Do all paths lead to the same goal?

The question is, do all paths lead to the same goal? Now, at a simple level, if you look at this question, by all paths, what do we mean? If we talk about all religious paths, that's one thing.

If we say all paths, whatever follows, they all cannot lead to the same goal. Because if I am an atheist, and you are a theist, how can atheism lead to the same goal? Because atheism itself believes or holds that God doesn't exist. So, first of all, all paths, if we talk about all different worldviews and different philosophies, that's not correct.

They all don't lead to the same goal. It depends on what our conception is, our distinction. But, if we talk about different religions, all the different religions ultimately have the same purpose.

To raise our consciousness, to help us become more selfless, to help us develop love for God. And different religions, in a sense, are like, on our history, these different spiritual paths, they are like ways to climb up the sea mountain. There are different directions from which the same mountain will be approached.

And different people will climb from different places. So, the Buddha says that the path, success, is not in its sectarian affiliation. He says it's in the ultimate destination.

Krishna says that, we devote ourselves to God, we learn to love God, that is the success of all paths. But every path has its own conceptions. And what that conception is, that we have to see.

You can't simplistically say that anybody believes anything and follows anything, everybody will come to the same destination. But if a person has a spiritual orientation, God as the object of devotion, then the different religions in this world are progressive paths towards the same destination.