Will

Last week Easwaran discussed the war within, including commentary on the name Skanda, Lord of War. This week that discussion continues as we read pages 165–175 in The Constant Companion.* “‘Make me your commander,’ the Lord tells us, ‘and I will give you all the weapons you need.’”

Easwaran comments on the Lord as Sharnga-Dhanva, wielder of “a mighty bow called Sharnga, a symbol of one of the most powerful weapons we can have in the war within: the mantram.”

Of course, our own human will is “one of the most crucial of weapons in the war within,” Easwaran reminds us:

“Everything in life, everything in spiritual growth, comes ultimately to strengthening the will until no setback can stop you, no trial or temptation deflect your course.”

Please use the comments below to share how you take inspiration from this week’s reading to join the battle within.

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• Spiritual Reading has been our focus for practice extension throughout this book study. What have you found most helpful or nourishing about your spiritual reading throughout this time?

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names To Whom Are Offered Seven Kinds of Fuel through Will. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

Giver of Wealth

Desire, and the vital energy to which it is closely connected, are major themes of our reading this week, pages 153–164 in The Constant Companion.*

Desire for pleasure and profit are “played up everywhere” today, and Easwaran comments on both forms of “mental pollutant” at length. One painful implication is the profound impact on our children: “The desires of a society are a very important educational influence, more so even than the curricula of its schools. Nobody escapes this influence. It is, perhaps, the primary way in which we raise the next generation. And what are we teaching?”

Easwaran also leads us to see the key role played by desire in the “war within” against our selfish compulsions. In the first phase of this war, he explains, our major objective is freeing our “fighting forces” from compulsive involvement in sense consciousness.

“‘Fighting forces’ here means our vital energy, which is tied up in the countless desires, drives, urges, and anxieties of the ordinary human personality. The purpose of training the senses, which plays a central role in every major spiritual tradition, is to begin to get this riot of energy in order.”

• Is there a particular situation that causes you to get speeded up or agitated? What tips does Easwaran offer in this reading that you could try out in this situation? Even if the tips don’t seem to directly apply, try them anyhow and tell us what you find.

• We have been strengthening our practice of Spiritual Reading and reflecting on its benefits. This week consider how these stories help you contribute to healing the Earth.

For our spiritual treat this week, we hope you enjoy this four-minute video in which Easwaran describes the samskara of dwelling on the past and future, and how we can use the mantram to keep our mind in the present.

Video

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Giver of Wealth through The Seven-tongued. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

Answerer of Prayers

“Every strong desire is a prayer,” Easwaran reminds us as he comments on the name Vara-Da, Answerer of Prayers, in this week’s reading, pages 146–152 of The Constant Companion.* “When we have a powerful desire that we can’t forget, we are meditating on that desire, actually praying for it to be fulfilled. In time, the very depth of that desire will release the deeper resources to bring it within our reach.”

Often, he points out, “we do not realize how our pursuit of personal desires affects other people” and our world. For example, “From a spiritual perspective, the underlying cause of industrial pollution is desire.” With this understanding, the content and depth of our desires take on new significance for all of us longing to heal our Earth’s environment, “because it is our thoughts and desires that will shape our future actions – not only as individuals, but as a society.”

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?

• We are taking this book study as an opportunity to give special attention to our practice of Spiritual Reading. On the days you are able to do spiritual reading, what benefits do you find?

Let’s turn again to The Thousand Names Talks** in the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk 5. The full talk is 50 minutes, but you can listen to part of it now and when you return the player will resume where you left off. If time is short, consider starting with the first five minutes, where Easwaran describes his ancestral family’s observation of Navaratri, in which the Divine Mother is worshipped.

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Maker & Destroyer of Fear through Answerer of Prayers. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

** You’ll need to log in for the link above to work. If it’s your first time, use the button Create new account from the login page.

Holder of the Wheel of the Cosmos

In this week’s reading, pages 135–145 from The Constant Companion,* Easwaran comments on names of the Lord describing what Vishnu holds in each of his hands, beginning with the discus or chakra:

“In devotional portraits, Vishnu is often represented as standing casually with one finger of a right hand held up as if pointing to the sky. On the tip of that finger, perfectly balanced, whirls the disk of the cosmos, called chakra in Sanskrit. As the gospel song puts it, “He’s got the whole world in his hands.’”

This “wheel of dharma” represents “the supreme law of existence which holds that all of life is one.” As usual, Easwaran brings us extremely practical applications. Amidst the tremendous challenges facing our world, if we desire to help, we can begin by conserving the Earth’s resources. “All life is part of us. This deepest of convictions can turn the most ordinary human being into a powerful force for unity.”

• If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips, and try them out this week.

• As we read The Constant Companion, we are working to strengthen our practice of Spiritual Reading. How does reading Easwaran’s books help you make your highest ideals a part of your daily life?

For our spiritual treat, here is Easwaran reading the passage “Her Heart Is Full of Joy,” from Saint Teresa of Avila.

Passage Audio

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Holder of the Wheel of the Cosmos through Bearer of the Lotus. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

Beauty

Thanks to all who joined in this year’s Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings, including last Sunday’s culmination!

After a deeply inspiring month, we now turn back to our study of The Constant Companion. This week’s reading is pages 128–134,* and beauty is a major theme.

“There is a beauty appropriate to every age,” Easwaran explains, and our beauty can grow even as our body ages. If you are forty, he notes, “‘You are wise enough to be fifty-five’ should be a thrilling compliment. We can grow in beauty until the last day of our life, and the desire to look on everyone as kith and kin will draw people to us for the beauty of our lives.”

• Is there a tip in this reading that is particularly challenging for you? How will you wrestle with it this week?

• Spiritual Reading has been our focus for practice extension throughout this book study. This week consider how these stories are speaking to intimate relationships in your life.

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Beauty through The Poet. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

From Darkness into Light

We have arrived at the week of our Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings! You can read details of how to participate this Sunday, October 29 at  www.bmcm.org/celebration.

Here in the eSatsang we have been preparing by studying the 2017 Blue Mountain Journal Teacher and Student. This week we will read Easwaran’s article “In the Depths of the Unconscious” on pages 55–59 and also savor his brief statement on page 60 titled “From Darkness into Light.”

Easwaran helps us understand how our efforts at concentration in meditation and throughout the day – which may seem mundane – are slowly opening a way into the depths of consciousness. But “concentration alone is not enough,” he explains. “With concentration must flow what in traditional religious language is called devotion, love of God.” We can achieve this through devotion to our teacher, who has the immense responsibility “to embody the virtues that shine like jewels in the depths of consciousness in every human being.”

Easwaran assures us, “Even in little people like you and me, the Lord can come to life. By ourselves we are nothing, but every one of us can become a little lamp that shines like a beacon for all around to follow.”

• Read this article as if you and Easwaran are having a conversation. What advice does he give you, and how can you apply it this week?

• A letter of rededication: as we noted at the start of this journal study, each year many of us at BMCM go through a process of reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration. We culminate that process with a letter of rededication to Easwaran, and you may want to join in that. Review your notes or thoughts from the questions over the past month, optionally using this reflection worksheet. Then use those ideas to write a letter in which you express your gratitude to Easwaran as your teacher and also a specific small way in which you are rededicating yourself to him in the upcoming year. Put this letter in an envelope and keep it carefully to be reviewed next year at the time of Easwaran’s Life Celebration.

• See you on Sunday in BMCM Satsang Live, as the centerpiece of our day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. Your presence is important!

And here is one more excerpt from Quietly Changing the World for this week’s spiritual treat. (If you’d like more, you can access these videos here on our website).

Video

The Good Student: Earnestness and Enthusiasm

We are now one week away from our worldwide Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings on Sunday, October 29 – we hope you will join us! You can read details of how to participate at  www.bmcm.org/celebration.

This week in the eSatsang, let’s study Easwaran’s article “The Good Student: Earnestness and Enthusiasm” on pages 46–53 of the 2017 Blue Mountain Journal Teacher and Student. Easwaran narrates, “I kept plugging. Every day my limitless love for Sri Krishna reassured me that someday, somehow, a door would open and let me through.” Let us keep plugging too this month and together move closer to our teacher and our goal.

• What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!

• Continuing our reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration, we have two prompts for you this week. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes.

  • Think about your daily or weekly schedule. Think of one small way you could tweak that schedule to put meditation first in the upcoming year. Write it down in specific terms.

  • Choose a passage from God Makes the Rivers to Flow that speaks to you about the relationship you want to cultivate with Easwaran. Copy that passage.

• When we all join together in BMCM Satsang Live to absorb Easwaran’s presence, followed by meditation, that is a powerful healing force that the world needs. Can you meet us there?

We hope you’ve been enjoying the excerpts from Quietly Changing the World. Here is the next excerpt for this week’s spiritual treat.

My Teacher Was My Real “Me”

Continuing our preparation for Easwaran’s life celebration on Sunday, October 29, we are studying the 2017 Blue Mountain Journal Teacher and Student. You can read details of how to participate in the Life Celebration at  www.bmcm.org/celebration.

This week in the eSatsang, we’ll read two short articles: “My Teacher Was My Real ‘Me’” on pages 24–26, and “We Are All Teachers” on pages 42–44. In the first article Easwaran shares tender moments with his granny, his spiritual teacher, and reflects, “When I would run home to see my granny, I did not know I had an Atman. Now that I look back I see that my grandmother was my Atman. That is why I loved her; she was my real ‘me,’ my perfect ‘me,’ my pure ‘me.’ I didn’t know this intellectually, but deep inside, from the very depths of my heart, a little voice was saying, ‘That’s you.’”

• Is there a relationship in your life that you wish you could improve? Read this article for tips from Easwaran. Try applying those tips, even if you can’t directly apply them to this particular relationship.

• Continuing our reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration, survey your life as it stands right now – your relationships in the family, at work or school, and in your community. Think of one small way you could decrease a sense of separateness and increase harmony in the upcoming year. Write down a specific step you could take. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes.

• We look forward to spending time with Easwaran – and with you – in BMCM Satsang Live this week.

And here is another spiritual bonus from Quietly Changing the World!

The Outer Teacher and the Teacher Within

In this week’s reading, Easwaran explains, “You see, when a person becomes aware of God, he or she is no longer just a person, but a living force. My grandmother did not die; she merely shed her body. She was – she is – very much alive in me. Once I knew that, I knew that I was in her hands and that there was nothing to fear. She has protected and comforted me ever since.” Let’s continue our study of the 2017 Blue Mountain Journal Teacher and Student by reading Easwaran’s articles “The Need for a Teacher” on page 16–19 and “The Outer Teacher and the Teacher Within” on pages 21–22.

Our worldwide Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings is coming Sunday, October 29, and we are studying this journal to prepare. You can read details of how to participate at  www.bmcm.org/celebration.

• What is one statement that speaks to your heart in this reading? How will you put it into action this week?

• Let’s continue our personal reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration. At the end of the process, we will each write a letter to Easwaran. Many of us keep these letters year after year, and you may want to do the same.

  • If you participated in last year’s Life Celebration Satsang, did you write a letter of rededication to Easwaran? If so, review that letter if you have it, or remember what you wrote. If you didn’t write a letter last year, you can start this meaningful tradition now.

  • Thinking over the last year, reflect on your successes in shaping your life and relationships based on your highest ideals. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes.

• We look forward to taking our theme of “Teacher and Student” even deeper in BMCM Satsang Live.

And for this week’s spiritual treat, here is the next excerpt from Quietly Changing the World.

Beginning an Inner Pilgrimage

We are now entering the month of our annual Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings. You can read details of how to participate at  www.bmcm.org/celebration.

Here in the eSatsang, to deepen our connection with Easwaran, we will be studying the Blue Mountain Journal Teacher and Student issued in Fall/Winter 2017. Let’s start by reading “An Inner Command” on pages 5–14, where Easwaran tells his own story. In one gripping section, Easwaran narrates, “Late in the evening and long before dawn, while the world slept, I would be alone and awake in meditation, searching inner realms for a forgotten path that would take me home – some bridge between the world of change and the changeless, the transient and the eternal, the individual and the universal, the human and the divine.”

• What is the most important thing that Easwaran said to you in this reading? How can you apply it in your life?

• Let’s also start a personal reflection process for Easwaran’s Life Celebration. This is a tradition for many of us at BMCM. We keep our notes from year to year to reread and reflect on, as a record of our own spiritual journey. Each week over the next month we’ll give a prompt to guide you through this process. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes. To begin, think back on the last year, particularly on the benefits you have received from your practice of passage meditation. Write down your observations.

• To complement this study, please join us for BMCM Satsang Live this week.

As special spiritual treats this month, we’ll end each eSatsang post with an excerpt from Quietly Changing the World. These videos include rare archival photos and recordings of Easwaran and his wife Christine, together with interviews with longtime students. (If you’d like more, you can access these videos here on our website).

Beyond Thought

“In my book of life, love can be learned by anybody,” Easwaran writes, introducing one of his perennial themes. “If someone is not able to love, all I say is, ‘Come and learn.’ That is the purpose of meditation.”

Our reading this week is pages 118–127 in The Constant Companion.* Throughout we see how learning to love enriches our life, our immune system, and the lives of those around us.

And as usual Easwaran makes clear that the world stands badly in need of our learning to make this contribution. “Einstein once wrote that only ‘by widening our circle of compassion’ will we find a way out of the violence, mistrust, and exploitation that we see all around us today.” Chapter by chapter, through this book study our steady efforts together are making a difference.

Note that next week we’ll pause our book study and begin a special curriculum in preparation for our annual Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings.

• Is there some tip from Easwaran in this reading that you tend to skim over because you have already heard it many times before? Try focusing on it this week.

• We’ve been giving special attention to our practice of Spiritual Reading. This week notice how reading Easwaran supports your relationships with difficult people in your life.

Let’s turn again to The Thousand Names Talks** in the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk 4. The full talk is 21 minutes, but you can listen to part of it now and when you return the player will resume where you left off. If time is short, consider starting with the first five minutes, where again we get to enjoy Easwaran’s sonorous Sanskrit chanting. As he chants, he translates, beginning with this unsettling question meant “to shake our identification with the body”: “Why is there so much merriment in the world, why is there so much jubilation, when there is darkness all around, when violence stalks the land, when death follows like a shadow?”

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names The Energy of Life through Who Enjoys the Nectar of Immortality. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

** You’ll need to log in for the link above to work. If it’s your first time, use the button Create new account from the login page.

He Who Nips Wrong Actions in the Bud

“I am a victim of my own habits; I want to change, but I’ve been conditioned to act this way all my life. What can I do to save myself from the bad karma I have been accumulating?” Easwaran relates this impassioned plea – which may be all too familiar to us – in our reading this week, pages 109–117 in The Constant Companion.*

And he assures us that when we ask this of the Lord – our real Self – help comes. “The answer the Gita gives,” Easwaran explains, “is that our selfish conditioning begins to fall away when we learn to put others first and to return sympathy for resentment and love for hatred.” Our efforts together during this book study are helping with this purification.

• Read this article as if you and Easwaran are having a conversation. What advice does he give you, and how can you apply it this week?

• Spiritual Reading is our current focus for practice extension. This week consider how these stories are speaking to you about how we can help heal the earth.

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names The Immortal Craftsman through The Purifier. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

Whose Face Is Everywhere

Unity is a theme of this week’s reading, pages 98–108 in The Constant Companion.* The Lord is The Self in All, Whose Face Is Everywhere,  Who Has No Form and yet has taken infinite forms as well.

Easwaran shares a story of a mutt, dismissed by a passerby as liking everybody:

“Mutt or not, I wanted to tell her, that dog was teaching us a lesson. Those who like everybody, even if their opinions or color or social status is different, have tremendous potential. Such people can go far spiritually, because they identify themselves very little with their body, feelings, and opinions.”

“When you see someone like this,” he instructs us, “remind yourself that he or she has already some awareness that all of us are one.”

• What is one statement that speaks to your heart in this reading? How will you put it into action this week?

• As we read The Constant Companion, we are working to strengthen our practice of Spiritual Reading. This week consider how these stories are speaking to you about your relationship with animals.

For our spiritual treat, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The One Appearing as Many,” from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad.

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Whose Face Is Everywhere through Who Has No Form. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

He Who Wears Garlands of Forest Flowers

“Lovely flowers smell sweet, the Buddha says, but they fade, and their fragrance cannot last. The fragrance of goodness abides.” – Eknath Easwaran

Our reading this week, pages 86–97 in The Constant Companion,* begins with several names celebrating the beauty of the Lord, “which love of him awakens in our heart.” Water Lily, Jasmine, and other forest flowers are reminders of the Lord’s beauty, a fragrance we can carry with us and spread as kindness and patience.

The commonness of these flowers adds to the effect, Easwaran notes. They are helping us to remember the Lord always – like the rest of the names in this book. “That is the purpose of the Thousand Names. If we remember who is the source of all beauty, all plants will remind us of the Lord.”

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?

• As we read The Constant Companion, we are working to strengthen our practice of Spiritual Reading. This week consider how these stories are speaking to you about your relationship with nature.

For our spiritual treat this week, we hope you enjoy this five-minute video in which Easwaran describes a connection between cultivating patience and deepening our devotion. 

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Water Lily through He Who Never Sleeps. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

Who Makes Love Increase

Building patience with others is a theme of this week’s reading, pages 76–85 in The Constant Companion.* Easwaran recounts, “When somebody who meditates comes to me with a sad tale of how he has been wronged, I often want to beam and exclaim, ‘What an opportunity! This is your chance to break through to a deeper level in meditation.’”

It is through this hard work that love increases, he explains, slowly, over time. And each of us can become a great lover:

“Over many years this kind of love can grow to such an extent that those you love will know you are incapable of hurting them, whatever lapses they may have. Imagine the security this brings!”

We too will benefit, of course. When the wall of our separate ego has broken down, we are freed from the individual burden of sorrow, and see the underlying unity of life. 

• Is there a particular situation that causes you to get speeded up or agitated? What tips does Easwaran offer in this reading that you could try out in this situation? Even if the tips don’t seem to directly apply, try them anyhow and tell us what you find.

• Spiritual Reading has been our focus for practice extension throughout this book study. What have you found most helpful or nourishing about your spiritual reading throughout this time?

Let’s turn again to The Thousand Names Talks** in the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk 3. The full talk is 36 minutes, but you can listen to part of it now and when you return the player will resume where you left off. If time is short, consider starting with the first five minutes, where Easwaran discusses emanation: the Lord becoming the universe, in contrast to the concept of creation.

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Who Makes Love Increase through Abundant. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

** You’ll need to log in for the link above to work. If it’s your first time, use the button Create new account from the login page.

Lover of His Devotees

“The Lord loves all creatures, but those who love him with all their hearts have an innate power to draw his love in return. As Saint Teresa of Avila says, Amor saca amor: ‘Love draws love.’” – Eknath Easwaran

This week let’s read Easwaran’s commentary on the names Kshama, Patience, and Bhakta-Vatsala, Lover of His Devotees, together covering pages 68–75 in The Constant Companion.

Easwaran notes that Krishna “has a particularly warm corner in his heart” for his householder devotees, who live in the world, contending with all its challenges yet managing to remember him during parts of their day.

Here in the eSatsang, we are each inspiring each other to these little successes, and together drawing much love from the Lord.

• What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!

• Through our spiritual reading, Easwaran is helping us to be aware of the Lord’s presence in all. Are there ways in which these stories can help you to share that awareness with others in your life?

For our spiritual treat, here is Easwaran reading the passage “Whatever You Do,” from the Bhagavad Gita.

bmcm-team · Whatever You Do, (p. 166)

The Supreme Self

Our reading this week is pages 56–62 in The Constant Companion, and covers four names: Spirit, The Supreme Self, He Who Has Beautiful Hair, and The Thief.

Commenting on the name Purusha, Spirit, Easwaran explains that purusha is our real Self, “the Inner Ruler that dwells within and governs our activities.” This body of ours is thus a kind of temple or shrine, to which we must give loving care. “But we should always remember that we are not the body but Purusha, pure spirit. No matter how well we care for it, the body, like all things physical, has to pass away someday. We, the Self, can never die.”

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• Your spiritual reading – and all your interactions with Easwaran – are helping you draw out your ability to see the Lord in all. What do you notice about how that is affecting your experience in different types of situations in your life?

Yoga: The Unitive State

Commenting on the name Yoga, The Unitive State, Easwaran takes us straight to the crux of spiritual endeavor:

“If yoga means union, the word implies that most of us are suffering from a kind of internal disunity. This division in consciousness is the central paradox of the human condition. We respond to what is beautiful, but on the other hand we feel attracted to things that bring ugliness. We admire somebody who is unselfish, but we have powerful urges to be selfish ourselves. We want abiding joy, but we cannot help going after fleeting, frustrating pleasure.

“All these are symptoms of a deeper split in our consciousness which tears us apart. And because we are being torn asunder inside, we express our pain in anger, fear, greed, competition, jealousy, and other negative emotions. It is this inner split that yoga heals – not on the surface but at the deepest levels of the unconscious, where most other methods only tinker with the problem on the surface.”

Meditation and the allied spiritual disciplines “are together called yoga because they give us a path we can follow to make this union permanent.” This week let’s read pages 56–62 in The Constant Companion, covering this name Yoga, along with Nanda, Happy.

• If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips, and try them out this week.

• Spiritual Reading is our current focus for practice extension. Through our study of The Constant Companion, Easwaran is guiding us to see the Lord in all. What do you notice about how that is applying to your interactions with the people in your life?

For bonus inspiration, here is a six-minute video in which Easwaran explains that by training our mind, “We can become part of the Sea of Love while living on Earth.”

Giver of Peace

This week, as we read pages 50–55 in The Constant Companion,* Easwaran begins by illustrating how self-will traps us even in our most intimate personal relationships: “We go about saying ‘He did this to me’ or ‘She said that to me’ or ‘It’s not my fault!’–all simply because we lack detachment and get blindly wrapped up in our own pursuits.” It is a familiar and terrible predicament.

But the Lord is Shanti-Da, the Giver of Peace. Last week Easwaran ended his commentary by describing how meditation slowly enables us to break through this self-will, which has accumulated like geological layers: “Drilling through these strata in meditation means overcoming limitations, all the obstacles created by self-will.” And through the power of meditation we can finally go beyond self-will: “The biggest leap in meditation comes when we run headlong and throw ourselves over the rim of all duality to land in the unitive state, where nothing is separate from the Lord.”

• Is there a relationship in your life that you wish you could improve? Read this article for tips from Easwaran. Try applying those tips, even if you can’t apply them directly to this particular relationship.

• We are taking this book study as an opportunity to give special attention to our practice of Spiritual Reading. In what ways do you find these stories are helping you see the Lord in others around you?

Let’s turn again to The Thousand Names Talks** in the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk 2. The full talk is 33 minutes, but you can listen to part of it now and when you return the player will resume where you left off. If time is short, consider starting with the first five minutes, where Easwaran recounts a thrilling conversation from the Mahabharata, where Yudhishthira asks the great sage Bhishma, “How can the human being attain supreme joy which knows no change?”

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Giver of Peace and The Eternal. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

** You’ll need to log in for the link above to work. If it’s your first time, use the button Create new account from the login page.

Perfect Peace

“The surest evidence of the Lord’s compassion is how swiftly a deep, heartfelt change in our ways of thinking and acting today can bring a better tomorrow.” – Eknath Easwaran

Our reading from The Constant Companion this week covers three of Vishnu’s names: Lord of Past, Present, & Future; The Immeasurable; and Peace (pages 42–49). Easwaran’s commentaries on those names are wide ranging: practical, playful, and profound.

One theme is the good news Easwaran derives from the first of these names: “if our thinking and acting today shapes our tomorrows, then the future lies to a significant extent in our own hands.” Together our eSatsang community is helping to shape that future with light and love.

• What is the most important thing that Easwaran said to you in this reading? How can you apply it in your life?

• We are working to strengthen our practice of Spiritual Reading. Can you find ways to share parts of these stories with the children in your life?

For bonus spiritual entertainment, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The Nectar of Immortality,” Eknath Easwaran’s translation of the Amritabindu Upanishad.