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.

How Should the Yogi Think of God: Nirguna or Saguna? Part 1

Through the ages a philosophical tug-of-war has gone on between those who prefer to consider God as possessing limitless, divine qualities, and those who prefer to think of God as being unthinkable–as being utterly beyond anything that can be conceptualized or spoken.

These two aspects are called Saguna (with qualities) and Nirguna (without qualities). The yogi knows that both are true, but the philosophers insist on holding to one and rejecting the other, or declaring one to be higher or more accurate than the other. Consequently Vyasa has this twelfth chapter open with these words from Arjuna:

“The constantly steadfast devotees who worship You with devotion, and those who worship the eternal unmanifest: which of these has the better knowledge of yoga?” (Bhagavad Gita 12:1)

Arjuna addresses Krishna as the Saguna Brahman, since he is communicating with Arjuna as a conditioned being.

Krishna answers:

“Those who are eternally steadfast, who worship Me, fixing their minds on Me, endowed with supreme faith: I consider them to be the most devoted to Me” (Bhagavad Gita 12:2).

This is extremely clear, at least as far as the traits of those who have a better grasp of yoga is concerned. But why is their grasp better?

Because they are able to focus their intention on a concept of the Divine that is not only within the scope of their intellect, it is a concept that inspires their seeking, for it is based on love which, as Swami Sri Yukteswar points out in The Holy Science, is in its essential nature a magnetic force that unites the seeker with the object of the seeking. The path of devotion (bhakti) is as pragmatic as the path of knowledge (jnana).

The path of the formless

“But those who honor the imperishable the indefinable, the unmanifest, the all-pervading and unthinkable [inconceivable], the unchanging, the immovable, the eternal…” (Bhagavad Gita 12:3).

None of these qualities are within the range of our experience–no, not even from eternity. So how can we begin to conceive of them? For example, in the West it is thought that “eternal” means that which is without end, but in reality it means that which has neither beginning nor end–that which is absolutely outside the realm of time, space, or relativity. Can we think the unthinkable? Can we conceive the inconceivable? Of course not–its very nature makes it impossible for us. So how, then, can Nirguna Brahman be approached, much less known? Krishna tells us.

What Is the Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?

Q: What exactly is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which cannot be forgiven? First we should look at the Bible references to the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the … Continue reading

Falsehoods and Misunderstandings: an Unfortunate Phenomenon

To a friend who wrote concerned about derogatory things being spoken about some people who, being departed from this world, had no defence. Not only are falsehoods spread, but so are faults in understanding. I want to tell you about one I myself encountered. Before … Continue reading

Real Peace vs. Imitation Peace–Which Do You Prefer?

Saint Thomas Cross A Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas

Jesus said, If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, “Move Away,” and it will move away. (Gospel of Thomas 48)

This actually has two meanings, one outer and one inner.

Outer peace

It is very easy for people to be friends when they meet only occasionally in the right setting. Some families hardly know each other after years because they never really spend much time in one another’s company. But when two people live together–really live together for many hours a day–they meet each other’s quirks and flaws and the entire array of aberrations and peculiarities they have gathered over a long succession of lives.

Considering the fact that this earth plane is the bottom rung of the evolutionary ladder it should not surprise us that prolonged exposure to one another does not conduce to endearment. Conflict is bound to arise and exasperation with one another’s failings, not the least of which is egotism in its many forms.

Often one of the two will be very passive and recessive and will suffer for decades without a word, often without even admitting to themselves what a misery their life has become. When this happens they have “a good relationship” or marriage or association.

Of course it is no such thing at all, quite the opposite, but because

Aspects of Our Inner Trinity

Q: What is your perspective on the possible correspondences between the Holy Trinity and the human trinity of body, soul and spirit? Our eternal spirit which is one with the Father “is” the father in our trinity. The higher bodies which reflect the spirit correspond … Continue reading

Questions and Answers About Saint Thomas Christianity

Q: Only God IS. I AM THAT. I AM BRAHMAN. MY FATHER AND I ARE ONE. How do the teachings of Advaita, Veda, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana fit with St. Thomas Christianity? Western Christianity? Eastern Orthodoxy? Catholicism?

The vital question is, how do those religious expressions fit with Sanatana Dharma? The degree of their agreement with Dharma is the degree of their validity. Dharma is the touchstone of all religious philosophy and practice.

The healings and miracles of Christ have been done by yogis before Christ and after. What does this mean and are these siddhis part of St. Thomas Christianity?

The meaning of Jesus’ miracles is simply that he, too was a yogi–and more, a perfectly realized master, an avatar. Since real Saint Thomas Christianity is the Sanatana Dharma taught by Jesus, certainly those siddhis have manifested. The pinnacle of the church in India was Saint Gregorios of Parumala, whose shrine is visited by thousand of Christians, Hindus and Moslems every day. His miracles are continuous. And Saint Gregorios was committed to the restoration of Dharma to the Saint Thomas Christian community.

Can a householder be a Saint Thomas Christian?

Certainly. Millions have been and are.

How can a St. Thomas Christian participate in Satsang?

That is a completely individual matter, but should not be limited to Christian groups.

Many believe Jesus taught in Kashmir and in fact is entombed in a Shrine in Kashmir. Some ancient Kashmiri texts point to Jesus in Kashmir, do you think this tomb is the tomb of Jesus?