Blue Mountain Center of Meditation

A Journal for Spiritual Living ekn Published by the Blue esrn Blue Mountain has been called one of the fore- most teachers of medi ta tion Center of Meditation in our times. From his arrival & Nilgiri Press Mountain in the United States in 1959 on www.easwaran.org ESTABLISHED BY EKNATH EASWARAN the Fulbright ex change pro- Summer 2013 FOR PRESENTING HIS EIGHT-POINT gram until his passing in the fall of 1999, he taught to mod- Volume 24, Number 2 PROGRAM OF PASSAGE MEDITATION ern men and women his eight- point program, based on his unique method of meditation Partly they are persuaded into the water; on memorized inspirational partly, I suspect, they are pushed. They feel passages from the world’s Learning to this is a monstrous unkindness. “We’re great religions. Many thou- land creatures,” they want to argue. “Why sands of people representing Swim should we learn to get along in an alien ele- the full range of cultural and ment?” That is a logical question. But after religious backgrounds attest to the bene fits of his teaching. a while, through guidance and experience, He continues to teach through y friends’ children have they lose that fear of the water. Now they his thirty books on spiri tual been learning to swim, and are at home in the pool. living – over a million cop- throughout the summer I We accept this as a natural part of a ies in print in twenty-seven received glowing reports about child’s education. Learning to do stunts in languages – and through the Mhow well they were doing. At the beginning, the water is part of growing up. If we never ongoing programs and publi- I remember, the children themselves turned get the opportunity to see somebody do ca tions of the organi zation he founded in 1961 to carry on in a very different story. “Just looking at all such wonderful things in the mental world, his work: the Blue Mountain that water makes me scared,” they told me. it is mainly because our civilization Continued Center of Meditation and “I’ll never be able to swim!” They believed offers no real facilities for training on page 4 its publishing arm, Nilgiri Press. that, and they acted on it. When their par- From our archives: Eknath Easwaran, 1993 ents drove them into town for lessons, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth all along the road. Now these same children have invited me to preside over their graduation from swimming school. They look forward to coming to the pool now; they swim back and forth, play games underwater, even dive in the deep end. This did not come about overnight. It came through hard work, under the guidance of a good swimming teacher who knows just how to dem- onstrate the strokes and skills she wants her pupils to develop. The transformation starts in the “kiddie pool,” where drowning is difficult even if you have a talent for it. There the children learn to duck their heads under the water and hold their breath. They learn to blow bubbles. They hold on to the side and learn to kick. Finally comes time for the big pool, of which they are scared stiff. This is only natural; after all, the water is over their heads. To their vivid imaginations, drowning is too distinct a possibility to ignore, lifeguard or no lifeguard. And it looks so far from one side to the other! BLUE MOUNTAIN blue mountain 1 Learning to Swim Blue Mountain Center of Meditation Children are often afraid The Center offers instruction in meditation and The quarterly journal to get into the water, but allied living skills, following the eight-point program of the Blue Mountain once they learn to swim, of passage meditation developed by Sri Eknath Center of Meditation they are at home there. It’s Easwaran. The approach is nondenominational, the same with us and nonsectarian, and free from dogma and ritual. It can meditation, Easwaran be used within each person’s own cultural and reli- Summer 2013 writes: and the treasures that beckon are gious background to relieve stress, heal relation- ©2013 by The Blue not found on the surface but deep below. ships, release deeper resources, and realize one’s Mountain Center of highest potential. 5 How to Deepen Meditation Meditation, Inc. To get the most from meditation, we have to Passage Meditation: An Eight-Point Program founder learn to go deeper into 1. meditation on a passage Silent Sri Eknath Easwaran consciousness where the repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational resources for creative passages from the world’s great religions. Practiced living arise. And to do for one-half hour each morning. bord of rusees this requires more than that half hour 2. repetition of a mantram Silent Christine Easwaran of meditation, Easwaran tells us. repetition in the mind of a Holy Name or a hallowed Nick Harvey Surprisingly, perhaps, to deepen phrase from one of the world’s great religions. meditation, we need to work on what Sultana Harvey Practiced whenever possible throughout the day we say and do during the rest of the day. or night. Diana Lightman 8 Deepening Meditation: 3. slowing down Setting priorities and Terry Morrison Questions & Answers re duc ing the stress and friction caused by hurry. Beth Ann O’Connell Easwaran answers some 4. one-pointed attention Giving full of the questions that come concentration to the matter at hand. blue mountain up most frequently when 5. training the senses Overcoming execuive edior people want to take their conditioned habits and learning to enjoy what is meditation practice to beneficial. Christine Easwaran another level. What does “going deeper” 6. putting others first Gaining freedom mean? What are the signs that it is from selfishness and separateness; finding joy in Post Office Box 256 happening? And what’s the connection helping others. between meditation and the rest of the Tomales, c 94971 7. spiritual fellowship Spending day? Telephone 707 878 2369 time regularly with other passage meditators for mutual inspiration and support. Facsimile 707 878 2375 8. spiritual reading Drawing inspiration Email [email protected] from writings by and about the world’s great Web www.easwaran.org spiritual figures and from the scriptures of all Printed on recycled paper religions. The Blue Mountain Center Eknath Easwaran depends on donations to Schooled in both Eastern and Western traditions, carry on its work. Every Eknath Easwaran took to the spiritual life amidst a gift, large or small, is much successful career in India as a professor of English appreciated and put to good The Blue Mountain journal is free. Postage literature, a writer, and a lecturer. After coming to use. The Blue Mountain the University of California, Berkeley, on the costs apply for delivery outside the US. Center of Meditation Fulbright exchange program, he established the For a two-year subscription to Canada or is a 501(c)(3) California Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Northern Mexico, the cost is $15. nonprofit corporation. California in 1961. His 1968 Berkeley class is believed For all other countries, the two-year Contributions to the Center to be the first accredited course in meditation at any subscription cost is $25. Please visit our are deductible from state Western uni versity. His deep personal experience website, www.easwaran.org, to sign up to and federal income tax. and his love for his students have made the ancient receive the journal. art of meditation accessible to those who hold jobs and lead active lives among friends and family. 2 PUBLISHER’S PAGE to Swim,” is taken from his book the next day’s meditation will be Conquest of Mind, which is devoted to deeper. just this subject. Using the ancient We hear so much today about how The Fruits of Indian image of the mind as a deep meditation helps us cope with stress pool, Easwaran compares learning to and lowers blood pressure. Easwaran Meditation dive below the surface to what we do wanted us never to forget that the real in meditation when we take it to a goal of this ancient art is nothing less deeper level. A swimming pool isn’t all than Self-realization: discov ery of the that deep, but conscious ness is fath- changeless reality that is our real omless: the deeper we go, he says, the nature. more we can benefit from what medi- Easwaran’s articles are followed by tation offers. exchanges with his students on these In his second article, “How to topics: “Deepening Medi tation: Ques- Christine Easwaran Deepen Meditation” (p. 5), Easwaran tions and Answers” (p. 8). The answers explains some of the connections he gave over the years to searching between meditation and the rest of the questions from sincere students are e re continuing our day, and how and why all the points of valuable comple ments to the material series on Sri Eknath his program work together to deepen in his books, so we hope to feature this Easwaran’s eight-point not just meditation but the quality of kind of material in future issues. We program of passage our lives. If, in meditation, we go love to hear from you. Wmeditation, devoting this issue to the through the words of a passage like the relationship between going deeper in Prayer of St. Francis – “Lord, make me meditation and what we do during an instrument of thy peace” – we need the rest of the day. to go through the day acting as an Christine Easwaran Easwaran’s lead article, “Learning instrument of peace.

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