Question: Are invocations important in meditation? Sometimes when we invoke you, we feel that it is because you are not with us that we have to invoke you.

Sri Chinmoy: This is wrong. It is not true that I am not with you. On the contrary, you have to feel that I am with you and you are with me, always. My consciousness is always with you and with all my disciples. You have to feel that you are within me and I am within you, which is absolutely true. Oneness is already established, but it needs to be manifested. What actually happens is that when you are invoking me you are manifesting me. It is not that I am in some other place far away and you are bringing me by invoking me. We are already one, but when you invoke me, you are like the child who calls his mother because he needs something from her. When the child calls, immediately the mother knows that he needs her to do something for him. To do the thing is to bring it into manifestation. When you invoke the Supreme, at that time you feel that you need something and the Supreme is going to do it for you. Invocation means that something is being manifested in your consciousness and in the outer world.