Eknath Easwaran, With My Love and Blessings: The Teaching Years 1966-1999 In Photographs & His Own Word
Nilgiri Press, 2000
For Chris and Andrew
As we contemplate what an urban-rural ashram could look like, an interesting resource is this book of darshan of and appreciation for an Indian teacher by his students and devotees.
I did a meditation retreat with Sri Eknath Easwaran in January 1991 in the Bay Area. A friend of mine from my Louisville days was an ardent practitioner of his eight-point path. Back in 2013 I led a “slow-reading” group of the Bhagavad Gita, using Easwaran’s translation and three volumes of commentary. Originally from Kerala, India, Easwaran had keen insights into U.S. culture, which led to his apt and encouraging advice to his U.S. students seeking the path of self-realization.
This book consists of many black-and-white as well as color photographs of the forty plus years of this teacher and his growing community (or satsang), along with excerpts from various talks and books by Easwaran. The seeds were planted in the early Sixties and developed throughout the Seventies; the work continues these twenty years after Easwaran “shed his body.”
In Hindu tradition, it is a commonplace that you don’t need to meet your guru face to face; also, you can have a deep spiritual connection to a teacher through a photograph, as followers of Sri Anandamayi Ma have acknowledged.
Focusing on mediation, Easwaran observed, “Training the mind is the alpha and omega of the spiritual life.” His initial advice: Put meditation first.
This book would be valuable in our discussions as Easwaran’s Blue Mountain Center of Meditation provides a vision of spiritual training, and chronicles their emerging projects like a press to publish books (a big seller since the 70s has been the vegetarian cookbook, Laurel’s Kitchen, first released by their Nilgiri Press).
As you leaf through this book in a relaxed, receptive way, you’ll come across simple reminders such as “everything starts on a small scale,” “miracles take a lot of work,” and “seek no thought of reward or recognition.”
I’m happy to pass along this book of love to you.
Mark
P.S. See if you can spot Jean Abbott in one of the photos!
