Question: I like to be outdoors running and cycling, but then I think I should spend more time meditating and being with you, learning songs.

Sri Chinmoy: Always we need a balanced life. Early in the morning before meditation if you go out and eat a nice breakfast, will it be good? Early in the morning, do your prayer and meditation. Then go out to run or do anything else. First things first. After meditation you can enter into the hustle and bustle of life. But if you do not do the right thing at the right time, then you will be making a mistake.

Cycling is good for you, to keep your body fit. Definitely it will help your meditation. Again, if you meditate well, the inner joy that you get from your meditation and prayer will make you feel that you are flying while you are riding. So, everything has its own time. If you do everything at its proper time, then the previous things will always give you joy while you are doing the next thing, and those things will also give you tremendous joy. There is always time to do the right thing.

Our difficulty is that when we miss one thing, our whole world collapses. Early in the morning, at six o’clock if you do not meditate, then meditate at seven o’clock or seven-thirty, even eight o’clock, before you go out. If you do not meditate at six o’clock, you feel that God is so displeased with you that He is coming with an iron rod to break your head. You say, “My day is all over!” But that is not the right attitude. Just do the thing that you have missed before you do the next thing that you are supposed to do — especially in the case of prayer and meditation. These things have to be first and foremost. In the spiritual life, nothing should be taken as seriously as your prayer and meditation. Then the beauty and fragrance of your prayer and meditation you have to feel in all your activities during the day.