Week 6 -- The Steady Mind

“My aim . . . is to be consistent with Truth at a given moment.  As a result, . . . I have grown from Truth to Truth.” –  Mahatma Gandhi

Affirmation:

"I am united with Divine Mind.  My thoughts, words, and actions align with Truth.  My mind is steady and clear."

Study Questions:  - The Steady Mind  (Review Gandhi the Man, pages 112 - 119 and pages 129 - 140)

Gandhi had an undivided singleness of mind. Where in your life do you have undivided singleness of mind?  Notes for Discussion:

·        “‘Undivided singleness of mind’ is what the Gita means by yoga.  It is the complete opposite of the incessant civil warfare among intellect, senses, emotions, and instincts that is our usual state of mind.  Yoga is the complete reintegration of all these fragments on every level of the personality.  It is the process of becoming whole.”  (p. 112)

What are the benefits of this single-mindedness?  Notes for Discussion:

·        Through God’s grace, we can attain our goal of union with God Mind if we strive for it with single-minded devotion.

·        Gandhi said, “my life is my message.”  Everything he did embodied what he believed.

·        Mahadev Desai, Gandhi’s longtime secretary once observed, “What Gandhi thinks, what he feels, what he says, and what he does are all the same. . . .You and I, we think one thing, feel another, say a third, and do a fourth. . . .”  (p. 112)

·        “You must watch my life, how I live, eat, sit, talk, behave in general.  The sum total of all those is my religion.” – Gandhi  (p. 130)

How do I get the will, desire, and devotion to steady my mind on God by saying “no” to what doesn’t align me with God?  Notes for Discussion:

·        Eknath Easwaran states that, “meditation . . . is the key to this transformation of character and consciousness.  It is a dynamic discipline independent of any belief or dogma, in which all one’s powers of concentration are brought to bear upon one overriding ideal to drive it deep into every cell of the mind, until it gradually consumes all smaller ideals and goals.  Through this discipline one enters the deepest levels of consciousness, where the storms of deep-seated conflicts rage continuously night and day.  It is at these awesome depths, as Gandhi put it, that love wrestles with anger and fear ‘and ultimately gains mastery over all other feelings.’ The principle of meditation is that you become what you meditate on.  Gandhi meditated ‘with an undivided singleness of mind’ on the ideal of the Bhagavad Gita: the man who renounces everything for love of serving others, and lives in freedom and joy.”  (p. 118, 119)

At the conclusion of the Study Group discussion, have one person lead a meditation based upon the technique suggested by Eknath Easwaran in his book Meditation.  Use Easwaran’s example of the Prayer of St. Francis.  Repeatedly recite the prayer out loud.  With each repetition, slow the recitation, leaving more "space" between each word; let the space be short enough to not let extraneous thoughts barge in but long enough to experience a quiet period. After reciting the first repetition at speaking pace, let a second or so be between each word during the second repetition.  On subsequent repetitions, let more "space" enter between each word, pausing a bit longer for each word during the third repetition, longer still for the fourth repetition, etc.  Let the meditation continue for at least fifteen minutes.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
...where there is injury, forgiveness;
...where there is doubt, faith;
...where there is despair, hope;
...where there is darkness, light;
...where there is sorrow, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
...to be consoled as to console;
...to be understood as to understand;
...to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
...it is in forgiving that we are forgiven;
...and it is in dying (to self) that we are born to eternal life.

–        Francis of Assisi

Easwaran’s suggestion is that the prayer (or other spiritual passage that sings to you) be memorized so that it may be repeatedly recited in silence during the meditation.  The meditation reaches deeply into consciousness during the space between the words, leaving the imprint of the prayer on the foundation of one’s consciousness.

Practice meditation each day for three weeks beginning this week (if not already in a daily practice of meditation).