When the Mind Is Still

“When the mind is still, you see everybody as your own Self,” Easwaran explains in this week’s final selection from Take Your Time, pages 184–189. As we complete our book study we can appreciate our accomplishment and reflect on how we’ve grown.

Let’s give Easwaran the final word:

“You and I, when the mind is still, see that the mountains and the seas, the forests and the rivers, the animals and the birds, the trees and the plants, all nations, all races, all men and women and children, are one. Once you see this in the silence of your heart, you will never be the same person again. You will return from this summit of spiritual awareness full of practical wisdom, passionate love, and untiring energy which you will want to use for the benefit of all.”

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

• Think back over the past several months during which we’ve systematically read the whole volume Take Your Time from Easwaran, particularly on the benefits you have received. Write down your observations.

• We are working to extend our practice of the mantram to help still our minds. This week, on your regular mantram walk, try repeating the mantram very loudly (in the mind).

A Mind at Peace

This week’s reading from Take Your Time includes a fascinating analysis of the interval between one thought and another. “This gap of stillness between one thought and another is our safety,” Easwaran writes. When something upsetting happens, “you have only to enter that interval where there is no thought and rest there.” Thus “extending that gap is the secret of an unhurried mind.”

Let’s read pages 177–184 and see what tips we can glean for extending that gap and moving toward a mind at peace.

• 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 are working to extend our practice of the mantram to help still our minds. 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.

Let’s return to the audio section of the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual bonus and continue exploring the Passages for Changing Negative Patterns of Thinking.* This week, try clicking the heading Fear, Anxiety, Inadequacy near the bottom of the page. Then in the player near the top of the page check Play all passages in this category and use the Play button to begin.

* 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 Still Center

We have reached the final chapter of Take Your Time. We’ve systematically read a whole volume from Easwaran – which is a great habit to practice together.

This week let’s read from the start of chapter 8 at page 171 to the top of page 177. As this final chapter begins, Easwaran gives lofty descriptions of the goal toward which he is leading us. For example, “To have a still mind means there is a healing silence everywhere. In this supreme state, you are absolutely fulfilled.” And as always, he is utterly practical regarding the path to get there. Here he shares a colorful anecdote from a favorite mystic:

“Sri Ramakrishna, a great nineteenth-century Bengali mystic, used to say similarly, ‘When you go to a mango tree, you don’t go to count the leaves. Get up into the tree, pluck a mango, and eat it; then you will know about mangoes.’ When it comes to the benefits of stilling the mind, there is no substitute for giving it a try and tasting the fruits of it ourselves.”

May we each enjoy some fruits of healing silence this week!

• 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!

• Easwaran is asking us to use the spiritual skills we’ve been building throughout this book study to practice stilling our minds. Let’s take up that challenge by extending our practice of the mantram. 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 a spiritual bonus, here is a three-minute clip in which Easwaran explains how by slowing down our thoughts in meditation we can come to experience peace, security, and joy.

Video

Who We Are

In chapter 7 of Take Your Time Easwaran has been guiding us to realize a higher image of ourselves. “Precious treasures lie within our consciousness,” he writes, boundless joy, and freedom from anger, fear, and greed. And the stillness of mind gained through practice of meditation is the key to this treasury.

This week as we finish the chapter, reading pages 164–168, let’s each take a step toward stilling our minds through the practice of meditation. “And when this state is achieved,” Easwaran relates, “a great teacher of meditation in ancient India makes this quiet statement: ‘Now you see yourself as you really are.’”

• 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?

• Meditation is our focus this week. If you already meditate daily, is there something small you can try this week to increase your absorption in the passage? If you are new to meditation, try the following suggestion from page 169. Either way, tell us how it goes!

  • “Set aside half an hour every morning for meditation, as early as is convenient. Instructions in passage meditation begin on page 194.”

A Living Symbol

Our physical orientation and the pulsating speed of our minds are terrible obstacles to realizing a higher image of ourselves, Easwaran explains in this week’s reading, from page 158 to the top of 164 of Take Your Time. And the mantram, he assures us, can help on both counts. “The mantram has immense power to slow down the speed of the mind,” Easwaran writes. “At the same time, it helps to fill our consciousness with a higher image of who we are.”

This week let’s pour energy into the mantram, and thus “remind ourselves of our true nature and hold before our mind’s eye this highest image of ourselves.”

• 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.

• Mantram repetition is our challenge this week. If you already have a mantram, experiment with ways to pour extra energy into it this week. If you are new to the mantram, try the suggestion from page 169:

  • “Choose a mantram that appeals to you deeply and try it for at least a month, following the instructions and guidelines on page 196.”

Here is a spiritual treat to extend your use of the mantram this week: Easwaran singing his mantram. The recording is an hour long, but of course you can dip into this beautiful audio for as long as suits your schedule.

A Higher Image

“Only rarely does someone arise to remind us that we are not incomplete but whole – not imperfect physical creatures, but essentially spiritual beings whose greatest need is simply to discover our real nature.”

In Chapter 6 Easwaran urged us to use the spiritual skills we’ve been building throughout our book study to cultivate beautiful personal relationships with others. Now in Chapter 7 he asks us to look inside. Only by discovering who we truly are, he explains, can we find abiding joy and be of lasting service. This week let’s start this chapter by reading pages 153–157.

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

• In the Ideas and Suggestions section on page 169 you’ll find three points from Easwaran’s eight-point program of passage meditation: spiritual reading, mantram repetition, and meditation. Easwaran tells us in this chapter that these points can help us to realize a higher image of ourselves. This week let’s experiment with emphasizing spiritual reading. Let us know how it goes!

  • “All of us need daily inspiration to remind us of the higher meaning and purpose of our lives. I recommend half an hour or so each day for reading from the scriptures and the writings of the great mystics of all religions.” (See more on this topic on page 157.)

For a spiritual bonus, here is a five-minute video of Easwaran on seeing the divine core of your personality, and on the glory of the human being.

Video

Learning to Love

As we end “Time for Relationships,” chapter 6 of Take Your Time, Easwaran continues to help us understand the connections between slowing down and fulfilling relationships – and between developing patience and learning to love. He is showing us the way to a more fulfilling life. And he says the destination is not totally unfamiliar:

“…in those rare moments of self-forgetfulness that come to all of us, when you forget your petty, personal desires in helping your family or community or country, you pay a brief visit to heaven right here on earth.”

May we each take time for relationships this week and experience a little visit to heaven on earth.

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

• We’ve been nurturing personal relationships by working through the ideas and suggestions on pages 151–152. Read through that list and choose an experiment that fits best for you this week. Tell us how it goes!

Moving Closer

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

Cultivating beautiful personal relationships is the focus of Chapter 6 in Easwaran’s Take Your Time. And this theme runs throughout the book. In every chapter Easwaran is helping us make our lives more fulfilling by nurturing personal relationships.

This week let’s read pages 135–142. Here Easwaran gives inspiring stories of how his granny taught this precious skill. And he helps us understand the obstacles that stand in the way of beautiful relationships:

“In most disagreements, it is really not ideological differences that divide people. It is often self-will, lack of respect, putting ourselves first instead of the other person. Sometimes all that is required is listening with respect and attention to the other person’s point of view.”

Love, trust, and respect, he explains, come naturally when self-will subsides.

• 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 a challenge this week, try this experiment from the “Ideas and Suggestions” on pages 151–152:

  • When you find you are getting impatient and want to get your own way in some little matter of convenience, try putting the other person’s comfort and convenience first. You can begin within the circle of your family and friends, where there is already a basis of love and respect on which to build.

Let’s return to the audio section of the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual bonus and continue exploring the Passages for Building Positive Qualities.* To support our current focus, try clicking the heading Putting Others First near the bottom of the page. Then in the player near the top of the page check Play all passages in this category and use the Play button to begin.

* 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.

Celebrating Christine Easwaran

We have arrived at the week of our Celebration of Christine Easwaran’s birthday! We have a special curriculum in which you can participate here in the eSatsang, as well as in Satsang Live this week.

Let’s begin with Easwaran reading one of Christine’s favorite passages, “Prayer for Peace” from Swami Omkar.

Passage Audio

Next we have three special readings to enjoy, providing inspiration from Christine’s life and her foremost themes:

1. With My Love and Blessings, pages 16–17

2. Christine’s Publisher’s Page from the Summer 2010 Blue Mountain Journal

3. Strength in the Storm, pages 160–162

And let’s end our birthday curriculum with another passage: here is Easwaran reading “The Prayer of Saint Francis” from Saint Francis of Assisi.

Passage Audio

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

• We have recently been working on imitating Easwaran’s evening routine. This week consider how these efforts contribute to your role in the spiritual renaissance.

• Join us on Sunday for a Day of Mantrams for Peace and Healing in the World in Christine’s honor. The centerpiece of our day is BMCM Satsang Live, where we will repeat 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/christine.

For this week’s spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy the special video available in the Easwaran Digital Library in Christine’s honor.

Time for Relationships

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 29, will be our actual celebration of her birthday, with a special program on Satsang Live and a day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. For more information about how to participate in the day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world, please go to bmcm.org/christine.

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This week let’s start chapter 6 of Take Your Time on pages 127–135. Here Easwaran warns us not to take for granted the notions of modern progress, speed, and efficiency. He calls us instead to take time for relationships and to cultivate what is essential: “the timeless values and fundamental virtues that make us human.” And Easwaran makes clear that this effort builds on the skills we’ve been training throughout our book study:

“If we have been slowing down the pace of our life, practicing one-pointed attention, and loosening our likes and dislikes, we should begin to see the benefit of these new patterns in all our relationships. For these are some of the tools that can help us make for ourselves a personal world rich in companionship.”

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

• The suggestions for practice for chapter 6 are on pages 151–152. Can you find a specific way to practice the first suggestion this week? Let us know!

  • Cultivate personal relationships in all your activities. It will help to reverse the depersonalization of our world.

For spiritual entertainment, here is a treat from Easwaran. In this three-minute video Easwaran suggests that much of our thinking is not necessary.

Video

Permanent Joy

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 29, will be our actual celebration of her birthday, with a special program on Satsang Live and a day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. For more information about how to participate in the day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world, please go to bmcm.org/christine.

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Easwaran ends chapter 5 of Take Your Time with a tantalizing glimpse of freedom and the permanent joy it brings. And he notes that our inexperience with this rarefied state is part of what makes the path there so challenging.

“One of the main difficulties in grasping this is that we don’t have anything lofty to compare with the humdrum pleasures of sensory experience. Until we have tasted something higher and longer lasting, it’s hard to understand what spiritual figures in all ages keep trying to tell us: ‘Permanent joy is far, far higher than pleasure that comes and goes.’”

Let’s read this section, pages 118–124, and savor the taste of freedom.

• 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’ve been extending our practice of training the senses by working through the ideas and suggestions on page 125. Read through that list and choose an experiment that fits best for you this week.

Playing With Likes and Dislikes

In this week’s reading, pages 110–118 of Take Your Time, Easwaran continues illuminating the dynamics of likes and dislikes by focusing on a connection “unsuspected today” between food and the mind.

“When your mind is under control, your taste buds will ask politely for food that is good for you. But when you are speeded up, your palate is likely to clamor for its old favorites – and you are going to be much more vulnerable to its demands. In this way, by observing how the mind responds to food, you can get a precious early warning when your mind is starting to get speeded up or out of control.”

Let’s take a fresh look at training the senses through Easwaran’s eyes and continue moving toward living in freedom.

• 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!

• As a challenge this week, try this experiment from the “Ideas and Suggestions” on page 125:

  • Go on a leisurely outing with family or friends, doing what they like, enjoying their enjoyment.

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Easwaran reading the passage “Living in Wisdom” from the Bhagavad Gita.

Passage Audio

Living in Freedom

We are now halfway through our book study of Take Your Time. It is wonderful to be absorbing a full book of Easwaran’s together as a spiritual community.

Easwaran begins chapter 5 by discussing the dynamics of likes and dislikes:

“Often, rigid likes and dislikes are merely a matter of attention getting stuck. We get caught in a groove of what we have been conditioned to like or dislike, and we can’t imagine getting free. When we find that others have their attention stuck in their groove too, friction results.

“Usually, without thinking, we react negatively and move away. But we can learn to play with our likes and dislikes instead, and once we taste the freedom this brings, it can be quite enjoyable.”

This week let’s read pages 103–110 and take another small step toward living in freedom.

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

• The suggestions for practice for chapter 5 are on page 125, and we can start with the first one:

  • When you find yourself daydreaming – for example, anticipating some special event – bring your full attention back to the present. When the event arrives, focus on it completely. If you find yourself dwelling on it afterwards, bring your mind back to the present again. You’re teaching your mind to enjoy without grasping – and to be present here and now.

And to close, here is a spiritual entertainment treat from Easwaran. In this three-minute video Easwaran shows the importance of learning to train our attention.

Video

Finding Balance

As we study Take Your Time, Easwaran is giving us tips on how to bring about a spiritual renaissance. The small changes we are making to enrich our relationships and find peace may be subtle, but they are powerful. And Easwaran assures us they can quietly change the world. What are you finding in your life?

This week let’s finish chapter 4, reading pages 94–100. Easwaran continues his theme of bringing our energy into balance:

“When you live in balance, you are in joy always – not joy in the sense that things always take place in the way you want, but because you are never disturbed and have a quiet confidence in yourself that cannot be shaken”

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

• We’ve been extending our practice by working through the ideas and suggestions on pages 101–102. Read through that list and choose an experiment that fits best for you this week.

Energy at Our Beck and Call

“I appreciate the person who is energetic by nature,” Easwaran writes in this week’s selection, “but I have special admiration when I see someone who suffers from lethargy learn to turn it into a torrent of activity. Vigor, vitality, energy, and will can all be developed. I have seen really lackadaisical men and women turn into dynamos.”

Let’s read from the bottom of page 88 through 94 in Take Your Time and continue learning from Easwaran how to access our energy. May we become real dynamos!

• 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 a challenge this week, try this experiment from the “Ideas and Suggestions” on pages 101–102:

  • Most of us find we have energy for jobs and activities we enjoy. Try doing with enthusiasm a necessary job that you don’t particularly enjoy. Put the task you dislike first on your list. With training, you can actually begin to juggle these likes and dislikes to release more energy into your life.

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “When You Call” from Isaiah.

Passage Audio

The Energy We Need Is Always Present

In chapter 4 of Take Your Time Easwaran introduces a major theme: accessing the endless source of energy that he says is part of our birthright as human beings. The chapter’s epigraph reads, “The energy we need is always present; we just need to learn to release and harness it.” Having prepared us in the prior chapters by helping us grow our ability to slow down and use one-pointed attention, Easwaran now guides us in using those skills for this challenge. This week let’s start with pages 84–88.

• 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.

• The suggestions for practice for chapter 4 are on pages 101–102 of the current edition of Take Your Time, and we can start with the first one:

  • It is important not to confuse slowness with lethargy. In slowing down, attend meticulously to details. Give your very best even to the smallest undertaking.

And for bonus inspiration, here is a five-minute video in which Easwaran describes a connection between cultivating patience and deepening our devotion.

Video

Complete Concentration

As we now read the closing of chapter 3, pages 73–79 in Take Your Time, Easwaran presents various facets of what it means to be master of your attention. “When concentration is deep,” he explains, “we may forget our body completely. In fact, we may forget altogether about that dreariest of subjects, ourselves. This is the real secret of happiness.” And as we forget ourselves, Easwaran explains, we lose any sense of being separate from the rest of creation: “This awareness of unity is the distinguishing mark of spiritual awareness. Such people will consider you as part of themselves, and their welfare as part of your own.”

• 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’ve been extending our practice of one-pointed attention by working through the ideas and suggestions on pages 80–81. Read through that list and choose an experiment that fits best for you this week.

Don’t Wobble

“When we do things with only a part of the mind, we are just skimming the surface of life,” Easwaran warns us in this week’s reading from Take Your Time. Throwing light on the dynamics of divided attention and its resolution, he explains:

“Nothing sinks in; nothing has real impact. It leads to an empty feeling inside. Unfortunately, it is this very emptiness that drives us to pack in even more, seeking desperately to fill the void in our hearts. What we need to do is just the opposite: to slow down and live completely in the present. Then every moment will be full.”

Let’s read this section, pages 68–73, and continue observing the connection between one-pointed attention and slowing down.

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

• Let’s continue extending our practice of one-pointed attention using the ideas on pages 80–81. Here’s a suggestion for this week:

  • Remember the Buddha’s words: “When you are walking, walk; when you are sitting, sit. Don’t wobble.”

  • Consider a situation or activity in which you tend to “wobble.” Try using one-pointed attention to not wobble.

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The One Thing Needed” from Tukaram.

Passage Audio

One Thing at a Time

In this week’s reading, on pages 62–68 from Take Your Time, Easwaran brings the topic of one-pointed attention to focus on one of his favorite themes, personal relationships:

“Effortless concentration is the secret of all personal relationships, whether it is with casual acquaintances, co-workers, colleagues, friends, or family. And when relationships are not particularly cordial, one-pointed attention is even more important. It is an exceptional person who can give complete attention to somebody who is being unpleasant, but when you can do this, you can slowly disarm even a hostile person simply by listening without hostility, with complete and even loving attention.”

Let’s take a small step toward making the spiritual renaissance a reality in our lives by giving our best attention in personal relationships this week!

• 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 a challenge this week, try this experiment from the “Ideas and Suggestions” on pages 80–81:

  • When talking with someone, give that person your full attention, even if his attention wanders or she is saying something you dislike.

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Easwaran reading the passage “Four Things That Bring Much Inward Peace” from Thomas à Kempis.

Passage Audio

Directing Attention at Will

We hope you’ve been enjoying the Take Your Time book study as much as we have. We feel Easwaran used this little book to frame for us, his students, what the spiritual renaissance should look like and how we can make it happen. What an opportunity!

We are ready to dig in to chapter 3, starting with pages 57–62. Easwaran now introduces one-pointed attention and makes the case for its necessity for training the mind and living in freedom. And he reveals that the benefits extend even further:

“When we learn to recall attention from the past and keep it completely in the present, we reclaim a tremendous reserve of vital energy that has been trapped in the past like a dinosaur. Every time we do this, we restore a little more of our vital wealth to the present moment.”

• 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!

• The current edition (2006) of Take Your Time has suggestions for practice, set apart on blue pages, to encourage experimentation. The suggestions for chapter 3 are on pages 80–81, and we can start with this one:

  • When your attention gets caught somewhere other than here and now – for example, in some past event you can’t stop dwelling on – bring your mind back to the present.

For our spiritual treat, we are pleased to share the final segment from the Easwaran video “The Other Shore.” Note that the full video is 26 minutes, but the excerpt begins at 19:05 and the player should start there automatically. Of course, you are welcome to back up and watch more as well.

Video