Dear Friend,
In this vista of the heavens over Ramagiri Ashram, you can see that our friend Jim’s very slowed-down camera has no trouble perceiving a world aglow with subtle and beautiful lights, even in the darkest of nights.
It seems a fitting image to share with you as the BMCM’s 60th anniversary year draws to a close. Whenever the times seemed to be darkening this year, Sri Easwaran’s worldwide community responded by bringing more light: more mantrams, more tenderness and respect for others in trying situations, more help in sharing Easwaran’s teachings and in living them out.
The collective effect of these efforts is more visible each year. Very often when a person contacts us for the first time, they have been inspired by someone they know. That's the power of your example — the power of your gentle light.
Thank you for helping to make the view from here quietly spectacular, and full of hope.
With your help, Sri Easwaran’s worldwide community is growing in depth and breadth
Our thanks to all of you who took the plunge with us in our online retreats last year and have helped make them even more transformative this year. One friend says, “Even those of us who long to return to the retreat house and Ramagiri have been inspired, encouraged, and energized by the Zoom programs.” And we’re delighted that the number of subscribers to the free online Easwaran Digital Library (EDL) has grown from 700 to 2,000 during the last two years. If you enjoy audio content, you can find there a newly published series on the Upanishads from the early days of Easwaran’s teaching. The audio book of his magnum opus, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, released to Audible in January, has reached over 4,000 people.
We send our gratitude to all of you who have made our free offerings and all our work possible through your donations. And while there’s no expectation to include a note or comment, your words mean a great deal to us. We appreciate being in touch and hearing how you are doing, and learning how your connection with Easwaran’s teachings is serving you. If you have not yet made a gift and would like to, we welcome your support! Your gift will help turn our hopes for next year into a living reality. Donations can be made online here.
Day of Mantrams for Peace and Healing
We hope you will consider ringing in the new year with us and many friends across the globe with a Day of Mantrams for Peace and Healing on Sunday, January 2. On this day we will be holding a special Satsang Live. Mantram writing begins at 9:40 a.m. Pacific Time and the Satsang Live program starts at 10:00 a.m. After our previous Mantram Day, a participant wrote, “The sense of connection with those we know and those we have never met from around the world is palpable. It feels especially important in these trying times to know that we have the support of a worldwide network of aspirants engaged in the attempt to extinguish self-will and become established in Unity.”
Christine shares a passage
We’ll end with a blessing from our brightest of lights here, Christine Easwaran. Her body is experiencing the effect of her 100 1/2 years a bit more, but her spirit is as strong as ever, and she continues to do our full spiritual schedule with us. She sends her love and mantrams to you all. You may have heard her read the passage below before, as she feels it speaks directly to the needs of our times. Here it is in her own hand.
As one friend put it, reading or meditating on words such as these “moves us to build the world we want to live in — peaceful and compassionate.” May your new year be full of meaning and blessings as we all work to build that world together and to infuse the dark places with light.
With warm regards,
David Bishop
President