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  1. Dear Guruji, can you please comment on religious extremism? Why are people drawn to these narrow and dogmatic positions? How should we discuss with them, if at all?

    Lack of spirituality, lack of experience. That is why we need to encourage broad thinking and reasoning. In the Bhagavad Gita, after giving all the verses, in the end Lord Krishna says, ‘Now you reason out all what I have said. Take it only if it appe ...
  2. Dear Guruji, Sage Ashtavakra says in his Ashtavakra Gita that we are not the doer. Yoga Vasistha says that self-control is necessary for self-realization. This seems contradictory. Can you please shed some more light on this?

    Truth is contradictory. Truth is multi-dimensional. It appears to be conflicting and contradicting, but is really not. To come to this place, there could be one direction, which says, ‘Go straight and then turn left’. But if you come from another dire ...
  3. Dear Guruji, why are there religions? I know that they are there to keep us sane and have something to believe in; but why do people feel so strongly that their beliefs are right and others are wrong? How do we know if any of them are right?

    You know, people want an identity, and they hold on to religion as an identity. Once you identify with one religion, you find that those who do not belong to that religion, no longer belong to you. They are separate; they are different. And that is how str ...
  4. As Buddha attained enlightenment he must have experienced what other masters experienced, yet he never spoke about God. Because of this some people even say that he was an atheist. Can you talk about this?

    Well, in Buddha’s time there were many concepts of God. Many people had read all the Upanishad. You should remember all of Buddha’s followers were high intellectuals in contrast to the followers of Jesus; they were all fishermen; simple ...
  5. My husband fears that if I do not accept Christ as my savior I will not be in heaven with him. His Catholicism is strong. I wonder if we will ever be in the same heaven.

    For your sake don’t argue with him and create hell here now. Tell him, ‘Yes absolutely, I’m making a short-cut to go to the same heaven. That is all. And Jesus asked me to do all this and I’m doing exactly what he has said.’ Tell him this. ...
  6. Gurudev, today there are religious gatherings being organized everywhere but religion is lost somewhere. What could be the reason?

    I don’t think so. If you are seeing it this way, then rub your eyes. The world has more of good people. Those who do wrong are only few in number. However, the good people keep quiet, this is wrong. If the society has witnessed a fall, it is because of ...
  7. Gurudev, why are there different customs in different religions?

    Listen! Why should there not be? Why should everything be the same? God loves variety. He doesn’t want you to eat only potatoes. Otherwise he would have made only one vegetable in the world – potatoes. Variety is nature. ...
  8. It is said that there are similarities between Islam and Christianity and also Christianity and Hinduism. Is there any similarity between Hinduism and Buddhism?

    Yes, definitely. Gautama Buddha was born as a Hindu, and then he became a Sanyasi. There is no difference between what Gautama Buddha said and what is there in the Upanishads. It is almost the same. In Hinduism, we went into a lot of rituals and custo ...
  9. In temples, there are Nagadevatas (Demigods) with folded hands. How do they give blessings?

    There are various levels in Gods and Demigods too. All of them pray to Shiva. You would have seen Hanuman with folded hands in some temples and in some temples the hand is raised for blessing. ...
  10. Gurudev, when will you come to Sonegarh? A lot of conversions are happening there. What should we do?

    See, there should be no religious conscription (matantar). It is not good for the country. No one should leave one's religion. Ours is an ancient religion. It is so tolerant. It embraces everyone. Accept all knowledge. Why do you renounce your religion ...