In the West today, more and more people are turning to Eastern religions and spirituality. What is the essential message of this tradition?

The essential message is the three-part map of life that unfolds in the Bhagavad Gita. It consists of first, devotion to duty; second, service to humanity; and third, daily practice of silence.

Can you expand on the importance of the daily practice of silence?

We live in a noisy world from which we need to detach ourselves time and again. I often say, even as the particles of dirt and dust that cling to our clothes need to be washed, so too do the particles of noise that cling to our hearts and souls. We need to cleanse these particles in the waters of silence. Each day, after you have done your duty or helped someone in need, come and sit in a corner for at least 20 minutes. Sitting in silence, you can repeat the name divine, you can engage in a loving and intimate conversation with God, or you can do your spiritual thinking.

How can we quiet the mind?

Either engage in a loving and intimate conversation with God or go over all the things that you have done in the past 24 hours in reverse order until you get to the first hour. You will see that there have been many acts of omission and commission you have committed. Ask for forgiveness, strength and wisdom. Before you can embark on an experiment in meditation, you need a concentrated mind. This is one way of cultivating concentration, a one-pointed mind.

I spend a number of hours in traffic each day. How can I use my time well?

This time is a great opportunity for you to cultivate a friendship with God. Talk to God when you are sitting in your car. You don't have to concentrate. You just have to begin by making God real in your daily life. God is wherever we are. God is here. God is now.

What is happiness and how can we find it?

Happiness is a perfume. You cannot spray it on others without getting some on yourself. The source of happiness is not money, pleasure or sense gratification. All of these are temporary and ephemeral, like a bubble. Happiness is within you. The most important thing is this - we must develop the will to be happy.

What are some golden rules of life?

One golden rule given since time immemorial is: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Another golden rule is: Each person must do his or her own duty. Today people claim their rights but I ask you, what about your duties? If we all do our duty, then rights will unfold. The cosmic drama will be successful only if we each play our own roles. If I do my duty in the right way, the portals of perfection will be open to me. The last golden rule is: Do your duty and a little more. Humanity is one family. Therefore, help as many as you can as much as you can.

Children often feel entitled to respond to situations with anger. How should parents respond to such situations?

Children respond with anger because the type of education that is being given in our schools today aims only at development of the brain. Brain power has been developed, but we have not taught our children how to control their emotions. Therefore, we need an educational system that aims at a triple training - the training of the head, the hand, and most importantly, the training of the heart or emotions. The head or the brain is only a servant of the heart. The emotions are the master. Our education has failed because it has trained the slave, but not the master.

What is the secret of education?

Reverence is the secret of education. Alfred Lord Tennyson says, "Let knowledge grow from more to more, but more of reverence in us dwell." If only we had that spirit of reverence today, things would be all well. Reverence for all life. Reverence for elders. Reverence for parents. Reverence for teachers. Reverence for our own body.

Is God a light or is he an image?

You are god yourself, only you have not realised. Cultivate kindness, compassion and contentment. God is your higher self. Your nobler self. God is what the Gita calls your Supreme Self - The Self Supreme. At the moment because I am under the influence, due to some accident, I have come under the influence of desires, I am under the influence of passion, of pride, greed, attachment, because of which I am driven into darkness. I am not able to see that Supreme Self and I regard myself as the body and the mind. That is the most that I make of myself. When we ask what is so and so, immediately we point to the body, you are not the body. You are as much the body as you are the shirt that you are wearing. Is the body not your shirt? It's a garment. Then there is the mind.These two keep us prisoners. I don't go beyond them. When these two are transcended, I realise that I am God.

Those who have seen God, how do they describe it?

What have they seen? They have only seen themselves. You have to see yourself. Within yourself is everything. This is called Self Realisation. When you look at this very nature, you behold in nature the glories of your own self.

For more information on Dada J.P. Vaswani and the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, visit http://www.sadhuvaswani.org