Question: Do we not sometimes mistake the strong concentration of the vital for a good or strong meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Concentration and meditation are two totally different things. One can easily know whether one is doing concentration or meditation. When it is concentration, there is tremendous intensity; it is like an arrow entering into the target. But in meditation, there is peace all around, specially in the mind. Intensity is there, but the intensity is flooded with luminosity. In concentration there need not be, and at times there is not, the highest luminosity. Concentration wants immediate results. It is ready to do anything, by hook or by crook, to achieve its goal. But meditation won’t do that. Meditation feels that it has infinite time at its disposal. That doesn’t mean that meditation neglects fleeting time. No! It appreciates fleeting time, but inside fleeting time it sees endless time. That is why meditation has infinite Peace inside it.

Intensity of the vital during meditation is not bad if it is the purified vital and not the demanding vital. The vital is a real dynamic horse, but we have to know how to utilise it. We are now using the vital in the world of passion, in the world of argument, greed, and so on. But this same vital can be used as a dynamic strength to fight against ignorance, imperfection and death. So if the vital is pure at the time of concentration, then our success is very satisfactory, and it assures us that the fulfilment of our goal on earth is not a dream.