Question: How can we stop thoughts from bothering us during meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: We have to make an effort to calm and quiet our mind. We can call this a kind of inner exercise. If we do it every day, sooner or later we are bound to succeed. Let the fly bother me as many times as it wants to, but each time it comes I will try to chase it away. Each time an undivine thought enters into my mind, I will throw it out of my mind. It is like a foreign element, a thief, that has entered into my room. Why should I consciously allow a thief to remain in my room when I have the capacity to throw him out? Here also, when an undivine thought enters into my mind, I will just capture the thought and throw it into the blazing fire of inner aspiration.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Fifty Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore, part 2, Sri Chinmoy Centre, New York, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ffb_2