Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

Is it necessary to meditate only at home, or can we try to meditate wherever we are?

Right now you are only a beginner. You can meditate at your best only when you are alone in your room or in the presence of your spiritual Master. If you try to meditate while driving or walking or sitting on the subway, you will not be able to go very deep. Again, it is not enough just to be seated before your shrine. While you are seated before your shrine, you have to feel an inner shrine within your heart; otherwise, you will not have a satisfactory meditation. Wherever you meditate, you must enter into your heart, where you can see and feel the living shrine of the Supreme. At your inner shrine you are safe and protected. You are guarded by the divine forces there. If you can meditate at this inner shrine, you are bound to make the fastest progress, because there you will meet with no opposition.

After you have meditated very sincerely for several years and developed some inner strength, at that time you will be able to meditate anywhere. Even if you are standing in the subway or walking along the street, you will not be disturbed. Eventually you have to learn how to do the highest meditation and, at the same time, be aware of what is happening in the outer world.

During meditation and prayer, some people concentrate on certain objects, like photographs or some other things. Is it wise for them to cling to these objects, or is it wiser for them to meditate on something that has no form, that they cannot see?

When they meditate on something, they are not worshipping that particular thing as God. They are only receiving inspiration from that thing. I look at a candle and I see the flame, but I am not taking the flame as God. I am taking the flame as a source of inspiration. This flame inspires me and increases my aspiration to climb upward with a burning inner cry. I may keep a flower before me when I meditate. The flower is not God, although inside the flower is God. But the flower inspires me and offers me purity. I may bum incense. Incense itself is not God for me, but incense gives me a feeling of purity, and helps me in my spiritual progress.

Anything that inspires me I shall use in order to increase my aspiration, whether it is a picture, a candle or a flower. For when my inspiration and aspiration increase, I feel that I have taken one step more toward my goal. But the candle or the picture or the flower itself is not the object of my adoration.

Eventually, when we realise God, will all these things drop off?

When we become expert in our aspiration-life, then no outer form will remain. We will become one with the Formless. But in the beginning, it is necessary to approach God through form. In the beginning, a child reads aloud. He has to convince his parents, he has to convince himself, that he is reading the words. If he does not read aloud, he feels that he is not reading at all. But when the child becomes adept, he reads in silence. By then, he and his parents know that he can really read, so the outer form can drop away. But these outer forms are of paramount importance during the seeker's preliminary stages. Eventually they will go, when they are no longer necessary.

Is it all right to meditate after eating, or is fasting desirable?

It is not good to meditate just after eating a large meal. The body has thousands of subtle spiritual nerves. These nerves become heavy after a big meal and will not permit you to have the highest type of meditation. The body will be heavy, the consciousness will be heavy, the nerves will be heavy, and your meditation will not be good. When you meditate properly, you feel that your whole existence, like a bird, is flying high, higher, highest. But when your consciousness is heavy, you cannot go up.

So it is always advisable to meditate on an empty stomach. At least two hours should elapse between your meal and the time that you sit down to meditate. But again, if you are really pinched with hunger when you go to meditate, your meditation will not be satisfactory. Your hunger, like a monkey, will constantly bother you. In that case, it is advisable to have just a glass of milk or juice before meditating. This will not ruin your meditation.

But to refrain from eating a large meal before meditation is not the same as fasting. Fasting is not at all necessary for meditation. By fasting you can purify yourself to some extent. Once a month, if you wish, you can fast for a day to purify your existence of outer aggressions and greed. But by fasting frequently, you approach death rather than God. Fasting is not the answer for self-purification. The answer is constant, soulful meditation, unreserved love for God and unconditional surrender to God.

Is it necessary to be a vegetarian in order to follow the spiritual life?

The vegetarian diet does play a role in the spiritual life. Purity is of paramount importance for an aspirant. This purity we must establish in the body, in the vital and in the mind. When we eat meat, the aggressive animal consciousness enters into us. Our nerves become agitated and restless, and this can interfere with our meditation. If a seeker does not stop eating meat, generally he does not get subtle experiences or subtle visions.

At one time the animal consciousness was necessary for forward movement. Animals are by nature aggressive but, at the same time, there is some dynamic push forward in the animal consciousness. If we had not had animal qualities, we would have remained inert, like trees, or we would have remained in the stone consciousness where there is no growth or movement. But unfortunately the animal consciousness also contains many unillumined and destructive qualities. Now we have entered into the spiritual life, so the role of the animal consciousness is no longer necessary in our life. From the animal consciousness we have entered into the human consciousness, and now we are trying to enter into the divine consciousness.

The mild qualities of fruits and vegetables help us to establish, in our inner life as well as in our outer life, the qualities of sweetness, softness, simplicity and purity. If we are vegetarians, this helps our inner being to strengthen its own existence. Inwardly, we are praying and meditating; outwardly, the food we are taking from Mother-Earth is helping us too, giving us not only energy but also aspiration.

Some people feel that it is meat that gives them strength. But if they go deep within, they may discover that it is their own idea about meat that is giving them strength. One can change that idea and feel that it is not meat but the spiritual energy pervading one's body that gives one strength. That energy comes from meditation as well as from proper nourishment. The strength that one can get from aspiration and meditation is infinitely more powerful than the strength one can get from meat.

Many spiritual seekers have come to the conclusion that a vegetarian is in a position to make quicker progress in the spiritual life. But along with a vegetarian diet, one must pray and meditate. If one has aspiration, the vegetarian diet will help considerably; the body's purity will help one's inner aspiration to become more intense and more soulful. But again, if one is not a vegetarian, that does not mean that one will not make spiritual progress or will not be able to realise God.