Q: Instead of meditating with closed eyes, is not meditation better if one looks at the beauty of nature, the sky, trees?

BABA: To look at the world with understanding in your eyes is an excellent form of meditation, for the Self pervades everything. Kabir speaks of  ‘seeing in meditation.’ In fact, sahaja samadhi, or spontaneous samadhi, is the best and highest meditation. Wherever you look, you see not only things but the spirit which animates them. Because we do not always understand this, we close our eyes for a while. To see the Self in stones, trees, and space is the meditation of the high ones. Whatever and wherever you see, you see God. Whatever you eat and drink is an offering to Him. Whatever you speak is His mantra. It is the Self that is eating, drinking, and seeing. The Self is in the self. O supreme conscious Rudra, you are man and woman. I bow to you. Rudra is the sun, Rudra is the light, Rudra is all. You should see the same within and without. If you have seen within, then the same will appear outside also.

— Baba Muktananda, Selected Essays, 84,85