Taking the Plunge

Thanks to all who joined in our celebration of Christine Easwaran’s birthday, including last Sunday’s culmination!

We are now underway with Easwaran’s Climbing the Blue Mountain. This is our third-ever book study as an eSatsang, and we’re building an excellent habit of systematically reading whole volumes from Easwaran.

This week let’s begin the book’s first essay, “Taking the Plunge,” and read from the start on page 17 through the middle of page 22, ending with “…where is the room for boredom?”

As promised in the introduction, Easwaran is rousing us to pursue the spiritual journey:

“Here we have a uniquely human choice: shall we wait for millions of years, knocked about in the painful process of evolution, until we finally enter this sea of joy; or shall we try to enter now, in this very lifetime, by taking our personal evolution into our own hands? Whatever our past, whatever our condition, this is something that can be done by every one of us through the practice of meditation.”

The whole of life, Easwaran tells us, “is moving inexorably toward the sea of joy and fulfillment that we call God.” We are so glad to be continuing the journey with you!

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

• Last week we began exercises to extend our practice of putting others first. Here is this week’s challenge:

  • Is there a situation or person that annoys you or makes you impatient? This week, put special effort into focusing on the positive in that person. Whenever you think a critical thought about the person, correct it by reminding yourself of a positive quality. When interacting, focus on their positive qualities. When you remember the interaction afterward, or when you talk to others about it, purposely focus on the things that you had in common or that went well. You will need your mantram for this exercise! Share your brave experiments.

• If you don’t yet have the book Climbing the Blue Mountain available, make sure you get it so you can join for the rest of the book study.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner Indiepubs.com. Here is a link to Climbing the Blue Mountain on that site.

For spiritual entertainment, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The Lamp of Wisdom” from the Yoga Vasishtha.

Passage Audio

Celebrating Christine Easwaran

This week we joyfully celebrate Christine Easwaran’s birthday. We have a special curriculum to share here in the eSatsang, and we will also take it up together in Satsang Live this week.

Let’s begin with a brief but luminous passage from Christine herself, inviting us to join her in a prayer for peace:

I want to remind you today of the power of prayer to unite us all in a spirit of mutual understanding and even forgiveness. Will you join me in this prayer for peace?

O Divine Spirit, kindle the spark of divinity in every creature
That a mighty flame of love and goodness
May overcome the dark forces that threaten us.

Next we have four readings that offer inspiration from Christine’s life and some of the themes dearest to her heart:

1. “The Gift of Time,” by Christine Easwaran, Blue Mountain Journal, Fall 2022,

2. “An Urgent Message,” by Christine Easwaran, Blue Mountain Journal, Spring 2026, pp. 20–21

3. “Forgiveness,” by Christine Easwaran, Blue Mountain Journal, Summer 2016, pp. 2–4

4. “Seeing Ourselves as We Really Are,” by Christine Easwaran,

We’ll close our birthday curriculum with one of Christine’s favorite passages, “Do Not Look with Fear” by Saint Francis de Sales, read by Christine herself.

Passage Audio

• What is something in these readings from Christine that especially inspires you? How would you like to take it up in your own life this week?

• As we approach the Mantram Day for Peace and Healing in the world, what is one specific way you would like to extend your mantram practice this week? Please share so we can draw inspiration from one another.

• Join us on Sunday for our Mantram Day for Peace and Healing in the world in Christine’s honor. The centerpiece of our day is BMCM Satsang Live, where we will take up this curriculum together. Your presence is important!

  • For more information about how to participate in the day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world, please go to bmcm.org/christine2026.

For this week’s spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy the video prepared especially for Christine’s birthday, now available in the Easwaran Digital Library.

Climbing the Blue Mountain

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Our beloved Christine’s birthday falls at the end of June. In former times, during this whole month, your cards and letters poured in, and Christine read each one with great joy.

The last few years, instead of sending cards and letters, you poured your hearts into the mantram, first as she was preparing to shed her body in summer 2022, and again in her honor in the following years.

So let’s continue this tradition, and make special effort with our mantrams throughout the month of June. Sunday, June 28, will be our actual celebration of her birthday, with a special program on Satsang Live and a Mantram Day for Peace and Healing in the world. For more information about how to participate in the Mantram Day for Peace and Healing in the world, please go to bmcm.org/christine2026.

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This week we begin our study of Easwaran’s book Climbing the Blue Mountain, starting with his introduction on pages 9­–15.*

Easwaran uses the metaphor of travel: “you can look upon me as a travel agent for the world within.” He compares the spiritual journey – for which he is rousing our interest – with travel in the external world, for example using this marvelous stanza from the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita:

If a thousand suns were to rise together,
The blaze of their light would resemble a little
The supreme splendor of the Lord within.

“No external novelty is needed” Easwaran explains, for “when you travel within, every day is fresh with discoveries and challenges, inspiration and profound peace.”

May we progress together on this journey and see rising “a sun which will never set.”

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

• We have been practicing mantram exercises the past few months, which has been very fruitful. Let’s now put those aside and look for ways to extend our practice of putting others first. Here is an experiment to get us started:

  • As a challenge, try focusing this week on treating others – and speaking about them – with respect. Do this for those you love, those you dislike, and those you tend to ignore. What do you learn by trying this?

• If you don’t yet have the book Climbing the Blue Mountain available, make sure you get it so you can join for the rest of the book study.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner Indiepubs.com. Here is a link to Climbing the Blue Mountain on that site.

* For those using electronic versions of Climbing the Blue Mountain with different page numbering: this week’s reading is the full Introduction section.

Becoming Established in the Mantram

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Our beloved Christine’s birthday falls at the end of June. In former times, during this whole month, your cards and letters poured in, and Christine read each one with great joy.

The last few years, instead of sending cards and letters, you poured your hearts into the mantram, first as she was preparing to shed her body in summer 2022, and again in her honor in the following years.

So let’s continue this tradition, and make special effort with our mantrams throughout the month of June. Sunday, June 28, will be our actual celebration of her birthday, with a special program on Satsang Live and a Mantram Day for Peace and Healing in the world. For more information about how to participate in the Mantram Day for Peace and Healing in the world, please go to bmcm.org/christine2026.

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To complete our study of The Mantram Handbook, this week we will read all of the final chapter, pages 179–190.

Systematically reading a whole volume from Easwaran is a great habit to practice together. As we complete our book study, we can appreciate our accomplishment and reflect on how we’ve grown. In this chapter Easwaran reminds us:

“From the very first day you begin to use the mantram, it begins to grow in your consciousness. It germinates like the tiny seed that will eventually grow into a magnificent tree, and as you repeat it often and enthusiastically, it sends its roots deeper and deeper. Over a period of many years, if you have been practicing all the other spiritual disciplines which strengthen your will and deepen your concentration, the taproot of the mantram will extend fathoms deep, where it works to unify your consciousness – resolving old conflicts, solving problems you may not even be aware of, and transforming negative emotions into spiritual energy.”

May we each make use of every opportunity to repeat the mantram!

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

• As we continue our mantram exercises, we are looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. This week, let’s repeat the following experiment:

  • Sit comfortably in a chair. Resolve to repeat the mantram for three minutes without having any other thought at all. Then try it. After you succeed at doing this a few days in a row, try extending that practice to five minutes.

• Next week, on June 20th, the eSatsang will begin studying Easwaran’s Climbing the Blue Mountain. To prepare, make sure you have the book available.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner Indiepubs.com. Here is a link to Climbing the Blue Mountain on that site.

As a spiritual bonus this week, we are pleased to share a five-minute video talk by Easwaran. In this talk, he refers to one-pointed attention as “divine education” which “gives you the greatest secret of learning how to learn.”

Video

A Total Way of Life

“In the eight-point program I teach, the mantram plays a unique role as the bridge between the interior discipline of meditation and the other, external disciplines, for it helps greatly in applying the power gained in meditation to the other disciplines throughout the day.” – Eknath Easwaran

Easwaran completes his brief tour of the spiritual disciplines he teaches in Chapter Eleven of The Mantram Handbook with a fascinating discussion of their interrelationship. And he gives special attention to the role of the mantram as a bridge:

“In this way, the mantram can give the day real continuity. At the beginning, it may only extend your morning meditation a little into breakfast. You may have felt at peace with the whole world in your meditation room, but when you sit down to burned toast and cold coffee, that is the end of your patience for the day. Gradually, however, as your meditation deepens and you try your best to remember the mantram at every possible moment, it will extend your morning meditation into your mid-morning break, then to your lunch hour, and eventually into the afternoon. Finally, if you are practicing these disciplines sincerely, systematically, and with sustained enthusiasm, the mantram will enable you to take up your evening meditation exactly where you left off that morning.”

Our reading this week is pages 170–178. We are eager to hear what insights you gain for applying these comprehensive disciplines.

• 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 have been looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, have the goal to begin repeating the mantram as soon as you wake up in the morning. Devise a strategy for making this happen, and devise a way to check to see if this is happening.

• In two weeks, on June 20th, the eSatsang will begin studying Easwaran’s Climbing the Blue Mountain. To prepare, make sure you have the book available.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner Indiepubs.com. Here is a link to Climbing the Blue Mountain on that site.

Let’s turn again to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks** for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk Nine. The full talk is over 80 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 just the first five minutes, in which Easwaran describes the significance of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and shares this great ancient teacher’s precise description of samadhi.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading starts with the subheading “Spiritual Fellowship” and continues to the end of Chapter Eleven.

** 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.

Learning to Live in Freedom

“If you find yourself getting speeded up, repeat the mantram as a reminder to slow down.” – Eknath Easwaran

Our reading this week from The Mantram Handbook is pages 164–172,* which includes Easwaran’s descriptions of slowing down, one-pointed attention, training the senses, and putting others first. Reading these eight-point program essentials is a valuable boost for us all, and often gives new insights.

For example, we found it very helpful to read this reminder from Easwaran about the damage hurry does to our relationships: “[H]urry makes for superficial relationships, because it deprives our family and friends of our time and attention so that we are not able to be sensitive to their needs.”

Let’s make the most of this opportunity and reflect on how to put these insights into practice in our lives!

• 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.

• Let’s keep looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, on your regular mantram walk, try repeating the mantram very softly (in the mind) as if whispering.

• In three weeks, on June 20th, the eSatsang will begin studying Easwaran’s Climbing the Blue Mountain. To prepare, make sure you have the book available.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner Indiepubs.com. Here is a link to Climbing the Blue Mountain on that site.

For our extra spiritual tidbit, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Night Prayer,” from Rabi’a.

Passage Audio

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Eleven, starting with the subheading “Slowing Down” and ending before the subheading “Spiritual Fellowship.”

Make Our Whole Life a Work of Art

This week we begin Chapter Eleven of The Mantram Handbook, which puts the mantram in the context of the other spiritual disciplines Easwaran teaches. Easwaran tells us that the disciplines he presents are comprehensive, providing the tools to transform our lives into the highest form of art, in which we make “our every word and deed an expression of the unity of life.”

And he emphasizes that “these disciplines are suited for life in the modern world.” With these disciplines we too can follow the approach of his beloved granny, “in which we live in the midst of the world but never take our eyes off the supreme goal of life.”

This week let’s read pages 157–164,* which include Easwaran’s introduction and his descriptions of passage meditation and repetition of a mantram. 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.

• 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?

• As we continue our mantram exercises, we are looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, on your regular mantram walk, try repeating the mantram very loudly (in the mind).

• In four weeks, on June 20th, the eSatsang will begin studying Easwaran’s Climbing the Blue Mountain. To prepare, make sure you have the book available.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner Indiepubs.com. Here is a link to Climbing the Blue Mountain on that site.

Let’s turn again to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks** for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk Nine. The full talk is over 80 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 just the first five minutes, in which Easwaran describes the significance of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and shares this great ancient teacher’s precise description of samadhi.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week we are reading from the start of Chapter Eleven and ending before the subheading “Slowing Down.”

** 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.

Effort and Grace

“[W]e can learn to deepen our will, to strengthen it immeasurably,” Easwaran assures us in this week’s reading, pages 151–155, to close Chapter Ten of The Mantram Handbook.* And our desire to achieve this is itself a sign of grace:

“The desire to go beyond desire is the longing for freedom rising from deep within us. In the language of Sri Ramakrishna, the Divine Mother has looked upon us from the corner of her beautiful eyes, filled with love for us. When that glance falls on us, there comes the desire to be free, and the will to practice the disciplines which will set us free.”

Easwaran explains that in the early days grace may come as restlessness and dissatisfaction. “If any of this kind of dissatisfaction leads us to turn inward and take up the practice of the spiritual life, that is a sure sign of grace.” Indeed, we feel sure that practicing together with you and this strong community is testimony to that grace.

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

• We have been looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, on your regular mantram walk, try repeating the mantram very slowly, with for example five steps per syllable instead of one step per syllable. This is an experiment Easwaran did to deepen his mantram.

For our extra spiritual tidbit, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Teach Me,” from Saint Anselm.

Passage Audio

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering:this week’s reading starts with the subheading “Effort and Grace” and continues to the end of Chapter Ten.

Detachment

This week Easwaran highlights the necessary role of detachment for attaining the goal of life, as we continue Chapter Ten of The Mantram Handbook, reading pages 144 to the top of 151.*

The topic of detachment continues a theme from earlier in this chapter, titled The Goal of Life: “When we overcome our identification with the body, the mind, and the ego, we are living in freedom.” Now Easwaran describes those stages of detachment from body, mind, and ego as a progression, and gives fascinating details of the tasks and rewards at each stage.

Here is one clue that inspired us: “[W]hen we turn our will against the ego, taking advantage of the innumerable little opportunities throughout the day to reduce self-will, then the will is helping us to grow to our full stature.” May we each learn to turn our will against the ego!

• 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.

• Let’s keep looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, dedicate a specific hour per day for mantram focus. It might for example be between 7 and 8 a.m. while doing routine getting-ready-for-the-day activities, or during an afternoon walk and/or exercise time, or while gardening, or some other specific time. See if you can remember to use the mantram as frequently as possible during this whole hour.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Ten, starting with the subheading “Detachment” and ending before the subheading “Effort and Grace.”

The Goal of Life

Easwaran addresses some of our biggest questions in this week’s reading, pages 139–144 of The Mantram Handbook.*

What does spiritual experience of the ultimate reality mean in practical terms? Easwaran gives an infallible test:

“You may have a bumper sticker that says All Life Is One, but if you do not have some measure of control over your thinking process, if you cannot drop a job at will or juggle with your likes and dislikes, if you cannot bear patiently with those who oppose you, then you have not yet realized the unity of life for yourself.”

What is the goal of life, and what is its realization?

“What we are all looking for, even though we may be searching in the most improbable places, is infinite wisdom, infinite joy, infinite love. And this is our real nature. At the very core of our being is a spark of purity, of perfection, of divinity, because the Lord is enshrined in the heart of each of us. When we learn to identify less and less with that which is subject to change and more and more with this core of perfection, we are gradually waking up to our true nature.”

We are so happy to be studying Easwaran and his lofty message with you.

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

• We have experimented with many different mantram-deepening exercises over the past few months, and last week we each chose an exercise to repeat that we found particularly helpful. Now briefly reflect and choose an exercise you found particularly challenging, and work on that again this week.

For spiritual entertainment, here is a four-minute video of Easwaran commenting on a passage from Saint Anselm, Calling On The Lord. Easwaran uses a Sufi story to encourage us to deepen our spiritual practice to draw nearer to the Lord.

Video

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week we are reading from the start of Chapter Ten and ending before the subheading “Detachment.”

The Mantram at the Time of Death

The mantram at the time of death is our focus this week, with implications immediate and profound. Last chapter Easwaran instructed us to conserve our energies and harness the power underlying our desires, to realize the indivisible unity of life. Now he elucidates how that realization can enable us to go beyond death.

“[A]s long as the mind has not been stilled through the practice of meditation and the repetition of the mantram, consciousness will remain in the mind at the moment of death. We will still be identified with the ego, and our last thought will be I, I, I. To repeat the mantram at this stage is impossible if we have only been saying it on the surface level of consciousness, for there is no surface level any longer. To be able to repeat the mantram at the actual moment of death, the mantram must have sunk very, very deep into the mind – so deep that instead of our last thought being I, I, I, the last thought will be of God, whose symbol is the mantram.”

We look forward to hearing your comments on this week’s eSatsang reading, Chapter Nine of The Mantram Handbook, pages 129–138.*

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

• We have experimented with many different mantram-deepening exercises over the past few months. Briefly reflect and choose an exercise you found particularly helpful, and work on that again this week.

For our spiritual treat, let’s turn again to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks,** this time with Talk Eight. The full talk is an hour, 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 just the first five minutes, in which Easwaran highlights the unanimity of the central teaching at the heart of the Buddhist path, Patanjali’s raja yoga, and the path of devotion shown to us by Jesus Christ.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week we are reading all of Chapter Nine.

** 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.

The Journey

Over the past several weeks as we’ve studied Chapter Eight of The Mantram Handbook, “Harnessing Fear, Anger, & Greed,” we’ve seen Easwaran move from detailing the specifics of transforming those negative emotions, to the nature of desire itself, which underlies them.

Now he leads us to a forceful conclusion:

“Desire is power which we can harness or let go to waste. We have all been given this power for one purpose: to realize the indivisible unity of life; as the Buddha would put it, to cross from this shore of separateness to the far shore of unity.”

Easwaran tells us, “Begin conserving your energies to undertake the really big adventure we were all born for. Don’t postpone a day.”

As we read pages 125–128,* let’s draw on the support of our teacher and the strength of this group to renew our enthusiasm for this adventure.

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

• We have experimented with many different mantram-deepening exercises over the past few months. Briefly reflect and choose an exercise you found particularly helpful, and work on that again this week.

For our extra spiritual tidbit, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Remember Me through Grace,” from Fakhraddin Ar-Razi.

Passage Audio

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading starts with the subheading “Desires Come and Go” and continues to the end of Chapter Eight.

Desire Is in the Mind

“Burgundy Cherry Ice Cream” is the heading of Easwaran’s section on the dynamics of desire in this week’s reading, pages 121–124 in The Mantram Handbook.* And he uses that delicacy to show why satisfying the desire for something physical cannot lead to lasting happiness.

“It is the nature of a desire to exhaust itself, the mystics say. Even if eating that burgundy cherry cone gives you satisfaction – and no one is denying that – how long does this satisfaction last? More than that, if you keep on eating ice cream, cone after cone, satisfaction soon turns to satiation, and then eventually to revulsion. But this hasn’t helped to get rid of the desire: when you are hungry again, the desire will be back, and no amount of indulgence on the physical level can root it out, because desire is in the mind.”

We look forward to hearing about the insights you gain from this week’s reading, and how you put them into action.

• 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!

• We have been making a second pass through our mantram exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, try taking a “mantram nap” at a time that is practical for you during your day. Simply lie down for 10 to 20 minutes (set an alarm if needed) and silently repeat the mantram. Try to keep the mantram going. If you drowse off, that’s ok, just start the mantram again when possible.

    • Mantram naps can refresh you, so you have more energy for the rest of the day. Many of us find it very helpful to take a short mantram nap before our evening meditation.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Eight, starting with the subheading “Greed” and ending before the subheading “Desires Come and Go.”

Harnessing Anger’s Power

“The simple solution I would suggest to the problem of anger is repetition of the mantram,” Easwaran affirms in this week’s reading, pages 117–121 from The Mantram Handbook.* “This is how we can become slow to anger and quick to forgive.”

As usual, along with this simple solution, this section is replete with specific suggestions for how to put the mantram into action. And Easwaran gives us the quiet assurance that we can do it.

“Here it is that I value Gandhi’s example very much, because it shows that we all have the choice to undertake this transformation ourselves. This was pointed out with keen insight by the Compassionate Buddha. When people used to go to him complaining that they were upset, telling him, ‘Our children upset us; our partner agitates us,’ his simple reply would be, ‘You are not upset because of your children or your partner; you are upset because you are upsettable.’ The choice is ours to make ourselves unupsettable.”

So let’s keep our mantram on our lips, and keep building our determination to become unupsettable.

• 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.

• Let’s keep looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, let’s play with the concept of “recovery time.”

    • It takes time to revise many instances of automatic behavior. For instance, we want to say the mantram instead of other sorts of thoughts on waking up, and we want to say the mantram instead of eating the third cookie. At first, it’s likely we will forget. But whenever you do remember, even if it is hours later, say the mantram at that time! With intention and effort and using strategies that appeal to you, the length of time gradually lessens between stimulus and mantram. Even if we are not perfect, we are getting better with less recovery time.

    • Devise a way to work on “recovery time.”

Our spiritual treat this week is a five-minute video clip in which Easwaran explains what devotion means in daily living.

Video

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Eight, starting with the subheading “Harnessing Anger’s Power” and ending before the subheading “Greed.”

Changing Fear Into Fearlessness

In this week’s reading, pages 113–117 of The Mantram Handbook,* Easwaran describes how the mantram can help with our litany of worries and anxieties, as well as our bigger fears. Here’s an anecdote he shares that inspired us:

“A friend of mine works as a doctor in the intensive care unit of a local hospital, and she had as a patient an elderly woman who was seriously ill, so ill that she wasn’t even able to breathe except with the aid of one of those breathing machines, a respirator. The patient was a Catholic, so my friend suggested that she repeat Hail Mary. She began doing it and her condition improved considerably. In this case, the mantram helped more than anything else that had been tried, because it helped the patient deal with her fear.”

Let’s continue working together to transform these negative emotions and drive the mantram deeper into our consciousness.

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

• Let’s keep looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, have the goal to use the mantram when surprised. Devise a strategy to say the mantram instead of any other sound or phrase when surprised. For instance, we usually say “Oops” (or perhaps worse) when we spill something, slip while walking, or when a car swerves in front of our car unexpectedly. Devise a strategy for inserting the mantram in the place of the usual verbal reaction. Try it out – and if you don’t manage to get the mantram in at the first surprise, start it up as soon as you remember. Before long, you will discover that the mantram has a sense of humor of its own – and it will start slipping itself in before you can say “oops.”

Let’s turn again to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks** for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk Seven. The full talk is almost 90 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 just the first five minutes, in which Easwaran introduces two aphorisms describing the practical steps by which we can discover the Supreme Reality which is embedded in the depths of our consciousness.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Eight, starting with the subheading “Anxiety” and ending before the subheading “Harnessing Anger’s Power.”

** 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.

Harnessing Fear, Anger, & Greed

“[T]he key to intentional living is in gaining mastery over the mind,” Easwaran advises at the start of Chapter Eight of The Mantram Handbook. And yet:

“Most of the time, the vast majority of us live on the surface level of consciousness, not suspecting the storms that rage in our unconscious. We get some hint of the tremendous power of these storms when they break through to the surface in the form of fear, anger, and greed. When these get out of control, they can pick us up and hurl us about as they like, exactly as if some force takes us over and makes us do things, say things, that we would not ordinarily do.”

It is a fearsome reality. Yet, once again, “[h]ere is where the mantram is an invaluable ally.”

“It can harness all this destructive power that is going to waste and transform it: fear into fearlessness, anger into compassion, and greed into the desire to be of service to those around us.”

We look forward to hearing your comments on this week’s eSatsang reading, pages 109–113.*

• 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 continue a second pass through our mantram exercises, we are looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. Here’s our mantram exercise this week:

  • Is there someone who you see often, who you feel critical towards? If so, smother the criticism with cheerful mantrams; pre-empt the criticism with the mantram as a reminder that the Lord is in this person. This is a version of “mantram forgiveness.”

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “I Am the One Who Will Never Forget You,” Psalm 119.

Passage Audio

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week we are reading from the start of Chapter Eight and ending before the subheading “Anxiety.”

Spontaneity

Chapter Seven of The Mantram Handbook has focused on excitement and depression, and as it ends, Easwaran makes a fascinating connection to spontaneity. The very same qualities that lead to the pendulum swings of excitement and depression – a racing mind, compelled by likes and dislikes – make spontaneous living impossible. Surprisingly, “[t]he secret of spontaneity is training; this is how we undo our conditioning.”

Happily, all the training we’ve been doing is taking us toward the goal:

“Any effort we make to keep the mind steady helps on all fronts. … Even if we do nothing more than try to keep the mind steady during the ups and downs of the day, we are deepening our awareness of life far more than we know.”

This week’s eSatsang reading is pages 105–108 in The Mantram Handbook.*

• 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.

• As we continue a second pass through our mantram exercises, we are looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, say your mantram before starting tasks. See how often you can do this. Can you make it a habit?

    • When sending email or text messages, say your mantram a few times before hitting “send.”

    • When you walk from one place to another, say the mantram to help you transition. 

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading starts with the subheading “Spontaneity” and continues to the end of Chapter Seven.

Getting Out of a Mild Depression

In this week’s reading, pages 100–104 from The Mantram Handbook,* Easwaran starts by distinguishing between clinical depression, which may need the help of an experienced physician, and what he calls “garden-variety lows.” He lays out a systematic strategy for when we find ourselves feeling mildly depressed. For his third tactic, he writes: “Another bit of advice for coping with depression is simple, difficult, and extremely powerful: always act as if you were not depressed. … Before you know it, you will find that you are not pretending to be cheerful any longer; you really are cheerful, because you have forgotten yourself.”

The description “simple, difficult, and extremely powerful” applies well to the skills we have been practicing in our book study.

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

• We have been making a second pass through our mantram exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. Here’s our mantram exercise this week:

  • Write your mantram in designs, perhaps using colored pens, to create a piece of mantram art. This can be very simple. You don’t need to be an artist, but the activity can engage you and allow you to stick with the mantram for an extended period.

For our spiritual boost this week, Easwaran explores the Buddha's concept of thirst, showing how it affects our mental states and our relationships.

Video

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Seven, starting with the subheading “Getting Out of a Depression” and ending before the subheading “Spontaneity.”

Guarding against Depression

Last week Easwaran showed us how a racing mind underlies both excitement and depression. This week he continues exposing the mental dynamics behind those states and leads us to a solution: “[U]nder no circumstances should you let praise or blame throw you into agitation. This is where the mantram comes to your rescue.”

As this skill develops, the wild pendulum swings of the mind will be dampened, consolidating our joy, and enabling access to discernment.

This week’s eSatsang reading is pages 97–100 in The Mantram Handbook.*

• 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?

• We have been making a second pass through our mantram exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.

  • This week, repeat or write the mantram for three minutes before meditation.

For our spiritual perk let’s return to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks.** This week let’s enjoy Talk Six. The full talk is almost an hour, 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 just the first five minutes, in which Easwaran distinguishes intellectual knowledge from the capacity that leads to Self-realization.

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from Chapter Seven, starting with the subheading “Guarding against Depression” and ending before the subheading “Getting Out of a Depression.”

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The Pendulum

Easwaran begins Chapter Seven of The Mantram Handbook, titled “Excitement & Depression,” by explaining the mental dynamics behind those states, tracing them both to a racing mind. And he advises that to avoid feeling depression, “[w]e need to learn to keep our mind on an even keel.”

“Our culture places such a premium on excitement that this advice is most unwelcome. ‘Don’t let yourself get excited’ has an unpleasant, puritanical ring. But that is simply because we believe the only alternative to excitement is a flat, monotonous life. In fact, there is a third state which is neither excitement nor depression, but far, far above both: a quiet sense of abiding joy which is our real nature.”

This week’s eSatsang reading is pages 93–97,* and as usual we look forward to your comments.

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

• We have been making a second pass through our mantram exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. Here’s our mantram exercise this week:

  • Sit comfortably in a chair. Resolve to repeat the mantram for three minutes without having any other thought at all. Then try it. After you succeed at doing this a few days in a row, try extending that practice to five minutes.

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

Passage Audio

* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week we are reading from the start of Chapter Seven and ending before the subheading “Guarding against Depression.”