Question: Does one achieve divine experiences through rigorous practice and coercion?

Sri Chinmoy: Through meditation we are bound to get divine experiences. Meditation is the means. If one meditates, certainly one will get divine experiences. If one doesn’t meditate, then one will have only ordinary, human experiences. Meditation is the only answer. Meditation has the key to enter into the divine world. Certainly it requires practice. But coercion exists only until our self-enforced discipline becomes something natural and joyful. If we have to coerce ourselves, it is because some part of us is recalcitrant. Self-discipline will gradually become spontaneous and natural; then concentration and meditation will never seem coercive.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Earth’s cry meets Heaven’s smile, part 2, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ech_2