“Though the Lord is everywhere, the expression of his creativity varies throughout the infinite variety of the universe. Wherever perfection is approached, this glory is revealed a little more — among people, among trees, among mountains, among stars.” Eknath Easwaran

I’m A little over half-way thru a Spirituality and Practice course featuring the writings and quotes of Eknath Easwaran, a remarkable writer and spiritual teacher born in Kerala India.

I first encountered Easwaran in a “take-it-honey-book,” as my friend describes donated or discarded library books. It was called The Compassionate Universe.

It’s theme was a sort of spiritual ecology and the sword-sharp-double-edged chapter titles caught my attention: Knowledge without Character, Commerce without Morality, Science without Humanity, Politics without Principles, etc. What kept me reading were Easwaran’s stories about his wise grandmother, St. Francis of Assisi, and Mahatma Gandhi, along with his belief that meditation could be a key to a better world.  His foundation in California has a wonderful website that offers free meditation lessons and suggestions for memorizing sacred writings from many faiths.

Several years later I bought God Makes the Rivers to Flow an extraordinary compilation of sacred literature of the world selected by Easwaran. This collection has some of the most beautiful and inspiring pieces of faith writings I’ve ever read and I continue to read it on a regular basis. It also contains Easwaran’s 8-point program, for changing one’s own world by filling the mind with the highest ideals.

Wikipedia’s article about Easwaran has a complete listing of his books and also lists some other sources of his writings.  He was considered a master translator of both Buddhist and Hindu spiritual texts and wrote commentaries on Christian saints, The Beatitudes and The Imitation of Christ.  I wish I could have met and known this man who writes with such humanity and simplicity about the most important aspects of life and faith.  Since that’s impossible, I hope to read many more of his books.  If you’d like to know what others think, the link for Spirituality and Practice in the first paragraph will help.  A search at S&P will bring up many of their excellent reviews.

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