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"For the unsteady there is no wisdom, and there is no meditation for the unsteady man. And for an unmeditative man there is no peace. How can there be happiness for one without peace?" Bhagavadgita 2.66.
To learn meditation is very important for every being wanting to achieve the ultimate freedom. In meditation, I learn to know my subjective world. I learn to know the properties of the mind, the way it processes perceptions. I may adore the mechanisms that create the three-dimensional imagination, and realise their limitations at the same time. I learn to know how the perceptions influence the imagination in which I live. I find the sensitive spots that trigger uncontrolled emotional behaviour. I realise the origination of thoughts and I can judge their qualities, the causes for their existence, and the consequences their existence has on the state of the mind. I can observe how the mind turns desires into attachments and dependencies, and thus, I can reveal the mind's self-enslaving tendency. Do not seek anything pleasant, special or beautiful in meditation. That would be strengthening the ego. If you do experience something pleasant and special, understand that it is just an unstable imagination, and keep focusing on how the mind works and how the imagination is created.
As long as there are impressions of objects and events in the mind, so long the practising is required. That is an apposite definition by Sri Ramana Maharishi. Whatever takes place in the imagination must not evoke any unconscious response of the mind. For instance, a loud bang must pass without startling you and without other responses of the mind. Of course, when the sound signals danger, then a wise being reacts calmly and effectively.
Through meditation, I reach the path of knowledge. That means, I begin to realise that an imagination of the outside world is created in the mind, and that all my existence is based on this imagination. One who begins to treat the imagination as an endless stream of passing thoughts, finds their true basis in the source of the mind, in their true Self. They will dissolve the unjustified constructions of the mind, and ultimately, they will dispose of the primary construction - the ego.
When sitting down in meditation, we get close to the goal of the path for a moment. After the meditation, we return into our imaginations, but if our practising is honest and well-aimed, then we take something back into our life out of each meditation. In other words, each meditation moves our life closer to the goal, to the permanent abidance in the Godly state. Each good meditation must bear some fruit. One who practises for years without feeling any change should honestly reassess their practising and modify it so that changes do occur.
It is a very important condition for effective meditation to have all your obligations fulfilled when meditating. If you want to meditate without having completed something important, the mind will always use this fact. Therefore, if you want to have an undisturbed meditation, you must have done all the important things. One who does not accomplish their duties and uses meditation as the excuse, is a coward escaping the world to avoid their duties, not a brave person seeking the ultimate goal. 
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