Donna Halper: You get a lot of students, I gather, who would be considered middle class, in that they are products of pretty much the average American home. When they come to you, do they stay, or do you find that they regard meditation as a kind of interesting fad and, after a while, get tired of it?

Sri Chinmoy: Oh, no. In my case I am fortunate enough to be able to tell you that my students have taken spirituality and meditation very seriously. Of course, some people do leave. But in comparison to the number that have come, very few people have left. Meditation is not something that becomes boring after a few years. But because people have their set ways of thinking or because they have personal problems or vital problems, they may leave. They come to feel that this way of meditation is not suitable for them any more, but not because meditation was just a fad for them. They took meditation seriously. But many thoughts, many desires, many fantasies, many idiosyncrasies may come in, and they feel that the path is not suitable any more. So they leave.