In some ashrams like Madurai and Pondicherry, there are actual meditation classes. But meditation has never yet made a person one with God! Hafiz said to the Sufis, "If you have the 'whim' to achieve union with God, become as the dust at the feet of One who has become united with Him!"

Meditation gives peace and some inner revelation to some fortunate ones. Aurobindo [Ghose] has written in his book, "I am trying to attain to that state through meditation." If Illumination is attained through meditation, it is no small thing. The meaning of meditation is to go deep within one's self. It is self-hypnotism in the divine way — to lose yourself in forgetting the self by not thinking of anything but the Self.

Aurobindo is on the sixth plane, not by the state of a wali-mast, but by meditation. Chatti Baba never meditated, yet he sees God all day and night. And, though both are on the sixth plane, there is a great difference between them. Love gives permanence, meditation gives samadhi. After union with God, complete permanency exists, whether you come down [to gross consciousness] or not. If you come down, you bring God with you!

Aurobindo writes beautifully about the "deep valley" between seeing God and God Himself. He says, "We cry out on this side: 'O God, we see You but cannot come to you! So, at least you come to us!' " And God replies, "I always come as Ram, Krishna, Buddha, and others." 

Sufis don't give hell for meditation; they love!

Meditation is good. If you love and meditate, there is no harm. If you love and do not meditate, there is no harm. But don't meditate as if you have taken quinine powder! Like something to somehow or other be done and gotten over with! If you are interested in meditation, you ought to do it with joy. If you don't like meditation, then you have to take my name; and if you love me, taking my name ought to give you joy. Do it when and where you like.

Alluding to outside disturbances and noise, Baba stated:

Even in the Himalayas, you cannot have complete stillness! But after September, you can meditate near the Dome [Tomb]. Samadhi is the state where you do not hear a gun fired even at close range!