Q&A:The hour of meditation

What should we do if we miss our appointed hour for meditation? Should we try to make up for it at our next meditation by meditating for a longer time?

If you have to miss your appointed hour one day due to unavoidable circumstances, do not feel I miserable. As long as you have not let the hour go by out of inertia or negligence or the feeling that because you have meditated for a few days, now you deserve a rest, then you have not committed a spiritual crime. But you cannot "make up" a missed meditation by meditating longer the next time. You eat three times a day. Suppose that early in the morning you did not have breakfast, and at noon you also missed your lunch. When it is time for dinner, if you try to eat all that you have not eaten in the morning and at noon, it will only upset your stomach. If you do not eat for two or three days, and then you try to make up for the food that you missed during your fast, you will run into trouble.

With meditation it is the same. You have the inner capacity to meditate for a certain amount of time early in the morning, at noon, in the evening or at night. If you cannot follow this routine on a certain day, it is better just to meditate most soulfully at your regular hour. If you try to increase the length of time, if you try to meditate for two or three hours instead of half an hour, your physical mind will not be able to bear the pressure. Instead of creating more capacity, this will break your capacity. It will create tremendous tension in your aspiration-life. Everything has to be done systematically and gradually. Eventually you will be able to meditate for eight hours or ten hours at a stretch, but right now it is not possible.

If your aspiration is really intense, if God really comes first in your life, then you can easily adjust your outer life to make time to meditate. The inner aspiration has infinitely more power than outer obstacles. If you utilise your inner strength, then circumstances have to surrender to your aspiration. If you really want to meditate every day, then I wish to tell you that your inner aspiration will give you the power to do it. Outer obstacles can easily be overcome, because the inner life is the living expression of the infinite power. Before the infinite power, outer obstacles have to surrender.

A spiritually established life is not an easy task. But a materially satisfied life is an impossible task.