Beauty is again a theme of our names of Vishnu this week, as we read The Constant Companion, pages 176–186.*
“Even the calves, the poets say, stop nursing for a moment and turn their heads up to look at Krishna. You have to have seen a calf nursing to appreciate that; every ounce of its attention is fixed greedily on the udder. Even that passionate attachment dissolves in love for Krishna.”
Easwaran tells us there is no end to the power this beauty has to transform our lives. “This is the very practical purpose of an incarnation of God: that in loving his outward form, as Saint Bernard says, we may slowly be drawn into complete spiritual union.”
What is one statement that speaks to your heart in this reading? How will you put it into action this week?
We are taking this book study as an opportunity to give special attention to our practice of Spiritual Reading. In what ways do you find these stories are helping you see the Lord in others around you?
For our spiritual treat, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Come, Beloved,” from Meera.
* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Beautiful through Charioteer. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)