This week, we’ll look at Putting Others First, one of the more nuanced of the eight points. How you put one person first is not necessarily how you will put the next person first – and it will even vary with the same person from situation to situation. Putting others first is a direct way to reduce our self-will. You may already be putting others first in many ways. This week, see if you can take the opportunity to do one focused selfless act. Perhaps you can help a friend or family member with a physical project in the yard or garden. Or maybe, you’ll take some time to write the mantram for someone going through a difficult time. Decide what is right for you. Give it a try, reflect on the experience, and let us know how it went!
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Putting Others First
Join us for a bonus virtual satsang! Please choose a passage from God Makes the Rivers to Flow or from our website that speaks to you about building your will. We’ll have a virtual satsang session to share these passages aloud, followed by 30 minutes of passage meditation on Saturday, September 1 at 11:00 a.m.-12:15p.m., San Francisco time.
This week, we’ll look at Putting Others First, one of the more nuanced of the eight points. How you put one person first is not necessarily how you will put the next person first – and it will even vary with the same person from situation to situation.
You may already be Putting Others First in many ways. This week, see if you can take the opportunity to do one focused selfless act. Perhaps you can help a friend or family member with a physical project in the yard or garden. Or maybe, you’ll take some time to write the mantram for someone going through a difficult time. Decide what is right for you. Give it a try, reflect on the experience, and let us know how it went! Easwaran reminds us that our true nature is selfless, and that meditation can free us from self-will to use our inner resources for the benefit of others. Have you tasted the benefits of setting aside your self-will by Putting Others First in the context of your personal relationships?
For next month's theme, we'd like to have your help in selecting a passage to study. Follow the link to cast your vote! Thanks to each of you for contributing your experiments, and for contributing to last week’s online workshop. It was a great boost to continue striving towards Putting Others First.
As promised, we are very interested to hear how your experiments went this past week. What did you learn? Did you try something new? Feel free to share any reflections.
To keep us inspired, we’ll leave Easwaran with the last word. In this six-minute clip, he comments upon how we are all looking for love, and can find it in our own communities, by joining the sea of love that is the Lord.
One last reminder about our online workshop: Saturday, February 24 at 9–10:15a.m. San Francisco time. We look forward to sharing satsang with you!
Part of the online workshop suggests creating an experiment to extend our theme of learning to love in our daily practice of the eight-point program.
Think of a routine time in your daily life when you’d like to be more able to put others first. Come up with a small experiment you’d like to try around your chosen time.
Then, deepen this experiment by thinking of a way to remember your chosen time during the day.
We’d really love to hear all of the ways everyone will be planning to put others first this coming week! Next week, we’ll ask you to share any results. Your example will inspire others, so consider sharing as a way of putting your eSatsang friends first.
We warmly invite you to join us for an online workshop on Saturday, February 24 at 9–10:15 a.m. San Francisco time. This is a 75-minute workshop on the theme of Putting Others First. Many members of our eSatsang will be taking part, so it’s a chance for some real-time satsang!
This week, we’re continuing our reading study from Passage Meditation, on Putting Others First. In the excerpt below, Easwaran shares the lofty purpose for all of our efforts to reduce self-will and put others first: “unitary consciousness.” It can be helpful to have this reminder if the situation you find yourself in is a difficult one.
How does keeping your grandest purpose in the forefront of your mind help with your practice of the eight points in your daily life? We would love to hear your comments and reflections on this topic.
Would you like to meditate with others? Get an extra boost with this month’s theme, and join our passage meditation community for a virtual meditation on Saturday mornings at 6:30 a.m. San Francisco time. We'll start the virtual meditation with a volunteer reading a passage from God Makes the Rivers To Flow aloud. Then we'll silently meditate together for 30 minutes. We’ll ring a bell to signal the end of meditation, and ask for another volunteer to read aloud Easwaran's "Thought for the Day". This week, we’re sharing a video which begins with Easwaran citing Shakespeare’s sonnet 116, and continues with him sharing its similarities to the Bhagavad Gita and the Dhammapada. Easwaran is underscoring Shakepseare’s definition of love, which is something that is unchanging, immutable: “Love is a continuing state.” He also reminds us that love is a skill that each of us can learn. What does lasting love mean to you?
This month we’re delving into the rewarding topic of Putting Others First. Over the coming weeks, we will explore what Easwaran means by loving others, and test out his teachings on love in our daily lives.
This month’s theme will culminate with the next Returnee Online Workshop on Saturday, February 24, at 9:00–10:15 a.m. San Francisco Time. Many members of the eSatsang will be taking part, so it’s a chance for some real-time satsang and discussion on Putting Others First.
Putting Others First can be one of the more challenging of the eight points, so let’s get back to basics, and study a section from Easwaran’s book, Passage Meditation.
The examples of love Easwaran describes in the reading below are simple in their description, but daring in their application. Which of the practical examples that Easwaran suggests to show our love do you find the most daring?