“[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.
* 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.