Q. What is the attitude of true prayer? A. The attitude of a prayerful person toward God is that of a lover towards 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. Can you tell us something about the great Sufi saint Shams-i-Tabriz? A. If I were to tell his story I could not answer any other questions. But in short I can say that Shams-i-Tabriz was an example of a soul who had fully attained God-consciousness, who had arrived to a stage where even mentioning the name of God limited his power, as name limits God. And his life proved that the realization of truth stands above words. People say he experienced ecstasy. But I say he himself was ecstasy. And to the seekers of truth, even today his words move them to ecstasy.

Q. How does it come that saints bleed out of the wounds where Jesus was crucified? A. That was the result of concentration. What does concentration mean, and what is the use of concentration? It seems to everybody out of ordinary, for the reason that everybody does not know what real concentration means. Concentration is to turn oneself into the object of concentration, which is not within the power of everyone. A person who has once mastered concentration he has not very far to go. Then his next step will be the realization of the purpose for which he concentrates.

Q. If one would ask you if the Message is given in plain words, or in symbols, or something else, what would you answer? A. In all things, in all manner.

Q. Will you please tell us something about the condition of the soul when it first leaves the body? A. The condition of the ordinary soul is confusion. For before death it has realized that it is dying, and after death it realizes that it lives. And the condition is as that of a person who is still living, and says, "I am dead." As long as this confusion remains, the soul goes no further. It is this state which I would call purgatory. When the soul has recovered itself, and realizes it is living still, then the clouds of confusion are broken, and the soul finds itself in the atmosphere which belongs to it.

Q. Is the Roman Catholic Church with their knowledge of symbols nearer to the truth than the Protestants? A. I think the knower of the truth will find it in the symbols of the Catholic Church and will find the same truth in the absence of the symbols of the Protestant Church.

Q. Can we blame those who do not see the wonder and mystery of life because of their ignorance? A. We can blame no one, blameless or blameworthy.

Q. Will you explain to us the meaning of the different signs of the zodiac, and the special influence of each of them? A. In order to know the meaning of the signs of the zodiac, and the special influence each one has, one must study astrology. It is a science itself. But if I have to say anything about it, I shall only say that the soul is light, the mind is light, the body is light. It is the light of different grades. And it is this realization which connects man with the stars and planets. And the influence of the stars and planets works upon the person, for the reason that the person is connected with that planet, by the reason of the time and its influence upon the planets and souls. Plainly speaking, there are certain times when a certain planet has its influence; at that time a child is born. Then the child is born under that planet. Then the child has that character. The signs of the zodiac are expressive of the symbolical meaning of the influence of that. There is a special science of astrology, known to the Sufis, a science which is called ramman, and the study of it gives one insight into that question.

Q. What is the best way to protect oneself not to be disturbed in silences? A. This is a question of esoteric teaching. When a person allows himself to be disturbed this shows that his concentration is not good. And if the concentration is not good, that shows that his willpower fails him. The best way therefore is to develop the power of concentration, so naturally the willpower will develop, and one will stand against all disturbances, which naturally come up when one has to live in the midst of the crowd.

Q. Do plants and animals, mountains and streams, have a being or an apparent individual existence in the higher planes, as human souls do? A. All that exists in the lower plane has its existence in the higher planes also. But the word 'individual,' this word itself is a puzzle. Every thing and being which stands distinctly separate may be called an entity. But what we call "individual," it is a conception in our imagination. And the truth of that conception is realized on the day when the ultimate truth will throw its light upon life. And then one will no more speak about "individual." He will say "God," and no more. There are beings, but there is One Being. There are many, but there is only One. Therefore, if one says, "Are all objects such as the streams and the mountains, and the plants, and animals, are they all living (beings)?" Yes, it is true, they are all living (beings). Have they a separate existence? Yes, only to our outer vision. But if our inner vision is open, the separateness is gone. The separateness is a veil. Then there is one vision, and that is the single Immanence of God.

Q. What happens to animals, such as dogs, when they die? If they retain their individuality? A. Yes, they do retain their individuality until they reach a point.

Q. What is outside the akasha in which the universe is contained? A. Intelligence, which is the light of life, the life of life, which is the essence of the Whole Being.

Q. Can love exceed wisdom, or can wisdom exceed love? What happens in either case? Is love measured according to wisdom, or is wisdom measured according to love? A. It is true that wise is loving, and loving is truly wise. Although in one person wisdom may be predominant, in another person love may be predominant. But both love and wisdom are needed (related). The cold-hearted man is never wise, and a really warm-hearted person is never foolish. Yet, both these qualities, love and wisdom, are distinct and separate; and it is possible that a person may be loving, but lacking wisdom, and it happens that a person who is wise may be lacking to some extent love. But no-one can be wise if love is absent. Call him clever. And no one will be truly loving if wisdom has not illuminated his heart. For love comes from wisdom, and wisdom comes from love.

Q. What is the meaning of Joseph being put in the well? A. The meaning is a trial. For every promising soul, every righteous soul will have opposition and envy and jealousy. And the righteous and good, wise and beautiful will shine out some day.

Q. What is the meaning of Moses raising the serpent's image to cure the people from a plague? A. The serpent is also the sign of death. When death is controlled, when the serpent is controlled, then one has risen above the plague. It is only the sign of conquering death.

Q. Why are some people more liable to have accidents than others? A. Because their life is not rhythmic.

Q. And why are some warned beforehand and others not? A. They are warned from above who look for warning. And they naturally do not seem to have any warning who do not care for it.

Q. What is the relation between the devas and nature? A. Devas are at home with nature.

Q. Where there is a beautiful and peaceful feeling, is a deva there? A. The soul of the deva is creative of beauty and peace.

Q. What is a deva's part in the contribution of life? A. A deva's part in the scheme of life is loving, forgiving, and serving God and humanity.

Q. But what is a deva? A. The divine soul.

Q. In one of your books you said that the mineral kingdom developed into the vegetable; the vegetable into the animal; the animal into the human. This was much contradicted by biology and theosophy students. Can you tell us about it? A. There are two aspects of this question which must be considered. One aspect is biological aspect. One sees how from the vegetable kingdom the animal kingdom is born in the insects, in the germs and worms. Then one sees the primitive man. As the scientist today cannot find the link between man and monkey, the missing link. But many races have come and been destroyed, and several races even now live in places which the geographical society has not yet found. Therefore if the geographical society has failed to find the missing link, it is not that it does not exist. The difference is: the mystic puts it in a beautiful form, the scientist writes it naturally. A mystic vaguely tells, without presenting a natural history museum to see. But when we read the traditions, and when we read at the time of Hanuman, and his army who went to help Rama. The word "monkey" was used because we have no word for that missing link between man and animal. It is a very bad thought that man has come from animal. But at the same time, yesterday is not today.

But that is not the only process. Another aspect of this question must be looked at from quite a different point of view. And unless this question is seen from a different point of view, it will always be difficult to understand it fully. If one watches the work of the potter, he kneads the clay, and out of different cups he takes different colors to color the clay, and then out of those colored clays he makes the different cups and saucers. As long as the different colored clays are before him he does not need to begin his work from the first process. He already has something to go on with, and so one sees that from vegetable comes the animal, from the animal man.

Every living being or object has as its source a certain material. And when one sees from this point of view, the other point of view looks different. By looking at the question from that point of view, one sees that this is natural also, when the different colors were not ready to make out of it a substance to make something. But when he has made the substance, then he has different substances to work with. For instance, the work of the chemist and the artist. The work of the chemist is to make different colored clays; the artist does not have to make that process. He just goes to the chemist and takes them. He does not need to work again as the chemist. It is not necessary that every person must come through as the stone, vegetable, and animal, all the different aspects. Therefore there is no reason for a distress.

Q. When one has the intention to do a thing, and a friend wants one not to do it, is it better to listen to one's own intuition or to follow the friend's advice? A. The answer depends upon which friend, whether a wise or a foolish friend, whether a true or a false friend, and what understanding that friend has, compared with one's own. Whether his intuition is greater than one's own. One cannot take it as a principle to always follow a person's advice. It might seem a virtue, but sometimes it will prove to be otherwise.

Q. Can coming volcanic eruptions and earthquakes and disasters in nature be felt by sensitive people in advance? A. Yes, there is an action and reaction, the action of nature upon people, and the action of people upon nature. This storm and wind has a certain effect upon us, in our word and speech and action. But this is also caused in some way as a reaction of the conditions of people. And therefore all wars and storms and floods and volcanic eruptions, very often they are caused by human beings, by the action or attitude or condition of humanity in general.