This book, as the title suggests, is a recording of a question-and-answer session held at the Vedanta Society of Chicago in 1982. The session covered a wide range of subjects relevant to modern world such as reincarnation, incarnation of God, the guru, the role of Advaita Vedanta in the present world, the relation between science and religion, the problem of conversion in religion, the caste system, the position of women in India, and so forth. The author's lucid and refreshing replies, which are given in the light of modern thought, addresses the pressing problems of the present day.
I am the thread that runs through all these pearls, and each pearl is a religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and God is the thread that runs through all of them; most people, however, are entirely unconscious of it.
-Swami Vivekananda