Meditation: A Simple Eight-Point Program for Translating Spiritual Ideals into Daily Life

In Easwaran's universal method of passage meditation, you choose a spiritual text, or passage, from the world's great traditions that embodies your highest ideals. You memorize it, and then send it deep into consciousness through slow, sustained attention. This method of meditation stays fresh because you can vary the passages according to your own needs. With regular practice, the passages become lifelines, taking you to the source of wisdom deep within and then guiding you through the challenges of daily life.

Meditation is supported by seven other points in Easwaran's spiritual program, helping you to stay calm, kind, and focused throughout the day.

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From the author's website:

In Easwaran's method of passage meditation, you choose spiritual texts or passages that embody your highest ideals, memorize them, then send them deep into consciousness through slow, sustained attention. Over time, the ideals in the passages become part of your life, part of who you are. This meditation method fits with any religious or nonreligious philosophy - counselors, yoga teachers, health professionals, and educators recommend it with confidence to their clients and students. Easwaran is an experienced teacher who offers clear instructions, points out the pitfalls, and conveys the deep joy, security, and selfless energy that regular practice can bring.

"No extravagant claims, no pretentious jargon. Just a clear, insightful exposition of meditation, and an excellent guide to its practice." - Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

Features

* This latest edition of Easwaran's classic, Meditation, has been renamed Passage Meditation to emphasize the method he developed.

* The book includes not only Easwaran's instructions in passage meditation but also a description of the seven supporting spiritual disciplines which together make up his eight-point program for spiritual living - enabling us to stay calm, kind, and focused at work and at home.

* The main content is the same as in the previous edition, but Passage Meditation also includes some previously unpublished material from transcripts of talks by Easwaran. It opens with his account of how he discovered passage meditation, and ends with his invitation to readers to join him on this adventure in what he calls "the world within."

* This edition has a new cover, french flaps and a two-color, easy-to-read internal design.

Table of Contents | Top

Preface

Introduction

1. Meditating on a Passage

2. Repetition of a Mantram

3. Slowing Down

4. One-Pointed Attention

5. Training the Senses

6. Putting Others First

7. Spiritual Companionship

8. Spiritual Reading

9. Afterword

10. Acknowledgments

11. Index

Excerpt from Passage Meditation | Top

You are now embarking on the most extraordinary journey, the most exacting and rewarding adventure, open to a man or woman. I haven't tried to conceal the fact that learning to control your mind is difficult - the most difficult thing in the world. But I want to remind you always that what you are seeking is glorious beyond compare, something far beyond my capacity, or anybody's, to render into thoughts and words. In my heart I have no greater desire than that you should reach the goal. Accept my wish for your great success!

Media Reviews and Endorsements

"This book [Meditation] has helped me a great deal."

- Henri Nouwen

"Eknath Easwaran . . . sets forth the basics of meditation with gentle humor and the insights gained from a lifetime of spiritual practice."

- Yoga Journal

"This is undoubtedly one of the finest books on meditation ever produced. The guidance it provides is so simple and straightforward, anyone should be able to follow it - even if you have had difficulty with meditating in the past."

- Holistic Health & Medicine

"His basic method, which involves focusing intensely on a passage of inspirational writing of one's own choosing, is direct, simple, and practical. It is based completely on his own personal experience but also on principles and practices that are themselves age-old. His words are suffused with humility, grace, and gentle humor. Meditation deserves to be regarded as a classic and has earned a place in every library collection."

- Wilson Library Bulletin

"Meditation by Eknath Easwaran is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject, which has always fascinated and eluded me. Here in language that is simple but never simplistic is the pathway to peace of mind, sign-posted in modern terms, unhedged by negatives."

- "Book Bag," Marilis Hornidge, The Courier-Gazette

"Excellent book . . . full of charming anecdotes and advice to those trapped in materialism. His chapter on mantrams is particularly helpful . . . Demonstrate(s) sound background knowledge in Oriental thought and meditative techniques, plus years of personal experience."

- Library Journal

"Easwaran weds the best of East and West."

- NAPRA Trade Journal

"It is all here: what meditation is (and what it isn't), how, where and when to meditate, and ways to build a full, active life on meditation . . . a valuable guidebook."

- Argus Courier

"In a direct, simple and practical manner he explains principles and practices that are age-old, and allows the reader to gradually and gracefully make them part on one's character and life . . . Great rewards may be harvested by anyone who maintains a disciplined practice of these points over a long period of time."

- Auntie Notes

"One of the finest books ever published on the subject."

- NAPRA ReView

"In precise, friendly fashion, the reasons why you should meditate, what one-pointedness means, postures, dealing with emotions, preventing depression."

- The Book Reader

"Here is a philosophy fit for practice."

- Bay Area Lifestyle