Practical Wisdom | Original Christianity and Original Yoga

Suffering and Karma: A Yogi’s Perspective

January 17, 2019 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

suffering karma statue

Q: May I ask, when it comes to suffering, particularly of the chronic physical type, is this all a result of inflicting such pain on others in a past life?

Karma works very exactly. Karma is extremely complex because exactly what we did must come back to us. It does not get bundled up with various types of causes and result in an unspecific form.

For example, if you inflict pain on someone, then someone will inflict pain on you. Physical illness or suffering can be caused by having neglected or or even done deliberate harm to our body in anger or some other negative emotion, including self-loathing. Unsuccessful attempts at suicide can be a cause of present pain.

Or is it a combination of that and obstacles set in place (by a higher self) to help us grow and develop?

No. Neither our higher self or God ever decide that we need “a good kicking around” for our own “good.” We do not get karmically spanked for “being bad.” The reaping of negative karma is not retribution. [Read more…]

Purification from the Karma that Causes Mental Illness

November 18, 2018 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

purification from mental illness

Q: What is mental illness? My friend’s son has bipolar disorder with schizoid tendencies. How can I help?

Everything in our life, inner and outer–except for the witnessing consciousness which our true Self–is a product of karma. Just as physical ills come from negative karma, so do mental ills. Also, those ills are symptoms, not the real cause: negative thoughts, words and deeds from the past.

There is only one “cure” for karma: purification. The entire life, inner and outer, must be purified. Obviously this can only be done by the individual. If for some reason they cannot or will not purify themselves then no one can do anything for them.

What we can and should do is sincerely and overtly love and care for them and express kindness at all times for them and their family. Certainly we should pray for them–especially that they will awaken to their condition and its causes. But no one can do it for them. Speaking of the “prison” of karma Jesus said:

“Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matthew 5:26).

The purification I have mentioned is the necessary payment. It is not a sentence of condemnation, but the process of evolution necessary to all sentient beings as they journey toward perfection.

A Yogi’s View of Christian Scriptures

November 12, 2018 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

When Paul writes (Ephesians 5:14): “Thus God speaks through the scriptures: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light,’” which scriptures is he referring to?

The King James Version simply has: “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” And so does the Greek text. (Most “modern language” translations are interpretive to the point of dishonesty.)

Saint Paul quotes words of Jesus not found in the Gospels and Saint Jude cites a prophecy of Enoch. So we can be sure that the Christians in the early days had access to writings now lost through persecutions, wars and the deliberate destruction by those who thought their own version of Christianity was the only right one.

All the Christian world read the more than three hundred books of Origen until a Church council declared them heretical and they were destroyed. Today we have only a few of them still existing. [Read more…]

How and Why You Should Transcend Raga and Dwesha (Attraction and Aversion)

October 30, 2018 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

This article on Raga and Dwesha is an excerpt from the soon-to-be-published book, The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening, by Abbot George Burke.

However, with attraction and aversion eliminated, even though moving amongst objects of sense, by self-restraint, the self-controlled attains tranquility (Bhagavad Gita 2:64).

The words translated “desire” and “hatred” are raga and dwesha. Raga is both emotional (instinctual) and intellectual desire. It may range from simple liking or preference to intense desire and attraction. Dwesha is the opposite. It is aversion/avoidance in relation to an object, implying dislike. This, too, can be emotional (instinctual) or intellectual, ranging from simple non-preference to intense repulsion, antipathy and even hatred.

We must keep in mind that anything can grow and change. Therefore simple liking can develop into intense craving, and mild dislike can turn into intense aversion or hatred. And since opposites are intrinsically linked to one another and can even turn into one another, the philosophical and yogic texts frequently speak of raga-dwesha, the continual cycling back and forth between desire/aversion and like/dislike.

Obviously, this makes for a confused and fragmented life and mind, something from which any sensible person would wish to extricate himself.

Finding the right cure

There are a multitude of supposed cures for what ails us. The vast majority do not work because they are not really aimed at what truly ails us. The rest usually do not work because they are based on a miscomprehension of the nature of the problem, or because they are simply nonsensical and time-wasters. This is true of most religion and of a great deal that is called yoga [see the article What is Yoga?]. [Read more…]

How to Overcome Grief at the Death of a Loved One

September 29, 2018 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

In reply to a friend who wrote asking how to overcome grief at the death of a loved one.

Please accept my heartfelt sympathy over your great loss and sorrow.

Karma determines all the aspects of our life, especially birth and death. Therefore your action or inaction could not effect when your beloved son would leave this world. His karma for this life is completed and now he goes on to further move toward the supreme goal.

It is true that often our beloved departed are aware of our grief and pain and are saddened by it. At the same time, what father would not grieve?

Please conduct for your son whatever rites are traditional in your family. Japa and kirtan may be done for the benefit of a departed soul.

Most important is your taking of refuge in the Divine through japa and meditation, difficult as they may be at this time. This will not only benefit you, but your son and those that remain with you in your family.

We will pray for you and your dear son that even this sorrowful event may draw you and him closer to the all-merciful God.

Further Reading:

Thinking of God: the Perspective of the Serious Sadhaka

September 15, 2018 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

thinking of God

Q: With regard to the particular means of thinking of God: are you advocating the traditional forms of cultivating our relationship with God through perceiving the Divine as Mother, Father, Child, Lover or even a Transpersonal Tao?

No. Such an approach is totally egocentric: “I want a Mother, Father, etc.” This is most crassly expressed by the oft-cited statement: I don’t want to be sugar, I want to eat it.” God is not an object of our gratification or delectation.

It is not a matter of what we merely want or like, but what we need. And that is a single thing: knowledge of our Self (jivatman) and the Supreme Self (Paramatman). God is the Self of our Self and can only be approached in that way. These other ways of viewing God do not even begin to do the needful.

I am very aware of this since I wasted time with them before I gained real knowledge of Sanatana Dharma and Yoga. Nevertheless they have their place for those who do not have clear understanding. A person has to start somewhere. That is why Krishna said:

“At the end of many births the wise man takes refuge in me. He knows: All is Vasudeva. How very rare is that great soul. Those whose knowledge has been stolen away by various desires resort to other gods, following various religious practices, impelled thus by their own natures. Whoever wishes to worship whatever form with faith, on him I bestow immovable faith. He who, endowed with this faith, desires to propitiate that form, receives from it his desires because their fulfillment has been decreed by me. But temporary is the fruit for those of small understanding. To the gods go the worshippers of the gods. Those who worship me come unto me: (7:19-23).

Can this be expanded upon by what comes most naturally or arises most organically within each individual given our psychological disposition to find the essence of our lives?

No. That, too, is purely of the ego.

Should we commit to one form or can this evolve as our perception transforms?

Certainly it will change as the seeker changes. But will he attain enlightenment thereby? Playing with dolls does not really prepare a little girl to be a mother. Nor does playing with concepts of God that are imaginary and ultimately unreal prepare us for atmajnana and Brahmajnana. [Read more…]