Question: What do you do when you are not one hundred per cent alert during meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, before you start meditating, breathe in deeply a few times. Very deep breathing helps conscious awareness. If you still find yourself falling asleep and starting to enjoy the bliss of sleep, at that time you should say "No, let me enjoy the bliss of meditation." Instead of entering into other worlds you should say, "No, let me remain in this world. I won't even knock at the door of the sleep worlds. I shall stay here outside.

In meditation, movement is going on but in a very subtle, peaceful way. In it is the life that lifts us up towards the goal. But when we enter into sleep there is no life at all.

During your meditation you yourself will realise when, instead of getting a very dynamic inner thrill, you are entering into a world where there is no life at all. You should feel, "No, I want to enter into a place where there will be fulfilling and dynamic life."

From:Sri Chinmoy,The hour of meditation, Agni Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/hm