This essence of Truth, the Sanatana Dharma or Eternal principles of righteousness that uphold man and the universe, was given to the world thousands of years before the Christian era and preserved in India with a spiritual vitality that has made the quest for God the be-all and end-all of life and not an armchair diversion. The personal realization of Truth is the science behind all Sciences, but for most persons, religion has devolved to a matter of belief only. One believes in Catholicism, another believes in some Protestant denomination. Others assert belief that the Jewish or Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist religion is the true way. The science of religion identifies the universal truths common to all, the basis of religion, and teaches how by their practical application, persons can build their lives according to the divine plan. India's teaching of Raja yoga, the Royal science of the soul, supersedes the orthodoxy of religion by setting forth systematically the practice of those methods that are universally necessary for the perfection of every individual regardless of race or creed. What is needed is a reunion of the science of religion with the spirit or inspiration of religion, the esoteric with the exoteric. The yoga science taught by Lord Krishna, which provides practical methods for actual inner experience of God, should supplant the feeble life expectancy of beliefs and the spirit of Christ's love and Brotherhood preached by Jesus – the only sure panacea to prevent the world from tearing itself apart by its unyielding differences. These are in tandem one and the same universal truth taught by these two Christs of East and West. - Paramahansa Yogananda