Question: When I first began meditating at three o'clock in the morning, I used to have very good meditations and I was very inspired. But after a few days, I didn't have the same inspiration and it became very difficult.

Sri Chinmoy: When we start something for the first time, we get inspiration. Anything that is new gives us tremendous inspiration, just because it is something new. But if we continue doing it, we do not have the same enthusiasm, the same impetus, the same inspiration. We want to get something very deep, very high and very sublime, something most illumining, from our early morning meditation. We are like a long distance runner. When the starter fires the gun, at the very beginning he is really inspired and he starts running very fast. But after two or three miles, he becomes very tired; running becomes tedious and difficult. Now, if he gives up running just because he is tired and because his inspiration is gone, he does not reach the goal. But if he continues running, he will finally reach the goal. Then he will definitely feel that it was worth the struggle and suffering of the body.

It is like that in the spiritual life also. When you start your journey at three o’clock in the morning, feel that tomorrow is the continuation of that journey. Do not take it as a new beginning. Every day you have travelled another mile. By taking one step at a time you reach the Goal.

In order to maintain the same level of meditation, you have to be very spiritually advanced. I am not throwing cold water on you; far from it. I wish to say that in the beginning you should be very happy if at times you get very good, very high, sublime meditation. When you don’t have a good meditation, don’t allow yourself to become a victim to frustration. If you get frustrated, you are losing your capacity to an even greater extent. Then on the following day, at that time also, it will be impossible for you to meditate deeply.

If you don’t have a good meditation today, then try to forget about it. Tomorrow if you have a meditation that is a little better, try to remember it. The past is dust. The past has not given you realisation; that is why you are still praying and meditating. So why should you think of the past? You have to forget all that did not inspire you or encourage you to go farther. So if today’s meditation does not inspire you or has not given you most satisfactory results, try to forget it altogether.

You have aspiration and then you lose it. Then you cry for it, but you may not get the same aspiration back again. But here you have to realise that you are not an expert in meditation. Now your meditation is at the mercy of your inspiration or aspiration. When you are inspired, you have aspiration and you are ready to meditate. But this aspiration, this inner urge, will last only for a day or a few weeks and then it disappears. But when you become an expert, meditation will be at your command.

How can we become an expert in anything? If we want to become a singer or a poet or a dancer, we have to practise daily. It is the same with meditation. When we practise meditation daily, there comes a time when it becomes spontaneous. If we regularly meditate once or twice a day, then we develop a kind of inner habit. After a while, at such and such an hour, we will feel compelled to meditate. We will feel that meditation is our soul’s necessity and the inner urge to meditate will never be able to leave us. It will always inspire and energise us. Early every morning when it is time for our meditation, our inner being will come and knock at our heart’s door.