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A Letter from the President of the BMCM in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

News

March 17, 2020

“What I would tell all of you is this: meditate every day, throw yourself into some form of selfless work, and use your sense of suffering as a powerful motivation to help relieve the suffering of others. It is a wonderful gift to give.”
– Eknath Easwaran

 

Dear Friends,

These are challenging times and the situation is evolving very quickly. As we journey through this coronavirus crisis together, Easwaran’s wisdom and guidance are a steadying force in our lives and in the world. I am writing to share what we are doing in the BMCM to support our community locally and globally regarding COVID-19.

We are committed to supporting the health and safety of all who live at Ramagiri Ashram and who work or volunteer at the BMCM. We are continually monitoring a number of established, credible health organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the Marin County Health Department, and we are following their guidance.

We have just received a public health “shelter in place” order from Marin County. As a result the BMCM office will be closed for three weeks until Tuesday, April 7th. We have already cancelled all our in-person programs through the end of May. BMCM staff will be working from home to maintain minimal operations and continue to be paid. These are difficult adjustments to make, but we know that our extended spiritual family is well prepared for these uncertain times. We are exploring additional ways to support you online, hopefully with some live programming, so please be on the lookout for further information.

(Update March 26, 2020: We have launched a twice-weekly live video satsang led by BMCM presenters. Join us for BMCM Satsang Live.)

Even when we can’t be together physically, we can be together in spirit and through our spiritual practice. We invite you to turn to Easwaran for guidance through these resources:

  • Easwaran Digital Library: these unedited audio and video talks are a wonderful way to sit in Easwaran’s presence.
  • eSatsang: our online forum offers weekly instruction and inspiration by Easwaran and a chance to reflect with other passage meditators.
  • Passages for Meditation: this timeless wisdom from the mystics is available as texts and as audio recordings read by Easwaran and his wife, Christine.

Many people are feeling anxious right now, but we can draw on the mantram and our passages to give us unfailing strength and security. For those of you with a mantram, now is the time to use it more than ever. It can ease anxiety and steady a run-away mind. Remember, Gandhi said his mantram was his staff of life.

We also invite you to join us in memorizing, studying, and meditating on the passage United in Heart. This collective action can help us all.

This is also a good time to explore our Setu Playlists, available in both a streaming and downloadable format:

Easwaran tells us that when a great need arises, there is also a great inner divine response to answer that need. Here at the BMCM we are devoting ourselves more than ever to our spiritual schedule, in order to access our inner resources and be of service to our families and communities. We invite you to join us in using this time of great challenge as an opportunity to intensify spiritual practice, deepen our relationship with Easwaran, and strengthen our connections with each other.

With love and mantrams,

David Bishop
President of the BMCM