“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 11 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 November 25th, 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 11.
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