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Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke)

Random Counsels: Soham Sadhana and More

Soham Sadhana

Random counsels from a letter written to a yogi friend in India.

The problem with all exoteric religion is that it eventually leads back to bondage in this world. I am very thankful that I came from a very religious family, but in time that was not enough.

Certainly the knowledge of yoga is a supreme blessing. As Paramhansa Yogananda often said: “Yoga is the beginning of the end.” And Sri Ramana Maharshi said: “Soham sadhana is the last step on the journey to Self-realization.”

Unless there is really loud or distracting noise, there is no problem with external sounds when meditating. Soham meditation is much too effective to be hindered by some outer sound. Only those who practice fake yoga claim that there can be absolutely no sounds or distractions. But that is because their false practice is weak (and worthless).

The meaning and the consciousness

It is only incidental that Soham means “I Am That.” It is the internal, subtle sound of your mental intonations of Soham that matters. The meaning is in the realm of the thinking mind, which is of not much value in meditation. We are looking for consciousness in meditation. The internal, mental sound of Soham will lift you to higher awareness. But your experiences will be nothing like these yoga cult people claim with astonishing, theatrical and therefore coarse and semi-material experiences.

First, they will be beyond description right away, and they will not delude you into thinking that you are enlightened. You will have a very realistic view of yourself, but also optimistic. The section “Soham Yoga Sadhana in three sentences” that is in the beginning part of Chapter Two of Soham Yoga gives the right perspective. So just listen to the sound of Soham japa and discover that it is much more than anyone could possibly guess. Only those who practice will know its effect and value.

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Real Bhakti: Love, Reverence, Worship and Sharing in the Being of God

The purpose of creation: for real bhakti

A continuation of our series of postings on the early Christian writings, the mystical Odes of Solomon, written in Apostolic times.

I will give thanks unto Thee O Lord, because I love Thee.
O Most High Thou wilt not forsake me, for Thou art my hope.
Freely I have received Thy grace, I shall live thereby.
My persecutors will come and not see me.
A cloud of darkness shall fall on their eyes, and an air of thick gloom shall darken them.
And they shall have no light to see, so that they may not take hold upon me.
Let their counsel become dull, so that whatever they have cunningly devised may return upon their own heads.
For they have devised a counsel, and it did not succeed.
They prepared themselves wickedly, but they were found to be worthless.
For my hope is upon the Lord, and I will not fear.
And because the Lord is my salvation, I will not fear.
And he is as a garland on my head, and I shall not be moved.
Even if everything should be shaken, I stand firm.
And if all things visible should perish, I shall not die.
Because the Lord is with me, and I am with him. Alleluia.
        –Ode 5 of the Odes of Solomon

  • I will give thanks unto Thee O Lord, because I love Thee.

This entire creation has been spread out for us to make possible our evolution into conscious and perfect sons of God. To truly thank God we must use his creation for the intended purpose: our ascent to Divine Consciousness. That is why David sang:

“What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalms 116:12-13).

In other words, seeing the blessing of God David has determined to drink of the cup of immortality and be saved from all limitation and ignorance that attends relative existence. The purpose of a school, however excellent its physical facilities may be, is to learn and leave. We are good students if we avail ourselves of this very birth to liberate ourselves from further birth.

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Sadhus and Great Men

More from our series “Wisdom of Sri Gajanana Maharaj of Nashik” Kinds of samadhi/saints Samadhi is of two kinds. A mumukshu who had made some preparation of mind in his previous life, gets internal vision, and his mind is then merged in the light which … Continue reading

Putting on the Love of the Lord – The Odes of Solomon – Ode 3

putting on the love of the Lord

This is a continuation of our series of postings on the early Christian writings, the mystical Odes of Solomon, written in Apostolic times.

As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27).

I am putting on the love of the Lord.
And his members are with him, and I am dependent on them and he loves me.
For I should not have known how to love the Lord, if he had not loved me.
For who is able to distinguish love, except the one that is loved?
I love the Beloved and my soul loves him, and where his rest is there also am I.
And I shall be no stranger, for with the Lord Most High and Merciful there is no grudging.
I have been united to him for the Lover has found the Beloved, And because I love him that is the Son I shall become a son.
For he who is joined to him Who is immortal, will also himself become immortal.
And he who has pleasure in the Life, will become living.
This is the Spirit of the Lord which is not false, which teacheth the sons of men to know his ways.
Be wise and understanding and vigilant. Alleluia.
–Ode of Solomon 3 [Ode 2 has been lost.]

  • I am putting on the love of the Lord.

At the moment we are clothed in the material body. The Zoroastrian sage, Kaspar, said:

“Man was a thought of God, formed in the image of the Septonate, clothed in the substances of soul. And his desires were strong; he sought to manifest on every plane of life, and for himself he made a body of the ethers of the earthly forms, and so descended to the plane of earth. In this descent he lost his birthright; lost his harmony with God, and made discordant all the notes of life. Inharmony and evil are the same; so evil is the handiwork of man” through the body which the Essene teacher Elihu called “the body of desires” (Aquarian Gospel 58:25-28).

“The lower self, the carnal self, the body of desires, is a reflection of the higher self, distorted by the murky ethers of the flesh. The lower self is an illusion, and will pass away; the higher self is God in man, and will not pass away. The lower self is the embodiment of truth reversed, and so is falsehood manifest” (Aquarian Gospel 8:7-9). It is the body of desires that separates us from God by turning us outward away from the inner kingdom of God toward the transient world and creating in us a myriad desires, none of which can be fulfilled because nothing in the world can ever be possessed, but only grasped and eventually lost.

There is, however, another body, the “body of union” that is the immortal spirit.

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