Question: How do I know that while meditating, I am entering into a higher plane and it is not just my imagination?

Sri Chinmoy: There is a very easy way to know. If you are actually entering into a higher plane, you will feel that your body is becoming very light. Although you don’t have wings, you will feel that you can fly. In fact, when you have reached a very high world, you will actually see a bird inside you that can easily fly in the sky as real birds do.

But when it is your imagination, you will get a very sweet feeling for a few minutes, and then immediately dark or frustrating thoughts will come into you. You will say, “I studied so hard, but I did not do well in my examination.” Or, “I worked so hard in the office today, but I could not please my boss.” These negative forces in the form of frustration will immediately come in. But if it is really a high meditation, you will feel that your whole existence, like a divine bird, is going up and flying; flying high into the sky. While feeling this, there is no sad thought, no negative thought, no frustrating thought. It is all joy, all bliss, all peace. You are flying in the skies of Delight. When it is imagination, you may get joy for a few fleeting moments and then doubt enters in. You may in fact say, “How can I meditate so well? Yesterday I did so many wrong things; I told so many lies. How can God be pleased with me? How can I be having such a high meditation?” This is no meditation. But when it is truly a high meditation, it is pure joy with no questions and no doubts; only the soul-bird flying in the sky of Delight.