Over the next month, let’s embrace our unsettling times as a difficult – but real – opportunity. As passage meditators, whatever we face, we have the capacity to give, to love, and to serve. In this week’s reading, Easwaran assures us, “It takes many years, but in the end, the great mystics of all religions tell us, every bit of anger, fear, and greed can be removed from our consciousness, so that our whole life can become a flawless work of art.”
In this month of invigorated practice of the eight points, Easwaran’s granny has been an inspiring presence. She is firm and unshakeable, focused on an eternal reality of love, light, and goodness, regardless of external circumstances. Just as Granny’s presence gives solace and peace to little people like you and me, here at the BMCM we’ve felt that your presence is surely bringing solace and peace to those around you, giving you glimpses of the divine face behind all faces.
Last week we joined our spiritual family virtually at Ramagiri Ashram for Vishu, a holiday when we honor the Lord within ourselves and others. Consciously weaving the eight points throughout an entire day quietens our minds and brings our meditation passages to life. It can help us “bring heaven to earth,” for ourselves and those around us.
On Sunday, April 12, we will gather together virtually with Ramagiri Ashram for our shared contemplative practice for the Kerala celebration of Vishu, a day that was dear to the heart of Granny, Easwaran’s spiritual Teacher. Although we won’t be physically together, the spiritual forces that connect us are far beyond the borders of time and space. Together, we will deepen our meditation and light the lamp of wisdom within us all. The significance of Vishu is to mirror the pure spark of divinity within each of us, making this ancient ritual a very modern remedy for our times.
As we prepare for the Kerala celebration of Vishu, it’s reassuring to remember Easwaran’s granny, who stood fearless no matter what the external circumstance. Last week, we could feel Granny’s spirit in the way in which we have all been increasing our mantram use – a perfect preparation for Vishu, a holiday dear to her heart. Ramagiri Ashram will celebrate Vishu on Sunday, April 12 and invites us to join from wherever we are in the world in a day of shared contemplative practice. There are suggested activities throughout the day providing us with many opportunities to connect with each other virtually.
In honor of his grandmother, Easwaran celebrated the Kerala spring holiday called Vishu each April at Ramagiri. The significance of Vishu is to mirror the pure spark of divinity within each of us, making this ancient ritual a very modern remedy for our times. This month let’s join Easwaran and his granny in in following this tradition. Note: See the Community page on the website to access the new BMCM satsang live program, which is run twice weekly on Tuesdays and Sundays.
In our reading from Passage Meditation, Easwaran tells us, “When you see opposition, do not get afraid. Look upon tough opposition as a challenge to test your inner growth – to see if your capacities have grown so that through patience, courtesy, and the depth of your conviction you can win over your opponent into a fast friend. But all this takes time, and it takes the capacity to concentrate. You have to be willing to develop these skills, which is the purpose of slowing down and one-pointed attention.”
This week, Easwaran will speak directly to those of us who yearn to be of service in our troubled world. Answering the question of how to make our efforts more effective, he writes: “All the great changes in the world for good and for ill have come from the impact of men and women with an overriding singleness of purpose and a concentrated mind. In our own time, on the positive side, Gandhi is a perfect example. To make our full contribution, we need to train the mind to be at peace and then radiate that peace to those around us.”
Thank you for your daily meditation and your increased efforts to be one-pointed. These are healing forces you are contributing to our world. This week we’ll continue exploring how to cultivate a one-pointed life of goodness and service. Then, no matter what happens externally, we have something precious to give. In this week’s reading from Passage Meditation, Easwaran says that when you are fully one-pointed “you will not ignore the distress or joy of others, because in looking into their eyes you will be looking truly into their hearts.”
Many of our friends are concerned about the environmental crisis right now and are asking what Easwaran would advise us to do. Love for the environment was one of Easwaran’s main teaching messages throughout his life, increasing in urgency as he saw the situation deteriorate. His starting point in healing the environment is the mind. “Without some control over the thinking process,” he explains in our latest Blue Mountain Journal, “it is impossible to make lasting changes in the way we live.” Through systematic training of the mind we can harness our desires and start to build a better world.
Easwaran Video for inspiration: Tips for Deepening Meditation
Because Easwaran’s early students carefully recorded and preserved his talks, we have the opportunity to listen directly to the founder of this practice. If we concentrate fully, we can imagine being in the BMCM meditation hall with Easwaran, receiving his personal guidance.
This 22-minute video is entitled “Tips for Deepening Meditation”. If you want to watch a shorter section of video, consider watching the first five minutes of the talk during which Easwaran describes the key to minimizing distractions (0:00 to 5:07).
Here is one of our meditation passages by Saint Teresa of Avila:
Her heart is full of joy with love
For in the Lord her mind is stilled.
She has renounced every selfish attachment
And draws abiding joy and strength
From the One within.
She lives not for herself, but lives
To serve the Lord of Love in all,
And swims across the sea of life
Breasting its rough waves joyfully.
Imagine if each of us passage meditators could become what this passage describes. What a great contribution we could make to our families and communities – by sharpening up our meditation practice!
This week, we have that opportunity. In our reading selection, Easwaran shares the subtle art of withdrawing attention from distractions and putting more attention on the passage during meditation.
In a world that can be healed by the power of love and peace, every time you sit down to meditate, you give a precious gift: you are slowing your mind. Easwaran explains, “When its desperate whirrings slow down, intentionality and good judgment appear, then love, and finally what the Bible calls ‘the peace that passes understanding.’ ” We are continuing to take a close look at specific factors of our meditation practice.
In this selection, Easwaran shares insights into what it really means to go through your passage “word by word, as slowly as you can.” He also points out that you need to find your own best pace through experience.
In these unprecedented times of climate crisis, many of us find that turning directly to Easwaran through the Easwaran Digital Library gives us strength, courage, and light. This Library offers previously unavailable video and audio talks covering Easwaran’s signature themes across the various decades of his teaching.
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As the sun rises around the world each morning, passage meditators are seating themselves in meditation with a collective yearning to become instruments of peace. This month, we’ll study several subtle factors that influence our passage meditation practice, and can make it even more effective. Over the next four weeks, we’ll look at place, posture, pace, and distractions using Easwaran’s book Passage Meditation as a guide. We’re eager to share this great opportunity for looking at ways to sharpen up our practice. What better way than to do it together?
Thank you all for sharing your insights and encouraging messages throughout January. We began the month with the question: How can we contribute to a sense of hope in ourselves and others? In the following article Easwaran writes that “spiritual practices like meditation and repetition of the mantram can unite people for all time.” We hope that our in-depth study of the articles from the Special Issue of the Blue Mountain Journal has given you a well of pure waters to draw on when you feel oppressed by difficulty.
Thank you again for your insightful comments about Easwaran’s message for hope in difficult times. This week, Easwaran imparts a precious insight into how we can use our suffering for the good of all through our meditation practice. He guides us as we ponder our central question this month: How can we contribute to a sense of hope in ourselves and others? Let’s hold on to the tremendous prayer Easwaran offered in the previous week’s reading: “May the Lord of Love grant us all that faith which can never be put out by any storm that blows.”
Thank you for your inspiring reflections and for highlighting the messages of hope in Easwaran’s article. We’re continuing to explore the question: How can we contribute to a sense of hope for ourselves and others? While contemplating this question keep in mind Easwaran’s statement from last week’s reading: “My approach to the scriptures is entirely on this basis: that they are practical manuals to the art of living, and the truths in them can be verified by anyone prepared to undergo the necessary disciplines.” This week we’re diving into Part 2 of Easwaran’s “The Candle of the Lord”.
We’re devoting January once again to a study of the 2018 Special Issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, with its message of applying the mantram to prayers for peace. This journal arrived at the close of 2018 as a response to many friends who were asking the BMCM for guidance during these difficult times. It offers practical spiritual guidance from Eknath Easwaran and Christine Easwaran, and we think we would all benefit from revisiting the inspiration, encouragement, and hope that they can give us as we start 2020.
Easwaran writes: “People look around with fear and suspicion in their hearts, and they see a world to be afraid of, a world of danger. I see a world of choices, a world of hope.” The question we’d like to discuss this month is: How can we contribute to a sense of hope at a time when so many people are facing such major challenges?
Join us for the Mantram Relay on January 1, 2020! Help our worldwide BMCM community to keep the mantram going collectively for all 24 hours of January 1 and start the New Year with a positive force to deepen our practice and spread peace to the world. You can sign up for a time slot using the button below.
Here’s how it works:
Go to the Mantram Relay spreadsheet.
Find a half-hour time slot that works well for you and sign your name.
Choose a time when you can really focus on mantram repetition in a concentrated and sustained way, e.g. a mantram walk, mantram writing, or even some hard physical work or exercise with the mantram.
When January 1 arrives, give fervor and gusto to your mantram repetition.
Don’t stop there; use the Mantram Relay as a springboard for concentrated mantram repetition each and every day of the coming year.
For a real New Year’s treat please enjoy a 30-minute talk from Easwaran titled “A New Year’s Message.”
This week, we are continuing to apply Slowing Down and One-Pointed Attention to our daily lives, which for many of us are extra full in the month of December.
We would like to remind you of our invitation to join the Mantram Relay. Here is what Easwaran has to say about prayer from the heart:
“Prayer from the heart really means prayer from the depths of the unconscious – not oral prayer, but prayer without words. When prayer arises from the depths of the unconscious like this, tremendous forces – life forces that operate beneath our fragmented, superficial, egocentric awareness – are touched and moved and brought into action. These eternal laws, which are as operative as the law of gravity, open their doors to those who have no personal irons in the fire, who don’t seek any profit or prestige but depend entirely upon the Lord.”
(Easwaran in the Blue Mountain Journal Winter 2018, page 15)