When you set a certain time to sit for meditation, you are inviting God to manifest Himself at that moment.

Meditation Yoga

Chapter 6, Verse 10

yogī yuñjīta satatam

ātma‌naṁ rahasi sthitaḥ

ekākī yatacittātmā

nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ

Let the yogi continually practise union with the Self, sitting apart and alone, with all desire and idea of possession banished from his mind, self- controlled in his whole being and consciousness.

“Let the yogi continually practise union with the Self.” Here the term ‘yogi’ refers to the bhakta, the spiritual practitioner who is doing yoga, the one who is longing for God. The yogi, who has reached perfection through yoga is seated in the Self focusing on God Himself alone. “Sitting apart and alone, with all desire and idea of possession banished from his mind:” When one has a controlled mind and doesn’t have any sense of possession or any attachment to any kind of desire, then, one is eligible to sit in meditation.

Here Krishna was talking to people who are on the spiritual path, who are longing for God. He says, “Find a suitable place to practise meditation.” He advised one to withdraw oneself from the world. Those who are on the spiritual path, have to withdraw into themselves from time to time: they have to go within themselves. The spiritual sadhaks who are busy in the world wherever they are, whatever they are doing, should find time, from time to time, to sit down for meditation, dhyaan, to withdraw from the outside world and enter into the inner quietness within the Self. It’s like recharging the batteries! As long as the mind runs towards the outside reality, the battery is discharging. However, it is difficult to sit down for meditation when there are people around, especially if you are just freshly starting on the spiritual path. Once you have mastered meditation, that’s not a problem. But when you have not yet mastered meditation, it’s important to find your own place.

There are certain rules saying that you should have a fixed place for meditation and a proper asana or seat. In the next verse, Krishna will tell us about the importance of the seat and how important it is to always meditate in the same place.

“... self-controlled in his whole being and consciousness.” One is self-controlled in the mind, one is self-controlled in the body, one is self-controlled in the breath, through pranayama, the breathing exercises. Practise meditation! Let the mind and the intellect be absorbed in the thought of God! That’s the meditation one should practise and this practise should be unbroken! One must discipline oneself and not find excuses for not doing one’s spiritual practice. You shouldn’t say, “Today there is a nice movie. I am going to watch it at nine o’clock. I should sit down for meditation, but there is this movie, so I will watch it and then afterwards I will sit for meditation.”

The time and the place of meditation are very important, because when you set a certain time to meditate, you are inviting God to be there with you. It’s like if you invite

a friend to come to your place and then you are not there to welcome your friend. How would it be? Or you are invited somewhere, you are ringing the bell and you see all the lights off. Then someone turns the light on and you see the person in pyjamas saying, “Ai! I thought it was tomorrow!” How would it be? You would be shocked, no? So, here it is the same thing. When you set a certain time to sit for meditation, you arei nviting God to manifest Himself at that moment. And you can have this expectation that, as you sent the invitation, God will come and be eagerly waiting for you inside yourself at that time. Let’s say you plan to meditate at nine o’clock. In your mind, you have already created this appointment with God, so the Divine will manifest Himself at this appointed time within you. He will be waiting for you, for your consciousness, for your Atma to be completely focused on the meditation. That’s why the time of meditation is also very important.

Bhagavad Gita