Books - Original Christianity and Original Yoga

Why You Should Have a Dharmic Approach to Religion

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

Q: I have read much of your site and The Christ of India and am interested in the dharmic approach taken by the Saint Thomas school–most of which seems natural to me.

While there is documentation on Hindu acceptance and worship of Christ, how can a follower of Christ respectfully and meaningfully engage with Hindu aspects, from specific helpers such as Ganesha to omnipotent archetypes like Shiva?

I attend a Tamil Mariamman temple from time to time and experience no inconsistency but am still reserved in my engagement.

Any pointers will be much appreciated.

Sanatana Dharma did not come out of the mind and ideas of some individual who then persuaded others to follow him. Rather, it is a revelation given to many sages (rishis), who were master yogis, in their superconscious experience. That is why there is no founder claimed by Sanatana Dharma.

Also, that revelation can be confirmed by yogis who purify themselves and become able to enter the same superconscious state.

Sanatana Dharma is based on realization, not intellectual philosophy. Consequently, only the adept yogi can really understand its nature and meaning. Yoga Sadhana is the key to really “becoming” a Sanatana Dharma. I say this from experience. There were many aspects of Sanatana Dharma that upon first encounter seemed utterly silly to me. But as I persisted in meditation and yogic discipline I literally saw the reality and value of them.

I will share with you some experiences I had.

An elephant headed God

One day I went with some yogi friends to the now extinct Wil Wright’s Ice Cream Parlor in Westwood, California. In a niche to one side of the door there was a white marble statue with the head of an elephant. One of my friends pointed to it and said: “That is the Indian Elephant-headed God, Ganesha. I don’t know what it’s doing here.” Neither did I, for I was thinking: “Elephant-headed God! Whoever thought that up? How stupid.” But some weeks later in meditation I saw Ganesha and knew he really was a form of God. And more than that: I loved him. I not only believed in him, I got an image of him and put it on my meditation altar. [Read more…]

Meditator’s Guide to the Mind Part 2—Seven Important Lessons

July 25, 2017 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Originally posted five years ago today, this post is ever-fresh. So we share this excerpt from The Dhammapada for Awakening again. This is the follow-up post of What Is the Mind?: A Meditator’s Guide, Part 1

Mind–the source

“Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made” (Dhammpapada 1).

First there is the mind. It is possible to view “mind” as both the machinery of perception we have been talking about and the consciousness which perceives the perception, the consciousness that is unconditioned and permanent–in other words, the spirit, the eternal Self. “The Self is ear of the ear, mind of the mind, speech of speech. He is also breath of the breath, and eye of the eye” (Kena Upanishad 2).

From this higher aspect of Mind all things proceed–in both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic sense. From the Mind of God all things are projected that are found in the cosmos; and from the mind of the individual are projected all that are distinctive to his life.

We are all co-creators with God, even though we have long ago forgotten that and attribute everything that goes on in our life as acts of God. From this delusion erroneous religion has arisen–religion that thinks it necessary to pray to and propitiate God in order for the “good” to come to us and the “bad” to be eliminated from our life. It is this religion and its false God that Buddha adamantly rejected and from which we must be freed if we are to gain any true understanding of what is really happening to us from life to life.

The need for true religion

On the other hand, we need true religion–the conviction and aspiration for the uniting of the finite consciousness with the Infinite Consciousness in eternal Being. The call of the self to the Self is the essence of true religion, and in that sense those who would turn from death to life must be thoroughly religious. Any god that is separate from us is a false god; the true God is the very Self of our self. Though distinct from us, He is not separate. We are eternally one with Him. But we have to realize that–not just intellectually, but through direct experience. And that experience is only possible in meditation.

Seven Important Lessons

All right: mind precedes its objects, which are themselves governed and made by the mind. This has profound implications.

1. Karma is the creation of the mind–is simply the mind in extension. Karma need not be worked out or fulfilled; the mind need only be changed, or better yet brought into complete abeyance. Then karma is no more and its attendant compulsions–including birth and death–no longer exist.

2. Our entire life experience is but a mirroring of the mind. If something is not already within our mind it cannot be projected outward as a (seemingly) external factor or experience of our life. So our life is our mind in motion. By observing it we can come to know what is in our mind, just as by running a film through a projector we come to know what is in it. If we do not like what is happening in our life, the solution is to alter our mind. People who like to tell of how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal others habitually are to them are merely telling us how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal they are–potentially if not actually. Victims are only victimizers in a down cycle. The moment the upswing comes in their life rhythms they will go back to victimizing others.

Action and reaction are purely psychological matters, the film in the projector–the light and sound on the screen being only its projection. Change the film and you change the experience. Since objects come from the mind they can only be compatible with the mind and therefore express and reveal its character.

3. All the factors of life are really only thought, attitude, and outlook in manifestation.

4. Study your life and thereby know your mind.

5. You are always in control, even though that control may be on an unconscious level.

6. Change your mind and you change your life. (Do not forget that mind includes consciousness.)

7. Mary Baker Eddy was right: All is Mind and Mind is All.

Special Reminder

Dwelling in the Mirror cover

Abbot George’s new book Dwelling In The Mirror: A Study of Illusions Produced by Delusive Meditation and How to Be Free from Them is now 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.

The ebook version of Dwelling in the Mirror is on sale for only a few more days for only 99¢. In August, the ebook will go up to $2.99

“I totally loved this book! After running across many spiritual and self-help books filled with unrealistic promises, this little jewel had the impact of a triple Espresso.”
–Sandra Carrington-Smith, author of Housekeeping for the Soul

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.