A More Ardent Fire: From Everyday Love to Love of God

Easwaran, a native of India who taught at the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Northern California from the 1960s until his death in 1999, posthumously presents the ideal of spiritual growth through practicing love. In his life, Easwaran authored over 20 books, the best known being Meditation and My Life Is My Message; he also translated the Bhagavad Gita into English. In this slim volume, he contrasts ""the way of knowing"" with the ""way of love"" as spiritual tools and suggests that most people, lacking the emotional detachment for the way of knowing, will find the way of love the appropriate path to self-realization and union with the eternal. Easwaran's philosophy draws on Hindu scriptures, buddhism and Eastern teachers, and finds points of contact with Christianity and even Judaism by quoting the words of Mother Teresa, St. Francis of Assisi, the Ba'al Shem Tov and others whose approach resembles his. (His title is drawn from a saying of St. John of the Cross.) The book's final section briefly reviews the eight-point program that is the heart of Easwaran's teachings. Not everyone will agree with Easwaran that ultimately all religions are the same, but any spiritual seeker can benefit from his emphasis on abandoning selfishness in order to care for others and seek the face of divinity. (Sept.)