Easwaran on Meditation & Right Occupation

Our tech team needs time to prepare Easwaran’s audio talks to be shared on the blog, so we have to choose the talk well in advance of when it’s posted. We asked for this talk three months ago, but as we re-listened to it this past week we were struck by how Easwaran seemed to be speaking about what’s happening right now.

One of the amazing aspects of Easwaran’s teachings is their relevance. Sometimes, as in this talk from the 1980s, there will be a lucky coincidence of references. For instance, we really enjoyed Easwaran’s mentions of the World Cup (the YA Blog Team definitely spent our share of time enthralled by the World Cup last month) and we were sobered by his references to the international conflicts that reflect many current struggles. Above all, we were impressed by the timelessness, and timeliness, of the message.

We often hear stories from our YA friends where they are dealing with a particular concern in their life and they open a book, or listen to a talk, and Easwaran manages to say the exact thing they needed to hear. As we listened this week we were particularly moved by the way he emphasized that when we meditate it’s not just for ourselves.

We are all trustees for this earth, Easwaran says, and for all its inhabitants. When our life becomes rich through giving, not consuming, we become an asset to society wherever we go. Our meditation practice is meant for us to discover the energy, the love, and all the wealth of resources we can give to this world.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this talk, please share them in the comments below! What part of the talk was particularly meaningful to you?

Ready for a Webinar?

Here at the BMCM headquarters in Tomales, California, we've been thinking a lot over the past year about how we can best share Eknath Easwaran's method of meditation with anyone who's interested. One of the new experiments we tried in 2014 was our webinar back in January. If you're a regular blog reader, you may recall we were rather pleased with how it turned out.

We're pleased to announce that we'll be holding a second one-hour webinar in just a few months, on Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. EST.

This introductory webinar is free . . . yup. Free! And it doesn't require any preparation or previous knowledge. The program will include a chance to hear stories from other meditators, watch a video from Easwaran, and even chat in your questions.

(If you joined us in January, you'll find that although the content is very similar, the technology is significantly improved, so the overall experience should be higher quality.)

We hope that you, our YA Blog audience, will join us in October, and we hope that you'll share the webinar with any friends or family who might be interested. We've found that this is a great way for people to just get a glimpse of what passage meditation is all about.

If you're already a meditator, invite over some friends and watch together! Bring together a group of long-time meditators and listen to the instructions with fresh ears. Bring together a group of newbies and share stories of how passage meditation has helped you. Or simply join us yourself and experience one of the first BMCM world-wide satsang events!

October 4th happens to be St Francis' feast day, and it'll be an opportunity to participate in a world-wide 5-minute meditation on the Prayer of St Francis.

Visit www.easwaran.org/webinar and register today!

A Passage for August

Mantram art from a recent YA retreat.

We've been thinking a lot about the mantram recently at YA Blog HQ. Nearly a year ago we looked at another passage focusing on the mantram, but this month we've been looking for other passages that really emphasize the mantram and we picked "Weaving Your Name" by Kabir. What we love about this passage is the poetry of the words and the imagery he uses about integrating the mantram into all parts of our day. 

If you'd like to learn more about the mantram, and see mantrams recommended by Easwaran, you can do so here. We recently re-read the section "How to Choose and Use a Mantram" and highly recommend it for new and long-time users of the mantram – it's such a great refresher!

We'd love to hear from you, so please share your thoughts in the comments below:

• Which aspects of this passage appeal to you, or intrigue you?
• What is a way the mantram has helped you recently?

Have a great month of August!

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Weaving Your Name – Kabir

I weave your name on the loom of my mind, to make my garment when you come to me. My loom has ten thousand threads to make my garment when you come to me. The sun and moon watch while I weave your name; the sun and moon hear while I count your name. These are the wages I get by day and night to deposit in the lotus bank of my heart.

I weave your name on the loom of my mind to clean and soften ten thousand threads and to comb the twists and knots of my thoughts. No more shall I weave a garment of pain. For you have come to me, drawn by my weaving – my ceaselessly weaving your name on the loom of my mind.