STUDY GUIDE FOR

study guide for
Learning to Live in Unity
with All

How to Use This Course

This video is part of an ongoing monthly series in the teachings of Sri Eknath Easwaran. The talks on this tape, like all of Easwaran’s talks, are rich and deep in content. They shed light on many aspects of life, but their true value emerges as we try to apply their teachings in our daily lives. The Guide is meant to be used in conjunction with a daily practice of Easwaran’s Eight Point Program, based on passage meditation. We do not recommend following the Practical Exercises if you are not practicing this program according to the instructions given in Easwaran’s book Meditation, which can be found on our Web site, www.nilgiri.org. A brief list of those points can be found at the back of this Guide.

The Practical Exercises are suggestions for you to explore as they seem appropriate in your life. If you are already familiar with Easwaran’s books, you will have seen some of these exercises before. But we suggest that you take this opportunity to really put them into practice, and discover their great power to deepen your spiritual life. Try them in moderation, exercising your common sense and not taking them to extreme lengths. Easwaran always emphasized the importance of the middle path.

Before or after watching each talk, we suggest that you read through the notes and the Practical Exercise. Then, after watching the talk, try to put the exercise into action in your life. A week or so later, you may find it interesting to watch the talk again, with the experience of the exercise fresh in your mind. You may want to note the results in a journal.

A week-by-week curriculum for studying this tape, in coordination with readings from Easwaran’s books, is available for use by Blue Mountain Center Satsangs, and other interested individuals. Please see the Videos section of our Web site, under Video of the Month. A full listing of our Satsang groups is also available on our Web site. For more information about this series, other publications of Easwaran and Nilgiri Press, and a schedule of retreats based on the Eight Point Program, please contact

The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation
Post Office Box 256
Tomales, CA 94971
800 475 2369
www.nilgiri.org

The Perennial Philosophy

Introduction

In the two talks on this tape, Sri Easwaran presents the search for self-knowledge in a series of propositions which are as objective, universally applicable, and verifiable as the great discoveries of modern science. They depend not on doctrine or dogma but upon the willingness of an individual to explore them fully.

In the first talk, he lays out the fundamental positions of what Aldous Huxley called the Perennial Philosophy, a set of central truths which underlie all religions. Easwaran presents the practice of spiritual disciplines as our means to realize these truths, thereby enabling us to act on them effectively in daily life.

In our study of this tape, we will pay special attention to the primary experimental technique that can be used to verify and discover for ourselves the truth of these life-changing statements: learning to use the mind as a precise instrument of observation; gradually stilling the agitation that disturbs it, until it finally sees life “as it is, full of God.”

^{Outline of
the Talk}

Easwaran begins by quoting one of the so-called “great statements” of ancient India, or mahavakyas as they are called in Sanskrit: tat tvam asi. Tat means “That” – the Supreme Reality, or God. The second word, tvam, means “you.” And asi means “you are.” So this mahavakya means “That is what you are,” or “You are That.”

Easwaran points out that this is no mere saying. It is more like a formula, similar to Einstein’s discovery E = mc². This “You are That” statement “can be verified by anyone who has enough dedication, determination, and devotion,” which are latent in every one of us, by virtue of being human. He recounts the elements of the Perennial Philosophy:

1. At the innermost core of our consciousness is a shining spirit which is one with God.

2. That shining spirit can be discovered in this life. It is
the purpose of human life to discover this for oneself.
This purpose belongs to all people, regardless of their background. “This is a come-as-you-are party.”

3. Through spiritual disciplines, we can realize this truth, which brings with it permanent sense of joy and fulfillment.

Then he quotes from a verse in the Bhagavad Gita which lists the principal motivations that bring people to this quest for self-discovery:

1. Arta – Those who suffer and are seeking a way to understand or rise above that pain.

2. Jijñasu – Those who have a rage to know, who are consumed with a desire to understand life.

3. Artharthi – Artha can mean either wealth or meaning. Easwaran interprets this category as people who turn to meditation because they seek meaning in life.

4. Jñani – Those who seek self-knowledge.

The rest of the talk describes the joy and fulfillment which comes in the wake of this self-discovery. Easwaran is quoting from verses in the eighteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita:

United with the Lord, ever joyful,
Beyond the reach of self-will and sorrow,
They serve me in every living creature
And attain supreme devotion to me.
By loving me they share in my glory
And enter into my boundless being.

. . . .

Make every act an offering to me;
Regard me as your only protector.
Make every thought an offering to me;
Meditate on me always.

This awareness of unity brings immense love for all, which is deeply fulfilling, which deepens our capacity for concentration, and which drives us on to love more and more.

Easwaran concludes with a verse from the Gita which brings out the intimate relationship between the Divine Spirit and those who dedicate themselves to sharing with others the techniques for becoming united with it. The Lord says:

Those who teach this supreme mystery
Of the Gita to all those who love me
Will come to me without doubt.

^{Practical
Exercise}

During this talk, Easwaran says, “At the core of all these disciplines is one simple, impossible demand: Still your mind. When the mind is still, self-will is totally extinguished. When self-will is totally extinguished, the barrier falls between you and your shining Self.”

We will explore the process of stilling the mind through the practice of equanimity. For all of us, life brings both desired and undesired events. When we get the things we want, we tend to get elated. When we get the things we don’t want, we may get frustrated or depressed. Elation and depression keep us from seeing life as it is, blinding us to the opportunities hidden in misfortune, and making us vulnerable to disappointment when the things we desired fail to satisfy us.

For the next week or two, sit down regularly and make two brief lists. First, list the things which made you elated. Write your mantram for a few minutes as a way of restoring even-mindedness. Next, list the things which were frustrating or depressing. Once again, write the mantram for a few minutes to let them go.

This exercise is a way to start treating all events as opportunities for deepening your spiritual practice. As you go through your day, try to apply this attitude to events as they occur. How does it change the way you see things?

Further Reading

“Elation and Depression” in the Mantram Handbook.

Passage for Meditation

The Bhagavad Gita, “Be Aware of Me Always,” in God Makes the Rivers to Flow.

The Dance of Life

Introduction

In this talk, given in 1989, Sri Easwaran presents another aspect of mysticism: the power of love to awaken us to the unity of life.

A trip to a dance concert featuring a Soviet folk-dance troupe gives Easwaran an occasion to reflect an experience shared by all the great mystics: “On the one hand, you do see people physically different, mentally different, intellectually and culturally different, but you also see the supreme element common to all.”

Illustrating with quotations which were especially important to him in his early spiritual practice, he shows that this capacity to see beneath the surface of life comes to those who learn to taste the joy of selflessness and unify their desires. In our practical exercise we will experiment with a method to develop that latent capacity and experience for ourselves the peace that comes with knowing that all life is one.

^{Outline of
the Talk}

Easwaran begins by recalling a difficult period in his sadhana, or spiritual life, in which he had made significant changes in his life and thinking but had not yet caught sight of “the other shore.” During that period, the testimony of great mystics from around the world gave him reassurance. The unanimity of their teachings gave him a sense of certitude that, though he was in unfamiliar territory, he was headed in the right direction.

Through this search for support, he concluded that “just as there is a law of gravity which extends all over the universe, there is a law of grace which extends all over the universe.” The rest of the talk is a commentary on some of the statements which inspired him to forge ahead with his spiritual practice and deepen his devotion.

He starts with a quote from Sri Krishna, the particular incarnation of God to whom he is devoted, and whom he calls his “Beloved Boss”: “What ineffable joy does one find through the love of Me who is the blissful self. Once that joy is realized, all earthly treasures fade into nothingness.”

To illustrate this joy, he recounts his trip to a Russian dance program. “It is not just the artistic pleasure of seeing great dancers, but a deep spiritual joy at seeing the same Self, disguised as men and women, doing some of the most spectacular dances I have ever seen.”

Next, he quotes from Jacob Boehme: “No life can express, nor tongue so much as name, the inflaming, all conquering love of God. It is brighter than the sun. It is sweeter than anything called sweet. It is stronger than all strength. It is more nutritious than food, more cheering to the heart than wine, more pleasant than all the pleasures of this world. Whosoever obtaineth it is richer than any monarch, nobler than any emperor can be.”

In commenting on this, he quotes Sri Krishna from the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita: “In those who are strong, I am strength, free from passion and selfish attachment.”

Next he quotes from Shantideva: “The thought of enlightenment has arisen within me, I know not how. It is an elixir made to destroy death, an unfailing treasure to relieve the world’s poverty, a supreme balm to allay the world’s sickness, a tree under which may rest all creatures wearied and wandering over life’s paths, a great sun driving away the gloom of the world’s sickness, a fresh butter created by the churning of the good law for the caravan of human beings who wander through life’s paths hungering for the taste of lasting happiness.”

Then from Meister Eckhart: “Thou needest not seek Him here or there. He is no further off than the door of thy heart. Thou needest not call him afar. He waits much more impatiently than thou for thee to open the door to Him. He longs for thee a thousandfold more urgently than thee for Him. One point, the opening and the entering.”

From Sri Krishna: “Sometimes God acts as a magnet and the devotee a needle. God attracts the devotee to himself. Again sometimes the devotee acts as a magnet and God is a needle. Such is the attraction of the devotee that God comes to him, unable to resist his love.”

From Sri Krishna: “Rare indeed is this human birth. Remember, the human body is like a boat. The first and foremost use of this is to carry us across the ocean of life and death to the shore of immortality.”

Easwaran tells the story of a king whose compassion leads him to visit the inhabitants of the nether world on his way to paradise and, when he sees how much joy he brings them, decides to make his home among them.

Easwaran closes with a quote from Meister Eckhart: “To the extent you eliminate self-will from your activities, God comes into them, but no more, no less. Begin with that and let it cost you your utmost. In this way and in no other is true peace to be found.”

^{Practical
Exercise}

Discovering the unity of life requires a change of perspective, in which we look upon the needs of others as our own – to such an extent that we are less concerned with our own profit and loss than with the well-being of those around us. Through Putting Others First, we can use that change of perspective to improve our equanimity and deepen our own sense of security.

In the last exercise, we identified occasions which make our mind go up and down. This week, when you find your mind getting drawn into elation or depression, try to shift your focus away from yourself by doing something kind or helpful to others. Simple, inconspicuous acts of consideration are most effective. Observe the effect on your thinking patterns. Does equanimity become more possible?