Passage meditation is a classic technique to the Christian lectio divina (sacred reading) and many other spiritual traditions. Mystics from Isaac of Syria to Simone Weil have described their struggle not merely to inwardly recite a scriptural passage but to do so with unbroken concentration; Isaac even relates going back to the beginning when he’s drifted too far off. Patanjali admonishes us to still the mind; the Bhagavad Gita goes further by telling us, through Arjuna, to “bring your mind back every time it wanders away.” Easwaran simply adds a practical definition of bck (namely, to the passage) and away, meaning to anything else.
Interestingly, passage meditation seems to be stumbled upon less often in the East than in the West, where it often appears son may be that we in the West, where it open appears as a special type or goal of prayer. The reason ay be that we in the West are so intellectually oriented (as Easwaran once said, “You people are very word-conscious”) and not very devotional—at least before we’ve made some progress in meditation.
On the other hand, Easwaran also said that we Westerners have a determination that even the most devotional Indian might envy: In any case, the combination of devotion and determination—which is what passage meditation aims to eventually produce—is powerfully healing. And the world has never needed it more.
