Satsang with the Abbot PDF
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Satsang with the Abbot Satsang with the Abbot Quest ions and Answers About Life, Spiritual Liberty, and the Pursuit of Ultimate Happiness Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri) Published by Light of the Spirit Press lightofthespiritpress.com Light of the Spirit Monastery P. O. Box 1370 Cedar Crest, New Mexico 87008 www.ocoy.org Copyright © 2018 Light of the Spirit Monastery. All rights reserved. ISBN-13: 978-0-9985998-5-4 ISBN-10: 0-9985998-5-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018936959 Light of the Spirit Press, Cedar Crest, New Mexico 1. OCC010000 BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Mindfulness & Meditation 2. OCC021000 BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Reference 3. REL062000 RELIGION / Spirituality First edition, April 2018 iv Contents About the Author ...........................................................................vii Satsang with the Abbot .....................................................................1 Did You Enjoy This Book? ...........................................................346 Get Your Free Meditation Guide ..................................................347 Glossary .......................................................................................348 Index ............................................................................................370 Light of the Spirit Monastery .......................................................377 Reading for Awakening ................................................................378 v About the Author Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri) is the founder and director of the Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram) in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA. In his many pilgrimages to India, he had the opportunity of meeting some of India’s greatest spiritual figures, including Swami Sivananda of Rishi- kesh and Anandamayi Ma. During his first trip to India he was made a member of the ancient Swami Order by Swami Vidyananda Giri, a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, who had himself been given sannyas by the Shankaracharya of Puri, Jagadguru Bharati Krishna Tirtha. In the United States he also encountered various Christian saints, including Saint John Maximovich of San Francisco and Saint Philaret Voznesensky of New York. He was ordained in the Liberal Catholic Church (International) to the priesthood on January 25, 1974, and consecrated a bishop on August 23, 1975. For many years Abbot George has researched the identity of Jesus Christ and his teachings with India and Sanatana Dharma, including Yoga. It is his conclusion that Jesus lived in India for most of his life, vii and was a yogi and Sanatana Dharma missionary to the West. After his resurrection he returned to India and lived the rest of his life in the Himalayas. He has written about this in The Christ of India. He is the author of numerous books on practical spiritual life, includ- ing Om Yoga Meditation: Its Theory and Practice, Dwelling In The Mirror: A Study of Illusions Produced By Delusive Meditation And How to Be Free from Them, and the Dharma for Awakening series, commentaries on important spiritual writings such as the Dhammapada, the Gospel of Thomas, the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures. All of his books, in addition to being available in print and as ebooks, are also available for reading for free on our website, OCOY.org, as well as are his other writings. NOTE: You can find out more about many of the books mentioned in these questions and answers in the Reading for Awakening section at the end of this book. viii Satsang with the Abbot One of the most valuable spiritual activities in East or West is satsang: a gathering of spiritual aspirants for spiritual study, discussion and inspiration. A satsang is especially beneficial when there is someone with many years of practice and experience who answers the questions asked by the aspirants. Over the years, and especially after the advent of the internet, people have written to me with questions that I have answered according to my understanding. This book is a collection of those questions and my answers. I hope they will be interesting and helpful to others. 3 I am interested in climbing the stairs that may lead to samadhi. Please guide. Samadhi is a natural consequence of meditation–in Buddhism pro- found meditation is considered samadhi–and there need be no special attention placed on it. Rather, your attention should be on making sure your practice is correct, of sufficient time, and that nothing in your life is working against it. 1 2 Satsang with the Abbot Swami Vivekananda told M (Mahendranath Gupta) that Sri Ramakrishna once asked him: “What do you want?” He answered, “I want to remain absorbed in samadhi.” Whereupon Sri Ramakrishna responded: “What a poor understanding you have! Get beyond samadhi. Samadhi is a petty thing.” Sri Ramakrishna also said: “The seed of his Name has great Power. It destroys ignorance. A seed is so soft, a sprout is so soft. Yet they pierce the hard earth. The earth cracks.” Success is assured. 3 Four years back one of my friends made the following statement: “Nothing is Everything. Everything is Nothing and there is Noth- ing called Nothing.” Is this is a statement to explain Brahman? Your friend’s statement is just nonsensical gibberish by someone who thinks he can express Advaitic ideas by spouting contradictory jargon. The truth is expressed fully in the Bhagavad Gita. That should be your major focus of study. The mantra beginning “Purnamidah” is the nearest to a perfect Advaitic statement there is: Purnamidah, purnamidam, purnat purnamudachyate; Purnasya purnamadaya, purnam ewawashishyate. Purna means “total, full, complete,” which is what our English term “perfect” used to mean, rather than just “without fault.” In this verse, the word “complete” (purna) refers to God. Here, as best I can, is a translation into English:
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