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Original Christianity is the teaching of both Jesus of Nazareth and his Apostle Saint Thomas in India. Learn about Jesus’ life in India, and the inevitable conclusions that must be drawn about The Real Jesus and His Real Teachings, which were really the classical, traditional teachings of the ancient rishis of India. Read Articles about Original Christianity.
With all that is called “yoga” nowadays, it is hard to winnow the wheat from the chaff. Swami Nirmalananda clarifies what real yoga is both as a philosophy and as a liberating practice in its classic form of Soham Yoga, and gives practical advice on the Yoga Life that facilitates this practice. Read Articles about Original Yoga.
Most people intuit that the greatest wisdom comes from the East. With penetrating insight Swami Nirmalananda presents the practical value of the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Dhammapada, and other classic scriptures in an easily intelligible fashion. Read Articles about Dharma for Awakening.
Most of the articles and books on this site were written by Swami Nirmalananda Giri, (Abbot George Burke) the founder and director of the Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram) in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA.
“The scriptures contain a mixture of sand and sugar, as it were. It is extremely difficult to separate the sugar from the sand. Therefore one should learn of the essence of the scriptures from the teacher or from a sadhu.”
–Sri Ramakrishna
Swami Nirmalananda has spent a lifetime helping spiritual aspirants separate the sand from the sugar. Grounded in the perspective of classic Indian thought, directly taught by such luminaries as Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh and Sri Anandamayi Ma, and blessed with the clarity and originality of thought that can only come from years of spiritual practice (sadhana), his answers to his inquirers’ questions are unique, fresh, and authoritative.
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Visit our Podcast Page to listen to talks by Swami Nirmalananda Giri about various aspects of practical spiritual life, and remarkable spiritual people he has known. These podcasts include talks on Original Christianity and Original Yoga, Soham Yoga Meditation, the Yoga Life, the connection between Jesus and India, monastic life, and much more.
We also have a Video Satsangs page which we encourage you to explore.
Atma Jyoti Ashram (Light of the Spirit Monastery) is a monastic community for those men who seek direct experience of the Spirit through yoga meditation, traditional yogic discipline, Sanatana Dharma and the life of the sannyasi in the tradition of the Order of Shankara. Our lineage is in the Giri branch of the Order. Read about Light of the Spirit Monastery and monastic life.
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Sutras 36 through 39 of Book One of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Sutra 1:36. Also (through) serene [vishoka] or luminous [jyotishmati] (states experienced within). Vishoka means “blissful; serene; free of grief, suffering or sorrow.” Jyotishmati means “effulgence; full of light.” Inner experience of a higher level usually consists of these
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;
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
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