Question: One can obtain peace for a moment but then when he goes out from here, he will go back to the same hustle of human life.
Sri Chinmoy: This happens to ordinary people. You have to know that there is a big difference between a really spiritual person and one who only goes to church to pray for half an hour, obtains a little peace and then goes to the coffee shop and gives his peace to the coffee shop. But if he meditates for long hours and establishes this practice firmly, then he will get durable results. If you start to run, you will not do it very well for the first few days. The same thing with dancing or any other activity. Only continuous practice will give you satisfactory results. The same thing happens in the spiritual life. When you are advanced you can retain the benefits for a long period of time, but not at the beginning. What you say is absolutely right, you obtain peace for a moment and when you go again to the world, restlessness comes back to you. But if you can enter into the deepest world and stay there for some time during your meditation, a day will come when, in the midst of the outside world, in front of people, speaking with people, mixing with people, you will possess your own deepest Peace. This Peace remains imperturbable, unmoveable.
Sri Chinmoy, Earth’s Cry Meets Heaven’s Smile, part 3, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1978