We are reading The Mantram Handbook, this week from pages 75–78,* as we continue making progress in our eSatsang’s second-ever full-length book study. Here Easwaran advises that when we are caught in elation or depression, it is not enough just to remember the mantram, although this helps greatly. “You must also be able to strengthen your will,” he explains, “and train it to help you make the wise choices which in the long run will free the mind from these vacillations.”
We can learn to go beyond our likes and dislikes, Easwaran assures us, through repetition of the mantram and exercising the will.
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!
We have experimented with many different mantram exercises over the past few months. As we continue our study of The Mantram Handbook, let’s repeat those exercises and see if we can each find a way to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. Here’s our mantram exercise 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 those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading begins with the subheading “The Elephant and the Bamboo” in Chapter 5 and ends before the subheading “Misplaced Zeal” in Chapter 6.
For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Chant the Sweet Name of God,” a song of Sri Ramakrishna.