Ideals Are Living Forces

Turning Ideals Into Action: The Spiritual Challenge, the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, has been our focus the past several weeks. Now let’s conclude that study with the issue’s powerful final article from Easwaran on page 59, along with reading the passages on pages 13, 17, 20, 27, 31, and 35, and these final words from Easwaran on page 64:

“Ideals in action in daily living are the very foundation for peace, the very basis for love, the very fulcrum for selfless service and a better world.”

• Is there a particular situation that causes you to get speeded up or agitated? What tips do Easwaran or these passages offer that you could try out in this situation? Even if the tips don’t seem to directly apply, try them anyhow and tell us what you find.

• As a putting others first challenge this week, what is one small thing you can do to turn this enticing observation from Easwaran into reality in your life?

  • “…As meditation deepens, you find there is a fierce satisfaction in letting go of your own way so that things can go someone else’s way instead. Gradually you develop a habit of goodness, a hang-up for kindness, a positive passion for the welfare of others.”

• In four weeks, on February 28th, the eSatsang will begin studying Easwaran’s Take Your Time. To prepare, make sure you have the book available.

  • We offer a 20% discount on books sold through our distribution partner indiepubs.com. The discount is applied automatically when you add to cart. Here is a link to Take Your Time on that site.

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • If you’ve been filling a little mantram book for peace and healing in the world, it is time to send it in! We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:

      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Radiant Is the World Soul” from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.

Passage Audio

How to Make Wise Choices

In this week’s article, “How to Make Wise Choices,” Easwaran responds to the frequent question, “How can we know what the perspective of the Self is? Let alone identify with it? We don’t even know where to look.” His answer is a stirring guide for prioritizing activity throughout our lives. Here is one memorable piece of his strong advice: “…remember Sri Krishna’s injunction from the Bhagavad Gita: ‘Make Me your only goal.’ Everything can be referred to that. Will this deepen my meditation, improve my concentration, make my mind more even, make me less self-centered? If it will, I will do it; if it won’t, I will not.”

Let’s read that full article on pages 53–57, along with Easwaran’s brief article “Putting Anger to Work: The Bear” on pages 36–38 of the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal.

• Read this article as if you and Easwaran are having a conversation. What advice does he give you, and how can you apply it this week?

• Here’s this week’s putting others first challenge, direct from Easwaran. He writes:

  • “I am all ears when somebody says, ‘I don’t know how to be kind. I don’t know how to release deeper resources to make my life count.’ I say, ‘I can teach you!’ That is what meditation is for. Memorize a passage on kindness, memorize a passage on goodness, and then drive it inwards. You will become kind; you will become good.”

  • Try his advice this week and tell us how it goes!

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • If you’ve been filling a little mantram book for peace and healing in the world, keep those mantrams coming! We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:

      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

And for our spiritual bonus, here is Easwaran reading “The Way of Love” from the Bhagavad Gita.

Passage Audio

All of Us Are One

We’ve been doing the hard work of Turning Ideals Into Action, the topic of the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal. In this week’s article “All of Us Are One,” Easwaran inspires us toward this challenge, writing, “The same spark of divinity – this same Self – is enshrined in every creature. My real Self is not different from yours nor anyone else’s. The mystics are telling us that if we want to live in the joy that increases with time, if we want to live in true freedom independent of circumstances, then we must strive to realize that even if there are four people in our family or forty at our place of work, there is only one Self.” And later he explains, “When the sages talk about ‘realization,’ what they mean is making this Self a reality in our daily living. We have to practice it in our behavior.” Let’s read that full article on pages 41–46, along with the extended passage Easwaran’s article refers to, on pages 48–51.

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• In this issue Easwaran writes, “…whenever I see somebody changing herself to be kinder or more selfless, my heart leaps in delight.” Can you take the opportunity to make Easwaran’s heart leap by changing something small this week? Use the comments below to let us know how so we can leap too!

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way. So let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:

    • Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:
      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Easwaran reading the passage “That Invisible One” from the Kena Upanishad.

Passage Audio

Make Peace Your State of Mind

What does it mean to make peace your state of mind? “Gradually you develop a habit of goodness, a hang-up for kindness, a positive passion for the welfare of others,” Easwaran explains. “In terms of emotional engineering, you are using the mind’s enormous capacity for passion to develop the power to put other people first: and not just verbally, but in your thoughts and actions as well. Eventually kindness becomes spontaneous, second nature; it no longer requires effort. There is nothing sentimental about this quality, either; kindness can be as tough as nails.” Continuing our study of Turning Ideals Into Action: The Spiritual Challenge from the Blue Mountain Journal, let’s read Easwaran’s article on pages 23–33 and examine more of his presentation on the dynamics of acquiring a peaceful mind.

• What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!

• Let’s continue extending our practice of putting others first. In this week's reading Easwaran writes, “Nothing we do could have a more beneficial influence on those around us than remaining calm and considerate in the midst of ups and downs.” For this week’s challenge, reflect on a situation where you’ve been agitated recently and craft a strategy for remaining calm and considerate the next time you face it.

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way. So let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:

    • Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:
      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

For a spiritual treat, here is the second half of the video we started last week. The player should start automatically where we left off at timepoint 8:30, so feel free to restart at the beginning if you missed it last time. In the video, Easwaran reminds us about all the opportunities our desires offer for gaining a firmer, fitter will. He also discusses practical ways we can make great strides towards realizing our true Self within.

Video

Hold On to Your High Ideals

“If you are one of the great majority of human beings who have allowed their ideals to get vague around the edges,” Easwaran consoles us in this week’s reading, “meditation can sharpen and strengthen them. Simply refreshing these ideals in meditation can bring an immediate sense of relief, as if coming home again after a long absence or finding something precious you had lost and forgotten.”

This week we take up Turning Ideals Into Action: The Spiritual Challenge, the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, starting with the first article by Easwaran on pages 5–14. May we each be inspired by this sweet promise of coming home again to our own ideals!

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?

• In this week's reading, Easwaran writes, “Ideals are merely ideas until we translate them into daily life – and that means learning to go against the conditioning that urges us to put ourselves first instead.” What is one small way you can go against your conditioning and put others first this week?

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way. So let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:

    • Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:
      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

For our spiritual bonus this week, let’s enjoy the first half of this video, ending at timepoint 8:30. Of course you are welcome to continue and watch the second half as well, but note that we’ll be using it for our treat next week. In the video, Easwaran reminds us about all the opportunities our desires offer for gaining a firmer, fitter will. He also discusses practical ways we can make great strides towards realizing our true Self within.

Video

Original Goodness

Easwaran presents a lofty vision in this week’s reading: “The seed is there, and the ground is fertile. Nothing is required but diligent gardening to bring into existence the God-tree: a life that proclaims the original goodness in all creation.” Please find that brief article, titled “Original Goodness,” on pages 51–52 of the Winter 2015 Blue Mountain Journal The Challenge of Choosing to Be Kind, and let’s read it along with the “Last Reminders from Easwaran” on pages 48–49 and the passages on pages 9, 13, 22, 26, and 53.

• If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips, and try them out this week.

• Easwaran says, “Exercising discrimination is part of being kind. We need to combine a soft heart with a hard nose.” This week, watch for examples of people who exercise good discrimination and are able to be warm-hearted yet firm when necessary. Are there situations when you can exercise this skill yourself?

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • This week, on December 29, we will have our annual New Years day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. This is very important this year. Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way. So on December 29, let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We will pour our mantrams out throughout that day and night for peace and healing in the world. The centerpiece of our day will be Satsang Live, and we will join together at 9:40 am PT to start writing mantrams.

  • But it won’t stop this year at the end of that day. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:

    • Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:
      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “You Are That” from the Chandogya Upanishad.

Passage Audio

Seeking the Same Self in All

Let’s keep learning how to choose kindness! This week we’ll finish Easwaran’s answers to the frequently asked questions in the Winter 2015 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, reading pages 30–38. Here he reminds us, “What matters is the friendliness we show, the attention with which we listen – and, more than anything else, the complete absence of any sense of superiority.”

And thanks for all your examples and inspiration throughout this past month! It is very uplifting to be studying Easwaran’s timely message together.

• What is the most important thing that Easwaran said to you in this reading? How can you apply it in your life?

• A challenge: practice listening. Take time to listen to others this week. Particularly if there is disagreement, make it your goal to understand what the other person is expressing. But don’t stop just with disagreements. Simply enjoy listening to other’s verbal and non-verbal connections. Try to listen knowing that the Lord lives in this person.

• Mantrams for Peace and Healing

  • On December 29, we will have our annual New Years day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. This is very important this year. Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way. So on December 29, let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We will pour our mantrams out throughout that day and night for peace and healing in the world. The centerpiece of our day will be Satsang Live, and we will join together at 9:40 am PT to start writing mantrams.

  • But it won’t stop this year at the end of that day. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:

    • Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

    • We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!

    • Let’s all send our mantram books to:
      BMCM
      PO Box 256
      Tomales, CA 94971

For a spiritual treat this week, here is a brief video in which Easwaran draws inspiration from the great mystic poet Kabir.

Video

The Way to Peace

Mantrams for Peace and Healing

On December 29, we will have our annual New Years day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. This is very important this year. Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way.

So on December 29, let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We will pour our mantrams out throughout that day and night for peace and healing in the world. The centerpiece of our day will be Satsang Live, and we will join together at 9:40 am PT to start writing mantrams.

But it won’t stop this year at the end of that day. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:

Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.

We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!

Now a little logistical detail. Let’s all send our mantram books to:
BMCM
PO Box 256
Tomales, CA 94971

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“I know when somebody is being rude or unkind, but it does not impair my faith in that person or lower him in my eyes,” Easwaran explains in this week’s reading. “I keep my eyes on the core of goodness I see in him, and act toward him as I would have him act toward me. There is only one way to make others more loving, and that is by loving more ourselves.” We are continuing our study of The Challenge of Choosing to Be Kind, from the Winter 2015 Blue Mountain Journal. Let’s pick back up with the title article, reading pages 21–30. We are eager to hear how you take up this challenge in the comments below!

• What is one statement that speaks to your heart in this reading? How will you put it into action this week?

• A challenge: this week, when you are feeling negative, tired, bored, sad, or anxious, try this easy fix-it. Do something for someone else. For instance, make some soup to share with a neighbor; do an errand for your partner; play a board game with the kids; call a lonely friend. Notice for yourself how quickly your own state of mind changes. Tell us how it goes!

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Easwaran reading the passage “The Whole World Is Your Own” from Sri Sarada Devi.

Passage Audio

The Challenge of Choosing to Be Kind

Last week we took up The Challenge of Choosing to Be Kind, the Winter 2015 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, including starting the title article where Easwaran answers frequently asked questions about choosing kindness. This week let’s continue that extended article, reading from page 11 to the heading on page 21. The section is full of insights and practical tips, including this striking metaphor about focusing all our attention on what is best in others:

“This is one of the most practical skills I have learned from my spiritual teacher, my grandmother, and it can be tremendously effective in helping those around you. It is something like turning a flashlight on a particular spot. I don’t diffuse my attention to take in both positive and negative behavior; I keep concentrating on what is kind, what is generous, what is selfless, and the amazing response is that this kind of support draws out and strengthens these very qualities. Not only that, as they become more secure, such people begin to spread this consideration to their other relationships too.”

• 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.

• A challenge: is there a situation or person that annoys you or makes you impatient? This week, put special effort into focusing on the positive in that person. Whenever you think a critical thought about the person, correct it by reminding yourself of a positive quality. When interacting, focus on their positive qualities. When you remember the interaction afterward, or when you talk to others about it, purposely focus on the things that you had in common or that went well. You will need your mantram for this exercise! Share your brave experiments.

And for bonus inspiration, here is a six-minute video in which Easwaran describes how by training our mind, “We can become part of the Sea of Love while living on Earth.”

Video

The Same Self Is in All of Us

Here on the eSatsang we’ve spent the past several weeks studying Easwaran’s message on how to live in unity amidst a world in crisis. Now let’s explore living in unity from a different direction, turning to The Challenge of Choosing to Be Kind, the Winter 2015 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal. We’ll start with Christine Easwaran’s introduction to the issue on page 2, along with the opening statement from Easwaran on page 3. We’ll then read pages 5–10, the start of the title article for this issue, composed of frequently asked questions answered by Easwaran. We’re eager to hear what parts inspire you. Here’s an extended quote that stirred us:

“Most of us can treat others with respect under certain circumstances—at the right time, with the right people, in a certain place. When those circumstances are absent, we usually move away. Yet when we respond according to how the other person behaves, changing whenever she changes, and she is behaving in this same way, how can we expect anything but insecurity on both sides? There is nothing solid to build on.

“Instead, we can learn to respond always to the Self within—focusing not on the other person’s ups and downs, likes and dislikes, but always on what is changeless in each of us. Then others grow to trust us. They know they can count on us –and that makes us more secure too.”

• Is there a tip in this reading that is particularly challenging for you? How will you wrestle with it this week?

• As a challenge, try focusing this week on treating others – and speaking about them – with respect. Do this for those you love, those you dislike, and those you tend to ignore. What do you learn by trying this?

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Give Up Anger” from the Dhammapada.

Passage Audio

The Joy of All

To finish our study of A World in Crisis Part 3: Living in Unity, the Spring 2021 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, let’s read Easwaran’s brief article “The Joy of All” on page 59 along with the passages on pages 21, 41, and 56. Throughout the issue, Easwaran has reminded us that meditation is essential to unity, so this journal includes his brief instructions for meditation on pages 60–61, providing an opportunity for us each to review with fresh eyes. And here are the final words from Easwaran on the journal’s back cover:

“When we start living for others, we come to life. All our deeper capacities flow into our hands; our security increases and our wisdom grows, as does our creative ability to solve the problems that confront the world. Living and acting selflessly, we will be constantly aware that all life is one, and that throughout creation there is an underlying unity binding us all together.”

• Is there a particular situation that causes you to get speeded up or agitated? What tips do you find in this week’s passages and reading from Easwaran that you could try out in this situation? Even if the tips don’t seem to directly apply, try them anyhow and tell us what you find.

• Try taking a “mantram nap” at a time that is practical for you during your day. Simply lie down for 10 to 20 minutes (set an alarm if needed) and silently repeat the mantram. Try to keep the mantram going. If you drowse off, that’s ok, just start the mantram again when possible.

  • Mantram naps can refresh you so you have more energy for the rest of the day. Many of us find it very helpful to take a short mantram nap before our evening meditation.

For this week’s spiritual treat, in the six-minute video below Easwaran summarizes some insights from the sages of ancient India and discusses how these insights can transform our daily life and our world. He speaks of the great mystics’ journeys to reach the state of stillness of mind, where their vision of the universe became clear and whole.

Video

Nine Ways to Work in Unity

The law of unity sounds like an abstract spiritual concept, but throughout the Spring 2021 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, Easwaran guides us through its practical applications for healing our relationships and our world. In this week’s reading on pages 48–53, the application is selfless service, as he enumerates “Nine Ways to Work in Unity.” We are eager to hear about your experiments applying these in your own live. Here is one excerpt that inspired us: “How we work is as important as what we do. Spiritual values are not so much taught as caught, from the lives of those who embody them. Your job may be nothing more glamorous than janitor in a hospital, but if you are practicing sadhana sincerely, you will be contributing to other people’s lives, even though you may not see it happening. These are spiritual laws.”

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• Is there someone who you see often, who you feel critical towards? If so, smother the criticism with cheerful mantrams; pre-empt the criticism with the mantram as a reminder that the Lord is in this person. This is a version of “mantram forgiveness.”

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “When I Lose Myself in Thee” from Tukaram.

Passage Audio

At Home with Friends and Enemies

Let’s continue our study of the Spring 2021 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, A World in Crisis Part 3: Living in Unity. This week we will read Easwaran’s article “At Home with Friends and Enemies,” on pages 27–39. Continuing the issue’s exploration of the law of unity, here Easwaran explains its expression in kind conduct towards those who disagree with us. He writes, “…if we grasp this great truth – that the Lord lives in each and every one of us, regardless of who we are – we will never be discourteous to others, we will never be unkind, we will never try to avoid people, we will always be glad to work in harmony with those around us. Then it becomes impossible to quarrel, to be angry, to hurt others, to move away.”

• 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.

• Have the goal to use the mantram when surprised. Devise a strategy to say the mantram instead of any other sound or phrase when surprised. For instance, we usually say “Oops” (or perhaps worse) when we spill something, slip while walking, or when a car swerves in front of our car unexpectedly. Devise a strategy for inserting the mantram in the place of the usual verbal reaction. Try it out – and if you don’t manage to get the mantram in at the first surprise, start it up as soon as you remember. Before long, you will discover that the mantram has a sense of humor of its own – and it will start slipping itself in BEFORE you can say “oops.”

For a spiritual treat this week, here is a brief video in which Easwaran describes his own efforts with the mantram and some of the benefits that taking the mantrams deeper can bring for us.

Video

The Tree of Life

After a deeply inspiring month celebrating Easwaran’s life and teachings and rededicating ourselves to our practice, we now turn again to Easwaran for guidance on how to be of service amidst a world in crisis.

Let’s turn to the Spring 2021 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal, A World in Crisis Part 3: Living in Unity, and this week we’ll begin by reading the brief statement from Easwaran on page 3, along with his article “The Tree of Life: A Symbol of Unity” on pages 5–18. Exploring the Bhagavad Gita’s magnificent simile of the Tree of Life, Easwaran guides us through the vast practical consequences and opportunities it implies, including enriched relationships, security, and love that grows without bounds. He writes, “There is no limit to how wide our concern can extend, because in meditation our consciousness expands little by little, until ultimately we discover we are the very root of the Tree of Life.”

• Read this article as if you and Easwaran are having a conversation. What advice does he give you, and how can you apply it this week?

• Let’s keep our mantram practice growing! Say your mantram before starting tasks. See how often you can do this. Can you make it a habit?

  • When sending email or text messages, say your mantram a few times before hitting “send.”

  • When you walk from one place to another, say the mantram to help you transition.

For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The Miracle of Illumination” from Shantideva.

Passage Audio

Going Home

We have arrived at the week of our Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings! You can read details of how to participate this Sunday, October 27 at www.bmcm.org/celebration.

Here in the eSatsang, for the final week of our study of the 2018 Blue Mountain Journal Do You Know Who You Really Are?, let’s read Easwaran’s article “The Goal of Evolution” on pages 52–59, along with his closing statement titled “Going Home” on page 61. There in simple language Easwaran sums up the journal’s theme: “That is exactly what meditation means: going home to the realm of infinite joy, infinite love, and infinite peace that we call God.”

• Read this article as if you and Easwaran are having a conversation. What advice does he give you, and how can you apply it this week?

• A letter of rededication: as we noted at the start of this journal study, each year many of us at BMCM go through a process of reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration. We culminate that process with a letter of rededication to Easwaran, and you may want to join in that. Review your notes or thoughts from the questions over the past month, optionally using this reflection worksheet. Then use those ideas to write a letter in which you express your gratitude to Easwaran as your teacher and also a specific small way in which you are rededicating yourself to him in the upcoming year. Put this letter in an envelope and keep it carefully to be reviewed next year at the time of Easwaran’s Life Celebration.

• See you on Sunday in BMCM Satsang Live, as the centerpiece of our day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world. Your presence is important!

And here is one more excerpt from Quietly Changing the World for this week’s spiritual treat. (If you’d like more, you can access these videos here on our website).

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A Higher Image through the Eight-Point Program

We are now one week away from our worldwide celebration of Easwaran’s life on Sunday, October 27 – we hope you will join us! You can read details of how to participate at www.bmcm.org/celebration.

Here in the eSatsang we have been preparing by studying the 2018 Blue Mountain Journal Do You Know Who You Really Are? This week we will read Easwaran’s article “A Higher Image through the Eight-Point Program” on pages 46–49. Here’s how Easwaran introduces it: “Spiritual growth is a lifelong dialogue between our everyday personality and our innermost Self, between the daily and the divine in the depths of the heart, when the superficial self we are aware of speaks to the deeper wisdom in us all.”

You may also enjoy returning to the meditation passages presented earlier in the journal, on pages 25 and 44.

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?

• Continuing our reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration, we have two prompts for you this week. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes.

  • Think about your daily or weekly schedule. Think of one small way you could tweak that schedule to put meditation first in the upcoming year. Write it down in specific terms.

  • Choose a passage from God Makes the Rivers to Flow that speaks to you about the relationship you want to cultivate with Easwaran. Copy that passage.

• When we all join together in BMCM Satsang Live to absorb Easwaran’s presence, followed by meditation, that is a powerful healing force that the world needs. Can you meet us there?

We hope you’ve been enjoying the excerpts from Quietly Changing the World. Here is the next excerpt for this week’s spiritual treat.

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The Three Stages of Meditation

With our worldwide celebration of Easwaran’s life coming Sunday, October 27, we continue to enjoy the 2018 Blue Mountain Journal Do You Know Who You Really Are? You can read details of how to participate in the Life Celebration at www.bmcm.org/celebration.

This week in the eSatsang, we’ll read Easwaran’s article “The Three Stages of Meditation” on pages 31–44. In the initial two stages, Easwaran writes, we discover first that we are not our body and then that we are not our mind either. With these discoveries, he explains, a great deal of power comes into our hands: “You can tune the engine of your mind very much the way you choose—in fact, you can come to have such mastery that even in your sleep, negative thoughts like resentment, hostility, and greed will not arise. You take full responsibility for your mental states as well as for your behavior.”

Then in an astounding section, Easwaran describes what happens in the climax of meditation, when we travel deep into our real nature: “In this profound state all petty personal longings, all hungering and thirsting, all sense of incompleteness vanish. We discover, almost in every cell of our being, that deep within us we lack nothing. Our inner reserves of love and wisdom are infinite; we can draw on them endlessly and never diminish them.”

• What is one statement that speaks to your heart in this reading? How will you put it into action this week?

• Continuing our reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration, survey your life as it stands right now – your relationships in the family, at work or school, and in your community. Think of one small way you could decrease a sense of separateness and increase harmony in the upcoming year. Write down a specific step you could take. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes.

• We look forward to spending time with Easwaran – and with you – in BMCM Satsang Live this week.

And here is another “spiritual bonus” from Quietly Changing the World!

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Beyond the Physical

We are continuing our preparation for Easwaran’s life celebration on Sunday, October 27. You can read details of how to participate in the Life Celebration at www.bmcm.org/celebration. In the meantime, there isn’t time to waste. Every day, we each need to infuse the spiritual renaissance with a little more life, a little more love. Let’s all focus on what we are certain of, what we can do from day to day, and how we can join together to strengthen our unity. This five-week program is a time we can all join hands and build intimacy with our teacher to respond to these compelling times. In all the ways you participate, you are strengthening your own practice as well as supporting our beloved community. Your daily meditation and your mantram are healing forces in the world.

This week in the eSatsang, let’s finish Easwaran’s article “Our Real Identity,” reading pages 14–23 of the 2018 Blue Mountain Journal Do You Know Who You Really Are? Easwaran explains, “The inner beauty which shows itself in the capacity to give and to cherish grows with the passage of time. It transcends the senses, transcends even mind and intellect. We can grow in beauty until the last day of our life, and the desire to look on everyone as kith and kin will draw people to us for the beauty of our lives.” May we each be inspired to realize this truth in our lives!

• 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.

• Let’s continue our personal reflection for Easwaran’s Life Celebration. At the end of the process, we will each write a letter to Easwaran. Many of us keep these letters year after year, and you may want to do the same.

  • If you participated in last year’s Life Celebration Satsang, did you write a letter of rededication to Easwaran? If so, review that letter if you have it, or remember what you wrote. If you didn’t write a letter last year, you can start this meaningful tradition now.

  • Thinking over the last year, reflect on your successes in shaping your life and relationships based on your highest ideals. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes.

• We look forward to taking our theme of “Our Real Identity” even deeper in BMCM Satsang Live.

And for this week’s spiritual treat, here is the next excerpt from Quietly Changing the World.

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Our Real Identity

As we do each autumn, we are now entering into our annual Celebration of Easwaran’s Life and Teachings. You can read details of how to participate at www.bmcm.org/celebration.

 Here in the eSatsang, to deepen our connection with Easwaran, we will be studying the Blue Mountain Journal Do You Know Who You Really Are? issued in Fall/Winter 2018. Let’s start the journal by reading pages 5–13. Easwaran draws us into a theme of intimate importance to each of us: our real identity. “Like everybody else,” he writes, “I grew up believing that I was purely physical, a collection of biochemical constituents. What has changed for me since then? Everything. Not two or three things but everything. Through meditation, with the help of the demanding disciplines I followed every day in the midst of a busy life, that belief in myself as a purely physical creature has fallen away completely. Today I do not look upon myself or anyone else as physical. I identify with the Self, pure spirit, the same in all.”

• What is the most important thing that Easwaran said to you in this reading? How can you apply it in your life?

• Let’s also start a personal reflection process for Easwaran’s Life Celebration. This is a tradition for many of us at BMCM. We keep our notes from year to year to reread and reflect on, as a record of our own spiritual journey. Each week over the next month we’ll give a prompt to guide you through this process. If you’d like, you can use this reflection worksheet to keep your notes. To begin, think back on the last year, particularly on the benefits you have received from your practice of passage meditation. Write down your observations.

• To complement this study, please join us for BMCM Satsang Live this week.

As special spiritual treats this month, we’ll end each eSatsang post with an excerpt from Quietly Changing the World. These videos include rare archival photos and recordings of Easwaran and his wife Christine, together with interviews with longtime students. (If you’d like more, you can access these videos here on our website).

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The World is Full of God

Our study of the Fall 2019 Blue Mountain Journal Seeing the Lord in All has been abundant with balm and inspiration. Let’s finish with the brief final article from Easwaran on pages 58–61 and the beautiful passages included in this issue on pages 25, 30, 31, and 55. Here are the final words from Easwaran on the journal’s back cover: “I don’t have to close my eyes in meditation to see God. I see nothing else. And I see, at the same time, that not only every human being but every living creature, the mountains, the rivers, the seas, the skies, the forests and the earth, are all one indivisible whole.”

• If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips, and try them out this week.

• Keep expanding your mantram practice. Try writing your mantram in designs, perhaps using colored pens, to create a piece of mantram art. This can be very simple. You don’t need to be an artist, but the activity can engage you and allow you to stick with the mantram for an extended period. This is a wonderful activity to share with your children or grandchildren. On this page of our website, you will find many ways to share the mantram with children (as well as yourself!). Scroll down to find templates for mantram art.