Outer Aids to Meditation

Before beginning to meditate, it is helpful if you can take a shower or proper bath. The purification of the body is absolutely necessary for the purification of the consciousness. If you are unable to take a shower or bath before sitting down to meditate, you should at least wash your face and your feet. It is also advisable to wear clean and light clothes.

It will help if you burn incense and keep some flowers in front of you. There are some people who say that it is not necessary to have flowers around during meditation. They say, 'The flower is inside; the thousand-petalled lotus is inside.' But the physical flower that you have in front of you reminds you of the inner flower. Its colour, its fragrance and its pure consciousness gives you a little inspiration. From inspiration you get aspiration, and from aspiration you get realization.

It is the same with using candles during meditation. The flame from a candle will not in itself give you aspiration; it is the inner flame that will give you aspiration. But when you see the outer flame, then immediately you feel that the flame in your inner being is also climbing high, higher, highest. And when you smell the scent of incense, you get perhaps only an iota of inspiration and purification, but this iota can be added to your inner treasure. If someone is on the verge of God-realization or has actually realized God, then these outer things will have no value. But if you know that God-realization is still a far cry, then they will definitely increase your aspiration. ~Sri Chinmoy