No matter what the particular Manifestation, each is an expression of the one electric current. Once we accept the infinite Reality as “One-without-a-second”, as remaining the same in the past, present, and future, it is evident that that Reality, the Self -which expresses through the equipments of all saints and sages, prophets, and incarnations -is one and the same.

Each person approaches the same Truth by worshipping the idol of his or her own heart. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna declares (ⅦI:21) “Whatsoever form any devotee desires to worship with faith – that (same) faith of his I make (firm and) unflinching.” Whether a devotee worships the sacred Truth in a church, a mosque, or a temple, in a public place or a private institution, in the open or on the sly, in a quiet hut or a silent cave-wherever and in whatsoever form any devotee seeks to worship with faith, “that faith of his I make unflinching.” A faithful follower of the Gita can never be contaminated by sectarianism or intolerance. At the foot of every altar is the same Self constantly supplying more and more faith to water the expanding fields of devotion in the sincere devotee.

To mistake the idol for God or the form of the Guru for the Infinite is to mistake the container for the contents. An idol is only a symbol for an imperceptible and subtle Truth. Merely playing with the milk bottle will not refresh one who is hungry or thirsty: playing with a spoon or fork over an empty plate yields no satisfaction when one is hungry. To mistake the idol to be itself the goal is to mistake the means for the end. (Cont’d)