The Atma Jyoti Blog

Many valuable articles disappear from site on a blog after they leave the front page. And on a spiritual blog such as the Atma Jyoti Blog where the articles are useful at all times, it is helpful to occasionally publish a round-up of top articles to remind readers new and old of worthwhile postings from the recent past.

Half of 2008 has passed, and below is a listing of some of the best of the last six months. We have picked some of the most helpful articles from several categories.

Web Resources

1. 19 Exceptional Web Resources for Spiritually Minded People
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.

Meditation and Practical Spirituality

2. Learning to Use Your Mind
“Use your mind” (intelligence) is just about the first thing a worthy teacher will tell the student–and will usually have to keep on telling him for quite a while until the instinct habit is broken. This article will help the student of meditation develop this essential capacity.

3. How to Misuse Your Power of Thought
On the other hand, failing to control the mind can have disastrous consequences. It is true that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. In these two verses of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna has described the entire journey, beginning with thought and ending in total loss. Each step should be considered well.

4. Key Concepts in Yoga: Karma
A clear understanding of the concept of Karma is essential before embarking on the path of Karma Yoga. Without a correct perspective our attempt to follow this path will be fraught with uncertainty and an almost sure incidence of misstep and failure.

5. The Key to Finding God
Part 3 of the four part series “How to Know God,” this article stresses that it is the seeking that brings about the finding in spiritual life.

Vegetarianism

6. Increasing Your Responsiveness to Meditation With Diet
The body is the vehicle through which the individual evolves during the span of life on earth, and must be taken into serious account by the yogi who will discover that the body can exert a necessary effect on the mind. A fundamental aspect which should be considered by the serious aspirant is diet, as this article will show. Another article which expands on this is Humans: Are We Carnivores or Vegetarians by Nature?

Questions and Answers

7. Reincarnation: Choosing Our Costumes in the Drama of Life
We do indeed determine what each life is going to be in a general way. For reincarnation does not stand alone. In fact, it is not an entity unto itself, but is the result of karma, the law that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Find out more.

Teachings of Krishna

8. Choosing Between the Good and the Pleasant

Krishna describes the pleasant as essentially “sweet at first but at last how bitter: that pleasure is poison.” It is not just harmful–it is deadly. In this article, we learn the characteristics of both good and pleasant. Then follows the article Are We Wise or Foolish?, which completes the picture.

Teachings of Jesus

9. What Did Jesus Really Say in the Sermon on the Mount?
This special eight part series is a careful examination of the inner meaning of Jesus’ words in the Sermon of the Mount, with special attention to the intent of the original language from which the Beatitudes are translated. The rest of the series is listed below.

• The Kingdom of Heaven According to Jesus
• What Jesus Really Means by Meekness
• When Craving is a Good Thing
• Mercy and the Law of Karma
• Clean to the Core of Our Being
• The Spiritual Process of Making Peace
• Blessed Persecution: A Cause for Rejoicing

Teachings of Buddha

10. Be Awake Among the Sleeping
There will always be this sharp division between human beings. Most sleep and dream they are awake, and some of them are halfway between sleep and waking–sleepwalkers. In this article learn what it is to be awake, to be self-aware, centered in the consciousness that is our true nature.

Just a sampling

These blog postings were selected because they give a broad cross-section of the content of the Atma Jyoti Blog. On the blog and the Atma Jyoti Website together, there are over 600 articles and books available for reading and downloading. Begin exploring today to find out about the mystical traditions of the world, or subscribe to the Atma Jyoti Blog. to keep up to date with the latest postings.