What is the significance of Sri Ramakrishna’s cryptic statement: যত মত, তত পথ, “As many faiths, so many paths”? It is possible to visualize a room with windows looking out at the vast expanse outside. The windows are small but the view they reveal is vast. The windows are many, but the view is one and the same. What do we learn from all this?

People are often identified as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc. Is it possible to accurately describe my personal spiritual life by such labels? What does it mean when I am said to belong to a faith, tradition or religion? How is my religious identity defined?

As the year draws to a close and we get ready for the next, it is time to look back and to look forward. Why do we need to do this? What happens if we don’t?

Death is inevitable. Do we have any choice in the matter? Yes, we do. Not necessarily about when to die, but how to die. The external circumstances of death are beyond our control. But the internal preparation for death is entirely within our control. Only if we know how to die well, we’ll know how to live well.

Are religion and spirituality different? Why do some say that they are spiritual but not religious? Is a religion a “religion” if there is no place in it for spirituality? How can we know anything about “spirit” and spirituality if not from religious texts and practices?

Dialogue occurs not only through personal conversations and encounters but also via letters and emails, essays and books. It happens both in real time and also spread over days, years, even centuries. It’s the exchange of ideas that is central to a dialogue, not when or how that exchange takes place.

When we speak about interfaith harmony, it is good to remember that the different faiths are always in harmony—it’s the people practicing those faiths that sometimes fail. Religions don’t fight with each other, but people do. The fights and quarrels, the violence and the wars—all of these happen due to lack of understanding as well as lack of practice.

Who was Jesus? It is difficult to know, not because the question cannot be answered but because the question can be answered in many different ways—and every way may point to the truth which is beyond words. Here is one possible way to understand Jesus and his life-giving words.

It is simplistic to say that the religions of the world are all same. They are clearly not. But it is also simplistic to say that the religions of the world are so different that they share nothing at all in common. That is not true either. …