Question: If we have been meditating for a long time, how can we renew our inspiration?

Sri Chinmoy: Your mind has to surrender to your heart. At every moment the heart is seeing a beautiful flower, whereas the mind is seeing a dry, dead tree. When you use the mind, you see a dead tree right in front of you, but when you use the heart, you see a most beautiful garden. Every time you meditate, imagine a garden with beautiful flowers. First imagine it right in front of you, and then try to imagine it inside your heart. In that way, the beauty and fragrance of the garden are bound to inspire you and make you feel that you are receiving something most precious.6 Do you think that you can go to the Centre and just turn a switch? Meditation does not work like that.

Everything is preparation. If I want to do a long jump, first I have to warm up by doing stretching exercises and jogging. Similarly, during the day we have to prepare ourselves; we have to think of our spiritual life.


SCA 1095,1. In later prints of the book, this question was cut short of the following the three sentences, which have been restored to its original first print.