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8
QUESTION: DO YOU CONSIDER ALL FAITHS SAME AND EQUAL?
There is only one religion, because there is only one Truth. But the paths to that one Truth, that peak experience, can be several. In fact, there are as many paths as there are seekers of Truth. Each individual has to create his own path, because there are none already laid out. The individual has to start from where he is. Others can not be expected to start from the same place, simply because others are not in the same place. The starting points are all different, but the destination is the same. The starting points are different because the mental make-up is different in us all; the destination is the same because religion is one, and only one. The diversity in faiths can not be laid at the door of religion because the diversity belongs to the individuals; sects are born of this diversity. There are factions called sects because of individual diversity, and not because the Truth is diverse. It should be noted, however, that the diversity does not imply conflict. The paths to the same goal can be different, but that is no reason why they should be considered at cross-purpose to one another. In fact, since they lead to the same destination, they should be considered companionate. Immense good can accrue to us all if, with the above understanding, the various religious sects fraternise.
Just as the stars are all different, but the light they give us is the same; so also, the sects are numerous, but the religion there-in is the same.
Question 9
QUESTION: HOW SHOULD LIFE BE LIVED?
Life is to be lived as if it were a mirror. Welcome everybody and every thing, but hold on to nothing. That life is pure in which the mind does not cling to influences and impressions. Let bygones be bygones; and worry not for what is yet to come. This is the path of 'sadhna', wherein the individual associates himself with the present, and his what is yet to come. This is the path of 'sadhna', wherein roots are anchored firmly in his true being. The past and the future are the domains of the mind; he who is engrossed in, or engulfed by the past and the future, can not know life. Life is, alter
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