Part I — Waiting outside Eternity's door: the mind

• Question: What purpose does the mind serve?
• Question: Is there any correlation between spirituality and intelligence?
• Question: Are there karmic causes for intelligence?
• Question: I was thinking not so much of book intelligence. Very often we meet someone who has had very little formal education or book learning but who seems to exhibit a very deep natural intelligence. Would this be a sign of intuitive knowledge or spiritual knowledge?
• Question: Do you feel that the chief obstacle to spiritual illumination is the mind and its operation?
• Question: What exactly is the difference between the physical mind and the intellectual mind?
• Question: Are intellectual discussions of any value?
• Question: Why is the mind destructive?
• Question: If the Supreme is in everything, the Supreme is also in the mind. So how can the mind be bad?
• Question: If the mind is so bad, how can we get rid of it?
• Question: What is it in us that resists something good or something vast in spite of knowing that it will help as and that it is something that we actually need?
• Question: How can we surrender the mind?
• Question: Why is the mind so difficult to surrender?
• Question: Please explain the levels of the mind in relation to surrender?
• Question: What can I do to make my aspiration stronger in the mind?
• Question: Some people say that we should always listen to the voice of reason. Can you comment on this?
• Question: How do we know if something is true or right if we do not use the mind?
• Question: The only thing I have to work with is my mind. How can I contact the soul unless I use my mind to do so?
• Question: We are brought up in the West not to accept anything unless it has been proven. Should we have a mind that accepts things without questioning and without thinking?
• Question: If you told me you could swim across the ocean, I would say, "Let me see you do it." I wouldn't accept the fact that you could until I saw you do it, and then after I saw you do it, I'd say, "Well, now you can teach me."
• Question: Guru, the very beautiful spiritual qualities that we've talked about and that we've read about for so long I do not really feel. What's wrong with me?

Part II — The subconscious mind and psychological analysis

• Question: How can I bring back to my conscious memory things that I learned once but have now forgotten — such as my medical knowledge?
• Question: What is the role of the subconscious in the spiritual life?
• Question: Would you say how the subconscious becomes the entrance to the superconscious realm?
• Question: Is it desirable to bring to our conscious mind things from our subconscious?
• Question: But orthodox psychology states that the subconscious has to be brought to the fore and illumined.
• Question: Is there a spiritual method of self-analysis?
• Question: Can problems ever be solved psychologically, through psychological analysis, or must it always be spiritually?
• Question: How do you bring light into the subconscious?
• Question: How can we recognise our guilt and use it for our self-improvement?
• Question: Is it necessary to analyse what you actually do, or does this create doubt?
• Question: Do you believe that doubt can be overcome by an individual? If so, how can it be done?
• Question: To develop faith, do you need a Guru?
• Question: How can we get rid of the interpersonal problems related to the ego so we can get along better with others?
• Question: How can we understand others better?

Part III — Purifying and illumining the mind

• Question: What are hostile forces in the form of thoughts? How can we know that we are being attacked by these hostile forces?
• Question: What is the best way to prevent wrong thoughts from attacking us?
• Question: What exercise is good to chase away bad thoughts?
• Question: I would like to know how to overcome negative thinking, both during meditation and during my ordinary daily activities.
• Question: How do we illumine depression?
• Question: What part does the mind play in transcending desires and passions?
• Question: Why does the mind not want to conquer desires?
• Question: How can I purify my mind?
• Question: How can we keep the mind pure when we are not concentrating or meditating?
• Question: What is the most effective way to get rid of wrong identification with the body, mind or senses?

Part IV — Higher realms of mind

• Question: Can you explain to me what the difference is between the soul and the mind?
• Question: Would you please say something about the divine mind?
• Question: Is it possible for anyone to live in vast expansion of mind, or is this only possible for a realised soul?
• Question: How can we learn to feel that we are the soul and not the mind or the body?
• Question: How can one have confidence in flashes of intuition?
• Question: When I am meditating, some ideas come to my mind. How do I know if they are intuition or just wishful thinking on my part?
• Question: How can we know the difference between an imaginary thought and a real thought?
• Question: Can we become what we think?
• Question: Can we reach God through the intellect alone?
• Question: Does a God-realised person use the mind and the ego?
• Editor's introduction
• Quote from first edition