Eknath Easwaran (December 17, 1910 October 26, 1999) was an Indian-born spiritual teacher, author, and translator and interpreter of Indian religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads.
Easwaran was a professor of English literature at the University of Nagpur in India when he came to the United States in 1959 on the Fulbright Program at the University of Minnesota before moving to Berkeley and registering as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1961, Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, based in northern California. In 1968 Easwaran established Nilgiri Press. Nilgiri Press has published over thirty books that he authored.
Easwaran was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, whom he met when he was a young man.Gandhi's influence on Easwaran is described by Easwaran or others in a variety of publications, including Gandhi the Man (e.g., p. 6, 1978 edition), The Making of a Teacher (e.g., p. 160, 1989 edition), and The Compassionate Universe (, see chapter 1; chapters 2-8 are structured using Gandhi's "Seven Social Sins"). See also the biography of Easwaran posted at his publisher's website (accessed 1 September 2017). Easwaran developed a method of meditation silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world's major religious and spiritual traditions which later came to be known as Passage Meditation.
His teachings inspired some of his students to create the 1976 vegetarian cookbook Laurel's Kitchen.
Biography Eknath Easwaran was born in 1910 in a village in Kerala, India. "Easwaran was born on December 17, 1910, into an ancient matrilineal family in Kerala, India" (p. 143) Eknath is his surname, Easwaran his given name.However, after he came to the United States, "Easwaran" generally functioned as his last name (analogous to a surname) for authorship credits and other public activities. Brought up by his mother, and by his maternal grandmother whom he honored as his spiritual teacher, he was schooled in his native village until the age of sixteen, when he went to attend St. Thomas College, Thrissur, a Catholic college fifty miles away. He graduated at the University of Nagpur in English and law. , , , He served as Chair of the Department of English at University of Nagpur."Eknath Easwaran- Meditation Teacher and Writer (1910 -1999)". berkeleyplaques.org. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Prior to arriving in the United States, he had a family with two children.
In 1959, he came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar.Holly Hammond (January/February 1996). "Finding balance in a hurried world." Yoga Journal n123, pp. 86–92, 139–141 .
From 1960–1961 Easwaran gave talks on the Indian scriptures in the San Francisco Bay Area. He met his American wife Christine at one of these talks. Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in 1961. He went back to India in 1962 to fulfill the terms of the Fulbright, returning to the Bay Area in 1965 to continue his teaching. In 1968 he was invited by a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, to teach on a Religious Studies course entitled The Theory and Practice of Meditation – the first in the country offering credits.
In 1970 he founded Ramagiri Ashram as a community of dedicated followers in Marin County.
He set up a publishing activity, Nilgiri Press, which printed his first book Gandhi The Man, telling the story of Gandhi as a spiritual as well as a political leader. His first major work was his 3-volume commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, the first volume of which was printed in 1975 and the last in 1984. His book Meditation on the program of meditation and allied disciplines that he developed first appeared in 1978.
By 2018, Easwaran's methods of spiritual practice had been the focus of two major scientific research programs that had produced thirty refereed research reports.
Published works Easwaran's written works may be grouped into several major categories—primarily books, but also articles in newspapers and other periodicals. Most of his books have been reviewed by spiritually oriented publications or websites, or by nationally known media such as The New Yorker,Bill McKibben (September 24, 1984). "Notes and Comment" (in "The Talk of the Town"; discusses Easwaran's A Man to Match His Mountains, a biography of Abdul Ghaffar Khan). The New Yorker, pp. 39–40. "A straightforward yet devoted biography ... By his example, [Khan] asks what we ourselves, as individuals made from the same stuff as he, are doing to shape history" (pp. 39–40). or the New York Post.Bill McKibben (May 21, 1989). "A guru who offers no guarantees: Easwaran teaches a practical method of self-mastery." New York Post, pp. 4–5. Review of Gandhi the Man, A Man to Match His Mountains, Meditation, The Mantram Handbook, and Conquest of Mind.
In addition, a large number of Easwaran's recorded talks have been published in video and audio formats.
Translations
Easwaran's translations of the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Dhammapada (see article) have been critically acclaimed. Religion scholar Huston Smith is cited by the publisher as writing: "No one in modern times is more qualified no, make that 'as qualified' to translate the epochal Classics of Indian Spirituality than Eknath Easwaran. And the reason is clear. It is impossible to get to the heart of those classics unless you live them, and he did live them. My admiration of the man and his works is boundless."Huston Smith, quoted on back cover and on page 383 of Eknath Easwaran (2007). [ The Upanishads] (2nd, rev. ed.). Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press. In Buddhism: A Concise IntroductionHuston Smith and Philip Novak (2003). Buddhism: A Concise Introduction San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. (p. 222: "Our favorite translation is Eknath Easwaran's The Dhammapada. His Indian heritage, literary gifts, and spiritual sensibilities (which have given us excellent translations of Hinduism's Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) here produce a sublime rendering of the words of the Buddha. Verse after verse shimmers with quiet, confident authority. A bonus is the sparkling 70-page introduction to the Buddha's life and teachings that precedes the translation.") Smith and his coauthor Philip Novak wrote that "Our favorite translation is Eknath Easwaran's The Dhammapada. His Indian heritage, literary gifts, and spiritual sensibilities... here produce a sublime rendering of the words of the Buddha. Verse after verse shimmers with quiet, confident authority. A bonus is the sparkling 70-page introduction to the Buddha's life and teachings."
Since 2009, Easwaran's three translations "have each been the best-selling translations of these scriptures in the USA." In the US in 2016, each of Easwaran's translations outsold the second best-selling translation in its category "by more than 3:1", and the second editions have together sold more than 470,000 copies.
Commentaries
Essence of the Upanishads, originally entitled Dialogue with death: The spiritual psychology of the Katha Upanishad, explains how the Katha Upanishad embraces the key ideas of Indian spirituality within the context of a powerful mythic quest the story of a young hero who ventures into the land of death in search of immortality. "Essence of the Upanishads is a westerner's guide to this vitally important Indian text and its modern relevance to the Indian mindset and spirituality."Midwest Book Review Aug-09 https://www.midwestbookreview.com/wbw/aug_09.htm
In Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, Easwaran places the Gita's teachings in a modern context and comments on the Gita's view of the nature of reality, the illusion of separateness, the search for identity, the meaning of yoga, and how to heal the unconscious. The book views the key message of the Gita as how to resolve our conflicts and live in harmony with the deep unity of life, through the practice of meditation and spiritual disciplines.
In Essence of the Dhammapada, Easwaran comments on the Dhammapada, sayings attributed to the Buddha himself, presenting it as a guide that gives straightforward teachings about spiritual perseverance, progress, and enlightenment.
Books on meditation
His book Passage Meditation (original title Meditation) describes the Eight Point Program that Easwaran developed, while his book Conquest of Mind goes further into the practice of these disciplines in daily life. Timeless Wisdom is a companion book to Passage Meditation and contains passages for meditation drawn from across the world's spiritual traditions. His book Mantram Handbook: a practical guide to choosing your mantram and calming your mind addresses The Mantram, the second point in the program.
His book Strength in the Storm is an introduction to The Mantram, containing many stories and practical examples to help the reader learn how to harness the inner resources for dealing with challenges in daily living. His book Take Your TimeSpirituality and Practice, review of Take Your Time explores "Slowing Down" and "One-Pointed Attention" in daily lives. Renewal"Easwaran is one [of] the most powerful Hindu teachers lecturing and writing in America ... this book is meant to be a companion for the difficult but joyous interior work of spiritual transformation that is at the heart of his teachings", wrote Publishers Weekly in a review of the original edition: Henry Carrigan (1996). "Your life is your message: Finding harmony with yourself, others, and the earth." Publishers Weekly, v243 n29, p69. (republished in 2009 as Renewal) is a pocket book of short readings on themes such as loving relationships, raising children, living simply, and aging wisely; Patience, the second in the pocket book series, shows how to cultivate Patience "the ornament of the brave" at any age. Other (older) books describe various aspects of leading a spiritual life: Climbing the Blue Mountain, Compassionate Universe, and Undiscovered Country.
Daily readers and reference
God Makes the Rivers to Flow is an anthology of writings from the sacred literature of the world, selected by Easwaran as useful for meditation. A larger (and earlier) version of Timeless Wisdom, it contains dozens of passages from diverse traditions, and identifies passages for particular stages in life, such as caregiving, families with small children, death and dying, grief and loss, and for building positive qualities such as patience, courage, devotion to God, and putting others first. Words to Live By is a set of daily readings with Easwaran's commentary on applying the reading to daily life.
The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living is a manual for living a spiritual life, comprising a verse-by-verse commentary on India's timeless scripture the Bhagavad Gita. The work is in three volumes, published in 1975, 1979 and 1984 respectively, in hardcover and later also in paperback. When the first paperbacks were published the volumes were given new subtitles: the End of Sorrow; Like a Thousand Suns; and To Love is To Know Me.
In 2020 the three-volume set was reissued as a second edition, and as a single-volume ebook.
In Volume 1 (the first six chapters of the Gita) Easwaran explains how readers can begin to transform themselves, even as householders engaged in busy lives. In Volume 2 (the next six chapters) Easwaran addresses the seeming divide between scientific knowledge and spiritual wisdom, and explains how the concept of the unity of life can help people in all their relationships. In Volume 3 (the final six chapters) he makes the connection between the Self within and the Reality underlying all creation – and how to make a difference to heal the environment and establish peace in the world.
Spiritual biographies
Gandhi the Man traces how Mohandas Gandhi transformed himself into one of the world's great spiritual leaders.