Abbot George Burke

Signs of Spiritual Progress

More from our series “Wisdom of Sri Gajanana Maharaj of Nashik” Supposing all these things happen: you try to keep your mind pure and by continuous contemplation a feeling of detachment grows up in your mind. Still the question remains whether you, the sadhaka, can … Continue reading

A Root of Many Evils: The Source of “The Age of Emerging Plagues”

Why the Age of Emerging Plagues?

In the sea of information and opinions about COVID-19 in which we are all floundering, we recently discovered a harbor of sanity. Dr. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Die and founder of NutritionFacts.org, recently posted a video and transcript of a presentation “Pandemics: History and Prevention” that he gave over ten years ago, when the bird flu was in full swing. In it he presents the history of infectious diseases, and the treatment of it by preventing their emergence.

Three ages of disease

Medical anthropologists identify three major periods of disease, beginning about 10,000 years ago when human beings began the domestication of animals. “When we brought animals into the barnyard, they brought their diseases with them” – measles from cows and sheep, smallpox from camels, whooping cough from pigs, typhoid fever from chickens, and the common cold from horses.

“The next great period of human disease started just a few hundred years ago with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, leading to an epidemic of the so-called diseases of civilization: diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, etc. But by the mid-twentieth century, the age of infectious disease at least was thought to be over… But then, something changed. Starting around 1975, new diseases started to emerge and reemerge at a rate unheard of in the annals of medicine. More than 30 new diseases in 30 years––mostly newly discovered viruses.

“We may soon be facing, according to the US Institute of Medicine, what they call a catastrophic storm of microbial threats. We are now smack dab in the third era of human disease, which seems to only have started about 30 years ago. Medical historians have called this time in which we live the Age of Emerging Plagues, almost all of which come from animals.

“But we domesticated animals 10,000 years ago. What has changed in recent decades to bring us to this current situation? Well, we are changing the way animals live.”

Meditation and Samadhi: a Modern Nath Yogi’s Insights

Wisdom of Sri Gajanana Maharaj of Nashik

The difference between meditation and concentration

Some persons do not understand the difference between meditation (dhyana), and concentration (ekagrata). Suppose a person sits and repeats the Soham mantra mentally. A few minutes later someone asks him, “How did you feel? Had you any thoughts? Was the flow of thoughts going on as usual, or was there any difference? How was the japa going on?”

When such questions are asked the aspirant appears to be a little confused, and is usually found to answer in the following manner: “My mind was quite calm. Not a single idea arose in my mind. The japa was going on in an undisturbed manner. I was enjoying peace. But my mind was not concentrated. I could hear the sounds and movements taking place about me.”

It is a common idea with ordinary aspirants that as soon as they begin meditation of the mantra Soham their mind should become concentrated and they should enter into the state of samadhi. It is a laudable wish, no doubt, but it is out of place at the time. Because when the person begins to meditate upon Soham, he does not need to get concentrated at once.

He is repeating the japa of Soham in so he may be able to meditate properly. The main idea in meditation is that while the japa is going on there should not be the flow of other thoughts disturbing the repetition of the mantra. Our mind is naturally fickle. It is very difficult for it to concentrate itself upon one idea.

In the case of some aspirants, however, owing to some practice done in the previous life they get concentrated as soon as they begin meditation.

Growing in the Presence of God

growing in the presence of God

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

No man O my God changeth Thy Holy Place, nor can he change it and put it in another place.
Because he hath no power over it, for Thy sanctuary Thou hast designed before Thou didst make other places.
That which is the elder shall not be altered by those that are younger than Itself;
Thou hast given Thy heart O Lord to Thy believers.
Never wilt Thou fail, nor be without fruits.
For one hour of Thy faith, is more precious than all days and years.
For who is there that shall put on Thy grace and be rejected?
For Thy seal is known, and Thy creatures are known to it.
And Thy hosts possess it, and the pure archangels are clothed with it.
Thou hast given us Thy fellowship; it was not that Thou wast in need of us, but that we are in need of Thee.
Distill Thy dews upon us, and open Thy rich fountains that pour forth to us milk and honey.
For there is not regret with Thee, that Thou shouldest regret anything which Thou hast promised.
And the end was revealed before Thee.
For what Thou gavest Thou gavest freely, so that no longer wilt Thou draw back and take them again.
For all was revealed before Thee as God, and ordered from the beginning before Thee.
And Thou O Lord hast made all. Alleluia.
–Ode of Solomon 4

About 1960, He Sent Leaness, a book of prayers that people really say in their hearts was shown to me by a friend. She particularly liked the very short one that simply said: “Oh, God, won’t You please stop this awful experiment of trying to make men like Christ?”

These words embody the age-old struggle between God and man: the struggle of God to make man into god and the struggle of man to make God into man, or at least to make him give up and accept man as man and nothing more. Yet, the moment good sense and honesty arises in the questing mind the truth is seen:

No man O my God changeth Thy Holy Place, nor can he change it and put it in another place.

The Holy cannot be made unholy, the True cannot be made false, the Infinite cannot be made finite, the Unchanging cannot be made changeable, the Divine cannot be made human.

Because he hath no power over it, for Thy sanctuary Thou hast designed before Thou didst make other places. That which is the elder shall not be altered by those that are younger than Itself.

Although discouraged by the old saying, it is possible to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, but not your God. Do not try.

Thou hast given Thy heart O Lord to Thy believers.

The unholy can be made holy, the ignorant can be made wise, the finite can be elevated to infinity, the changeable can be made unchanging, and the human can be made divine, for all that is done by God. How? By giving his “heart,” his Consciousness, to those who seek him. It is not God’s grace, love, kindness or mercy we need. We need God. We need to merge with divinity and become divine.

Jivatma, Shivatma and Paramatma

Wisdom of Sri Gajanana Maharaj of Nashik

gaja Those who have read some religious books and those who have listened to religious discourses must have often heard the words: Jivatma, Shivatma, and Paramatman. Jivatma is the individual soul who experiences pleasure and pain in this worldly life. Shivatma is the Paramatman who is the root cause of all the activities in the Universe. The absolute Being who pervades all things and is also beyond them is the Paramatman, otherwise known as Brahman. One and the same Being has been given these different names according to the different aspects in which He has been looked at.

Thus there is one absolute principle on which the ideas of Jivatma, Shivatma, and Paramatman have been superimposed. We get superficial, wordy knowledge of these terms from religious books and discourses, and our mind is confused. Now, where is he located who gives these different names and utters these words?

The Odes of Solomon – Ode 1

Crown rays

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee (Isaiah 60:1).

I will give thee a crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

The Lord is on my head like a crown, and I shall not be without him.
They wove for me a crown of truth, and it caused Thy branches to bud in me.
For it is not like a withered crown which buddeth not.
But Thou livest upon my head, and Thou hast blossomed upon me. Thy fruits are full-grown and perfect; they are full of Thy salvation. Alleluia.
(Ode of Solomon 1)

The Lord is on my head like a crown.

“In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people” (Isaiah 28:5).

The halo upon the head, which we find in the depictions of holy ones in all religions, is the Glory of the Presence of God which rests upon all holy things and persons. It is the cloud of light that rested upon Mount Sinai and upon the tabernacle when God spoke with Moses, and out of which God spoke on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is the Lord himself, for Saint John tells us: “God is Light” (I John 1:5). Jesus simply called It “the Light of Life” (John 8:12).

It is often shown surrounding the entire body of a saint or angel, but usually it is only around the head. This is because