Question: How can we learn to meditate? I believe in God, but it is very hard for me to meditate.⁹²

Sri Chinmoy: The best way to learn how to meditate is to associate with people who have been meditating for some time. These people are not in a position to teach you. Far from it! But they are in a position to inspire you. If you have some friends who know how to meditate, just sit beside them while they are meditating. Unconsciously your inner being will derive some meditative power from them. You are not stealing anything, but your inner being is taking help from them without your outer knowledge.

If you want to be under the guidance of a spiritual Master, the Master’s silent gaze will teach you how to meditate. The Master does not have to explain outwardly how to meditate or give you a specific form of meditation or mantra. He will simply meditate on you and inwardly teach you how to meditate. Your soul will enter into the Master’s soul and bring the message or knowledge of how you should meditate from his soul.

All real spiritual Masters teach meditation in silence. When a genuine spiritual Master meditates, peace, light and bliss descend from Above and enter into the sincere seekers. Then automatically they learn how to meditate from within.

It is easier to learn how to meditate if you have a Master because you get additional help from the Master’s conscious concern. But if you do not want to follow a specific path or if you do not want to be under the guidance of a spiritual Master, if you just want to learn how to meditate a little and not go on to God-realisation, then the best thing is to associate with spiritual people in whom you have faith. Unconsciously they will help you. But this process will not take you to the highest Goal. You will learn to walk, but you will not be able to walk fast. You will not be able to run fast, faster, fastest towards the Goal. For that you will need higher lessons, inner and deeper lessons, from some spiritual Master.