Last week Easwaran showed us how a racing mind underlies both excitement and depression. This week he continues exposing the mental dynamics behind those states and leads us to a solution: “[U]nder no circumstances should you let praise or blame throw you into agitation. This is where the mantram comes to your rescue.”
As this skill develops, the wild pendulum swings of the mind will be dampened, consolidating our joy, and enabling access to discernment.
This week’s eSatsang reading is pages 97–100 in The Mantram Handbook.*
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?
We have been making a second pass through our mantram exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.
This week, repeat or write the mantram for three minutes before meditation.
For our spiritual perk let’s return to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks.** This week let’s enjoy Talk Six. The full talk is almost an hour, but you can listen to part of it now and when you return the player will resume where you left off. If time is short, consider starting with just the first five minutes, in which Easwaran distinguishes intellectual knowledge from the capacity that leads to Self-realization.
* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from chapter seven, starting with the subheading “Guarding against Depression” and ending before the subheading “Getting Out of a Depression.”
** You’ll need to log in for the link above to work. If it’s your first time, use the button Create new account from the login page.