Books - Original Christianity and Original Yoga

New Book on Avoiding Meditation Delusions

July 18, 2017 by Light of the Spirit Monastery

Light of the Spirit Press has just published a new book in print and ebook format: Dwelling In The Mirror: A Study of Illusions Produced by Delusive Meditation and How to Be Free from Them, by Abbot George Burke. And for a limited time the ebook version is on sale for only 99¢.

This book is essential reading for all meditators and spiritual aspirants.

The following is from the Preface to the book, by Abbot George:

“Over and over people have mistaken trivial and pathological conditions for enlightenment, written books, given seminars and gained a devoted following. I have encountered quite a few myself, including people who believed they were the Divine Mother, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Saint Francis of Assisi, Archangel Michael, Lucifer and assorted famous masters of the past. One called our monastery and left lengthy narratives on our answering machine about herself because, she said, she did not want to die without anyone knowing about her experiences and attainment. Another one wrote me a note that simply said: ‘I am the Goddess!’”
“I have known more than one person who believed all their dreams were revelations of truth. And I have known some that continually predicted their imminent death for decades. Others told me how enlightened they were, including the one that had whiplash from ‘crashing into the divine light.’ What did they all have in common? They had an experience! Not of one of them was an intentional fraud. They believed their delusions based on their experience.”
“Most of these unfortunate people were completely unreachable with reason. Yet there are those who can have an experience and realize that it really cannot be real, but a vagary of their mind. Some may not understand that on their own, but can be shown by others the truth about it. For them and those that may one day be in danger of meditation-produced delusions I have written this brief study.”

In Dwelling in the Mirror you will learn:

Different types of meditation and the experiences they produce, and the problems and delusions which can arise from them.
How to get rid of negative initiation energies and mantras.
What are authentic, positive meditation practices and their effects and aspects.
An ancient, universal method of meditation which is both proven and effective.

“I am very grateful for this book, and for the clean, honest wisdom it dispenses, and I would eagerly suggest it to anyone who’s on a path of spiritual discovery. It was certainly not what I expected when I started reading, but by the time I reached the last page, I knew it was exactly what I needed to hear.”
– Sandra Carrington-Smith, author of Housekeeping for the Soul

Dwelling in the Mirror is available in print at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and in ebook format at these online outlets as well as Kobo.com, iBooks, Nook, and Smashwords.

As always, reviews are encouraged and welcomed.

Again, the ebook version of Dwelling in the Mirror is on sale this week for only 99¢.

God or Godzilla?

June 2, 2017 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

The following is taken from a condemnatory review of The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening that was posted on the Amazon page where it can be ordered. It is extremely revealing about the attitude toward and the concept of God held by the reviewer–and most of contemporary Christianity.

No other person ever raised himself from the dead after three days in the grave.

As a child I encountered this argument and being ignorant accepted it. Later on when I learned what had been going on in the real world outside the blind and narrow world of Churchianity I realized it was errant nonsense.

Throughout history there have been masters in the Eastern religions–Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism–that have manifested themselves in living physical bodies after their physical death. For example: Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri and Paramhansa Yogananda.

My friend Durgaprasad Sahai was present when Swami Keshavananda, a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya written about in Autobiography of a Yogi, manifested in physical form in Benares. He told me about it in detail. I myself saw the Raja of Solan in physical body in Brindaban two or three years after his death.

Resurrection after cremation

These masters did not retain the physical body after their various appearances to others, but if that is desired as proof there is the well-known and proven example of Sri Hariakhan Baba in the twentieth century. Baba went with one of his disciples on pilgrimage to Kailash. At one point the disciple got smallpox and was dying. Hariakhan Baba took the disease on his body and died of it.

The disciple had his body cremated and, grieving, went to Almora to inform his fellow devotees of Baba’s death. At the edge of Almora he came to a shop of a devotee in order to tell him the sad news. “Why are you not with Baba?” asked the man, and said he was at a certain devotee’s house. When the disciple hurried there he found Hariakhan Baba there in his resurrected physical body in which he lived for more years.

Deathless saints

And what about those that have never even died? Are they not more free from the bonds of death than someone who dies and resurrects? In India today there are deathless masters such as Ashwatthama (from the days of the Mahabharata War), Agastya Muni and Mahavatar Babaji of Autobiography of a Yogi. I personally know three people who met Babaji, and know others whose gurus knew him well and told them many things about him.

And since when is physical embodiment a proof of immortality? The body is not the spirit. No one ever really dies.

Furthermore, according to the Nathanamavali (see The Christ of India) Jesus was raised from the dead by his guru, Sri Chetan Nath of the Nath Yogi Order.

No other person lived a perfect, sinless life, and can grant eternal life to anyone who will repent of their sins, embrace him and believe on him in their spirit.

Now how could anyone know that unless they knew every human being that ever lived?

I met a missionary in India who insisted on this nonsense. I reminded him that Jesus said: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also” (John 14 12). Since we were in Calcutta I told him about the many times those in helpless moral conditions (some hopelessly addicted to drugs) came to Sri Ramakrishna who was living in the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple and begged for his help. He would simply touch them and they would instantly be freed from their bondage. I also told him of yogis I had met in America and India who could do the same thing. “Can you do that?” I asked. “No,” he answered. “Then who are the true Christians–them or you, according to Jesus?” I asked. And he had no answer.

The blessing of a saint

A very close friend of mind committed a terrible evil which from that moment on blighted her life. For some years she was burdened with the effects of her deed. One time we were both in India and I urged her to go that very day to her guru and plead for help. The next time I saw her the change was instantly evident: the terrible cloud had been dispelled. I told her so, and she told me that her guru had simply touched her with both hands and moved them throughout her aura. “I felt all that awful guilt and the damage it had done to me dissolving away; and I left completely free,” she said. And she remained so.

Over and over I have seen great yogis deliver people at a glance. Many times I have witnessed profound spiritual release and and healing occur when people have simply entered the place where the yogis were and stood looking at them, often with tears of relief and joy streaming down their faces.

One woman I knew could not recover from the death of her father, so she came from Europe to India to see her father’s guru. “If I just tell him my grief, he will help me,” she told me. And I well remember the morning she returned from seeing the yogi. She was radiant with joy, completely free from sorrow.

As Yogananda wrote in his autobiography, there are many Yogi-Christs in India. I have known some. And they could raise the dead, heal the sick and cleanse lepers like Jesus, too.

That is Jesus’ marvilous [sic] gift to us. Eternal life, if we can believe in him and accept his free gift. Thank you Lord Jesus!

Why thank the Lord Jesus if it is your faith that enables you to be saved? You say: “If we can believe in him and accept.” Even as a Fundamentalist I saw the absurdity of my salvation being determined by my own emotional response to Jesus. Why would that be the condition of my salvation? Then I would be the cause of my salvation, and not him. (Later on I learned from reading Indian spiritual writings that this was the actual truth. Thank you, India!)

A personal story

What has faith to do with the reality of something? In 1962 I was instantly healed of fever and a terrible ulcer in my throat by Swami Krishnananda of Krishnanagar in rural Bengal. (Swamiji was a disciple of Sri Ma Sarada Devi, the virgin wife of Sri Ramakrishna.) I just could not believe I was healed. I not only believed that the ulcer was still be there, I kept swallowing very hard to get it to start hurting again. But it did not. I had been healed. Faith had nothing to do with it.

To deny the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God is blasphemous and if one does not repent of such heresey [sic] in this life damnation is in your future.

What a terrible belief about God! That he is such a psychotic failure that if his handiwork goes wrong and does not do as he wants it to he will either destroy it or torture it for eternity in unquenchable fire. Some savior! Some love!

I would like to ask all who believe as does this reviewer: Who do you really believe in: God or Godzilla?

Who Is the Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita?

May 6, 2017 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra It is time for us to understand who the figure of Krishna really is–and what the Gita really is, as well.

First we must understand the context of the Gita. The Gita is seven hundred verses within an epic poem known as The Mahabharata, that chronicles the Mahabharata (Great Indian) War that took place about three thousand years ago (according to the calculations of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri).

The original poem was written by the great sage Vyasa, perhaps the single most important figure in Indian spiritual history. The Bhagavad Gita is the supreme scripture of India, for it is the essence of all the basic texts that came before it.

Further, it supplies a psychological side to spiritual practice that can be found in no other authoritative text. If someone desires, he can confine his study to the Gita alone and yet know everything that is in those texts. Although it contains some references to elements distinctly Indian, it is the only universal scripture, its teachings being relevant to the entire human race.

History or Philosophy?

Having said that, we must realize that although the Gita takes the form of a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna on the eve of the Great Indian War, it is not a historical document in the literal sense. Rather, Vyasa chose this critical juncture in Indian history as the setting for a complete exposition of spiritual life–itself a battle of sorts.

It cannot reasonably be thought that Krishna and Arjuna sat in a chariot in the midst of a battlefield discussing all the topics presented in the Gita–and in metrical stanzas of four lines containing eight syllables each (and sometimes eleven syllables when Vyasa needed the extra length to get in all his ideas).

Rather, the Gita is Vyasa’s presentation of the Eternal Dharma, though there is no reason to doubt that the wisdom of Krishna is embodied in it, or that much of it–at least in general–was spoken to Arjuna at Kurukshetra.

Vyasa’s masterpiece

One of India’s greatest yogis in the twentieth century was Paramhansa Nityananda of Ganeshpuri. One day someone cited a portion of the Gita, prefacing it with the statement: “Krishna said in the Gita….” Immediately Nityananda said: “No. Vyasa said Krishna said….” This is the correct perspective on the entire Gita.

What we are reading is the enlightened understanding of Vyasa, who in the Gita is presenting us with a digest of the yoga philosophy of the upanishads combined with both yoga psychology and instruction in yoga meditation. If all other scriptures and commentaries disappeared and only the Gita remained, the Eternal Dharma would still be intact and suffer no loss whatsoever. That is why once a year on Vyasa Purnima he is to be honored.

Vyasa, Krishna, Atman and Paramatman

In general, then, Krishna is the voice of Vyasa, but within the Gita he is at times the voice of both the Atman and the Paramatman. So when we ponder the meaning of his words we should consider how they might be understood in this dual manner.

For example, when Krishna tells us to fix our minds on him and worship him single-heartedly and steadfastly, he is not telling us to worship a God that is outside, but That Which is the inmost dweller of the heart. He also means that the focus of our attention must be on our individual being as well as on the Infinite. For they are one in essence.

This is taken from The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening, Abbot George Burke’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.

Note:
We now have the entire text of Abbot George’s new translation of The Bhagavad Gita—The Song of God available for reading online here, and also in print here and as an ebook here. We encourage readers to make the Bhagavad Gita part of their daily spiritual study.

The Bhagavad Gita—The Song of God Now Available

April 6, 2017 by Light of the Spirit Monastery

A new translation of the most important spiritual classic which India has produced.

This week we have published Abbot George Burke’s translation of the the Gita, The Bhagavad Gita—The Song of God. It is available in print and as a Kindle ebook at Amazon.com. The print version is only $12.99, and for a limited time, the ebook version is only 99¢. We urge readers to take advantage of this publication special.

Often called the “Bible” of Hinduism, the Bhagavad Gita is found in households throughout India and has been translated into every major language of the world. Literally billions of copies have been handwritten and printed.

The clarity of this translation by Abbot George Burke makes for easy reading, while the rich content makes this the ideal “study” Gita. As the original Sanskrit language is so rich, often there are several accurate translations for the same word, which are noted in the text, giving the spiritual student the needed understanding of the fullness of the Gita.

The Story of the Gita

Several thousand years ago in north-central India, two people sat in a chariot in the midpoint of a great battlefield. One of them, the yogi Arjuna, knew that it would be not be long before the conflict would begin. So he asked Krishna, the Master of Yoga, what should be his attitude and perspective in this moment. And above all: What should he do?

There was no time to spare in empty words. In a brief discourse, later turned into seven hundred Sanskrit verses by the sage Vyasa, Krishna outlined to Arjuna the way to live an entire life so as to gain perfect self-knowledge and self-mastery.

The battle was ferocious and everyone lost. Only a handful remained alive. But when Vyasa wrote his epic poem, the Mahabharata, he put Krishna’s inspired words into it as a precious jewel. Instantly they were extracted, named The Song of God (Bhagavad Gita), and circulated throughout the subcontinent of India.

What is the appeal of the Gita?

It is totally practical, free of any vague or abstract philosophy.
It is not dogmatic. At the very end Krishna says to Arjuna: “Now I have taught you that wisdom which is the secret of secrets. Ponder it carefully. Then act as you think best.” No threats, no promises, no coercion. It is all in the reader’s hands.
The Bhagavad Gita tells us that we can attain a Knowing beyond even what it tells us. And it shows us the way.

For those unable to make a spiritual journey to India, a greater pilgrimage can be made by anyone anywhere in the world by simply reading The Holy Song of God, the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. It will be a holy pilgrimage of mind and spirit.

NOTE: We will also soon have the chapters of this translation available for reading on our website.

Questions About Esoteric Christian Cosmology

March 29, 2017 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Q: In the beginning of Robe of Light the separateness of God and the individual soul is stated and, if I understood correctly, the possibility of the soul to partake in the consciousness of God, but always being separate from Him. Is my understanding correct if I conclude from this that you are saying that perfect union with God is not possible? Or does it mean that it is not possible unless the individual ceases to exist?

The individual spirit is never separated from God, but is nevertheless distinct from God. We are always one with God, but there is a difference: God is always infinite, we are always finite. Although we do not “become God” in the sense of being infinite and no longer individuals, we can participate in certain aspects of the Divine Consciousness. The how of that is what Robe of Light is all About.

Union with God is not only possible, separation from God is impossible. Equally impossible is the cessation of the individual spirit.

Our problem is that we do not realize or experience the eternal order of things. The words of the Prodigal Son’s father could easily be the words of God to the individual spirit: “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine” (Luke 15:31).

Q: My second question is about the meaning of Jesus Christ’s life for all of humanity. How exactly was his mission important for us? I know Robe of Light deals with precisely that issue, but does that mean that before Christ incarnated, it was impossible for a normal human being to become enlightened? Or more difficult?

The great Master Teachers such as Jesus have a twofold meaning: a universal meaning for all human beings as a manifestation of spiritual perfection which all can draw inspiration from, and a personal meaning for all those for whose benefit they specifically were incarnated at a certain time at a certain place.

Q: What, then, is the meaning of Jesus’ paying back the debt for “original sin” and the concrete consequences for a truth-seeker today versus a seeker 1000 B.C.?

Jesus as a person is unique among teachers because of his having been Adam and therefore with a meaningful karmic connection with a great many people, but that does not make him superior to the other avatars, or even indispensable. As Yogananda often said, we must come to realize that on the highest level there is no difference between one master and another.

Jesus’ incarnation and crucifixion was for the expiation of his personal karmic debt–not to God, but to that segment of humanity in this creation cycle that had been affected by his past negative actions and influence. Yet all humanity has been benefitted by his incarnation to different degrees and in different ways to some extent. However, if Jesus (or Krishna or Buddha, etc.) had not been born, human beings would still have managed because of their innate divine nature.

Every great Master is unique, but not absolutely necessary for anyone. By that I mean that there is no one whose “salvation” depends on a Master without whom they cannot attain liberation (which is what salvation is). Yet, just as individuals from life to life come into association with those with whom they have past karma or present affinity, so it is with the great Way-showers.

However the only requisite for a human being is the attainment of conscious union with God as a result of evolution of their consciousness. Great Souls come into the world for that purpose, and although in the divine plan there are those who have an affinity for one out of the many there is no one savior for all or even for an individual.

Read Robe of Light: An Esoteric Christian Cosmology on our website, or in print or as an ebook from Amazon.com.

Questions About Om Meditation

March 21, 2017 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Q: Can Om only take one so far in the direction of Self-realization? Should Om be let go of at a certain point, or is the practice retained? Can a still and silent mind be achieved if there is still Om with the breath even if it is very subtle? In my practice the intonations of Om have softened and become like a wisp of smoke that is almost indistinguishable and inseparable from the breath–even indistinguishable from the breath.

In the scriptures that deal with yoga and meditation, such as are cited in Om Yoga Meditation and The Word That Is God, Om is declared to be both Brahman and the Self. Self-realization is the realization of Om as the Self and Brahman–the individual Self (jivatman) and the Supreme Self (Paramatman). Om is itself the revelation of Brahman and the Self.

Therefore there is no question of letting go of Om in meditation. Rather, as you have experienced for yourself, in meditation (and outside as well) the japa of Om becomes increasingly subtle just as you have described. And in time that is experienced not just as the movement of the breath, but as consciousness itself. For Consciousness and Sound are discovered to be the same, as Purusha and Prakriti are the same–not two. Therefore the Chandogya Upanishad (1.5.3) says: “The breath is continually sounding Om” because the two are one.

Q: While being with Om and the breath I have also focussed on letting go of thoughts, feelings, etc. Obviously, there is a way to go in that practice and I am seeking your advice.

There is no need to think of letting go of thoughts, feelings, memories and suchlike. Instead just relax into the mental sound of your intonations of Om and let Om fill your entire awareness.

I hope you will occasionally reread or skim through Om Yoga Meditation [on our website] to keep these ideas vivid in your mind.