Question: This was my first experience of trying to meditate. What I found was for most of the time I couldn't hear any noise, nothing. My mind was empty. At a certain point I started to listen to a noise nearby and I couldn't anymore concentrate outside of this noise. Does this mean I lost my concentration?

Babaji:

When your attention goes somewhere, then you are losing the concentration. So a little bit of your own effort is required. So you bring it back and try to ignore any such thoughts, anything that is happening, and try to concentrate. Emptying the mind means, the mind is not lost. The mind is a consciousness that will still be there. You are simply emptying all the thought processes and visual effects that it has absorbed. So then the mind becomes more and more peaceful as it becomes concentrated. Your efforts should be on concentrating on one point.