Easwaran addresses some of our biggest questions in this week’s reading, pages 139–144 of The Mantram Handbook.*
What does spiritual experience of the ultimate reality mean in practical terms? Easwaran gives an infallible test:
“You may have a bumper sticker that says All Life Is One, but if you do not have some measure of control over your thinking process, if you cannot drop a job at will or juggle with your likes and dislikes, if you cannot bear patiently with those who oppose you, then you have not yet realized the unity of life for yourself.”
What is the goal of life, and what is its realization?
“What we are all looking for, even though we may be searching in the most improbable places, is infinite wisdom, infinite joy, infinite love. And this is our real nature. At the very core of our being is a spark of purity, of perfection, of divinity, because the Lord is enshrined in the heart of each of us. When we learn to identify less and less with that which is subject to change and more and more with this core of perfection, we are gradually waking up to our true nature.”
We are so happy to be studying Easwaran and his lofty message with you.
Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?
We have experimented with many different mantram-deepening exercises over the past few months, and last week we each chose an exercise to repeat that we found particularly helpful. Now briefly reflect and choose an exercise you found particularly challenging, and work on that again this week.
* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week we are reading from the start of chapter 10 and ending before the subheading “Detachment.”
For spiritual entertainment, here is a four-minute video of Easwaran commenting on a passage from Saint Anselm, Calling On The Lord. Easwaran uses a Sufi story to encourage us to deepen our spiritual practice to draw nearer to the Lord.