Meditation Is Not a Luxury

This week we will begin studying the Spring 2015 Blue Mountain Journal Does Meditation Really Help the World? Here is how Christine Easwaran begins her introduction to the issue on page 2: “We are interrupting our coverage of Sri Eknath Easwaran’s Eight Point Program in response to an important question that has gained urgency in the last several months: In light of the terrible problems we see around us today, around the world, can our individual efforts at meditation really help?” Of course that question continues to be urgent today. Let’s begin our study by reading the rest of Christine’s introduction on page 2 (titled “In This Issue”), the brief statement from Easwaran on page 3 (titled “Meditation is Not a Luxury”), and the first few questions and answers from Easwaran in the journal’s main article, starting on page 5 and ending at the top of page 7.

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?

• Let’s practice extending our daily repetition of the mantram. This week, dedicate a specific hour per day for mantram focus. It might for example be between 7 and 8 a.m. while doing routine getting-ready-for-the-day activities, or during an afternoon walk and/or exercise time, or while gardening, or some other specific time. See if you can remember to use the mantram as frequently as possible during this whole hour.

Joys and Sorrows

Our study of the Fall 2020 / Winter 2021 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal has been full of practical tips and inspiration for transforming ourselves into instruments of peace. The journal ends with this quote from Easwaran on the back cover: “The lovers of God know the world is a harsh place, and the times we live in are difficult and dangerous. But they have enough security, endurance, and love to remember that all these upsets are on the surface. Beneath the anger and agitation, through every human being a river of love still runs.” As we conclude our study of this journal, let’s read the brief final article from Easwaran on pages 57–58 as well as the passages included in this issue on pages 9, 35, and 54.

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he and the passages in this week’s readings have to say. How can you apply these words to your situation?

• Keep expanding your approach to the evenings as a time to create a haven of lighthearted and playful replenishment. Even if your evenings feel far from that goal, just invite Easwaran in and let him shape how you act and speak. Then turn the very end of the day into a sacred moment. Turn off other media, read from Easwaran for a few minutes, and let the mantram carry you into sleep.

For an additional spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy this recording of Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The Way to Peace” from Swami Sivananda.

Passage Audio

Growing in Love

“The shining examples of spiritual figures like Saint Francis stand as monuments of hope,” Easwaran writes in the introduction to the Fall 2020 / Winter 2021 issue of the Blue Mountain Journal. And indeed, it has been so hopeful to study together Easwaran’s message on transforming ourselves through meditation on Saint Francis’s prayer. Continuing the theme of our role as instruments of peace amidst the current world crises, this week let’s study Easwaran’s article “Growing in Love” on pages 37–47. Here Easwaran explains, “This can happen to every one of us, over a long, long time. We start with our own family, our partner, our child, but then gradually we extend the circle of our compassion and affection to our neighbor. Slowly, it moves on down the street. In time, our new capacity to love is so strong that it won’t let us ignore the needs of homeless people on the other side of town. Then it extends to the county, then to the state. This is how it develops, and this is why it takes some years.”

• Is there a particular situation that causes you to get speeded up or agitated? What tips does Easwaran offer in this reading that you could try out in this situation? Even if the tips don’t seem to directly apply, try them anyhow and tell us what you find.

• How is your evening routine going? Just having the attitude that you want the evening to be a haven of lighthearted peace and love will start shaping how you speak and act. Then you can wrap up the day by turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and weaving the mantram into your sleep.

For our spiritual bonus this week, we’ll enjoy a video from Easwaran’s commentary on the Dhammapada in which he explores the practical meaning of leading a selfless life. By default, the last nine minutes of this talk will play. If you’d like more, feel free to adjust the starting point to the beginning of this half-hour talk.

Video

Change That Endures

This week we’ll continue Easwaran’s article “A Prayer for Transformation” from the Blue Mountain Journal A World in Crisis – Part 2: Our Role as Instruments of Peace, picking up with the section “An all-out effort to understand” on page 21 and reading through the article’s end on page 30. Here Easwaran continues the story of Saint Francis and describes the marvel of meditation on the ideals illuminated in Francis’s prayer: “You go to work on your own mind and change whatever needs changing, making yourself into the kind of person most suited to meeting the challenges of the day. There is cause for enormous hope here.”

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• Continue your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine. Even if some nights you can’t do it, try again to see the evening as a time for lighthearted, loving harmony with others and yourself. At the end of the day, build your routine of turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram.

We’ll end with another spiritual treat: we hope you enjoy this recording of Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Prayer for the Peace of the World” from Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Passage Audio

A Prayer for Transformation

Thanks to all who joined in our celebration of Christine Easwaran’s birthday, including last Sunday’s culmination!

Also, we'd like to encourage anyone who may be interested in attending our upcoming introductory weekend online retreat, July 26 - July 28. We find the most successful way to build a strong practice is to come to retreats. We would love to see you there!

---

Continuing our study of the Fall 2020 / Winter 2021 Blue Mountain Journal A World in Crisis – Part 2: Our Role as Instruments of Peace, this week we will read the first half of Easwaran’s article “A Prayer for Transformation,” from page 12 through the section ending on page 21. Here Easwaran shares the story of Saint Francis and describes the Prayer of Saint Francis as "a blueprint for making our life a blessing for everyone," giving us “the key to his transformation and a new vision of what a human being can become.” May we be newly inspired to join in this call to the best in ourselves!

• Is there a tip in this reading that is particularly challenging for you? How will you wrestle with it this week?

• Continue your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine. He started at dinner, consciously creating an atmosphere in the ashram of light-hearted, loving companionship. Try this in your own way in your unique setting. Then at the end of the day, turn off other media, read from Easwaran for a few minutes, and let the mantram soothe you to sleep.

For a spiritual treat this week, we are pleased to offer this three-minute video in which Easwaran explains how by slowing down our thoughts in meditation we can come to experience peace, security, and joy.

Video

Celebrating Christine Easwaran

We have arrived at the week of our Celebration of Christine Easwaran’s birthday! We have a special curriculum in which you can participate here in the eSatsang, as well as in Satsang Live this week.

Let’s begin with Easwaran reading one of Christine’s favorite passages, “Prayer for Peace” from Swami Omkar.

Passage Audio

Next we have three special readings to enjoy, providing inspiration from Christine’s life and her foremost themes:

1. With My Love and Blessings, pages 16–17

2. Christine’s Publisher’s Page from the Summer 2010 Blue Mountain Journal

3. Strength in the Storm, pages 160–162

And let’s end our birthday curriculum with another passage: here is Easwaran reading “The Prayer of Saint Francis” from Saint Francis of Assisi.

Passage Audio

• What is one statement that speaks to your heart in these readings? How will you put it into action this week?

• We have recently been working on imitating Easwaran’s evening routine. This week consider how these efforts contribute to your role in the spiritual renaissance.

• Join us on Sunday for a Day of Mantrams for Peace and Healing in the World in Christine’s honor. The centerpiece of our day is BMCM Satsang Live, where we will repeat this curriculum together. Your presence is important!

For this week’s spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy the special video available in the Easwaran Digital Library in Christine’s honor.

Unity in Dangerous Times

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Our beloved Christine’s birthday falls at the end of June. In former times, during this whole month, your cards and letters poured in, and Christine read each one with great joy.

The last two years, instead of sending cards and letters, you poured your hearts into the mantram, first as she was preparing to shed her body in summer 2022, and again last year in her honor.

So let’s continue this tradition, and make special effort with our mantrams throughout the month of June. Sunday, June 30 will be our actual celebration of her birthday with a special program on Satsang Live and a day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world.

---

This week we will begin studying the Blue Mountain Journal A World in Crisis – Part 2: Our Role as Instruments of Peace issued in the Fall of 2020. Let’s start by reading the introductory statement from Easwaran on page 3 along with his article “Unity in Dangerous Times” on pages 5–8. There he explains, “…the most powerful way to transform people is not through violence or punishment or sanctions, but through patient personal example. Every one of us has a role to play in this great task, right in our own home and community. It doesn’t require speaking or writing or political skills. It requires ideals and the desire to live by them.”

• If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips, and try them out this week.

• In these challenging times, the disturbances in our lives and in the world can creep into your sleep. But your evening routine can invite Easwaran in, and you can even make it a conscious invitation. Turn off other media, read from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then go to bed repeating the mantram.

And for our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christine Easwaran reading the passage “If You Want to Draw Near to God” from Abu Sa'id.

Passage Audio

An Ocean of Mercy

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

 Our beloved Christine’s birthday falls at the end of June. In former times, during this whole month, your cards and letters poured in, and Christine read each one with great joy.

The last two years, instead of sending cards and letters, you poured your hearts into the mantram, first as she was preparing to shed her body in summer 2022, and again last year in her honor.

So let’s continue this tradition, and make special effort with our mantrams throughout the month of June. Sunday, June 30 will be our actual celebration of her birthday with a special program on Satsang Live and a day of mantrams for peace and healing in the world.

---

For the final week of our study of Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves, the 2016 Blue Mountain Journal, let’s read the passages included or excerpted in this issue of the journal. You can begin by reviewing “A Prayer for Meditation” from Easwaran on page 4 (which we studied two weeks ago) and then continue to the passages on pages 12, 17, 20, 21, 25, and 39. And we can give Easwaran the final word, savoring his brief statement on page 45 titled “An Ocean of Mercy.” There Easwaran begins, “I can testify to you from my own life, without reservation, that whatever sins we have committed in life, we can receive forgiveness from God.”

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• Keep expanding your approach to the evenings as a time to create a haven of lighthearted and playful replenishment. Even if your evenings feel far from that goal, just invite Easwaran in and let him shape how you act and speak. Then turn the very end of the day into a sacred moment. Turn off other media, read from Easwaran for a few minutes, and let the mantram carry you into sleep.

For an additional spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy this recording of Easwaran reading the passage “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love” from Thomas à Kempis.

Passage Audio

Learning to Forgive Ourselves

Continuing on the theme of forgiveness, this week Easwaran counsels us on freeing ourselves from the burden of guilt in his article “Learning to Forgive Ourselves” on pages 36–41 of the Summer 2016 Blue Mountain Journal. Easwaran gives both practical tips and strong consolation: “Whatever we have done, we can always make amends for it without ever looking backwards in guilt or sorrow. One of the most consoling implications of this is that no matter what mistakes we may have committed in the past, no matter what liabilities we are oppressed by in the present, our real Self can never be tarnished; the core of our personality is always pure, always loving, always wise.”

• Is there a tip in this reading that is particularly challenging for you? How will you wrestle with it this week?

• How is your evening routine going? Just having the attitude that you want the evening to be a haven of lighthearted peace and love will start shaping how you speak and act. Then you can wrap up the day by turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and weaving the mantram into your sleep.

For our spiritual bonus this week, we are pleased to share a five-minute video in which Easwaran begins by speaking about the lofty goal of seeing the divine core of your personality.

Video

Our True Self

We hope our study of forgiveness is inspiring you to make small experiments in your own life! We’ll continue with the 2016 Blue Mountain Journal Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves, this week reading Christine Easwaran’s introduction to the issue on pages 2–3, along with a short article from Easwaran titled “Our True Self” on pages 32–33, and “A Prayer for Meditation” from Easwaran on page 4.

In her introduction Christine writes, “We think of forgiveness as a response to wrongs, but the forgiveness the mystics plead for is universal: a state of mind that Easwaran said absorbs ill will as trees absorb carbon dioxide in the air and transform it into life-giving oxygen.”

• Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?

• Continue your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine. Even if some nights you can’t do it, try again to see the evening as a time for lighthearted, loving harmony with others and yourself. At the end of the day, build your routine of turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram.

We’ll end with another spiritual treat: we hope you enjoy this recording of Christine Easwaran reading the passage “The Saint” from the Dhammapada.

Passage Audio

Ten Tips from Easwaran on How to Forgive

Continuing our study of the 2016 Blue Mountain Journal Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves, this week we will read “Ten Tips from Easwaran on How to Forgive,” on pages 23–31. The article is full of Easwaran’s practical advice and inspiration. He writes, “It takes a good deal of inner strength to remain calm and compassionate in the face of fierce opposition, never losing your balance or resorting to harsh language. But when you can do this, a kind of miracle takes place which all of us can verify. The other person becomes calmer, his eyes clear a little too; soon communication is established once again.”

• 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?

• Continue your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine. He started at dinner, consciously creating an atmosphere in the ashram of light-hearted, loving companionship. Try this in your own way in your unique setting. Then at the end of the day, turn off other media, read from Easwaran for a few minutes, and let the mantram soothe you to sleep.

For a spiritual treat this week, we are pleased to offer this three-minute video in which Easwaran describes a connection between cultivating patience and deepening our devotion.

Video

Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves

This week we will begin studying the Blue Mountain Journal Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves issued in the Summer of 2016. We hope this study will inspire us and provide soothing balm for us all! Here is the quote from Easwaran on the back page of this journal: “Jesus says, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ I caught the connection immediately: if I am able to forgive others for what they have done to me, I will find it very easy to forgive myself for the trouble I may have caused others. So for those who find it very hard to forgive themselves, I would suggest that they learn to forgive others.”

Let’s start by focusing on the title article from Easwaran, “Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves,” on pages 5–17.

• Is there a relationship in your life that you wish you could improve? Read this article for tips from Easwaran. Try applying those tips, even if you can’t apply them directly to this particular relationship.

• In these challenging times, the disturbances in our lives and in the world can creep into your sleep. But your evening routine can invite Easwaran in, and you can even make it a conscious invitation. Turn off other media, read from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then go to bed repeating the mantram.

And for our spiritual bonus this week, here is Christin Easwaran reading “Khatum” from Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Passage Audio

A Shining Beacon for Our World

Let’s conclude our study of the Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger with two brief and inspiring statements from Easwaran, on pages 3 and 63, as well as the passages included in this issue of the journal on pages 16, 19, 31, 47, 59.

In the opening article Easwaran declares, “Gandhiji put all his faith in the individual. His way was for each of us to make a personal contribution in our own home and community. His genius lay in knowing how to transform the raw material of daily living into opportunities for growth and service, so that routine events become spiritual occasions.”

• If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips – either from Easwaran or from the passages – and try them out this week.

• Renew your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine. Even if some nights you can’t do it, try again to build your routine of turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram.

For an additional spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy this recording of Christine Easwaran reading the passage “Self-Surrender” from Mahatma Gandhi.

Passage Audio

Transforming Anger in Our Own Lives

This week we will read Easwaran’s article “Transforming Anger in Our Own Lives,” on pages 49–57 of the Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger. Here Easwaran gives many practical suggestions for us to implement. He also highlights the benefits we will receive: “Returning kindness for unkindness is not simply being kind to that particular person. We are being kinder to ourselves, because we are undoing a compulsion, taking one more step towards being free.”

• Is there some tip from Easwaran in this reading that you tend to skim over because you have already heard it many times before? Try focusing on it this week.

• How is your evening routine going of turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram?

As a spiritual bonus this week, we are pleased to share the next excerpt from our recent Easwaran video about Gandhi. Note that the full video is 31 minutes, but the excerpt goes from 8:30 – 17:54 and the player should start and stop automatically at those times. Of course, you are welcome to watch more.

Video

Nonviolence in Practice

We hope you are finding inspiration in our study of the Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger. This week we will study Easwaran’s article “Nonviolence in Practice” on pages 39–45, where he says, “In mystical language, a river of divine love is flowing in the depths of every one of us. When you and I return kindness for unkindness, that cosmic river carries our act of love into the depths of the unkind person’s consciousness.”

• What is one statement that speaks to your heart in this reading? How will you put it into action this week?

• Continue your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine. Even if some nights you can’t do it, try again to build your routine of turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram.

We’ll end with another spiritual treat: we hope you enjoy this recording of Christine Easwaran reading the passage “In the Midst of Darkness” from Mahatma Gandhi.

Passage Audio

A Man of God

Continuing our study of the 2019 Blue Mountain Journal Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger, this week we will read the second half of Easwaran’s article “Gandhi's Message,” on pages 17–30. In the article Easwaran says, “Translating the Gita into character, conduct, and consciousness was precisely what Gandhi was doing in South Africa. He knew it by heart, knew it in his heart, studied it over and over every day, used it in prayer until it became a living presence.”

• What is the most important thing that Easwaran said to you in this reading? How can you apply it in your life?

• Continue your effort to imitate Easwaran’s evening routine by turning off other media, reading from Easwaran for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram.

As a spiritual bonus this week, we are pleased to share an excerpt from an Easwaran video about Gandhi. Note that the full video is 31 minutes, but the excerpt ends at 8:30 and the player should stop automatically at that time. We’ll share the next segment of this video in an upcoming week. Of course, you are welcome to watch more now as well.

Video

Gandhi's Message

This week we will begin studying a 2019 special issue of the Blue Mountain Journal celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. The editors introduce the issue by highlighting Easwaran’s unique message on the significance of Gandhi’s example: “that anger can be transformed into irresistible compassion, and that even ordinary people like us, through the practice of meditation, can make ourselves instruments of peace whose influence can spread to everyone around us.”

Here is the journal, Gandhi & Nonviolence: Love in Action, Transforming Anger. Let’s focus on the first half of Easwaran’s article, “Gandhi's Message,” on pages 5–7.

• What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!

• We have been reflecting together on Spiritual Reading the past few months, which has been very fruitful. Now let’s look for ways to extend our practice of Spiritual Reading as part of our evening routine.

  • In his book Passage Meditation, Easwaran writes, “I have found spiritual reading especially beneficial after evening meditation. When I have finished, I go to bed and repeat the mantram until I have fallen asleep in it. The reason for this sequence is simple: what we put into consciousness in the evening goes with us into sleep.”

  • This week, try imitating Easwaran’s evening routine by turning off other media, reading one of his books for a few minutes, and then going to bed repeating the mantram.

  • On the days you are able to follow this routine, what benefits do you find?

For an additional spiritual treat, we hope you enjoy this recording of Easwaran reading the passage “The Path” from Mahatma Gandhi.

Passage Audio

The Holy Name

For the final week of our study of The Constant Companion we will read the names Guru, and Mantram, pages 351–358. Systematically reading a whole volume from Easwaran is a great habit to practice together. As we complete our book study, let’s appreciate our accomplishment and reflect on how we’ve grown.

Commenting on the name Mantram, Easwaran tell us:

“These are not mere names. They are marvelous concepts which throw light on how to live: long, healthy, secure, joyful lives, not in seclusion but in a world full of problems. When you reflect on these thousand names of the Lord of Love, who is enshrined in the depths of our consciousness, try to apply them in all your activities. Then each Holy Name can help to improve the quality of your daily life.”

May we each make use of every opportunity to repeat the mantram!

• Which lines particularly strike you, and how can you apply them to your life this week?

• Throughout this book study, we have given special effort to our practice of Spiritual Reading. What is one positive effect you have noticed from this work?

Next week we’ll begin studying an issue of the Blue Mountain Journal on Gandhi's nonviolence. We’ll include a link to the journal, so you don’t need to prepare any materials.

Desire

“Our real desire in life, as the Bible puts it, is to love the Lord with all our heart, all our mind, all our spirit, and all our strength. The human being’s infinite capacity to desire can never be fulfilled by anything less.” – Eknath Easwaran

Kama, selfish desire, looms large in our reading this week, pages 342–350 in The Constant Companion.* But by now we are familiar with the paradox: the lord is both Kama, Desire, and Kamaghna, Destroyer of Selfish Craving.

In this reading Easwaran provides many practical tips for freeing ourselves from compulsive cravings. He also shares an extended quote from Saint Augustine that gives a taste of the joy beyond personal desire:

“…I breathe that fragrance which no wind scatters, and eat the food which is not lessened by eating, and lie in the embrace which satiety never comes to sunder. This it is that I love when I love my God.”

• What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!

• We have recently been reflecting on our practice of Spiritual Reading. This week consider how your spiritual reading contributes to your role in the spiritual renaissance.

Next week we will finish our study of The Constant Companion, and afterwards the eSatsang will be reading an issue of the Blue Mountain Journal on Gandhi's nonviolence. Whereas recently we have been following the curriculum used in BMCM Satsang Live, going forward the curriculums won’t be paired – so you now have two pathways of enrichment and can use either or both as best fits your spiritual practice. We hope this will be a wonderful way for us to move forward together, and we look forward to continuing to study Easwaran with you!

Let’s close with a spiritual treat: here is an eight-minute video of Easwaran speaking on absorption in meditation. 

Video

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Knower of Reality through Destroyer of Selfish Craving. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

Who Makes Reality Increase

The name Brahma-Vivardhana comes from the root vardh, which means to increase, to spread. “To live up to the ideal suggested by Brahmavivardhana, we have to spread love everywhere through our personal contact with people and creatures.” This is what it means to “make reality increase,” Easwaran explains. To spread reality – to spread Brahma – is to spread love.

This week’s reading, pages 331–341 in The Constant Companion,* is full of beautiful little examples of how to do that. Here is one we enjoyed:

“The other day, as we were driving over the creek on our way into town, I spotted a turtle having a snooze near the edge of the pavement. People may not see him there, I said to myself, and they might run over him by accident. So I asked the driver to stop while we picked him up and found a safer spot for his siesta.”

• Is there a relationship in your life that you wish you could improve? Read this article for tips from Easwaran. Try applying those tips, even if you can’t apply them directly to this particular relationship.

• As we read The Constant Companion, we are working to strengthen our practice of Spiritual Reading. This week consider how these stories are speaking to you about your relationship with animals.

Let’s turn again to The Thousand Names Talks** in the Easwaran Digital Library for our spiritual treat, this time with Talk 9. The full talk is 41 minutes, 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 comments on the Lord as that which cannot be grasped.

* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names The Supreme Godhead through Wisdom. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)

** You’ll need to log in for the link above to work. If it’s your first time, use the button Create new account from the login page.