Question: I can't meditate unless my body is satisfied. When I am hungry or upset, I really can't meditate.

Sri Chinmoy: If you are upset or even if you are hungry or thirsty, it is natural that you will not be able to meditate well. That is why we need perfection of the physical also. The body has to be calm and poised. Inside the body, the outer wall, is the soul. The outer temple has to be kept well. The physical has to be taken care of properly in order for good meditation to be possible. Kalidasa’s great epic, Kumar Sambhaba, reads, “Shariramadyam khalu….” “The body is, indeed, the first instrument for spiritual discipline”; therefore, the body cannot be neglected. We must pay attention to the needs of the body, but we must not take all the body’s demands as necessities. If we become the slaves of our bodies, we will never be able to meditate.