BMCM Video Study Guides
Satsang Coordinators Curriculum for
Kabir: Stages of Desire
Lesson One
Announce to the group "This week we have a practical exercise to try during the week, and a
question for reflection and discussion at this meeting."
Read aloud the first Practical Exercise, Unifying Desire, on page 7 of the video study guide:
In this talk, Sri Easwaran paraphrases Meister Eckhart to say we are all looking for God. When
we go to the supermarket or the shopping center, we are hoping to find something that will
please us always; we want to buy something that will make us happy always.
The next time you go shopping, before you walk into the store, make a careful, complete list of
what you need to buy. Walk through the aisles collecting all the items you have listed, and trying
to ignore any extraneous items that might be competing for your attention. Try to observe how
your attention behaves. As you pass through the aisles, can you detect echoes of the desire "to
find something that will please you always"? Make your best effort to buy only the items on your
list. When you find your mind being drawn to pick up something tempting but unnecessary,
repeat your mantram and move on. When you get home, note the results in your journal.
This simple exercise is meant to help you identify and redirect the channels through which desire
flows out of the mind, carrying away with it your vital energy. By gradually training the mind to
rest in the mantram rather than seek restlessly for fulfillment outside, you can begin to unify
your desires, which leads to inner security and increased vitality.
Then, read aloud the following idea for reflection: "Identify one area in your life where your
mind gets restless and seeks for fulfillment outside itself (pick a small and manageable
one!). Think of a way that you can use the Eight Points to strengthen your will in that area
and harness the restlessness."
Give the group a few minutes for silent reflection, then ask them to share their strategies. If your
Satsang is focusing on a particular one of the Eight Points this week or this month, ask the group
if they have any ideas on how to use that particular point in building the will.
Read the introduction from the video study guide and watch Desire, Our Real Wealth, the first of
the two talks on the tape. (This talk is 34 minutes long.)
Meditate for thirty minutes.
Lesson Two
Ask the group "Did anyone try the Practical Exercise from last week on observing our
attention while shopping? Do you have any observations to report?"
Ask Satsang members to recount their experiences with the strategies they created for building
will power and harnessing restlessness. What were the results? If your group is focusing on a
particular point, ask how that point might help in addressing the challenges they identified for themselves.
If time remains in the fellowship portion of the Satsang meeting, read aloud these first three
paragraphs (pp. 92-93) of Chapter Six in Dialogue with Death:
Desire is the key to life, because desire is power. The deeper the desire, the more power it
contains. The Upanishads say,
"You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your deep, driving desire is, so is your will. As
your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny."
Desire can be thought of as a river of prana (vital energy), flowing along the channels made by
samskaras (unconscious or latent tendencies of mind). For the person with many small desires,
prana trickles in many different directions. There is not much power in a trickle, and little
desires often fail to reach their goal. But then, just because they are little, it does not matter
much if many of them get nowhere. What matters is the sense of futility that builds up in a person
whose desires are many and trivial. Like rain that falls on a mountain peak, running down the
slopes on every side, vitality is dispersed; life itself is fragmented.
On the other hand, there are people whose lives are molded by one all-consuming desire, as
overwhelming as a mighty river. If you have seen a great river like the Ganges or the Mississippi
in flood, you know what power it can have; anything in its path is swept away. Similarly, the man
or woman who has unified desires sweeps all obstacles aside.
Ask the group the following question: "That reading sums up the message of last week's
video. Do you have any thoughts or reflections about this reading in the light of your
experiences this past week?"
When it's time for inspiration, continue reading Chapter Six of Dialogue with Death (or any other
source of inspiration from Sri Easwaran) for thirty minutes.
Meditate for thirty minutes.
Lesson Three
Read the second Practical Exercise, "Training Attention," on page 11 of the video study guide:
In this talk, Sri Easwaran points out that the skill of bringing the mind back to the passage is
vital to reaching the goal of meditation. To a certain extent, this skill can be improved by effort
and practice in meditation. However, it is also helpful, even necessary, to supplement this
practice during the day, when the mind is often divided. One telltale sign that your attention is
divided is when you feel bored at a necessary task. As Sri Easwaran says in Meditation,
"Few jobs are boring; we are bored chiefly because our minds are divided. Part of the mind
performs the work at hand and part tries not to; part earns his wages while the other part sneaks
out to do something else or tries to persuade the working half to quit. They fight over these
contrary purposes, and this warfare consumes a tremendous amount of vital energy."
So, as an aid to deepening your concentration in meditation, identify one area in your life where
your mind gets bored or restless when faced with a task or situation that you know you must
attend to. Try to observe how your attention behaves in those situations. Can you stay focused or
does your attention wander away (or even shoot off like a fleeing rabbit)?
When your mind wanders, bring it back and focus as intently as you can on the matter at hand.
Do your best to complete the task with full and complete attention. If you find yourself getting
frustrated, take a brief break to repeat the mantram -- go for a five-minute mantram walk, or just
repeat your mantram silently to yourself. Then return and finish as well as you can. Note the
results in your journal.
This simple exercise can have a very beneficial effect on your meditation practice. Try to
practice it every day for a week, and observe the results.
Give everyone a few minutes to reflect on the challenge posed by the exercise and choose an area
to focus on. Then ask the group to share their thoughts. If your group is focusing on a particular
one of the Eight Points this week, ask the group if they have any ideas on how to use that
particular point in strengthening concentration.
Read the introduction from the video study guide and watch Meeting the Beloved, the second of
the two talks on the tape. (This talk is 33 minutes long.)
Meditate for thirty minutes.
Lesson Four
Ask the group "Did anyone try the Practical Exercise from last week on training attention
during the day? Do you have any observations to report?"
Read these three paragraphs from page 138 of Climbing the Blue Mountain, which outline two
stages in the path of meditation and compare them to stages in education:
In dharana, the high-school stage, we try to keep the mind in the classroom. It is still hyperactive.
It can't stay at its desk; it keeps getting up and running around in the middle of the lesson. But at
least it is in school; it is gradually quieting down.
The next stage is what we can properly call meditation: in Sanskrit, dhyana. The mind is in
college; it has learned to study. When we start it out on a single thought - say, the Prayer of
Saint Francis of Assisi - it stays on that thought and does not wander. This happens gradually.
At first we may only have a minute or two of real meditation, but that minute or two is
tremendous. The mind is completely absorbed in the words of the passage; attention flows
without a break.
Yesterday I was watching my friend Laurel decant olive oil from a big gallon tin into a flask. The
flow was perfect and unbroken; the thin descending thread of oil merged in the oil below without
a ripple of disturbance. That is the classical illustration of how meditation should be. "Laurel," I
said, "if you could pour your thoughts like that, you would be in dhyana."
Ask the group "What can we do, using the Eight Points during the day, to cultivate this
kind of control over our attention?"
For inspiration, read for a half hour from this chapter ("Deepening Meditation") of Climbing the
Blue Mountain, starting on page 137, or from any other source of inspiration by Sri Easwaran.
Meditate for thirty minutes.
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How to Use This Curriculum
The BMCM monthly video series presents a special opportunity for BMCM Satsangs to enrich
the content of their meetings and coordinate their program with the Center and with other
Satsangs. Each month many of our Satsangs will be following this program, which has been
created by workshop presenters at the BMCM, based on programs at our Tuesday night Satsangs
in Petaluma and Berkeley.
This video curriculum is not required. The choice of which of our approved formats to follow is
up to you and your Satsang. We understand that not all groups have access to a TV and VCR for
showing video tapes. While the videos are a great aid in using this curriculum, it is also possible to
follow it without the videos, using the questions for reflection and readings that are contained in
this curriculum.
We do recommend this curriculum (and especially the videos) as an ideal way for a new group (or
a "Satsang of One") to get well grounded in Sri Easwaran's core teachings and to feel more "in
touch" with the Center. If you would like assistance in deciding on a format, please feel free to
contact us at the address below.
The choice of when to start using the curriculum is also up to you. But we do suggest that you
follow the order of the lessons as they appear here. For groups that meet monthly, you may want
to use only the lesson sections that include videos, or to cover two lesson sections if your meeting
is longer.
We have tried to make this Satsang curriculum flexible enough that it can be used completely
within the Eight Point Format, as outlined in the Satsang Guidelines. For your "Eight Point
Focus" you can continue to cycle through the Eight Points weekly or monthly as it suits your
group, and use this curriculum to deepen your study of Sri Easwaran's teachings.
For those of you who distribute messages via email to your Satsang, feel free to forward parts of
this email to members as a preview of the coming month's program.
We are eager to hear about your experiences with this curriculum, and welcome your feedback.
Please send it to:
satsang@nilgiri.org
Robbie Nichols
BMCM
P O Box 256
Tomales, CA 94971
Copyright (c) 2003, Blue Mountain Center of Meditation