A. Intellectual knowledge has much to do with the brain, and wisdom comes from within the heart; but in wisdom heart and head both work. We may call the brain the seat of intellect and the heart the throne of wisdom. Wisdom certainly may be called spiritual knowledge; but the best explanation of wisdom will be perfect knowledge, the knowledge of life within and without.

Q. What is the difference between intellect and intelligence?
A. Intelligence is the knowing quality; yet it cannot very well be called a quality, it is the self in us which knows. And intellect is the mold which is made of all we have learned and experienced; and through this mold intelligence works. Intelligence represents the soul itself.

Q. What is humor, and what is its value?
A. Humor is the sign of light. It is the light from above. When that light touches the mind it tickles it; and it is the tickling of the mind which produces humor.

Q. What is the attitude of true prayer?
A. The attitude of a prayerful person toward God is that of a lover to his beloved, of a child to his parents, of a servant to his master, of a pupil to his teacher, and of a soldier to his commander.

Q. What is love, and how should one be loving?
A. It is very difficult to say what love is and how one can be loving. Is it that one should be embracing people, or running after people, or speaking sweet words? Every person has a different way of expressing his love. One person has a love hidden in his heart, it does not manifest. Another person has love coming out in his words and action. Another person's love rises just like vapors and charges the whole atmosphere. Another person's love is like a spark in a stone: outside the stone is cold, inside there is a spark. Therefore to judge who has love and who has not is not in the power of every person; it is very difficult. For instance, love as a fire rising from a cracker, calls out: "I am love! " and burns up and is finished. There is also a fire in the pebble which never manifests. If one holds the pebble it is so cold; at the same time the "spark" is there. Someday you can strike it, it is dependable, it lasts. Therefore one can never judge because the manner of expressing love of every person is different.

Q. What is the heart and what is the soul? A. Suppose we take a lamp, a burning lamp, as a picture of the human being. The flame is the soul, and the globe is the heart. The inner part of the globe is called heart, the outer part is mind and the shade over the lamp is the body.

Q. Can one change the object of desire in any other way than by satiety? A. Yes, there is, by rising above it. For instance, that person has no virtue in fasting who is not hungry. Fasting is a virtue for the one who wants to eat and renounces food.

Q. Does the practice of not blaming others mean that we must not see the faults of anyone, that we rise above it? A. No. In the first place it is a question of self-restraint or self-control, politeness, kindness, sympathy, graciousness, of a worshipful attitude toward God, the Creator of all beings, Whose children we all are, good or bad. If any person's child happened to be homely in appearance, would it be polite to say before the parents "Your child is homely?" Then the Father-Mother of all beings is there, comprehending and knowing what is going on in every person's heart. He creates all, with their faults and merits. When we are ready to judge, it is certainly before the Artist Who has made them, not behind His back, but in His Presence.

If we realized this, it would not be difficult to feel the Presence of God everywhere. Besides this, there is always one's favor and disfavor connected with it. If we see more faults, it means we close our hearts to the favorable attitude, and we open our hearts to the unfavorable attitude in order to criticize them. Yes, there comes a time after a continual practice of this virtue when we see the reason behind every fault that appears to us in anyone we meet in our life; we become more tolerant, we become more forgiving.

For instance, take a person who is ill, and creating disturbance in his atmosphere by crying, weeping, shouting. It disturbs us. We say, "How bad, how annoying! What a bad nature!" It is not bad nature, it is the illness behind it. It is that reason which will make us tolerant. When we see no reason, we are blind to that Light of God, blind to that forgiveness which is the only essence of God which can be found in the human heart.

Q. Ought one's spiritual journey to be rapid or slow, or is it a question of temperament? A. I should say it is a question of temperament; but I think that the happy medium is best. Too slow is monotonous, and too quick is undesirable. I think the joy of the journey is in its balance. If man travelled with the speed of an ant, or a worm, or a germ, no doubt eternity is before him, but it would not be an interesting thing for man. He is not made to travel in that way. Therefore, the man who adopts an artificial speed is always limited. A person who goes in an aeroplane or in a railway train will not enjoy the full pleasure of the journey that the man does who travels on foot. Besides, in everything we can see the same thing. From the gramophone we hear the human voice, but it loses its magnetism, because it is the human voice which is made to strike upon the ears. When it comes from the gramophone, that spoils it.

Q. Is the whole universe going on automatically, and is there no free will? A. Yes, man is born in a universe which is going on automatically, and he is born helpless. Therefore it is true that the condition is such, but what is the child born with? He is born with a desire to do as he will. This desire is the proof of there being a free will, which is put to the test under all opposing conditions and influences which the soul meets with through life. And to rise above all the opposing influence and to give the fullest expression to the free will brings about that result of life which is the fulfillment of the soul's coming on earth.

A. In this case we must understand that although outwardly it is automatically working, inwardly there is God. There is no mechanism without an engineer, only the engineer does not seem to be standing by the side of the mechanism, and he is not claiming that he is the engineer. One thinks that there is a machine going on and there is no engineer. If one knew that there is an engineer, one would know that a small part of the machine can understand so little of the scheme and plan which is made for the working of the whole universe. And if anybody understands, it is the wakened soul; but how much does he understand, and what? He can only say what he can say about it, that all justice and injustice, which may seem to us on the surface, will all fit in and be perfect at the finish, where there is the summing up of the working of the whole universe.

Q. How can thought help one to come to the realization of God, or of unity? A. What man thinks he sees: all man sees is his own thought. Man can produce out of his thought Satan, or an angel, or a devil; and he can produce out of his thought God. Man's thought has a great power. And when he comes to the realization that all is from one source and all is developing to one goal, then he begins to see that that source is God. Therefore the world of variety is no longer variety to him; it is unity, it is one.

Q. How can one learn virtue? A. The real virtue is learned by the study of reality, and the true virtue comes by itself. When a person becomes conscious of reality, all he does becomes virtuous. He has the light of reality before him, the lantern of Aladdin, the guiding light.

Q. Why are some souls born in miserable surroundings? A. There is a saying of the Qur'an, "The creation has come out of darkness." The soul does not always come with open eyes, it comes with closed eyes, the picture of which the infant shows. Its eyes open afterward. But at the same time, to compare one condition with another condition needs familiarity with the conditions, and the time of that comes after being born. If this question is considered more deeply, one will come to a very great realization of the secret of life, and especially of good fortune and bad fortune. It is not always a design in which the soul is so limited that it cannot get out of that, but every soul makes for itself a condition, even after coming on earth. Are there not thousands and thousands who live in miserable or in bad conditions because they know no better? If they had known better they could have managed to become better. This rule applies to very many cases in life. Most of the reasons for misery are in people's own ignorance. If they know how to combat, how to get out of misery, there are many doors, many ways to get out of it.

Q. Is it ungenerous to be critical of things that do not agree with our sense of beauty? A. When we are developing our sense of beauty, then naturally we shall be critical of what is not up to our standard of beauty. But once we have developed our sense of beauty, then the next cycle shows us a different phase. The divine compassion is developed in us.

Q. What is the way to attain dignity? A. By learning to think, one develops dignity in nature. The more one thinks, the more dignified one becomes, because dignity springs out of thoughtfulness.

Q. Is time an aspect of space? A. It is by space time becomes intelligible, and by time space becomes intelligible. But when one has insight into life neither time stands before him nor space, for both these have created this illusion which we call life. Furthermore, rhythm cannot exist without tone, nor tone without rhythm. They are interdependent for their existence; and so it is with time and space.

Q. What is imagination? Is it something unreal? A. Imagination is everything. To the real all is real, to the unreal all is unreal.

Q. Is it especially on the saintly path that ascetic qualities are acquired? A. No. Ascetism is a tendency, and you will find this quality in every person who has a longing for spiritual attainment to a greater or less extent.