It’s one thing to start a meditation practice, but much harder to sustain it—and harder still, once we have finished morning meditation, to keep a calm mind in our media-saturated, time pressured world.

A master teacher who is as entertaining as he is authoritative, Easwaran gives all the instruction needed to establish a vibrant meditation practice and keep it going. His classic manual on meditation and spiritual living has now been extended by over thirty percent with new material from question and answer sessions with his students, and offers a unique source of practical spiritual support for new and experienced meditators.

In passage meditation, you focus attention on passages, or texts, drawn from all the world’s sacred traditions. You choose the passages that appeal to you, so this universal method stays fresh and inspiring, prompting you to live out your highest ideals.

Meditation is supported by the mantram and six other spiritual tools to help us stay calm, kind, and focused throughout the day. This book shows how, with regular practice, we gain wisdom and vitality, and find a life that fulfills.

Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) is respected around the world as an authentic guide to timeless wisdom, and as the originator of passage meditation, a complete spiritual program. His Indian classics, The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, and The Dhammapada, are the best-selling English translations, and over 1.5 million copies of his thirty-three books are in print. His 1968 class on the theory and practice of meditation at UC Berkeley is believed to be the first accredited course on meditation at any Western university.

Easwaran was a professor of English literature and well known in India as a writer and speaker before coming to the United States in 1959 on the Fulbright exchange program. In 1961, he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, based in Tomales, California, which continues his work today through publications and retreats.

Table of Contents

Preface: Discovering Meditation

I. The Practice of Meditation
1. Meditation on a Passage

II. Continuing Your Practice During the Day
2. Repetition of a Mantram
3. Slowing Down
4. One-pointed Attention
5. Training the Senses
6. Putting Others First

III. Spiritual Support
7. Spiritual Fellowship
8. Spiritual Reading

IV. Putting It All Together
As Meditation Deepens
Questions & Answers