The name Yajna, Sacrifice, ended our reading last week, and Easwaran begins this week’s commentary on the name Shiva, The Auspicious, by discussing how Shiva powerfully illustrates “the sacrifice of self to a higher purpose.”
“Self” here means self-will, “the selfish, self-centered fragment of ourselves that has forgotten the unity of life.” Self-will is the only barrier between us and love, Easwaran explains, and so “the most effective of all sacrifices is the sacrifice of self-will.”
Our work together in the eSatsang is helping us make this sacrifice, diminishing our self-will day by day, using our disciplines to turn obstacles into spiritual growth. Our reading this week is pages 217–227 in The Constant Companion.*
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.
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 Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The Bridge to Immortality,” 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 The Auspicious through Good Works. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)