Your age-long hunger

Part IV: Self-discipline and loving obedience

• Your obedience
• Question: Would you please say something about self-discipline?
• Question: How can I develop self-control in my life when everyone makes fun of my efforts?
• Question: It seems to me that self-control can be carried too far. I don't see any necessity for things like flagellation and semi-starvation and things like that.
• Question: Guru, I have a tendency to feel resentful when somebody tells me to do something, even the most unimportant thing, and even if it is you who is telling me. How can I become more obedient?

Part V: How to live in two worlds

• Not even once
• Question: How can we protect ourselves from unaspiring people that we're constantly thrown in contact with and make them feel our aspiration, even though they may be almost hostile in their attitude?
• Question: I feel aggressive and destructive vibrations in the atmosphere all around me. How can I cope with this?
• Question: Isn't it easier for people who have very little money, as is true in many Eastern countries, to be detached from worldly things and make faster spiritual progress than we in the West?
• Question: Why is there so much selfishness in the world right now?
• Question: Who is responsible for the ugliness in this world?
• Question: I want to realise God, but I also feel there are many world problems I should help solve. How do I reconcile the two aims?
• Question: I am new to the spiritual life, and feel an uncontrollable urge to share my experiences with everyone I meet. Is it true that this is not desirable?
• Question: How can I best please the Supreme in my inner and outer life? I would like to go back to college and get a higher degree, but I don't know if I should.
• Editor's introduction to the first edition