The July Online Satsang with Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke) will be held on Saturday, July 5th at 12:00 Noon, EST.
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Bhakti: The Yogi’s Perspective, from “Perspectives on Yoga”

Bhakti from This and That for Yogis

We have published a new book entitled “Perspectives on Yoga” by Abbot George Burke. We will begin posting excerpts here from the book, beginning with this one on Bhakti, which we hope to publish before year is out. Here is what the author says about the book:

This is a compilation of random thoughts I put down quite some time ago that were completely without any order. Unlike Satsang With the Abbot, it is now somewhat arranged according to subjects, though the final section is not. I hope it will be useful to those who read it.

I certainly wish someone had told me these things when I first attempted to be a yogi. Things would have been much easier and I would have avoided wasting a great deal of time.

Abbot George Burke
(Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

(Perspectives on Yoga: Living the Yoga Life is now available in paperback and as an ebook on Amazon.com here.)


 

This and That on Bhakti

Unfortunately bhakti is usually considered to be emotion directed to God, especially as love. But bhakti means dedication in the search for God. It is Ishwarapranidhana, the offering of the life to God, which Patanjali says is the way to superconsciousness (Yoga Sutras 2:45). Shankara simplified and clarified it greatly when he said that bhakti is seeking God and jnana is finding God.

In the sixth chapter of Raja Yoga, Vivekananda wrote:

“All over the world there have been dancing and jumping and howling sects, who spread like infection when they begin to sing and dance and preach; they also are a sort of hypnotists. They exercise a singular control for the time being over sensitive persons, alas! often, in the long run, to degenerate whole races. Ay, it is healthier for the individual or the race to remain wicked than be made apparently good by such morbid extraneous control.

One’s heart sinks to think of the amount of injury done to humanity by such irresponsible yet well-meaning religious fanatics. They little know that the minds which attain to sudden spiritual upheaval under their suggestions, with music and prayers, are simply making themselves passive, morbid, and powerless, and opening themselves to any other suggestion, be it ever so evil.

Little do these ignorant, deluded persons dream that whilst they are congratulating themselves upon their miraculous power to transform human hearts, which power they think was poured upon them by some Being above the clouds, they are sowing the seeds of future decay, of crime, of lunacy, and of death.

Therefore, beware of everything that takes away your freedom. Know that it is dangerous, and avoid it by all the means in your power.”

Vivekananda knew what he was talking about because Bengal, his native land, was gripped by the false bhakti of the “dancing and jumping and howling sects,” especially Gaudia Vaishnavism (the Hare Krishna movement in the West), and still is to a great extent.

His fellow countryman, Paramhansa Yogananda, said:

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5 Ways to Grow Your Spiritual Library – Part 1

5 Ways to Grow Our Spiritual Library
Growing a spiritual library is important for the aspiring yogi. The study of the books and sacred texts which deal with the nature of the true Self (spirit) and its realization is one aspect of swadhyaya, one of the “Ten Commandments” of yoga (yama and niyama) outlined by the sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. Food for the mind in the form of spiritual reading is a tremendous help to the yogi.

OCOY.org is itself a spiritual library, with over 1300 web pages, blog posts, PDF downloads, books and other resources, and in this series of articles we will show you some of what we have available for your spiritual library.

We endeavor to make the writings of Abbot George Burke and others on OCOY.org available in a variety of formats to suit the habits of those who read here. There are five ways to grow your spiritual library, whether digital or in print.

1.Read Online. For those who wish to explore our site and get a taste of its content, this is ideal. Be sure to bookmark OCOY.org or any pages you are reading so you can easily come back at any time. Of course you can print out the articles for reading later. Because of the length of the books available on our site, they are broken down into chapters, each with its own web page. If you want to access the full, undivided books, you can…

2.Download a Free PDF. Our E-Library has PDF’s of much of the books and content on our site, as well as other books which we share from other sources. These can be downloaded for free and read on your computer at any time, or printed out for convenient offline reading.

3.Listen to Podcasts and Audiobooks. Abbot George has made over 30 podcasts and radio interviews available in our Podcast section. In topics ranging from the yoga life, vegetarianism, monastic life, saints and spiritual figures he has known, and much more, you will find much to interest you and profit from.

Do you have iTunes? You can access our podcasts in the iTunes Podcast directory. You can also subscribe to our podcast feed, so the most recent podcast from Abbot George will be downloaded to your iTunes directory. You can also listen to our podcasts at Stitcher. 

We are investigating the costs of having Abbot George’s books made into professionally recorded audio books, and hope to have them available in the future.

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New Books for Your Spiritual Library

Light of the Spirit Press announces two new publications for your spiritual library. The first is Foundations of Yoga: Ten Important Principles Every Meditator Should Know, an introduction to the important principles of Patanjali’s Yoga: Yama & Niyama. (Those who have read Soham Yoga: The … Continue reading

5 Reasons for the Smile of Krishna

The Smile of Krishna
As the fighting is about to commence on the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the tale of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna begins to advise Arjuna. (This article is taken from The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening.)

Arjuna, overcome with anguish at the prospect of killing in battle those he loved and was obligated to respect, presented to Krishna his reasons for refusing to fight. Hearing the “case” presented by Arjuna:

“To him, the dejected Arjuna, Krishna, smiling, O Dhritarashtra, in the middle between the two armies, spoke these words” (Bhagavad Gita 2:10).

Why a smile?

The smile of Krishna is extremely significant, and we must be grateful to the sage Vyasa for including this detail that carries a momentous message.

Why did Krishna smile, considering how grief-filled Arjuna was, and how impassioned he had been in his insistence that to fight would be the greatest of evils–in contradiction to the urging and advice of Krishna? Arjuna was both sad and rebellious. Yet Krishna smiled.

The word in the Gita is prahasann, which means to smile before laughing. (Sargeant renders it: “beginning to laugh.”) So it is not some weak smile, nor a condescending or sarcastic grimace, but a very positive sign of impending mirth. How is this? Krishna smiled for several reasons.

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