The elephant already in the stone
Eknath Easwaran
1910 – 1999
A Kerala professor who gave the wandering trunk something to hold, and taught a West how to sit with a passage until the life became the art.
Born in Kerala.
His grandmother was his first spiritual guide.
Mid-life, after losses that would not be argued with, he began to repeat verses of the Gita in silence, and the sitting became a life.
A Fulbright brought him to America in 1959.
In 1961 he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation.
In 1968 he taught what may have been the first accredited meditation course at Berkeley.
Passage meditation, the mantram, slowing down, one-pointed attention, putting others first — eight points, not a religion.
He translated the Gita, the Upanishads, the Dhammapada so they could live in English without becoming souvenirs.
In this grove he is the one who already knew the baby elephant: the mind is a trunk that will take every mango unless it is given a stick to hold, and the true self is already in the stone, waiting to be chipped free.
On the shelf
In the library
Eknath Easwaran
The mind and the elephant trunk
On festival days in India you will often see a huge elephant, caparisoned in gold and gorgeous cloth, carrying an image of the Lord on its back through the village streets. Stalls of fruits, vegetables, and sweets line the narrow, crooked streets, and the trunk of an elephant, as you may know, rarely stays still. It seizes a coconut, a bunch of bananas, whatever the stalls offer, because a trunk that is empty will take. To prevent this the mahout asks the elephant to grasp a firm bamboo shaft. Out of love the elephant does as he is told. He steps right along with his stick held upright in a steady trunk, not tempted to feast on mangoes or melons, because he has something to hold on to. The human mind is rather like the trunk of an elephant. It never rests. It goes here, there, ceaselessly moving through sensations, images, thoughts, hopes, regrets, impulses. What should we give it to hold on to? The systematic repetition of the mantram, which can steady the mind at any time and in any place.
Passage Meditation
Eknath Easwaran
Chip away what is not elephant
The sculptor studies the granite for a long time and does nothing. Then, slowly, an outline shows itself. An elephant is stirring in there. Only then does he start to work, clinging to that outline, chipping away every last bit of stone that is not elephant. What then remains will be, must be, elephant. We do not need to bring our real self into existence. It is already there. It has always been there, yearning to be out. Once we have become attentive to this true self, all we really need do is resolutely chip away whatever is not divine in ourselves. In meditation, the inspirational passage is the chisel, our concentration is the hammer, and our resolute will delivers the blows. Can you imagine a sculptor scurrying to pick up the slivers, hoarding them, ignoring the statue altogether?
God Makes the Rivers to Flow
Eknath Easwaran
We become what we meditate on
Meditation is not a religion. It is a technique which enables us to realize for ourselves the unity of life within any of the world’s great religious traditions, or even if we profess none at all. Memorize an inspirational passage — the Prayer of Saint Francis, the Twenty-third Psalm, the last nineteen verses of the second chapter of the Gita. With eyes gently closed, go through the words in the mind as slowly as you can. Do not follow any association of ideas. When distractions come, do not resist them; give more and more of your attention to the passage. The secret is that we become what we meditate on. Sustained concentration on the passage drives it deep into consciousness. Just as others write beautiful poetry, you can make your life such a work of art that everyone who sees it will be inspired.
Meditation: Artistry for Living
Eknath Easwaran
Putting others first
We all need joy, and we can all receive joy in only one way, by adding to the joy of others. Putting others first is not a slogan and not a loss. It is how the fist of I opens. The eight points walk together: a passage in the morning while the day is still cool; a mantram whenever the trunk starts to wander; slowing down; one-pointed attention to the matter at hand; training the senses; spiritual fellowship; spiritual reading; and this — freedom from the small self, joy in helping, the far shore used for someone still in the water. In living for others, I come to life.
Passage Meditation