Light of the Spirit BLOG

I n 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.

“I agree with the contents of the blog that the truth of Christ’s coming should not be doubted. In fact, if someone whom I can accept as a good Christian were merely to tell me Christ is for real, I would believe him. I would tell him that my mother, a practising Hindu, taught me that long ago, and had read out His parables to me in my childhood!! Christ is as real to me as my mother.

More than one person has told me that they never met anyone who really understood Jesus until they went to India. My doctor told me that the only meaningful discourse he ever heard about Jesus was given by a sadhu in South India one Christmas. One of my most valued acquaintances made in India was a French lady who told me: “You will be surprised to learn why I am in India. My local Catholic priest sent me. He told me: ‘You will never understand the Gospel of Saint John if you do not go to India and study the religion there.’” She did so, became a disciple of Swami (Papa) Ramdas, and later permanently moved to India and became a resident of Sivanandashram in Rishikesh. It is my conviction that intelligent belief in and understanding of Jesus is impossible without the perspective of Sanatana Dharma. (In fact, I don’t think any valid religion can be comprehended without that perspective.)

“I already believe. But I am not alone. It is a natural way for most of my fellow-Hindus. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Sivananda were representative Hindus who gave all faiths their due. Though they were Hindu spiritual giants, it is not because of them that the ordinary Indian people are magnanimous in religious belief. The Sanatana Dharma (even in the form of Hinduism) is beginning-less and endless. It is a way of life, a way of thinking for the Hindus, of which the above-mentioned Sages were spokespersons. Everyone has freedom of faith and worship in India, that’s its ageless tradition of open-ness and religious egalitarianism. 

On the reality of Christ’s advent, therefore, and His ascension, there can be no doubt. 

This is the unique glory of India–only there have people’s minds and hearts been fully opened to Reality. I often comment to people that it is all very well for people of various religious backgrounds to say that all religions are true and lead to the same goal, but only Indian religion teaches that as a real principle. Absolutely those great souls mentioned are representative of Sanatana Dharma, not unusual or unique. I know, because I received my faith in Jesus from India. In university I had come to completely disbelieve in Christianity and therefore in Jesus. But when I read the Bhagavad Gita and Paramhansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi I gained real faith–in Jesus, but not in the religion that betrays him in his name. The more I understood Dharma, the more I understood Jesus, and the less regard I had for Churchianity.

“What would interest me is to know whether you and the followers/monks of OCOY would also keep pictures of Sri Ram/Siva in their rooms like Sri Ramakrishna or sing the name of the Hindu god(s) like Sri Sivananda in their “Light of the Spirit” monasteries, in line with the Hindu sages you have cited. And it is my fervent hope that they would.

I really had to smile when I read this, because I knew exactly what our friend was wanting to know. Quite some time back when I was in Delhi someone asked me to go with him to visit some “open-minded” and “ecumenical” Christian monks who were “friendly” to Hindu Dharma. I had my doubts, but I went–and got my doubts confirmed. The abbot was very gracious and showed us around, commenting in the chapel that quite a few Hindus sometimes came to their church services and appreciated them. Then we went to the monastery’s common room where all the monks were in conversations with one another, and the abbot and the senior officers of the monastery began talking with me. Again, the abbot remarked about how “open” Hindus were to their Christian worship. So I replied: “But tell me, Father, what would you do if one of those Hindus said to you: ‘Father, I have worshipped your Christ; will you now come and worship my Krishna?’ What would you do? Would you go worship Krishna?” His response? NONE. Literally he acted like I had never spoken those words. So I asked the same thing. No reply. A third time I asked, and he just turned to one of the monks and began a conversation as if I were not even there and had not spoken a word. My friend was shocked at this revelation of the hypocrisy of the “good fathers.”

There is indeed in our office a picture of Shiva (Umapati Shankar) and Sri Rama (Ayodhya Pati Ram). At first in writing this I listed every holy image in our office, but the list was much too long to impose on you, so I encapsulate it in this way: In our office there are twelve Christian images, nine Buddhist images, and eighteen Hindu images. Yet they are all images of The One Reality and we reverence them all. Such sacred depictions can be found throughout our monastery, and outside as well, among them many photographs of saints–Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian. Yet, as I say, to us it is all ONE.

I would like to mention here that we have daily satsang in the late afternoon at which we always have three readings from spiritual texts. Right now we are going through: Man’s Eternal Quest, a book of talks by Paramhansa Yogananda, The Christian Gnosis, by Charles W. Leadbeater the renowned Theosophist and founder of the Liberal Catholic Church, and Philosophy of Gorakhnath, by Akshay Kumar Banerjea. I want you to understand from their nature that our approach is not a mere tinge of the East.

It has been our custom for years to attend and participate in (not just observe) Buddhist and Hindu temple worship. Of course we will sing the Names of God in kirtan. There is only one God, and He is all His “many faces.” Any religion that makes people sectarian is a false and destructive religion.

“And further that the ‘LOTS’ Church has unequivocally and publicly repudiated the principle and practice of proselytisation. In fact, an assertion/clarification prominently in the web-site to the above effect would go a long way to confirm the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ aspect of the monastery and the ethical integrity of the ‘Original Christianity’ that is professed, and set the LOTS Church apart from the ‘Churchianity’, besides drawing more and more readers to your excellent blogs.

This is most important. Each person’s religion is a matter of his swadharma as expounded in the Gita. And swadharma is determined by samskara and karma. No one should ever try to persuade someone to adopt any religion. Each person must decide this for himself. Nor should anyone try to dissuade a person from following a path he feels drawn to. After all, see how many paths Sri Ramakrishna followed and discovered that each one led to Brahman.

There is really only one ultimate religion: Brahmajnana or Atmajnana (knowledge of God or knowledge of the Self, however a person prefers to view it). Without jnana, religion almost always becomes superstition and distraction. Yet if that is what a person likes he should be free to follow it. After all, he has eternity to learn for himself the way to God. This is part of the divine plan.

Do you want to know if we believe that Jesus is the only way or the best way? NEVER. God is the only and the best way. How we reach God is part of our personal evolution. Great world-teachers like Krishna, Buddha and Jesus only show the way to God. As Buddha said, they are a finger pointing to the moon. It is good to learn and apply the wisdom of great Masters, but God must be the focus of our search, for Patanjali says: “He is Guru even of the ancients.”

Why then are we followers of Jesus? (The word “Christian” has been so ruined, just as the Nazis spoiled people’s impression of the Swastika, that I don’t much like using it.) It is not my place to answer for others, so I will say this:

1.  I follow Jesus because I believe he was a teacher of Sanatana Dharma alone and that his teachings cannot be understood apart from Dharma.
2. What is distinct about Jesus is the fact that he presented spiritual life in terms that Occidentals could relate to and that were in accord with their psychology. He was bringing the eternal wisdom of India to the West that simply had no background to help them in relating to it. Therefore he translated those truths into forms they could comprehend. (The Trinity is a prime example. Instead of Brahman, Ishwara and Shakti he used the terms Father, Son and Holy Spirit–not as  perfect as the Sanskrit, but still conveying the concepts.)
3. Knowing that the traditional Samskaras of Indian religion were very important as a foundation and fostering of spiritual consciousness, he created the Sacraments to accomplish the necessary openings and empowerments in forms the West could relate to and benefit from, even if their philosophical understanding was not perfect. This is the living heritage of Jesus still remaining in the world, however poorly it has been understood through the centuries. For those outside the spiritual environment of India these rites have an inestimable value in imparting spiritual stability and perseverance. I have written about this at length in The Yoga of the Sacraments. Again, no one thing is absolutely necessary in spiritual life except the aspiration to liberation (moksha). As Sri Ma Anandamayi often said: “The desire for God is the way to God,” and “There are many ways to the One Way.”

“I may kindly be pardoned if I have written in ignorance but I felt like telling you what I have and so I out-ed with it!

And I hope you will forgive my long response! But I wanted to leave no doubts as to our position on these things. Christian bigots and Hindu bigots will both hate what I have written, but hate is their favorite pastime, and that is their choice. We, dear friend, can join hands and hearts and walk together along the path from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to the Light, and from death to Immortality.

Random Gems from the Light of the Spirit Blog and OCOY.org:

• 7 Ways to Purify the Mind
• How to Develop Intuition by Paramhansa Yogananda
• Obstacles in Meditation and How to Overcome Them

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:

If Jesus did not exist, how is it that great spiritual masters of India have seen him in visions, researched and proved not only his existence but his having lived in India, and expounded his teachings as being the same as (not just consistent with) Sanatana Dharma?

Sri Ramakrishna, his great disciple Swami Brahmananda, Swami Rama Tirtha, Swami (Papa) Ramdas, and Paramhansa Yogananda all saw Jesus in visions–some more than once, and some actually spoke with him. Sri Ramakrishna kept a picture of Jesus in his room at the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. He also told several of his disciples that he had seen in visions that they had been disciples of Jesus.

Both Swami Rama Tirtha and Swami Ramdas had visions of Jesus while staying at Vashishtha Guha north of Rishikesh in the cave where Jesus had lived for awhile (though they did not know that fact at the time of their visions, but learned it later).

Swami Abhedananda and Swami Trigunatitananda, disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, at separate times journeyed to Ladakh and verified the existence of ancient Buddhist texts recording the life of Jesus. Swami Trigunatitananda was also shown two painting of Jesus by the Buddhist monks, and had a copy of one made from his memory when he was living in America as a Vedanta missionary.

Swami Abhedananda, also for a while a Vedanta Missionary to America, printed a translation of the part of the Buddhist text on Jesus and defied the British government’s ban on Notovitch’s Unknown Life of Jesus Christ which contained the complete text. He not only brought copies of the book from America, he had an edition printed in India. He also wrote the pamphlet: Why a Hindu Accepts Christ and Rejects Churchianity.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of a letter Sri Ramakrishna’s disciple Swami Saradananda wrote to her aunt, Edith Grey, who had gone to India and become a disciple of Sri Ma Sarada Devi, the consort of Sri Ramakrishna. Miss Grey had written to the Swami about how she felt equal devotion to Sri Ramakrishna and Jesus. The Swami wrote back: “Our Master assured us that they were just the same.”

Later in the twentieth century the Shankaracharya of Puri, Jagadguru Bharata Krishna Tirtha, found what he called “proof positive” of Jesus actually having lived in the Govardhan Math, the present math of the Order of Shankara in Puri. He even wrote a book on the subject, which he found had been “lost” when he returned from his world tour, and which he did not live long enough to rewrite.

Before that, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, the guru of Yogananda, wrote a study in which he proved that Jesus had lived in India and that his teachings were identical with the Sanatana Dharma which he adopted and preached in the West. That was “borrowed” by a Christian missionary who refused in Sri Yukteswar’s lifetime and even after his death to return it.

Paramhansa Yogananda wrote and lectured extensively on the teachings of Jesus. In fact, at his first speech given in this country he announced that he would be holding classes in Boston which would consist of three half-hour periods apiece: one on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, one on the teachings of the Gospels, and one demonstrating that their teachings were the same. His two-volume commentary on the Gospels, The Second Coming of Christ, is perhaps the only complete and reliable presentation of Jesus’ real teachings–which are mostly unknown to Churchianity.

Swami Prabhavananda of the Hollywood Vedanta Society wrote The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta and often referred to Jesus in his lectures. Swami Akhilananda of the Boston Vedanta Society wrote a valuable study called Hindu View of Christ and also cited Jesus as a spiritual authority. (Both Vedanta Societies celebrated Christmas, too, as does Belur Math, the world headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission.)

As a final example which I witnessed myself, my beloved Swami Sivananda, founder of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh and perfect example of Sanatana Dharma, not only wrote and published a life of Jesus for popular circulation and celebrated Christmas each year, in the daily evening satsang kirtan he led us all in singing: “O my Jesus, O my Jesus, Lord Jesus: Come, come to me! O my Mary, Mother Mary, Virgin Mary: Come, come to me!” And often at the end, along with other exclamations in praise of Dharma, would call out: “Jesus Bhagavan: ki jai!”

All these great yogis of India did not just believe Jesus existed, they honored him as a liberated son of God and considered him a Sanatana Dharmi just like themselves.

Our irate correspondent concluded with the statement: “Hinduism/Yoga is not Christianity.”

We agree. But like so many Westerners he has it all backwards. Sanatana Dharma and Yoga are not Christianity, but authentic Christianity is indeed Sanatana Dharma and Yoga and not Churchianity at all.

Further Reading:

• The Christ of India — A valuable article about the mounting evidence of Jesus’ time in India.
• The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ — by Nicholas Notovitch. A translation of the ancient text he found in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery recounting the sojourn of Jesus in India and Tibet.
• The Cave Where Jesus Stayed — Includes a photo of the cave from our visit there.

In the coming days we will be highlighting new content on OCOY.org. Much of the content will be familiar to readers of Atma Jyoti, but updated and expanded. But some is new and we will be posting excerpts from these books and articles, which will be available to be read online as well as free downloads from our E-Library. We also suggest you visit our About This Site page to discover why the renewed site is called Original Christianity and Original Yoga.

Today we would like to post excerpts from the new book Pranava Yoga: Divine Word Meditation: Its Theory and Practice by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri).

First, from the Preface to Pranava Yoga:

Yoga and Freedom

Yoga is all about freedom. Only a fraction of the world’s population is formally imprisoned, but none are free from the inevitability of sickness, age, and death. The human condition is subject to innumerable limitations. Who really controls his life fully, attains all his goals, and knows no setbacks of any kind? No one.

Our real Self, the spirit, is ever perfect and free. But we have forgotten that. So we identify with our present experience of limitation and bondage and consequently suffer stress and pain in countless ways. Our situation is like someone who is asleep and dreaming that he is suffering or fearful. To end the fear and pain he needs only to wake up. Yoga is the procedure of self-awakening, the way to freedom from suffering, fear, and limitation–nothing less than the quest for liberation of the spirit. Yoga is an eternal science intended to reveal and manifest the Eternal.

The yoga of the Self

Authentic yoga brings about everything spontaneously from deep within, from the Self. The yoga tradition says that the contemplation of the Pranava, Aom, is the contemplation of our own true nature. It is the knowledge of our own Self.

If our spiritual practice (sadhana) is to bring us to our eternal, natural state of spirit-consciousness, it, too, must be totally natural. The term sahaja is often found in yoga treatises, meaning that which is natural, innate and spontaneous. Pranava Yoga is the sahaja, spontaneous yoga, for the prana/breath movement occurs in every evolving being, and that movement is inseparable from the vibration of the subtle sound of Aom. Though seemingly two, the movement of the breath and the vibrating of Aom are the same thing, like fire and heat. Not only that, this is the only characteristic common to all forms of existence, from the atom to the perfectly liberated individual. Nothing, then, is more natural than the intoning of Aom in time with the breath. It is the key to our inmost, true Self and its revelation.

The best aspect of all this is that everything happens naturally and spontaneously at just the right time, simply through the Aom breath. When the breath and Aom are perfectly merged it is the major force of inner transformation-transmutation. The Aom breath is the inner secret of the yogi.

Next, from the Chapter on the Philosophical Aspects of Yoga:

“Yoga” is a Sanskrit word that means “to join.” Yoga is both union and the way to that union. What do we join through yoga? First, we join our awareness to our own essential being: the spirit whose nature is pure consciousness. In yoga philosophy this is known as the Atman or spirit-Self. Next, we join our finite consciousness to the Infinite Consciousness, God, the Supreme Self (Paramatman). In essence they are eternally one.

According to yogic philosophy the individual atman-spirit originally dwelt in the consciousness of that oneness. But through its descent into the material world the spirit lost its awareness of the eternal union, and lost the capacity to live in and manifest the union on a practical level. Through yoga the lost consciousness can be regained and actualized in the individual’s practical life sphere.

Regarding this, a yogi-adept of the twentieth century, Dr. I. K. Taimni, remarks in his book The Science of Yoga: “According to the yogic philosophy it is possible to rise completely above the illusions and miseries of life and to gain infinite knowledge, bliss, and power through enlightenment here and now while we are still living in the physical body.…No vague promise of an uncertain postmortem happiness this, but a definite scientific assertion of a fact verified by the experience of innumerable yogis, saints, and sages who have trodden the path of yoga throughout the ages.”

Writing about the Pranava itself, Abbot George writes:

Writing about Ishwara, the Lord, Patanjali says: “His spoken form [vachaka] is the Pranava” (Yoga Sutras 1:27). Swami Vivekananda translates vachaka: “His manifesting word.”

“Pranava” is derived from prana, which means both life-force/breath and life. So we could call it the Word of Life or the Prana-Breath Word. The Pranava is commonly thought to be the monosyllable Aum or Om, but its true, original form is Aom. This error came about either when the sacred texts such as the upanishads passed from exclusively oral to written form or when the original Sanskrit script was changed to Devanagari which either could not reflect it or was simply transliterated in the wrong way.

The true Pranava is pronounced “Ah-Oh-mm” as a single syllable The A is pronounced like the a in father and palm. The O is pronounced like the long o in the Italian or common American manner–as in home and lone. The M is pronounced normally as in English. Aom is a single syllable: Ah merging seamlessly into Om to form a single word. The three letters should be intoned in equal length–at least approximately.

We invite you to read the book in its entirety. In it you will find detailed instructions for Pranava Yoga Meditation, the theoretical foundations of the practice, as well as helpful hints for success in your meditation practice. The chapters include the following:

1. Yoga
2. The Word That Is God
3. Pranava Yoga Meditation
4. The Sahasrara
5. The Sukshma Kriya
6. Breath and Sound in Meditation
7. AOM in the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Sutras
8. Points For Successful Meditation
9. Afterword: It Is All Up To You
10. The Glories and Powers of AOM

An essential part of spirituality is conscious growth and evolution. And an important aspect of growth is the willingness, even a thirst, for learning: what works, what doesn’t work; what helps and what hinders our spiritual life. We can learn from the wise, who have cut paths through the dense forest of ignorance, or who have successfully followed those paths, and make our sojourn easier and more effective.

The Internet is a vast sea of information, and finding what you need to know can be a time-consuming project. Especially when it comes to locating spiritual resources, separating the good from the mediocre and useless can be a frustrating undertaking. So we have put together a list of what we have found to be extraordinary web sites of wisdom which will be a help to anyone striving to grow spiritually.

• The Internet Sacred Text Archive

This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics, with over 1400 books online. You will find an impressive array of the principal text for the various religious traditions, both mainstream and obscure.

• Bhagavad Gita on Wikipedia

The External Links section for the Bhagavad Gita has links to 10 online translations of the Gita, as well as several commentaries, as well as audio versions of the Gita. There are also links to the Gita Supersite. (The External Links section at the bottom of any Wikipedia article can be a treasure trove of resource material if you are looking up a spiritual subject.)

• Celextel’s Online Spiritual Library

This extensive library contains texts of the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Shankara’s writings and much more. There is also a considerable library of some of India’s prime religious texts.

• Advaita Vedanta Library

Unfortunately, this site is no longer available.

• The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda is regarded as the chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, and was one of the first to make the spiritual wisdom of India well known in the West. WikiSource has now made available the ten printed volumes of Swami Vivekananda’s writings, lectures, and letters.

• Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism

Access to Insight has English translations of many of the most important sections of the Pali Canon, as well as books, essays, sutta commentaries, and study guides to Theravada Buddhism. It includes a large section of useful writings by the Venerable Thanissaro Bhikkhu, renowned author and monk of the Thai Forest tradition, and dhamma talks by Ajaan Chah, one of the great modern saints of Thailand.

Another site with great resources Theravada Buddhism is What the Buddha Taught, with articles in English and also a good number of other languages by some of the most renowned figures in contemporary Theravada Buddhism.

• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

This is a site dedicated to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, with multiple translations of the Sutras into English, as well as in a surprising number of other languages–a very helpful resource for serious students of yoga.

• Autobiography of a Yogi Online

Paramhansa Yogananda’s classic Autobiography has been the catalyst for spiritual awakening for tens of thousands of people. The original, unedited edition is now available online at the website of Ananda Village. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in spiritual life.

• Bible Gateway

For any student of the Bible, this is a remarkable resource: a searchable online Bible in over 50 versions in numerous languages, with both old and contemporary translatons, including both text and audio versions of some of the translations.

• Divine Life Society

The Society founded by the great Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh has a website full of useful information for spiritual aspirants. Includes spiritual instructions and discourses, as well as a large number of free eBooks by Swami Sivananda. The site also has photos, audio, and videos of this remarkable spiritual giant.

• Sanskrit Spiritual Scriptures

On this page, you can listen to Sanskrit chanting and recitation with English translations for some of the most powerful, holy, and ancient spiritual scriptures from India, including Bhagavad Gita, Shiva Sutras, Spanda Karikas, Bhaja Govindam, Pratyabhijanhrdayam, and more.

• Original Christianity and Original Yoga Website (ocoy.org)

Last but not least, we have endeavored to make our own website into a spiritual resource, with features including A Brief Sanskrit Glossary , a Downloads page with a dozen PDF eBooks, and many more website articles, including commentaries on the scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Taoism.

Alas, not all spiritual resources are on the web. To see what we consider the best spiritual reading in print, read our article, A Yogi’s Recommended Reading List.

The following is a list of recommended books for the spiritual aspirant. First, there are five books whose value cannot be estimated. They are foundation stones of understanding spiritual life and spiritual philosophy. They should be read through many times carefully and reflectively. I think they should be made the yogi’s lifetime companions and guides.

1. The Song of God: Bhagavad Gita, translated by Swami Prabhavananda of the Vedanta Society of Southern California.
2. The Upanishads, Breath of the Eternal, by Swami Prabhavananda.
3. Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda–the first edition facsimile by Crystal Clarity Publishers (with the exception of this and the second edition also published by Philosophical Library, the original publishers, later printings are so altered and falsified they are misleading.)
4. Meditation and Spiritual Life, by Swami Yatiswarananda of the Ramakrishna Mission of India (in America: the Vedanta Society).
5. The Philosophy of Gorakhnath, Akshaya Kumar Banerjea, Motilal Banarsidass.

These are treasures beyond valuation. I read the first three nearly fifty years ago and they are still supplying me with new insights. I am sure they will do the same for you if, as I say, they are read meditatively. Banerjea’s book should be a philosophical “Bible” for all yogis.

Other books by Yogananda

The heads of the five great monasteries founded by Shankara are given the title of Jagad-Guru–World Teacher. Certainly great masters have been mahants of those monasteries, but they had no spiritual influence outside India, so they were not jagad-gurus. But Paramhansa Yogananda during his lifetime was a true World Teacher, and continues to be through the following books:

• Man’s Eternal Quest (collection of talks).
• The Divine Romance (collection of talks).
• Journey to Self-realization (collection of talks).
• The Science of Religion.
• Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda (originally The Master Said).
• God Talks With Arjuna, (commentary on the Bhagavad Gita).
• The Second Coming of Christ, (commentary on the Gospels).

This is not a complete list. All of Yogananda’s writings are beyond price, as are his recordings. I may have written extensively on various religious traditions and yoga–as seen on the ocoy.org website–but I can say that all which is true and worthwhile in my writings is based squarely on the knowledge I gained from studying Yogananda’s writings. Except for the two most basic ideas that God exists and man is immortal, I do not think there is a single significant truth I know that did not come from Yogananda. And without his teachings those two ideas would never have been understood by me and made part of my life. He was and is a light unto my path, and I hope he will be the same for you.

Therefore I also highly recommend two books about Yogananda: The New Path and Paramhansa Yogananda; both by Swami Kriyananda.

Other books

For Sanskrit terms I recommend: Yoga Vedanta dictionary by Swami Sivananda; A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy by John Grimes; and A Brief Sanskrit Glossary, which is found on our website.

After a while look into other translations of the Bhagavad Gita for in-depth study. I particularly recommend the translations by Swami Swarupananda, Swami Sivananda, and Winthrop Sargeant. Sargeant’s translation is the absolute best for word-by-word study, an essential ingredient of the serious yogi’s library.

Investigate other translations of the upanishads for the same reasons. Among the best are those of Radhakrishnan, Swami Sivananda, Swami Gambhirananda, Swami Madhavananda, and Swami Jagadananda.

Everything by Shankara is of inestimable value. I would start with his Vivekachudamani (Crest Jewel of Discrimination) translated by either Swami Madhavananda or Swami Prabhavananda. His Gita commentary can be a bit heavy-handed because he wrote it to present his interpretation and at the same time vanquish opposing views. Actually some of his similar writings are much like those of Saint Thomas Aquinas in form and style–not the easiest to read and comprehend. His commentaries on the upanishads (included in the translations of Swami Gambhirananda, Swami Madhavananda, and Swami Jagadananda) are exceptionally helpful, though, and I have found his minor works of great value also.

Do give attention to Sri Ramanuja and Sri Madhavacharya. Vedanta is not just advaita (non-dualism), it is also vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism) and dvaita (dualism). Together the three views comprise Vedanta. The writings of these three great teachers cover the entire range of legitimate Vedantic thought, and all three are right in their own sphere. Dvaita is the reality of the waking state (jagrat), vishishtadvaita is the reality of the dreaming state (swapna), and advaita is the reality of the dreamless sleep state (sushupti). They are all three “real,” but they are transcended by the fourth and ultimate state of consciousness, turiya, and since that is beyond words there are no teachers, just realizers–the yogis. And the Avadhuta Gita says: “Some uphold advaita (non-duality) and others uphold dvaita (duality); they do not realize the Ultimate Truth, Which is distinct from and transcends both dvaita and advaita.”

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, translated by Swami Nikhilananda, is a remarkable treasury of spiritual philosophy. It consists of stenographic records of conversations with Sri Ramakrishna spanning several years. It was set down by Mahendranath Gupta, who next to Sri Yukteswar was the most important influence in Yogananda’s spiritual development. (He is written about in Yogananda’s autobiography as “Master Mahasaya the Blissful Devotee.”) It is good to read it straight through the first time, but you can also simply open it at random and read amazing things, including the words of truly spiritual songs.

The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, by Levi H. Dowling. This is a transcription of the psychic investigations into the life of Christ made by Dowling in what is popularly known as “the akashic records” and I believe contains the the authentic teachings of Jesus, but makes no claim to infallibility or absolute accuracy.

Two books of authentic Christian wisdom are The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Privy Counsel (translator: William Johnston), and Theologia Germanica (translator: Susanna Winkworth).

Everything by I. K. Taimni is a marvel of clear and relevant wisdom. His commentary on the Yoga Sutras, The Science of Yoga, is the best I know.

Everything by the following writers are classics of enlightened insight:

• Margaret Laird
• Meister Eckhart
• Johannes Tauler
• Henry Suso
• John Ruysbroeck
• Akshaya Kumar Banerjea

For the facts about diet, I recommend Diet for a New America by John Robbins, What’s Wrong With Eating Meat? by Vistara Parham, the books of Dr. Neal Barnard, particularly Food for Life: How the New Four Food Groups Can Save Your Life, and The RAVE Diet & Lifestyle by Mike Anderson, whose latest book Healing Cancer From Inside Out is a must read.

We have often collected the sayings of the wise here at Atma Jyoti Ashram, so that we can benefit from their frequent study. Here are a few quotes about renunciation from Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna and Mahendranath Gupta (“M”).

Holy Mother Sarada Devi:

Whether a man calls on God or not, if he does not marry he is already half liberated. When the mind happens to be a little attracted to God he will progress by leaps and bounds. Family life is the result of demerits. A man involved in it, even if he is inclined to God, cannot do anything about it. He is tied hand and foot.

From M’s quotes and stories about Sri Ramakrishna:

Purna and Naren Junior were in the state of samadhi. When they married Thakur [Sri Ramakrishna] began to weep at the news. “A man has blindfolded himself and yet complains that he cannot see,” Thakur used to say.

Thakur used to say: “While still in my early age, seeing the family life of some of my neighbors I used to say to Mother: ‘Ma, give me a turning.’ Mother did so. You see, She Herself does all. Just say so with heart and soul. Nothing else has to be done!”

M said: “Those who have married have a great chance too, as the avatara has come down now. He has shown the direct path. By taking to it, it will be done. They get the light in bits, slow but sure. But those who have not entered the householder’s life are is if standing in the open field–in full flood of light. That is why he said to Keshab Sen, ‘Living in the house, you get light from a chink but cannot stand in the open. Abundance of light is there.’”

Thakur used to say, “Pour as much water in  pot with a hole as you like, it will not stay there.” Similarly, if there is no brahmacharya nothing is retained. Having read a few pages, one may pass an examination but soon everything is forgotten. The reason? There is no brahmacharya.”

Chaitanya Deva is sitting with bhaktas in Puri. Some person asks: “Why is it that spiritual matters do not stay in the mind of the worldly people?” Chaitanya Deva replied: “Because they have contact with women.” Thakur also used to say the same.

One day somebody asked Thakur “Which is the greatest wonder?” Thakur immediately replied, “The life of a sadhu. All–men, devatas, gandharvas, birds, beasts and insects, even trees and creepers, tread one path but the sadhu treads another–just the opposite one, upstream. Everywhere man and woman unite but the sadhu goes alone. Unless one is alone, one cannot attain to Him. Sadhus goes in company for some time–that of the guru–then he has to go alone till the last.” Without thinking for a moment, Thakur said these words.

Doctor: “Renounce ‘woman and gold,’” this is his advice. What exactly did he try to make people understand by giving this advice? Did he mean to say: Give up their enjoyment–give up lust and greed? Or was it something else?
M: (remaining silent for a while): “‘Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her’” [Luke 10:42].

From the beginning to the end, Thakur talks of nothing but sannyasa. Some people will achieve it in this very life, the others in the next or perhaps after some more lives. Everybody has this seed of sannyasa within him. It is like quinine placed within a banana. It is bound to have its effect. For those householders who were afraid of hearing it directly Thakur used to say in this way. To so many persons he has said it directly in plain words.

M: The household life is so difficult. Herein you have to keep your eye in all directions. One may be hit by a bullet coming from any direction; the lead shots are always being fired. Be careless even for a moment and you are gone.