Passage Meditation - A Complete Spiritual Practice - (Essential Easwaran Library) 4th Edition by Eknath Easwaran (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Easwaran's classic manual on meditation and spiritual living is a unique source of practical spiritual support for new and experienced meditators.

Easwaran taught passage meditation for over forty years, and his class at the University of California, Berkeley was the first accredited course on meditation at any Western university. He is the author of the best-selling translation in English of the Bhagavad Gita, India's best-known scripture.

In passage meditation, you focus attention on passages or texts from the world's wisdom traditions that are positive, practical, and uplifting, and that fit with your own religious or non-religious beliefs. This universal method of meditation stays fresh and inspiring, prompting you to live out your highest ideals, and the mantram and six other spiritual tools help you to stay calm, kind, and focused throughout the day. This book shows how, with regular practice, you gain wisdom and vitality, and find a life that fulfills.

This fourth edition of Passage Meditation has been extended by over thirty percent to include Easwaran's answers to more than 100 questions posed by his students in question and answer sessions. It gives all the instruction needed to establish a vibrant meditation practice and keep it going.

From the Back Cover

A clear, insightful exposition of meditation, and an excellent guide to its practice.
HUSTON SMITH, author of The World s Religions
Eknath Easwaran taught meditation for over forty years, and his class at UC Berkeley was the first accredited course on meditation at any Western university. He is the author of the best-selling translation in English of the Bhagavad Gita, India s best-known scripture. Passage Meditation, Easwaran s 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. This book offers unique in-depth support for both new and experienced meditators.
In Easwaran s method of passage meditation, you focus attention on passages or texts from the world s wisdom traditions that are positive, practical, and uplifting, and that fit with your own religious or non-religious beliefs. This universal method stays fresh and inspiring, improving concentration and prompting you to live out your highest ideals. Meditation is supported by the mantram and six other spiritual tools, helping you to stay calm, kind, and focused throughout the day. With regular practice, you gain wisdom and vitality, and find a life that fulfills.
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Review Quotes

"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

"Eknath Easwaran . . . sets forth the basics of meditation with gentle humor and the insights gained from a lifetime of spiritual practice . . . [and] integrates Eastern and Western approaches to the art of stilling the mind and opening the heart." -- Yoga Journal

"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

About the Author

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 2 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.