Question: When I am meditating, I can see the reality. But when I open my eyes and stop meditating, how can I keep this reality?

Sri Chinmoy: First we have to make a distinction about the reality that you see in your meditation. We may call it reality but the real Reality is something much deeper, something permanent. If you truly feel real Reality just once in your meditation, then you will never lose it. If one moment you are experiencing real Reality in your meditation and the next moment you have to run very fast down the street, you will not lose that Reality. Real Reality is something we grow into and embody. We not only feel it in our meditation, but we are the embodiment of this real Reality.

What you see in your meditation is a momentary glimpse of real Reality, an insignificant, far-distant glimpse. So when you open your eyes and stop meditating, naturally you cannot keep what you have seen. You have not yet grown into the embodiment of Reality.

How can we grow into real Reality? It is through aspiration. We have to pray to God to give us the aspiration to surrender to Him so that we can embody the Reality. It is only through God’s boundless Grace that we can achieve our Goal.

Becoming the real Reality does not happen in the twinkling of an eye. It takes lifetimes. It may take many lifetimes. But with the Grace of God, His choice Hour for us may come in one lifetime. When we grow into true Reality, then we can never lose it.