Question: What is meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Meditation is the invocation of some higher force or higher reality into the lower part of our existence. The higher and lower parts are both ours, but the higher realities which we try to bring down during meditation are conscious of their oneness with God, whereas the lower realities in us are not aware of it. When we meditate, we invoke the higher realities to enter into the lower realities and make them feel that they also belong to God. So meditation is the invocation of our higher part into our lower part in order to illumine and convince the lower that it can also eventually be as good, as divine, as perfect as the higher in us, provided it receives the light that is descending from above. Then, when the lower realities are illumined properly, they will be able to claim God the same way the higher realities claim God.