Question: Is it bad to eat right after meditating?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes. It takes at least half an hour to assimilate your achievements — the spiritual thoughts, ideas and visions you had during your meditation. Then, what you assimilate you are going to manifest in your outer life. When you meditate you take in inner food — Peace, Light and Bliss. Then, when you look at someone or someone looks at you, immediately he gets this food. Just by looking at you, his eyes will eat some of this food.

So please try to rest for half an hour after meditating, before you eat. Also, if you want to meditate after eating, please wait at least two and a half hours. Otherwise, your nerves will become heavy: the three major channels of the subtle body — ida, pingala and sushumna — will find it extremely difficult to allow the cosmic energy to pass through them.

Again, if you are very hungry and it is time for your meditation, please eat something light and then meditate. Otherwise hunger will play the part of a monkey inside you, pinching you all the time. I remember an incident in India. A young boy used to always come late to see his spiritual teacher. He was poverty-stricken and could not eat properly, so he was always hungry and could never meditate well. His spiritual Master observed this and he used to keep popped rice for this particular disciple. He would give this disciple two or three mouthfuls of popped rice and then the disciple would meditate. All the other disciples were surprised to see this, because they got nothing from their Guru. One day the Master had to tell them, "All of you come from rich families and all of you come here without hunger. But when this poor boy comes running here, I always see that he is hungry. So I feed him first and then he does his meditation well."