Practical Wisdom | Original Christianity and Original Yoga

Bhakti: The Yogi’s Perspective, from “This and That for Yogis”

April 6, 2019 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Bhakti from This and That for Yogis

We are preparing a new book entitled “This and That for Yogis” 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)

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: [Read more…]

6 Questions That Puzzle Spiritual Seekers

March 16, 2019 by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

spiritual seekers questions

Over the years spiritual seekers have sent questions to Abbot George, from the mundane to the philosophical to the practical aspects of living a spiritual life. This recent selection of questions and answers is shorter than some, so we will share them with you in a single blog post. You can read a wide selection of these previously printed in Satsang with the Abbot: Questions and Answers About Life, Spiritual Liberty and the Pursuit of Ultimate Happiness, which is available at Amazon.com.

1. To someone who wrote about the correct attitude to adopt toward others when interacting with them, especially those with whom the yogi has a close personal relationship.

In all relationships with other human beings we are to see the divine Self in them and realize that ultimately we are relating to the Divine Itself. The moment we think someone is “ours” ego is present and problematic. That is why sadhana is so necessary to keep our minds in the correct perspective.

2. To someone who asked about Khechari Mudra.

The khechari mudra most people talk about is solely a hatha yoga method, and a foolish and dangerous one at that. Those who “fail” to do it are fortunate.

The mudras of the yogis are solely positions of the eyes. The khechari mudra of the yogis is a spontaneous turning upward of the eyes in meditation that occurs naturally when it should. To do it deliberately is to interfere with the meditation process.

In Soham sadhana this happens naturally and can come and go during a single meditation period according to how the pranas are moving spontaneously. It happens when the sushumna is activated and the process of meditation becomes centered there. Some yogic texts speak of it as occurring when the japa of Soham enters–begins to take place in–the sushumna. Then the yogi truly is a “sky walker,” which is what “khechari” means. He “flies” in the Sky of Consciousness, the Chidakasha in the Sahasrara. [Read more…]

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…]