Part I

//These questions were answered by Sri Chinmoy at the San Francisco Sri Chinmoy Centre on 1 June 1973.//

Question: What should I do during meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: You have a picture of me in my transcendental consciousness. Look at that picture and try to empty your mind. If thoughts come into your mind and are creating problems for you, try to empty them. Throw them into the consciousness which you observe in my picture during your meditation. Try to throw away or destroy fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, jealousy and other undivine thoughts. If you have divine thoughts, thoughts of love for the world, or service to God, or thoughts about happiness and peace, then you should treasure them. But try to make the mind as quiet and calm as possible.

If you have a few friends who are aspiring, such as your brother and sister disciples, then automatically you will be inspired by them. Their aspiration itself is strength. So as long as you do not have a Centre in Santa Cruz, please try to come to San Francisco as often as possible. And when they can, the disciples of the San Francisco Centre will go to your place and inspire you. If you keep the place where you meditate pure and spiritual, they will definitely want to meditate at your place even if you do not have one other disciple there. Your own sincerity and spirituality will be appreciated and admired.

The door of this Centre will remain always open to you and to other disciples who belong to other Centres. If you are in a position to come from time to time to get inspiration from the San Francisco Centre, you are most welcome. This Centre is doing extremely well. If members of other Centres need inspiration and want to increase their aspiration, they should come here. Members of this Centre should invite you to come here so that you can receive their inspiration and aspiration, and when your Centres grow up, you should invite them. If the Centres in Phoenix, Vancouver and Victoria do well, they will invite the San Francisco Centre to visit them.

But right now I wish you to come here as often as possible, because from here you will be able to receive and achieve abundant light. There are people here who have been with us for some time and have accepted the path wholeheartedly. You will get tremendous inspiration from them. The San Francisco Centre is well founded, well established and very solid. So if you come here, you will get solid strength, illumining inspiration and fulfilling aspiration.