EKNATH   EASWARAN: Original Goodness: on the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount (1989/1966).

Recently posted to my Facebook page: photo of young lady sitting in a meditative posture with hands open, saying:  ¢â‚¬ËœHurry up peace of mind, I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t have all day! ¢â‚¬â„¢

My recently-discovered expert on meditation, Eknath Easwaran, is the writer I would recommend she read: slowly, as I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve just done, little by little over at least a month.

Unlike the well-known Cistercian monk Thomas Merton, who travelled West-to-East to discover many of the secrets of contemplation/meditation (one can distinguish between these two spiritual disciplines, but we won ¢â‚¬â„¢t here), Easwaran came the other way, from his home-country India via a Fullbright Scholarship in 1959 to the U.S. He ¢â‚¬â„¢s taught and written books (about 30 of them) – until his death in 1999 – on Gandhi, St. Francis, The Bhagavad Gita,  The Dhammapada,  The Upanishads, Badshah Khan, ( ¢â‚¬Ëœnonviolent soldier of Islam ¢â‚¬â„¢), and spirituality generally. He ¢â‚¬â„¢s nothing if not eclectic (though I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t remember his writing anything  about Zen, as Merton did).

Original Goodness is not like any other book you ¢â‚¬â„¢ll read on the Beatitudes. Easwaran is not a biblical scholar (he uses the KJV for goodness ¢â‚¬â„¢ sake!) but employs Jesus ¢â‚¬â„¢ Beatitudes as convenient headings for his homespun wisdom about the Good Life.

And it ¢â‚¬â„¢s brilliant! Every page contains examples of his distilled/timeless wisdom, borrowed heavily from the spiritual masters across the centuries and across cultures. His favorites:   The Cloud of Unknowing, Meister Eckhart, Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, Jesus Christ, John of the Cross, Thomas a Kempis, Martin Luther King Jr., John Ruysbroeck, Spinoza, Teresa of Avila, Theologica Germanica, The Upanishads.

Easwaran ¢â‚¬â„¢s strong advice is to develop a  ¢â‚¬Ëœmantram ¢â‚¬â„¢ with which to begin times of meditation, and also to recollect God ¢â‚¬â„¢s presence throughout the day. One of his preferences:   The Prayer of St. Francis ( ¢â‚¬ËœLord make me an instrument of thy peace ¢â‚¬â„¢). Another: the Holy Name. (I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t recall Easwaran telling us what the  ¢â‚¬ËœHoly Name ¢â‚¬â„¢ actually is  ¢â‚¬“ and of course the name will vary with one ¢â‚¬â„¢s religious background. For Catholics, it ¢â‚¬â„¢s simply  ¢â‚¬ËœJesus ¢â‚¬â„¢).   

Here ¢â‚¬â„¢s a sample of his wisdom:

 ¢â‚¬ËœUntil we glimpse our  ¢â‚¬Å“soul ¢â‚¬â„¢s true home ¢â‚¬  we are not so much pilgrims as tourists ¢â‚¬â„¢ (22)

 ¢â‚¬ËœWhat I take in by contemplation, I pour out in love ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Meister Eckhart) (56)

 ¢â‚¬ËœNothing burns in hell except self-will ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Theologica Germanica)   (64, 84)

 ¢â‚¬ËœBeing intolerant of   other views is a sign that we don ¢â‚¬â„¢t have enough faith ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Gandhi) (67)

 ¢â‚¬ËœOnce your mind has learned not to think about yesterday, most internal conflicts evaporate ¢â‚¬â„¢ (77)

 ¢â‚¬ËœIf we live selfishly, not all the angels in the celestial sphere will be able to drag us into heaven ¢â‚¬â„¢ (175)

My copy cost only $13.74 AUD from The   Book Depository.

Rowland Croucher

jmm.aaa.net.au

30 August 2012.