Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke)

Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke) is the founder and director of the Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram) in Cedar Crest, NM, USA.

In his many pilgrimages to India, he had the opportunity of meeting some of India’s greatest spiritual figures, including Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh and Anandamayi Ma. During his first trip to India he was given sannyas by Swami Vidyananda Giri, a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, who had himself been given sannyas by the Shankaracharya of Puri, Jagadguru Bharat Krishna Tirtha.

In the United States he also encountered various Christian saints, including Saint John Maximovich of San Francisco and Saint Philaret Voznesensky of New York.

For many years, Swami Nirmalananda has been engaged in deep study of the spiritual unity (actual identity) of Jesus Christ and his teachings with India and Sanatana Dharma. It is his conviction that original Christianity (not contemporary “Churchianity”) and original Yoga are not just compatible, they are essentially one; that Jesus lived in India for most of his life, being a Sanatana Dharma missionary to the West, and that after his resurrection he returned to India and lived the rest of his life in the Himalayas.

He has written extensively on these and other topics, many of which are posted here at OCOY.org. Of major significance are: The Christ of India, Soham Yoga: Its Theory and Practice, The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening and his various commentaries on spiritual texts which you can explore in the Dharma for Awakening section.

Most of his writings available here at OCOY.org are also available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and other online book outlets.

Remembering Our Destiny

We all come into this world with a destiny that is known to us on the subconscious level, and which often trickles up on the conscious level. This destiny is what the Bhagavad Gita calls swadharma.

“The Holy Life” as Defined by Buddha

Buddha says that the final component of the Holy Life is a mind “not clinging to anything in this world or the next.” Discover the others here.

Are We “Cow Counters” or “Partners in the Holy Life”?

Buddha lets us know quite clearly that the Holy Life is what matters, and that is a matter of living–that is, doing.

Meditation as Training for Living

Meditation is not an end in itself, but rather the means to an end–to the daily living out of the illumined consciousness produced by meditation. We go into meditation so we can come out of meditation more conscious and better equipped to live our life.

Psychological Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita

Buddhi yoga is psychologicals yoga, and is performed as an expression of divinity for the revelation of divinity, all other benefits, individual and communal being secondary–even insignificant.

A Selection from “The Catechism of Enlightenment”

We have added Swami Nirmalananda’s Commentary on some of Shankara’s works, which we have called “The Catechism of Enlightenment.” Read this uselful introduction.

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