Back to my very early course with Raga:
“Of course, this training does not make for the great spiritual transition in itself, it is but one outgrowth of a change made through using your free will to harmonize & align with Universal Will. A more important factor in making this transition is having a true teacher. That’s because you can directly experience Unselfish Love & the Universal Spirit through an enlightened being. Through a true teacher you can clearly see yourself, expose your illusions, and through humility and Unselfish Love, transcend your selfish separate self. Meditations & exercises “tune-up” your vehicle, so to speak, allowing the Universal Spirit to use you to your maximum capacities. But Love, Humility, and Service are what will give your Inner Being the controls of this powerful vehicle you are creating.
You must be consistent in doing the exercises you will be learning, in order for them to really work. If you stick with your schedule ‘whole heartedly’, along with transcending your selfish separate self with the help of your teacher, you will change, you will grow, you will ultimately achieve enlightenment. The exercises themselves will also help you transcend your separate self by means of the self discipline it takes to do them properly & consistently, and through the transcendental effects of them. But, if you are not doing the exercises consistently, with full commitment, then you are still slave to your selfish separate self, and have not really surrendered to the flow of the One. For that reason alone the full transition would not take place. It’s all interconnected. So make God, service to God, and the attainment of Universal Consciousness the priority in your life. Use your charts without fail, and even more importantly, humbly use your teacher without fail.
You will not need to do all of these exercises for the rest of your life. But you should do them sincerely, as perfectly as possible, and without missing even one,for at least 21 weeks. Every person is different, and some meditations work far better than others, for each individual. But sometimes the separate self will fool you into thinking you don’t like a meditation, or it doesn’t work well for you, when in fact it may be the very one that would ultimately work best for you. After you have completed 21 weeks perfectly, then you will better know the best ones for you, and can discuss tailoring a special meditation group for yourself with your teacher.”
“You said they take hours. Should we do them all at the same time, or just whenever we have time?” ... see "When to Meditate"(Blog Archive).