Learn to Meditate on a Passage

Many of us have been practicing passage meditation for twenty years or more. Do you know what we do when we have questions about our practice? We go back to the basic book, Passage Meditation and review it thoroughly. Isn’t that a kick? But honestly, that’s what we do because Easwaran wrote that book to answer all our questions.

Now that your practice is started, it would be a good time for you to read all of Easwaran’s book, Passage Meditation.

You can also take a look at our responses to commonly asked questions in the Frequently Asked Questions sections below.

Why meditate for thirty minutes?

Easwaran recommends half an hour of passage meditation in the morning. Less than half an hour doesn’t let you “get your teeth into it.”

If you want more meditation, have half an hour in the evening as well. To deepen your meditation, don’t increase the half-hour period of meditation but rather extend your practice of the other seven points throughout the day. The other seven points of passage meditation help you carry the benefits of your half-hour meditation session into your outer life. This balances inner growth with outer ability to face life’s challenges.

Why do we meditate on a passage, rather than on a mantram or breathing or on “emptiness”?

Easwaran honored all traditional forms of meditation. However, the method he developed for his own spiritual practice was meditation on a passage, which he felt was especially well-suited for our modern word-oriented and intellectual society.

Easwaran’s recommended inspirational passages are positive, practical, and drawn from inspired mystics and scriptures from all the world’s great wisdom traditions. You will find a large selection of suitable passages here on our Web site.

Is it acceptable to coordinate my breathing with the inspirational passage?

During meditation all our attention should be on the words of the passage. If we are also trying to coordinate our breath, our attention will be divided. As we concentrate more and more on the passage, the breath will naturally become slow and steady without our attending to it.

I don’t understand how you can repeat the words of the passage without thinking about their meaning.

During meditation, we should try not to reflect or speculate on the meaning of the passage. In other words, don’t try to think about what “an instrument of peace” means while meditating on the Prayer of St. Francis. Simply repeat the words with as much concentration as possible. You will get better at this with practice.

In the book, Passage Meditation, Easwaran explains:

“As you attend to each word dropping singly, significantly, into your consciousness, you will realize that there is no discrepancy between sound and meaning. When you concentrate on the sound of each word, you will also be concentrating on the meaning of the passage. Sound and sense are one.”

How do I know when a half hour has passed? Shall I use an alarm to signal the end of my meditation?

The best way to judge the time is to develop a feel for how long each passage takes. It is also fine to glance at your watch or clock when you feel thirty minutes have passed. If your schedule is tight and using an alarm makes you less concerned about time, then it is fine to use it, though a loud alarm can be a jarring way to end meditation. You could try setting the alarm for five minutes after your meditation period is over, so you don’t worry about running late and you are still developing the skill of learning when your 30-minute session is complete.

May I add prayer at the beginning or end of my meditation?

Yes, but keep your full 30 minutes of passage meditation.

Why is morning the best time for meditation?

The mind is not yet stirred up with the thoughts and activities of the day and so is fresh and receptive to the ideals contained in the passages. The beneficial effects of morning meditation will follow you throughout the day.

Is it all right to visualize during meditation?

We silently repeat the words of the passage as slowly as possible, with complete concentration. All other thoughts are a distraction, including visualizations. While some visual images, such as a mental image of the words on a page, can be helpful in memorizing a passage, your goal should be to concentrate on the words themselves. Simply give more and more attention to the passage, and the images will fade into the background or disappear altogether.

I have a mantram that is not on your list. Can I use it?

Easwaran recommends mantrams that have been used by generations of earnest seekers in a living spiritual tradition. His selected list of these time-honored mantrams or Holy Names can be found in his books Passage Meditation and The Mantram Handbook, and here on our Web site. If you have chosen passage meditation as your meditation method, please select one of the mantrams Easwaran recommended. (The only exception is when you are using a mantram that has been passed down in your family for generations through your own religious tradition.) In the book The Mantram Handbook, Easwaran cautions:

“Use a mantram recommended by a spiritual teacher; you can be sure that it will be charged with the teacher’s own personal experience of the mantram’s power. All of the mantrams which I recommend are mantrams of proven power, bequeathed to us by the great spiritual teachers of many traditions.”

May I meditate on the mantram?

No. In Easwaran’s eight-point program of passage meditation, repetition of the mantram is a separate discipline outside of meditation. Before you start or after you end your 30-minute session of meditation, you may want to repeat the mantram for a few minutes. Also, if disturbing emotions arise during meditation, you can briefly repeat the mantram and then return to the inspirational passage.

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