We hope our study of forgiveness is inspiring you to make small experiments in your own life! We’ll continue with the 2016 Blue Mountain Journal Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves, this week reading Christine Easwaran’s introduction to the issue on pages 2–3, along with a short article from Easwaran titled “Our True Self” on pages 32–33, and “A Prayer for Meditation” from Easwaran on page 4. In her introduction Christine writes, “We think of forgiveness as a response to wrongs, but the forgiveness the mystics plead for is universal: a state of mind that Easwaran said absorbs ill will as trees absorb carbon dioxide in the air and transform it into life-giving oxygen.”
Continuing our study of the 2016 Blue Mountain Journal Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves, this week we will read “Ten Tips from Easwaran on How to Forgive,” on pages 23–31. The article is full of Easwaran’s practical advice and inspiration. He writes, “It takes a good deal of inner strength to remain calm and compassionate in the face of fierce opposition, never losing your balance or resorting to harsh language. But when you can do this, a kind of miracle takes place which all of us can verify. The other person becomes calmer, his eyes clear a little too; soon communication is established once again.”
This week we will begin studying the Blue Mountain Journal Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves issued in the Summer of 2016. We hope this study will inspire us and provide soothing balm for us all! Here is the quote from Easwaran on the back page of this journal: “Jesus says, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ I caught the connection immediately: if I am able to forgive others for what they have done to me, I will find it very easy to forgive myself for the trouble I may have caused others. So for those who find it very hard to forgive themselves, I would suggest that they learn to forgive others.”
Let’s conclude our study of the Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger with two brief and inspiring statements from Easwaran, on pages 3 and 63, as well as the passages included in this issue of the journal on pages 16, 19, 31, 47, 59. In the opening article Easwaran declares, “Gandhiji put all his faith in the individual. His way was for each of us to make a personal contribution in our own home and community. His genius lay in knowing how to transform the raw material of daily living into opportunities for growth and service, so that routine events become spiritual occasions.”
This week we will read Easwaran’s article “Transforming Anger in Our Own Lives,” pages 49-57 of the Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger. Here Easwaran gives many practical suggestions for us to implement, and he writes, “Returning kindness for unkindness is not simply being kind to that particular person. We are being kinder to ourselves, because we are undoing a compulsion, taking one more step towards being free.”
We hope you are finding inspiration in our study of the Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger. This week we will study Easwaran’s article “Nonviolence in Practice” on pages 39-45, where he says, “In mystical language, a river of divine love is flowing in the depths of every one of us. When you and I return kindness for unkindness, that cosmic river carries our act of love into the depths of the unkind person’s consciousness.”
Continuing our study of the 2019 Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger, this week we will read the second half of Easwaran’s article “Gandhi's Message,” pages 17-30. In the article Easwaran says, “Translating the Gita into character, conduct, and consciousness was precisely what Gandhi was doing in South Africa. He knew it by heart, knew it in his heart, studied it over and over every day, used it in prayer until it became a living presence.”
This week we will begin studying a 2019 special issue of the Blue Mountain Journal celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. The editors introduce the issue by highlighting Easwaran’s unique message on the significance of Gandhi’s example: “that anger can be transformed into irresistible compassion, and that even ordinary people like us, through the practice of meditation, can make ourselves instruments of peace whose influence can spread to everyone around us.”
Let’s conclude our study of the new digital-only issue of the Blue Mountain Journal with two brief and inspiring statements from Easwaran, on pages 3 and 63, as well as the passages included in this issue of the journal on pages 24, 45, 46, 50, 53. In the opening article Easwaran begins, “I keep in close touch with what happens in the world. And there are times when I feel deeply grieved by the suffering I read about, and I wonder why life has to be this way. But I never despair. At those times I go deep, deep into meditation until I reach the very source of love and wisdom that exists in each of us.”
We hope studying the new special issue of the Blue Mountain Journal is lifting everyone’s spirits and reminding us all of our deep connection with Easwaran and his community. This week we examine Easwaran’s article “Two Paths” on pages 29-41 of the new digital-only issue, where he says, “These two paths, the self-centered and the selfless, open to us constantly, in a thousand little choices throughout the day. Any time we choose to give rather than get, we have taken a step on the path of true fulfillment.”
Continuing our study of the new digital-only issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, this week we will read Easwaran’s article “Nine Tips for a Crisis,” pages 12-21. In the article Easwaran says, “when we have an overriding goal, we find that many of our problems fall away of their own accord. Everything falls into perspective: we know what to do with our time, what to do with our energy, and it is easier to see all the little choices that confront us every day.”
With much of our world disrupted by the pandemic, we need Easwaran’s guidance more than ever. This week we will start studying the new Blue Mountain Journal, “Wisdom and Compassion in a Global Crisis.” We hope this special issue will lift everyone’s spirits and remind us all of our deep connection with Easwaran and his community.
In our reading from Passage Meditation this week, Easwaran says about the books he has written, “They are based entirely on personal experience, and their sole purpose is to help readers make their highest ideals a part of their daily lives.”
Do you sometimes wish that Easwaran would be here today, so you could spend time with him, ask him questions, receive his advice? In the upcoming weeks, we will develop a simple but powerful habit that can make Easwaran your intimate friend. In our reading from Easwaran’s book, Passage Meditation, he says, “I have found spiritual reading especially beneficial after evening meditation. When I have finished, I go to bed and repeat the mantram until I have fallen asleep in it. The reason for this sequence is simple: what we put into consciousness in the evening goes with us into sleep.” Let’s embark on an adventure to explore and develop the very same spiritual reading skills that Easwaran found especially helpful in his own inner development.
Even in the midst of dark or uncertain times, the mystics tell us a divine radiance surrounds us and emanates from us. Turning to Easwaran can immediately transform our perspective and give us a glimpse of divine light. This week we offer two short readings and a video from Easwaran in which he touches on the radiant end goal of transformation through samadhi – union with reality.
In our rapidly changing world, Easwaran counts on his students to lead us into a spiritual renaissance of healing, goodness, and unity. Such people will need to be flexible, naturally joyful, and able to juggle their likes and dislikes easily. This week in our reading, Easwaran invites us to take a playful approach to our likes and dislikes. He offers a number of practical suggestions for learning flexibility and approaching life with deeper joy – because he trusts that we are creating the spiritual renaissance, right now.
In Easwaran’s village when he was a little boy, waves of contagious disease, family losses, failed crops were part of life. Through it all, Easwaran’s diminutive grandmother stood like a big tree under which everyone could take shelter. What was Granny’s secret? She knew how to use her mantram to transform any negative emotion into strength, courage, and love. This week, we invite you to express your inner Granny.
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.