Question: Sometimes, even though I concentrate on my heart, my head pulls down energy and I can't seem to stop it, and I just end up with a headache and a stiff neck, and I lose my meditation. Is there any way I can get out of that and still get back to the heart?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes. The easiest thing to do, when you feel that you are getting a tremendous pull or pain in your head, is to feel that that pain is the result of resistance. It is like this: the heart is receiving through the mind. Something is coming from Above and is trying to enter into the heart, but the mind is not allowing the heart to receive with its utmost capacity. The mind has allowed the heart to receive to some extent; that is why the force is coming through the mind. But then the mind becomes jealous of the heart. It feels that this heart is becoming more powerful, more soulful and more fulfilling. That is why resistance is coming from the mind.

So what will you do at that time? You will try to feel that inside the heart there is something which is infinitely more powerful than the mind. Feel the soul, and bring the soul forward from the heart. Feel that there is intense power inside the soul. You may not see the soul, but bring forward your inner strength and then grab the mind. Say to the mind, "You allowed me to remain quiet for a few minutes, and I am grateful. But I am still praying and meditating, still crying for Peace, Light and Bliss, and now you are not allowing me to continue." Just grab the mind and put it into the flood of the heart. As long as it allows you to meditate, you don't have to worry. But when it starts bothering you, when it starts creating pain, that means it is resisting. It is not allowing you to receive more Peace and Light from above.

Just grab the mind and feel that it is like a naughty child. Before, it was asleep and allowed the mother to remain silent or pray to God. But now the child is up and it wants to cause mischief. It does not want to allow the mother to aspire any further, to achieve more Peace, Light and Bliss. So what will the mother do? The mother will threaten the child and say, "I am still praying, I am meditating. You must not bother me, you must not disturb me, or I will punish you."

The mother gives a smart slap to the child and says, "Now you sit here in my lap and let me go on with my own work." After getting a slap, the child will sleep in his mother's lap, and the mother will go on with her own work, praying and meditating.