Question: How do you meditate?
Sri Chinmoy: You are asking a most complicated question. If you have no teacher you have to start by reading spiritual books written by real Masters. This will give you inspiration. Then please practise concentrating on your heart. Nobody can describe the way to meditate, for each person’s soul has its own way of meditating. You have to go deep within to find your own way. If you cannot go deep within to get your own meditation, or if you are not satisfied with the meditation that you feel you have received from within, you have to feel the necessity of throwing the mind into the heart. The unillumined human mind has to be thrown into the heart’s sea of divine love. If you really want to meditate, learn to concentrate in the heart and not in the mind.
I am not saying that the mind is bad. Far from it. But the mind is limited while the heart, which is very close to the soul, is unlimited. At most what you can get from the mind is inspiration. But inspiration itself is limited. But when you meditate on the heart, inspiration turns into aspiration. Aspiration does not come from the mind. No! It comes directly from your heart. The heart can give you everything. Aspiration is the harbinger of realisation or illumination. In aspiration is the seed of realisation. Aspiration comes from the heart because the illumination of the soul is always there. And when you meditate on the heart, not only do you get aspiration, but you also get the fulfilment of that aspiration: the soul’s infinite Peace, Light and Bliss.

Question: But in this case, how can we meditate on the heart? We don’t even know where it is.
Sri Chinmoy: It depends on whose path you follow. If one Master says the heart is here, and you want to follow his path, then this is where you meditate. If you do not have anyone as your teacher, then go deep inside and do not even concentrate on the heart. Only concentrate and meditate on Light. Then, one day, during your meditation, you will receive Light here, or here, or here, or here. So just meditate on the Source and eventually the location will come to you. If you follow a specific path, then you have to have implicit faith in what your Master says. But if you are not sure, if you say, “I do not follow any path I am just curious to know where the heart is,” then I wish to tell you not to bother about the location. Only think of the things that the heart can give: Peace, Joy, Love, Bliss, Light. Think of the quality and not of the location. When you meditate on the quality, the quality itself will come to the fore, and this is the important thing. Concentrate on the Source and the Source will bless you so that illumination can take place. Then you can observe the location from which the flow comes. I tell my disciples not to fight about right or left, but only to think of love, devotion and surrender. Love God with your entire existence, devote yourself to God with your entire existence, surrender yourself to God. Love, devotion and surrender will show you everything.

Question: How can a person really find inner peace?
Sri Chinmoy: On a practical level, do not expect anything from others on the physical plane. Just give and give and give, like a mother who gives everything to her child thinking that the child is not in a position to give her anything in return. Do not expect anything from the world; only love the world and offer your capacity, your inner wealth, your joy. Everything that you have, give to the world unconditionally. If you expect anything from the world, then you will feel miserable because the world does not understand you, the world does not care for you. If you can do anything unconditionally, then you will have peace of mind. This is one way.
The other way is to meditate on the heart, where there is constant joy, constant love. At that time you will not cry for appreciation from others. You will all the time depend on your inner Source, where there is infinite Joy, infinite Love, infinite Peace. The best thing is to meditate on the heart. This second way is most effective.