Eating the Mangos - A guide to practical Vedanta

Prof Eknath Easwaran wrote a very interesting article on some
practical guidelines to Sadhana that first appeared in the 1968
issue of "Mountain Path" published by the Ramanasramam. Here is
the first post..more later:

Eating the Mangos

Prof. EKNATH EASWARAN

A few practical guidelines to sadhana.

If we were given the choice between going to heaven and listening to
lectures about going to heaven, Dr. Carl Jung is said to have
remarked, most of us would choose to attend the lectures.

I know a distinguished scholar who has a comprehensive collection of
books on world mysticism, and who lectures brilliantly on the
various methods of meditation, from the simple self-inquiry of Sri
Ramana Maharshi to the mondo-koan techniques of Rinzai Zen. He can
keep an intellectual audience spellbound with his comparative
exposition of Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa Samadhi, and illustrate it
graphically from the lives of the great mystics of the major
religions.

"How long have you been practising meditation?" I asked him when he
was showing me round his meditation library. I am afraid I don't
find any firm for learning to meditate," was the simple reply of
this distinguished scholar in the field.

Don't Count Leaves
When you are standing under a mango tree, Sri Ramakrishna would say
to his disciples, don't waste your time and energy counting the
leaves, but climb the tree, pluck the mango and eat it. The mango is
the most luscious fruit I have tasted, and I shall not, therefore,
hesitate to repeat the words of Sri Ramakrishna, "Let us stop
counting the leaves, and start eating the mango fruit."

... will continue in the next post

regards
Sundar Rajan