Question: Is there any way to evaluate the result of our meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there are two ways. One way is to ask the Master if the meditation has been really deep and profound. Sometimes it happens that when a seeker feels that he has had the highest meditation, it may not be true. At that time it is always advisable to ask the Master to evaluate one's meditation. If the Master is not available or if the Master is not in the physical, then the seeker has to evaluate the meditation in two ways. If the seeker feels enormous joy and compares this with the previous joy that he has felt when he has had a good meditation, and if the intensity of the joy far surpasses the previous intensity, then he has to feel that this time his meditation has gone higher.

The other way to evaluate one's meditation, which is absolutely the best way, is to see if, right after meditating, one feels totally detached from the joy itself. The seeker has to take the joy as an incident or an experience. No matter how deep or how shallow the meditation was, if he can detach himself totally from the joy or any divine quality he experienced and make his vessel, which we call receptivity, larger and deeper, then he is preparing himself for a higher and deeper experience. Whatever he has got is wonderful but he must not stay with the incident or experience that he received. If he can prepare himself for a higher journey, a higher experience, then that means he has gone one step higher through his meditation.