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the physical universe is tenuous: not 

firmly grounded because of Nature’s 

insubstantial modes and our own 

propensity for change. “Embodied life 

is always uncertain,” wrote Shankara 

of India fourteen hundred years ago, 

“like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. 

The company of saints and our own 

awakened spiritual consciousness can 

save and redeem us.”

No one else can do for us what we 

have the freedom and ability to do 

for ourselves. Thankfully, we do have 

the support and encouragement of 

enlightened souls, and we do have 

God’s grace. Grace is the enlivening, 

supportive influence of the Spirit of 

God, all pervasive and expressive, 

without which evolution could not 

continue nor we prevail and grow. 

But knowledge we have, and grace, 

by which our present and future good 

fortune is assured.

I have had the blessing and opportu-

nity to travel the world and share these 

insights with hundreds of thousands 

of men and women of many cultures 

and diverse circumstances. For more 

than five decades I have done this, and 

whenever and wherever awakened 

consciousness has allowed even partial 

understanding and impelled participa-

tion, I have seen worthwhile, some-

times even exceptional results.

Life itself is the “book” to be studied 

and its ways learned and adapted to 

practical, everyday relationships and 

endeavors. A timeless axiom reminds 

us that knowledge of consciousness 

is innate to consciousness. So it is 

consciousness, the reality-essence of 

ourselves and Nature, that we must 

explore if existing knowledge is to 

unfold in our awareness and blossom 

into wisdom. Then will all personal 

problems be spontaneously solved and 

we will have immediate, unrestricted 

access to the support of God and God’s 

universe.

We do not need to be persuaded to 

believe that we are immortal, spiritual 

beings predestined to awaken to tran-

scendental levels of awareness, for our 

own intuitive knowledge of this fact is 

confirmation enough. But we do often 

need to be encouraged to come to terms 

with our spirituality, to learn to let it be 

expressive so that our lives demonstrate 

noble qualities and the fulfillment we 

desire and deserve can be actualized.

Every person, even the spiritually 

unawake, is impelled by an innate soul 

urge to become increasingly conscious 

and have awareness restored to its orig-

inal, pure condition. This is the final 

consummation of our right actions and 

spontaneous spiritual unfoldment. We 

not only want to express in this world 

as free, functional beings; we desire 

above all to be liberated from illusions 

which are the basis of all troubles and 

limitations.

Being able to correctly answer the 

first five questions and say “yes” to the 

sixth question will empower you to 

rapidly experience the fulfillment of 

your spiritual destiny.

1. What is God?

The nameless, formless, ultimate 

(highest) Reality. Its absolute (pure)