Recently I during a jyotish reading I was told I was an old soul.  The way it was described to me I would not be reincarnating.  This made me feel sad and purposeless, and I really don’t know if I want to believe it. I feel I would miss all the color and beauty of the earth. Do you have any insight or knowledge about the term ‘old soul’.

It is obvious that men and women are different on the physical, emotional and even cognitive levels of being. My question is, how are we different spiritually? Do men and women have different needs and attributes on their Spiritual paths? In what ways are they different?

I have always been a very spiritually inclined person. For the past three years I have seen very close relatives die of natural causes, murder and now suicide. I have learned the process of grieving, but with this one it has just left me with so many questions, about life in itself. I have always believed in destiny and Karma. My question to you is: How do I make this type of death make sense to my spiritual and emotional grounding? It’s just so confusing since it’s completely unnatural. I would appreciate any input you can give me to start on my spiritual path again.

I would just like to ask you, if you have read this wonderful book Autobiography of a Yogi- and if you know if it’s actually true, and if all those events did actually happen… or was it written as a teaching book…or both?

In one chapter of the book Yogananda explains that Light is the only thing that is infinite, therefore, is Light and the Unified Field the same thing, or is Light still a manifestation of the Unified Field?
It also bothered me that the Yogis seem more interested with the teaching of boys – surely having experienced the “God Force” as themselves, they wouldn’t make the distinction between male and female?

This book is an amazing book, and am about to read it again!

I have a question regarding spiritual advancement and celibacy. Over the past few years, I have been doing a lot of work trying to advance myself spiritually – reading, meditating, etc. During this time, my views on love, relationships, and sexuality have changed considerably. I have come to the conclusion that celibacy is most likely necessary for full spiritual advancement(speaking for myself only). I used to have an intense desire for love and companionship from the opposite sex that has withered as my relationship with God and my true Self has grown stronger. There is a palpable difference in the way I think about the opposite sex now. My intuition is that love and a family are not in my future. Reading masters such as Sivananda and Aurobindo reinforces this opinion. My problem is that I have found myself unable to restrain my sexual impulses and find myself still succumbing to these cravings. I don’t have the same urges for love and companionship now, so what remains is only the physical/animalistic craving aspect of sexuality. I don’t feel “guilty” about this – I feel it is neither moral nor immoral. My problem is that I am currently neither here nor there – unable to use my sexuality with true love and commitment and also unable to suppress it and channel it upwards to God. I do believe that this will resolve itself in time, but I’m interested to hear if you have any thoughts on the matter. Thank you!