We’ve been doing the hard work of Turning Ideals Into Action, the topic of the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal. In this week’s article “All of Us Are One,” Easwaran inspires us toward this challenge, writing, “The same spark of divinity – this same Self – is enshrined in every creature. My real Self is not different from yours nor anyone else’s. The mystics are telling us that if we want to live in the joy that increases with time, if we want to live in true freedom independent of circumstances, then we must strive to realize that even if there are four people in our family or forty at our place of work, there is only one Self.” And later he explains, “When the sages talk about ‘realization,’ what they mean is making this Self a reality in our daily living. We have to practice it in our behavior.” Let’s read that full article on pages 41–46, along with the extended passage Easwaran’s article refers to, on pages 48–51.
Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?
In this issue Easwaran writes, “…whenever I see somebody changing herself to be kinder or more selfless, my heart leaps in delight.” Can you take the opportunity to make Easwaran’s heart leap by changing something small this week? Use the comments below to let us know how so we can leap too!
Mantrams for Peace and Healing
Throughout the ages, when times were dark and people were losing hope, the saints and sages gathered with their students to lift up their prayers, asking for the Lord to bring help to the suffering world. It is said that over and over again, we’ve been rescued by Divine forces in this way. So let’s join Easwaran, Christine and Granny in this ancient tradition. We’re calling on all of us to lift up our mantrams for peace and healing in the world throughout the entire month of January. Here is how we will do it:
Please find a nice little blank book to fill with mantrams. We’re going to aim to fill up our books with mantrams by the beginning of February, and then, if you will, please send your book of mantrams to us here at the BMCM. We hope to gather all the books by February 14, a day especially inaugurated by Christine as “Ramagiri Aspirations Day.” On Aspirations Day, the Ramagiri residents gather to rededicate themselves to Easwaran’s legacy. We hope to place all those books full of mantrams before Easwaran’s altar at Ramagiri. That will be a fitting offering for peace and healing in the world.
We’ll need to get cracking with our mantram writing so we can get those books filled. Please join us, this is a grand offering for a very grand and needed purpose!
Let’s all send our mantram books to:
BMCM
PO Box 256
Tomales, CA 94971
For our spiritual bonus this week, here is Easwaran reading the passage “That Invisible One” from the Kena Upanishad.