This week, we’ll continue to look at the retreat theme of building the will, and this time through the lens of the mantram.
In light of that, you might carve out some dedicated mantram time this week in a way that works for you. Is there one activity you can do to focus on the mantram? During retreats there are many opportunities for repeating the mantram such as just before eating a meal, or while taking a walk, lying down for a nap, writing mantrams at the beginning of a workshop, or creating mantram art for someone… you choose!
In the spirit of bringing the retreat experience home, you could also consider sitting down to write the mantram for a period of time, dedicating your mantrams to someone who needs them. You could do this in unison with Christine Easwaran and friends at Ramagiri Ashram on Sunday from 2:00pm-2:30 p.m. San Francisco Time. You can see what time that would be for you using the button below.
Whatever you decide, we’d love to hear about it, and how it went.
This week, our reading from Easwaran emphasizes using the mantram to build the will so we can be kind in challenging situations. Please feel free to share particular lines or sections from the reading that stand out to you, and tell us how they might apply to your own life. Have you encountered a challenging situation during which the mantram helped, or could help in the future?
This is an excerpt from pages 319-20 in The End of Sorrow, volume 1 of The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living by Easwaran.
19. Such people have conquered separate existence. Their minds are even and reflect the unity and perfection of Brahman.
In order to look with an equal eye of love and respect on all, whether they conduct themselves selfishly or selflessly towards us, we must have the capacity to keep our mind even at all times. In the Gita, Sri Krishna defines the unitive state as evenness of mind (2: 48). Now what usually happens to most of us is just the opposite of even-mindedness. As soon as someone pleases us, we begin to get exhilarated; when someone does what we want, there is an automatic sense of satisfaction. On the other hand, when someone says no to us, we immediately get dejected. This constant fluctuation of the mind takes away from our capacity to deal with everyday difficulties. To deal successfully with a difficult situation, all that is usually required is that we preserve our equilibrium and not get agitated. When someone is flying into a rage, it is very easy for us to get angry in return, which can only change things for the worse. Arithmetic tells us there are now two people in a rage. The question is, how has the situation been improved by doubling the number of people in a rage?
When we are getting agitated and angry, the best thing we can do to maintain our equilibrium is to go out for a long, brisk walk repeating the mantram in our mind. In the early days, after going around the block, we will want to come back because we have thought of a sparkling repartee which in our normal state of consciousness we wouldn’t have been able to think of. When we want to come back, knowing what satisfaction our ego is going to get by making one more crack, that is the time to propel ourselves onwards saying the mantram. It is painful, because we have such good things to hit with. It seems a sorry waste. But after we have kept walking for an hour and the rhythm of the footstep, mantram, and breathing has calmed the mind, we will remember some of the nice things about the other person. When we were upset, it was unmitigated evil that we saw embodied before us. But it takes only an hour’s walk, with the repetition of the mantram, to know that the evil is mitigated. If we can control our anger a few times this way, we will be able to remember when someone provokes us that even though he is angry now, when he comes back to normal he will be good, kind, and loving.
When we are burning with anger, we often conclude that this burning is going to last forever. But if we could quench the flames of anger consuming us and remember that in a little while we will have forgotten our anger, none of us would go to the extreme of moving away from people, which we now often try to do. Moving away is the worst thing to do in case of differences. Alienation deprives both parties of becoming aware of the unity in that relationship, and it weakens both. By strengthening the other person, in contrast, we are also strengthening ourselves. Living in peace and harmony with people who are agitated is one of the greatest services we can render them. Everyone is prepared to move away from people who are troubled, who are angry or afraid, but when troubled people find one person who can bear with them and support them, and at the same time guide them by his personal conduct, they respond beautifully with greater love and respect. It is the capacity to bear with people, whatever they do, which is the secret of love.