Russell Wilson: May I ask you just a few more questions on meditation? When is the best time to meditate, and for how long should I meditate?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two times that are most important. The first time is when you get up in the morning, before you enter into the hustle and bustle of life. Then, in the evening, when everything is calm and quiet, for ten minutes or so before you go to bed you can invoke the universal peace into your system.

When you meditate early in the morning, it is like earning a spiritual salary. You meditate for fifteen minutes or a half hour and put the spiritual wealth that you receive inside your heart-pocket. Then, during the day if you have to talk to some colleagues who are quarrelling and arguing and are immersed in the world of confusion, you can withdraw some of the peace, love and light that you accumulated early in the morning and give it to them. As you take money from your pocket, even so from your heart-pocket you can take spiritual wealth and offer it. That is how we use our spiritual wealth to bring about world peace.

It is also good if you can meditate every hour during the day. It does not have to be exactly on the hour. Only keep aside a minute or two each hour to think of God and talk to God. Nobody will know what you are doing. Outwardly you may be talking with your colleagues, but inwardly you are talking to God. You can just repeat God’s Name. You can say ‘God’ or ‘Supreme’ or anything you like. Those who follow our way of life use the term ‘Supreme’. When I say ‘Supreme’, immediately I feel more of a close inner connection with God — in the same way a child gets a more intimate feeling when he calls his father ‘Papa’ instead of ‘Father’. But you can call Him anything you like when you are praying or meditating.