This was a great book. Mr. Easwaran offers a wonderful 8-point system to a better life. Meditation is just one of those points. Wonderful meditation pieces. ( )

Easwaran's 8-point plan is a guide to meditation for the novice. It details the various reasons for meditating, stressing a greater control over the mind and the senses, and gives a methodology for getting the most out of meditation.

There were, unsurprisingly, some aspects of Easwaran's book that I disliked, most notably his sometimes 'holier than thou' aspect, and how ascetic and lacking in excitement his suggested lifestyle could be. I am no epicurean, certainly, but I do think that going to the cinema and then closing ones eyes during the 'tawdry scenes' is rather missing the point of what life has to offer.

However, there were some aspects that I enjoyed. I can respect Easwaran for his learnedness, and the breadth of his reading. He knows a lot outside of his own speciality, too, having previously been an English teacher and not just a spiritualist.

Given its vintage, 'Meditation' is something of a snapshot from a different time, when the spiritual movement in America and Europe was still somewhat in its infancy. Certainly, the movement became well-known in the 60s and 70s alongside drugs culture, but it still had some cachet, which now, sadly one thinks, has dissipated with the trend of books like this now to veer towards self-help and self-improvement, instead of the stated spiritual aim. ( )

I haven't read this sort of book in a while, though I used to read Alan Watts (who I would recommend) quite a bit. I picked up "Meditation" because one of my goals this year is to meditate more regularly.. Eknath Easwaran's book came recommended to me by a friend, and it was easy to find in the used bookstore as it was published back in 1978 and was something of a bestseller.

Neither Easwaran's "passage meditation," in which a person in meditation repeats a singular passage - he recommends beginning with the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, nor repeating a mantram (mantra) in non-meditation times resonated with me. But that doesn't mean this little book wasn't worth reading.

Easwaran has (I should say "had" since he "shed his body" in 1999) a very easy-going, jocular voice and is able to express spiritual principles in a very palatable way. Some of his eight-points are universal truths - slowing down, putting others first, training the senses... and he borrows from numerous spiritual traditions in expressing these.

For instance, he refers to a Sufi metaphor of three gates through which one's speech should pass before being spoken -

"Are these words true?"
"Are these words necessary?"
"Are these words kind?"
(p.159)

I had heard this said before, but I never knew where it came from. "Meditation" is full of these sorts of simple guides for living more spiritually.

Anyone interested in meditation and open to exploring different ideas will benefit from and likely enjoy Eknath Easwaran's short book. ( )

Quite an impressive book, really. A well written and practical approach to meditation. The book is based on a lecture series that Eknath Easwaran gave at the Berkeley campus while he was a visiting professor. He encourages meditation as the reflection upon a great spiritual passage. He devotes a section of the book to each of the eight points. He also includes suggested passages and readings.

And, in case you're wondering what those eight steps are:
1) Meditation
2) Repetition of the mantram
3) Slowing down
4) Giving one-pointed attention
5) Training the senses
6) Putting the welfare of others first
7) Spiritual companionship
8) Reading from the scriptures and mystics of all religions

Experiments in Reading ( )