Self-knowledge is the beginning of meditation. Without knowing yourself, repeating words from the sacred books has no meaning at all. They pacify, quieten your mind, but you can do that with a pill. By repeating a phrase over and over and over again, your brain naturally becomes quiet, sleepy and dull. In that dullness and insensitivity, you might have experiences, get certain results, but you are still ambitious, envious, greedy and creating enmity.