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 29 at www.bmcm.org/celebration.
Here in the eSatsang we have been preparing by studying the 2017 Blue Mountain Journal Teacher and Student. This week we will read Easwaran’s article “In the Depths of the Unconscious” on pages 55–59 and also savor his brief statement on page 60 titled “From Darkness into Light.”
Easwaran helps us understand how our efforts at concentration in meditation and throughout the day – which may seem mundane – are slowly opening a way into the depths of consciousness. But “concentration alone is not enough,” he explains. “With concentration must flow what in traditional religious language is called devotion, love of God.” We can achieve this through devotion to our teacher, who has the immense responsibility “to embody the virtues that shine like jewels in the depths of consciousness in every human being.”
Easwaran assures us, “Even in little people like you and me, the Lord can come to life. By ourselves we are nothing, but every one of us can become a little lamp that shines like a beacon for all around to follow.”
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).