Even during pandemic times, we are almost terminally busy. We know we need to continue yoga study, but it’s hard to determine what to read. With that in mind, I highly recommend the works of long-term UC Berkeley professor Eknath Easwaran (1910-1999). As a writer, Easwaran had the ability to write for both the current moment and for the long-term. His books contain tips that will immediately improve the quality of your meditation; they also offer discourse on ideas that help us to better understand why we do what we do when we sit down on our cushions. While his complex tomes often merit more than one reading, rest assured that your time will not be wasted.
Born and raised in India, Easwaran studied English literature and worked as a professor in that field for many years. A Fullbright scholarship allowed him passage to the United States, and he quickly gained a following teaching about meditation and spiritual practice. Over the years, he established his own ashram, founded Nilgiri Press, and published more than forty books.
A lifelong proponent of jnana yoga, or the ‘yoga of wisdom’, Eknath read widely of the world’s sacred texts, noting the similarities between all of the great religions of the world. He developed his own form of contemplation, which he christened ‘passage meditation’. Accordingly, many of his books are investigations of seminal texts from a variety of traditions. His analyses provide a gentle guide through what can be vexing cultural differences that prohibit us from appreciating what these works have to offer.
In 1977, Eknath first published The Mantram Handbook, which is now in its fifth edition and currently subtitled A Practical Guide to Choosing Your Mantram and Calming Your Mind. It has also been published under the title The Unstruck Bell: Powerful New Strategies for Using a Mantram. Written in a conversational tone, this work begins by giving Easwaran’s experiences before moving into guidance for finding and using mantra on a daily basis. For those not working with a personal guru, the instructions on choice are immeasurably valuable; however, those who have received a transmitted mantram will also find valuable tips and procedures to enhance practice.
The 1978 version of Meditation has similarly been reprinted and updated. The 4th reprint is titled as Passage Meditation – A Complete Spiritual Practice: Train Your Mind and Find a Life that Fulfills. This tome is a guide to the way in which Easwaran fused contemplation, study of scripture, and mantra into one form of meditation practice. Easily readable, it provides a justification for continued exploration into sacred scriptures from many different traditions; like all of Eknath’s books, it’s worth a second (or a third, or a fourth) re-read.
Easwaran loved the Bhagavad Gita and wrote more than one book on the subject. His 2007 translation includes an analysis of the text before offering the translation. In 2011, a compendium of his writings and talks was published as Essence of the Bhagavad Gita. This text offers Eswaran’s teachings on the text, his explanations of associated concepts, and the relationship of the Gita to yogic teachings.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with Eswaran or Nilgiri Press. I purchased each of these books with my own funds.
Suggested books:
The Bhagavad Gita. Nilgiri Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1586380199
Essence of the Bhagavad Gita: A Contemporary Guide to Yoga, Meditation, and the Indian Philosophy. Nilgiri Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1586380687
The Unstruck Bell: Powerful New Strategies for Using a Mantram. Nilgiri Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-915132-76-1.
<i>Passage Meditation – A Complete Spiritual Practice: Train Your Mind and Find a Life that Fulfills.</i> Nilgiri Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-1586381165
Yoga Cielo Stellato 