Question: It you have a job and work, can you meditate at the same time?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. It is like many other things you might do. If you are a dancer, in the beginning, while you are learning how to dance, you will always be conscious of whether or not your steps are exactly the way they are supposed to be. But when you become an expert, the steps become almost spontaneous. You are dancing, and at the same time you are looking around and doing all sorts of things. In the beginning, when you are learning how to drive, you cannot do two things at once. You are always afraid that you will have an accident. But when you become an experienced driver, you look to this side and that, you talk to your friends, and do many other things. Similarly, when you become expert in the spiritual life, you can do many things simultaneously.

When my students were beginners, absolute beginners, they had the same problem. They used to say that while they were in the office typing something, for instance, only typing would exist for them. They could not meditate or think of the spiritual life. Now the stenographers and secretaries are remaining in a very high consciousness while they are typing or taking dictation from their bosses. Their bosses are surprised when they look at these girls. They think, "How is it that her face is shining with light?" It is because these particular girls are meditating while doing their work. In the beginning they could not do this, but they meditated systematically for six or eight months, and gradually they developed this capacity. It is only by practising every day that one becomes an expert.