“For thousands of years, mystics of all religions have used the image of ascending a mountain to describe the adventure of attaining the highest state of consciousness,” Easwaran writes, as he introduces the journey he used to make each year to the summit of the Blue Mountain.
From the heat and dry, oppressive wind of Central India's summer he traveled south by train on the Grand Trunk Express to Madras, then on the Blue Mountain Express to Coimbatore, hot and dusty across the southern part of India. Then by rural bus he made a slow, imperceptible ascent to the town of Mettupalayam, which means “elevated camp.” “I breathe a sigh of relief as the bus leaves behind the din and dust of the town and crosses the Bhavani River, named after the Divine Mother,” he shares.
“That is how sadhana proceeds these first few years,” he explains. “From day to day you seem to make no progress.” But we have risen significantly. Above the foothills now, new challenges begin: “For miles the road winds through a dense forest, abounding with wild animals….” This week, let’s read the first half of the ascent, pages 159–164 in Climbing the Blue Mountain.*
Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?
Let’s continue extending our practice of Putting Others First. Easwaran writes, “Nothing we do could have a more beneficial influence on those around us than remaining calm and considerate in the midst of ups and downs.” For this week’s challenge, reflect on a situation where you’ve been agitated recently and craft a strategy for remaining calm and considerate the next time you face it.
In two weeks, on June 9th, the eSatsang will begin studying Easwaran’s The Constant Companion. To prepare, make sure you have the book available.
For readers living in the United States, the print book is available here on our BMCM web store. Electronic versions are available worldwide and are also linked from that page.
Here is the cover of the edition we’ll be using:
Let’s return to Easwaran’s Patanjali talks** for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk 15. 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 the first five minutes, where Easwaran begins, “This evening we take up three aphorisms together in which Patanjali shows us how illumination is a deliverance from time into the eternal now.”
* For those using electronic versions of Climbing the Blue Mountain with different page numbering: this week’s reading is the first half of the chapter “Climbing the Blue Mountain,” ending with “…resentment into love.”
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