Interviewer: Could you take a few minutes and talk with the audience about meditation — what it is and what it isn't? What are some of the reasons for and the benefits of meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Meditation is self-discovery. We try to discover many things in life, but unfortunately most of the time we do not try to discover ourselves. When we do discover ourselves through meditation, we see clearly that we are chosen instruments of God. A chosen instrument is he who has peace of mind and who can offer peace of mind to the rest of the world.

Meditation always helps us to see the universal Truth, universal Beauty and universal Delight in ourselves. When we meditate, we feel that the world has real meaning. For most human beings, the world has nothing to offer except suffering, misery and unfortunate experiences. But when we meditate, we see that the world is not like that. It has beauty, it has purity, it has oneness. The world is God’s creation, and God is all Light and Delight. So how can His creation be all suffering? When we meditate, we try to discover the supreme secrets that show us how we can always serve mankind and fulfil our highest Reality.