I have already told you that one of my spiritual ideals from a young age was that the people should see the Divine in all religions. I also wished that the different groups within religions should put away their differences and come together for the good of mankind. Once settled in India I met many different kinds of saints in various circumstances. I used to organise small spiritual tours to meet them or they would come to the Ashram and stay with me. Certain saints became very fond of me and we would meet more often.

I was very close to the great Swami Chidananda of the Divine Life Mission. He used to invite me to functions and he came to stay in our Ashram too. We shared the same ideals and spiritual feelings. I went to Tiruvannamalai several times. I love this holy place. On one occasion I went specifically to meet Yogi Ram Surath Kumar, the "beggar saint." I am still very fond of talking about him because he is a spiritual king who dresses like a street beggar. I met Sathya Sai Baba, Swami Bhuteshananda, Head of Ramakrishna Mission, Mata Amritananda Mayi of Kerala and I talked with Bangaru Adigal, the head of the Adi Para Shakti spiritual movement, to name but a few. I also had very frequent meeting and programmes with the great Tamil monastic leaders. I visited Anand Ashram, the spiritual centre started by the great Swami Ramdas. I met his great disciple Mother Krishnabai and was in regular contact with her successor, Swami Satchidananda. The singer saint Pithukuli Murugadas blessed us all by coming to sing for my birthday! The Ashram had a special day every month to feed poor or wandering Swamijis and Matajis. It was a memorable time. We spiritual people liked to come together to share ideal and supreme feelings in the form of satsang. In this way we could transmit these divine vibrations and united feelings to our followers.

I attended many, many functions and religious conferences. The first one was in 1986 at Tiruvannamalai. I was the youngest monk there giving a speech. I was a little outspoken, I think, and some of the older, very conservative Swamijis did not like it. Later, I attended many programmes at the invitation of the Visva Hindu Parishad, the Hindu organisation of India and tried to help the poor people alongside them. I remember a big five day programme in Theni which was attended by many thousands of people in 1990. I was invited to innumerable functions - weddings, temple programmes, programmes of other Ashrams and so on. As the Ashram grew and grew in popularity I reduced the huge number of outside programmes I attended. The Ashram was growing even too fast and we were swamped with vast numbers of people seeking solace and spiritual advice. I tried to restrict devotees to coming only on Saturdays and Sundays but they came on other days also. Many foreigners came. They were genuine and sincere in their spiritual aspirations. Many Sri Premananda Centres opened up abroad which were started by these faithful devotees. They are still open and flourishing. In fact, since my arrest even more have been started in new countries. An American devotee once wrote to me, "Swamiji, your ashram is really located in the hearts of your devotees. After you have touched our hearts we go home and fondly recollect those sacred moments. The memories of the Ashram are carried wherever we go by thousands of devotees around the globe".