About the BMCM

Our headquarters at Ramagiri Ashram is located near the small town of Tomales, in Marin County in Northern California. The property formerly belonged to a contemplative Catholic order. For nearly 50 years, we have been transforming our 251 acres into a well-managed combination of pastureland and woods. We have refurbished a number of old buildings and built new ones that function as our workspace.

The BMCM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All of our work is made possible by donations. While income from books and retreats covers a portion of our costs, everything we do depends on the generosity of those who benefit from Easwaran’s teachings.

We are always delighted when people express an interest in Easwaran and his work. 

Unfortunately because of Covid we are currently not open to visitors to the BMCM and the ashram. Please call us at 707 878 2369 or email us for updates.

Our logo represents a South Indian temple lamp. “Little Lamp” is the pet name given to Easwaran by his spiritual teacher, his grandmother, who used such a lamp in her daily worship.

Easwaran named his organization the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation after the location of his home on the Nilgiris, or Blue Mountain, in South India.

Similarly, the BMCM publishing arm is called Nilgiri Press.

Easwaran believed in making his teachings freely available to anyone who is interested. 

We offer a wide range of free resources on our website: instructions in passage meditation, articles by Easwaran, passages for meditation, Easwaran's Thought for the Day, and the Blue Mountain Journal, which is published four times a year. Other free resources include our twice-weekly BMCM Satsang Live, our worldwide virtual fellowship community (the eSatsang), and access to video and audio recordings of Easwaran's talks in our Easwaran Digital Library. Go to our Subscribe section to sign up for free offerings, our Community section for information on the Satsangs, and our Programs section for free webinars.

We also offer scholarships and financial aid for our retreats.

We have one center worldwide, the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Tomales, California, from which we reach and support our global audience of over 20,000 members who are engaged and communicate with us on a regular basis. 

Easwaran was always looking for earnest seekers, and he did not want the BMCM to proselytize. Most of our audience find Easwaran through his books or by word of mouth.

Our publishing department, Nilgiri Press, sells roughly 100,000 of Easwaran’s print books, ebooks, and audiobooks each year.

Our programs department offers a wide range of online retreats and webinars, designed for everyone from newcomers to longtime passage meditators.

Our international audience is drawn from over 40 countries and is about 15% of our total audience. Our other members are in the US.

The BMCM engages in short-term and long-term strategic planning based on our vision for the year 2100. We regularly review our activities to ensure we are operating in alignment with our Foundational Principles. 

Easwaran warned for decades about the impending global climate crisis. His eight-point program of passage meditation is a complete toolkit for dealing with major challenges on both a personal and a community level, so all our planning is focused on keeping Easwaran's teachings alive and available for generations, whatever the future holds. 

Christine Easwaran, Easwaran's wife, was a Life Trustee and acted as Easwaran’s chosen representative after his passing in 1999, guiding the future of the ashram and the BMCM. She was instrumental in developing the Foundational Principles, which help ensure that the BMCM remains faithful to the intentions and values of our Founder, while responding to the needs and challenges of a changing world.

By the time of her passing in August 2022, Christine had prepared her transition and handed over all her responsibilities to the Board of Trustees. 

The BMCM is guided by eight Foundational Principles on which we base all our activities. The Foundational Principle on governance states that the Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall governance of the BMCM. Operational responsibility lies with the President’s Office which reports to the Board of Trustees.

Trustees provide oversight to the organization as well as long-range planning, including the three-year strategic plans which guide our work. Our Trustees are Madison Nichols, David Bishop, Joan Barnicle, Satish Kappagantula, Diana Lightman, Nick Harvey, Sultana Harvey, Julie MacLean, Terry Morrison, and Beth Ann O’Connell.

The President, Madison Nichols, assisted by colleagues in the President’s Office (PO), is responsible for implementing the strategic vision and for the day-to-day operational activities of the BMCM. These include providing direction and resources to department and projects, interacting with our audience, financial management, and the business continuity of the organization.

Currently the PO has three members: Madison Nichols, Joan Barnicle,  and Satish Kappagantula. 

BMCM departments report to the PO and carry out activities such as instructional programs, keeping Easwaran’s books in print, or interacting with our donors. Representatives of the BMCM’s instructional programs and publishing activities are longtime meditators who have received many years of training in Easwaran’s teachings.

Our Foundational Principle on organizational values and work culture makes it clear that Easwaran’s teachings are at the heart of the BMCM and are reflected in all our activities and relationships. We actively embrace a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and consultation.

Our first Foundational Principle states that Easwaran is the only spiritual teacher and spiritual director of the BMCM in perpetuity. We do our utmost to carry his message into the world as authentically as we can, so people can connect with him directly and find support in his written and recorded teachings.

In addition to Easwaran’s books we have nearly 4000 of his recorded audio and video talks, many of which are now freely available via a subscription to our Easwaran Digital Library. 

 To quote Easwaran himself: “To those who have faith in me, I shall continue to guide them.”

To clarify our mission for future generations and ensure that we continue to allow our audience to learn from Easwaran directly — ‘unfiltered, unmixed, and undiluted’ — Christine Easwaran set out a policy framework based on eight foundational principles. These principles form the basis of all our activities.

1. The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation was founded in 1961 by Sri Eknath Easwaran to carry his teachings into the future. As a spiritual organization, all of our efforts are in support of this goal. 
   
2. Sri Easwaran is the only spiritual teacher of the BMCM in perpetuity. In all our endeavors, we are dedicated to carrying his spiritual message into the world as authentically as possible so people may encounter him directly through his written and recorded teachings. 
   
3. All BMCM publications authentically represent Sri Easwaran. The BMCM publishes Sri Easwaran as its only author. 
   
4. The BMCM provides instruction and spiritual support only in Sri Easwaran’s eight-point program of passage meditation. All of our instruction is based on his written and recorded words and is presented by authorized representatives of the BMCM who are longtime practitioners of passage meditation and have undergone rigorous training. 
   
5. The BMCM preserves a comprehensive archive of Sri Easwaran’s written and recorded words for use in authorized BMCM activities. 
   
6. The BMCM is responsible for maintaining at Ramagiri Ashram the pattern of life established by Sri Easwaran to demonstrate daily practice of his eight-point program of passage meditation. The four touchstones of the day – morning and evening meditation, spiritual fellowship of the evening meal, and viewing of Sri Easwaran’s talks together – preserve the essentials of his way of life for realizing the Supreme Goal. For ashram residents this is the primary purpose of their lives. 
   
7. Sri Easwaran’s teachings are the heart of our organization, and we reflect those teachings in all our activities and relationships. All core roles at the BMCM are held by dedicated practitioners of passage meditation. We actively embrace a culture of teamwork and consultation. 
   
8. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall governance of the BMCM, and assumes the responsibilities of the Life Trustees after their time. The President’s Office reports to the Board and is responsible for all activities and divisions of the BMCM, including Ramagiri Ashram. The BMCM’s governance structure upholds our foundational principles through regular oversight of written policies, plans, and procedures at all levels of the organization.

*Sri (pronounced Shree), as in Sri Easwaran, is used in India as a respectful form of address.