Home » Light of the Spirit BLOG

Light of the Spirit BLOG

Come back often to find new, valuable and practical articles to help you in your spiritual life. Below the latest blog posts we also list some of our most well received articles.
Wisdom Quote of the Day
“At the time of death, the whole storehouse of impressions and desires is churned and the strongest and most cherished desire comes to the surface of the mind of the field of mental consciousness. Thus the churned-up cream of cherished desires arrests the attention of the dying man for immediate gratification. He thinks of that only at the time of death, just as the most vital mango plant shoots up prominently in the nursery, so also the strongest desire shoots up to the surface of the mind.”
Swami Sivananda

Latest Blog Posts

Calvin & Hobbes cartoon

The Religion of Ignorance

What Jesus said to his disciples about those who propagate ignorance, from the Gospel of Thomas Jesus said, The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge [gnosis] and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.

Continue Reading »

7 Ways to Purify the Mind, Part 1

Sutras 33 through 35 of Book One of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Sutra 1:33. The mind becomes clarified by cultivating attitudes of friendliness [maitri], compassion [karuna], gladness [mudita] and indifference [upekshanam] respectively towards happiness [sukha], misery [dukha], virtue [punya] and vice [apunya]. Maitri is friendliness; friendship; love. Karuna is mercy; compassion; kindness. Mudita is complacency; joy; happiness, and implies optimism

Continue Reading »

The Simple Yoga Method of Removing Mental Pain and Depression

Sutras 31 and 32 of Book One of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Sutra 1:31. (Mental) pain [dukha], despair [daurmanasya], nervousness [angamejayatva] and hard breathing [shvasa-prashvasa] are the symptoms of a distracted condition of mind [vikshepa-sahabhuvah]. Dukha is pain; suffering; misery; sorrow; grief; unhappiness; stress; that which is unsatisfactory. Daurmanasya is despair, depression etc., caused by mental sickness; feeling of

Continue Reading »

See Our New Book on Reincarnation at Amazon.com

In our ongoing effort to provide the content of OCOY.org in printed form, this week we launched Abbot George Burke’s May a Christian Believe in Reincarnation? in paperback and Kindle format at Amazon.com. A quick synopsis of the book is found on the back cover: “May a Christian believe in reincarnation? The answer may surprise you. Reincarnation–also known as the transmigration

Continue Reading »

How to Enter the Kingdom

A Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom. They said to him, Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom? Jesus said to them, When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and

Continue Reading »

A Brief Sanskrit Glossary Now Available in Print at Amazon.com

A Brief Sanskrit Glossary now available in print at Amazon.com We are happy to announce that we have another book available in print through Light of the Spirit Press:  A Brief Sanskrit Glossary—A Spiritual Student’s Guide to Essential Sanskrit Terms, compiled by Abbot George Burke. As it says in the Preface of the Glossary: “It is very beneficial for students

Continue Reading »

Om, the God-Word

Sutras 27 through 30 of Book One of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 27. His designator [vachaka] is ‘Om’ [Pranava]. Usually, vachaka means that which is denoted by speech, in this case meaning that Ishwara is designated by the Pranava–by the sacred syllable OM. But it can also mean the spoken form of something that has a very real connection

Continue Reading »

Featured Articles

Yogis Who Saw Jesus

The day our Original Christianity and Original Yoga website was launched we received an irate communication from one of those Western “Hindus” that believe they are more truly Hindu if they hate other religions–especially Christianity–and deny that Jesus ever existed. Here is our answer:
Continue Reading »

The Many Advantages of Vegetarianism

 
You can indeed reap a lot of benefits by being a vegetarian and people have become more aware of the health benefits of being a vegetarian. Animal rights issues is only one of the reasons why people decide to go on a vegetarian diet. People are beginning to care more about the environment. However, the main reason why people go on vegetarian diet is because of health benefits.
Continue Reading »

Seeing the One in All

In response to our recent blog posting about the reality of Jesus in the experience of India’s great yogis, we received a most heartening letter from India. I want to share parts of it with you and my reflections on it for I feel it presents the most authentic perspective on these matters.

Continue Reading »

7 Steps to Misuse Your Power of Thought

 
Thought is power–magnetic power, particularly. That is, thought can draw or repel whatever is thought about, depending upon the polarity of the individual mind. Many times we see that people bring to themselves the things they continually think about, but we also see that thinking about something can repel it from the person.

Continue Reading »