Question: I attend the meditation here at the college once a week but I feel I need more spiritual nourishment. If I try to meditate alone, it's different. I feel that there is something I am losing.

Sri Chinmoy: You are not actually losing anything. When four persons do the same thing together they inspire one another. It is like a tug-of-war. When you are meditating with your group, there are four or five persons meditating together against only one person: ignorance, whereas when you meditate at home, you are one individual and ignorance is another individual. You don't know who is going to win in the tug-of-war. When four persons are pulling on one side and only one is against them, you know that these four are going to win. This inner assurance will encourage you to come and pull with the others. If you meditate at home alone, you are fighting against ignorance all by yourself. Naturally you will soon be exhausted, and then you will feel sad and miserable, and may lose interest. But if you can meditate with others, then you will have more confidence in what you are doing.