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.

Podcast: Swami Sivananda’s Humility

Click here to listen to Swami Sivananda’s Humility if you do not see the player above. The podcast length is 9:45 minutes. This podcast is the last in the series of Abbot George’s Reminiscences of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, focusing on incidents showing Swami Sivananda’s humility. … Continue reading

The Necessity of Solitude for the Yogi

The greatest monk of the Christian church was Saint Arsenios the Great who lived in the Egyptian desert. At the beginning of his spiritual search he prayed for guidance from God. A voice sounded from heaven, saying: “Arsenios: flee men.” Which he did, and became … Continue reading

Podcast: Days with Sivananda

Click here to listen to Days with Swami Sivananda if you do not see the player above. The podcast length is 15:19 minutes. What was it like to spend time with a spiritual giant like Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh? In today’s podcast Abbot George shares … Continue reading

Who is the Guru?

Q: Reading the words [about God as guru] in Om Yoga a bell went off: the realization that the teacher we need to “introduce” us to God is Him who already is within us and he comes into our lives when we “see” this. Am … Continue reading

Podcast: Swami Sivananda and Jesus (and More)

Click here to listen to Swami Sivananda and Jesus if you do not see the player above. The podcast length is 14:24 minutes. “One of the most memorable experiences of my life was hearing Swami Sivananda sing every day in the evening satsang: O my … Continue reading

Is Reincarnation True?

To someone who wrote juggling all kinds of statements about how much better it would be to not believe in reincarnation and the problems such a belief caused. In the West the question about a belief is its utility, its plausibility, its acceptability (appeal) and … Continue reading

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