Lists are:

1. Easy to scan. With all the information on the web, people like to see at a quick glance if an article is worth their time.
2. Organizable. Lists make it easier to organize information and facts, and to see the relationship of each bit of information with the others.
3. Digestible. Lists break information into bite-sized bits, easier to comprehend.
4. Memorable. It is easier for the mind to remember and recall smaller key concepts, rather than large chunks of unorganized information.
5. Quantifiable. While a well written non-list article may have more information, a list provides an easily quantifiable amount of information which many people prefer.

On the Atma Jyoti Blog, as elsewhere on the web, list articles have proven popular. Below is a list of 21 of these articles. Take a look at the “share this” section at the bottom of each article and see how often they have been shared on Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, and by email. And, of course, with or without numbers these articles are valuable for their useful spiritual content.

• 7 Ways to Purify the Mind
• 19 Exceptional Web Resources for Spiritually Minded People
• 4 Ways to Be Happy
• 51 Points on Meditation
• 3 Useful Meditation Tips
• The 10 Commandments of Yoga
• The 5 Great Causes of the Miseries in Life
• The 2 Essential Pillars of Yoga
• 8 Keys to Spiritual Success from Swami Sivananda
• 31 Reflections for August – Collected by Paramhansa Yogananda
• 14 Spiritual Ways to Celebrate Christmas
• 10 Bits of Wisdom from Paramhansa Yogananda
• Two Views on Meditation–and a Third
• The 4 Levels of Spiritual Understanding
• Sivananda Answers 3 Questions
• 5 Key Thoughts on Effective Spiritual Life
• The Top 10 Spiritual Articles of 2008
• 12 Key Concepts in Yoga
• The 5 Basic Mind Waves In-Depth
• 5 Hidden Gems for Spiritual Treasure Hunters
• Yoga in 4 Words

24. Ishwara is a particular Purusha who is untouched [aparamrishta] by the afflictions of life [kleshas], actions [karma] and the results [vipaka] and impressions [ashayai] produced by these actions.

Ishwara, God, is not a mere conglomerate of all that exists, but is a distinctive Person or Spirit, the sole independent Being on Whom all else depends. God is a particular Spirit in the sense that He can be experienced as a definite, definable Being–even pointed out by the Masters of Wisdom.

Part of His uniqueness is the fact that He “touches” and rules all things, but is absolutely untouched by anything. (The Bhagavad Gita emphasizes this, especially.) Although the Source of Existence and Action, Ishwara transcends them and is therefore untouched/unaffected by the kleshas–taints or afflictions inherent in relative existence. The kleshas are: ignorance, egotism, attractions and repulsions towards objects, and desperate clinging to physical life from the fear of death (Yoga Sutras 2:2-9). No action affects Ishwara in any degree (again, see the Gita).

Nevertheless, Ishwara is intimately connected to all things while remaining separate from them. Ishwara is present in all things as the universal Witness, and is nearer to us than anything can be, for Ishwara is the Self of our Self, the Paramatman within which our Atman exists.

25. In Him is the highest limit of Omniscience.

This can also be translated: “In Him is the unsurpassed Seed of Omniscience.” This is very important, for by perfect union with Ishwara the individual can come to share or participate in His omniscience. That is, the finite can experience the consciousness of the Infinite, just as He already experiences the consciousness of each individual being (jiva). This is a fundamental part of Samarasya–liberation (moksha or mukti).

26. Being unconditioned by time He is Teacher [Guru] even of the Ancients.

Having existed eternally, Ishwara has been the Guru of all beings, including those exalted primal beings or “gods” whom he made rulers of the worlds. The same with the Manus, the progenitors of the human race. Perhaps the most important point is that he is also the Guru of all humanity. We may have human teachers, but only God can be our Guru. Unhappily, for centuries the greedy, foolish, and unscrupulous have pretended they were gurus of other human beings, but that is a shameful fiction.

Since God is eternal, it is from Him that all knowledge has come–especially the revelation of spiritual truth. As Vyasa observes in his commentary on the Yoga Sutras: “His purpose is to give grace to living beings, by teaching knowledge and dharma [righteousness].” “There is no other but God to give the teaching which is a boat by which they can cross over the sea of samsara, and He teaches knowledge and dharma to those who take sole refuge in Him.…For all the kinds of knowledge arise from Him, as sparks of fire from a blaze or drops of water from the sea,” says Shankara, commenting on Vyasa’s words. Therefore Patanjali concludes: “Being unconditioned by time He is Guru even of the Ancients.” Dwelling in the hearts of all, God continues to be the guru of questing souls. This does not mean that qualified spiritual teachers are not helpful to us, but ultimately the yogi must be guided by the Divine from within his own consciousness. “The mind is itself guru and disciple: it smiles on itself, and is the cause of its own well-being or ruin,” wrote the great poet-saint Tukaram (Tukaram’s Teachings, by S. R. Sharma, p. 19). “The mind will eventually turn into your guru,” said Sri Sarada Devi, the consort of Sri Ramakrishna (The Gospel of the Holy Mother, p. 340). Swami Brahmananda, the “spiritual son” of Sri Ramakrishna, in speaking about the role of an external guru said: “Know this! There is no greater guru than your own mind. When the mind has been purified by prayer and contemplation it will direct you from within. Even in your daily duties, this inner guru will guide you and will continue to help you until the goal is reached” (The Eternal Companion, p. 120).

Therefore Tukaram wrote in one of his hymns: “The guru-disciple relationship is a sign of immaturity” (Tukaram’s Teachings, p. 20). The fact that Shankara writes in the Nirvanastakam: “I am neither guru nor disciple [gururnaiwa shishya],” shows that in realization of the Self the limiting guru-disciple relationship is left behind and dissolves away. (There is, however a non-limiting guru-disciple relationship, such as is seen in the relationship of Yogananda with Sri Yukteswar–especially after Yogananda’s return to India in 1935. This grows out of the earlier guru-disciple interaction if the guru is a perfectly liberated being and the disciple is positively moving toward liberation himself.)

Yogiraj Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahashaya wrote to a student regarding the guru: “No one does anything; all is done by God. The individual [that seems to be the guru] is only an excuse; remain abidingly focused on that Divine Guru; in this is blessing.” And to another: “Guru is the one who is all; Guru is the one who is merciful. You are the Guru within yourself” (Garland of Letters (Patravali), Letters 12 and 45). In Purana Purusha by Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee it is recorded that Yogiraj made these two statements: “I am not a guru. I do not hold the distinction of “guru” and “disciple.” “The Self is the Guru…the immortal, imperishable Guru.” Just as Patanjali says that Ishwara–God–is the guru of all, so did Lahiri Mahasaya. Ishwara is identified in Indian thought with the solar power. In his diary Lahiri Mahasaya draw the sun and wrote beside it: “This is the Feet of the Guru.” He also wrote: “The Sun is the Form of the Guru.”

When Paramhansa Yogananda, who first made Lahiri Mahashaya known in the West, was questioned “about his own role in the religious evolution of this planet,” the great yogi replied: “The one Ocean has become all its waves. You should look to the Ocean, not to the little waves protruding on its bosom” (Swami Kriyananda. The Path, p. 493). Another time he objected strongly to the suggestion that only his writings should be read in the public services of Self-Realization Fellowship, saying: “I came to make you God-conscious, not Yogananda-conscious.” At other times he said: “There is no such thing as ‘Yogananda-realization,’ only God-realization.” To someone who asked about a “disciple,” Yogananda replied firmly: “I never speak of people as my disciples. God is the Guru: They are His disciples” (The Path, p. 327).

If an aspirant neither has nor desires an external guru he can still succeed in spiritual life. That this is so is proven by the fact that the twentieth-century Masters Shirdi Sai Baba, Neem Karoli Baba, Paramhansa Nityananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, Swami Rama of Hardwar (Ram Kunj), Om Baba of Delhi, Swami Ramdas of Anandashram, and Ramana Maharshi attained enlightenment without the agency of an external guru. Ramana Maharshi particularly emphasized that God is the guru of all, saying: “Only the Supreme Self, which is ever shining in your heart as the reality, is the Sadguru [True Guru]” (The Power of the Presence, p. 116).

The supreme example of someone who attained enlightenment without a guru is Buddha, who is referred to in Buddhist texts as “Self-Awakened.” All spiritual life is self-initiated from within; we are both guru and disciple as Krishna and Arjuna symbolize in the Bhagavad Gita.

Paramhansa Nityananda said: “He [God] is the One guru, the guru Who is in all, the guru of the universe. No [human] person can be your guru, a person can only be secondary. The real guru is Guru of the Universe” (Chidakasha Gita 105). To emphasize this, Nityananda never gave initiation or became a “guru” in any manner or sense, though he was inspirer, guide, and advisor to many.

Neem Karoli Baba was wont to say, “I make devotees [of God], not disciples” (Divine Reality, by Ravi Prakash Pande, p. ii.).

Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh used to say: “I abhor gurudom”–the debasing of the student-teacher interaction to a personality cult.

Swami Yatiswarananda, Vice-president of the Ramakrishna Mission, wrote to one of his students: “We really are not gurus. We bring the message of the Guru of gurus. What all service you can get from me you will. But please turn to Him for light and guidance, for peace and blessedness. As you yourself are finding, human beings are not good enough. The Lord, the Guru of gurus, alone can give us the shelter, the illumination and the bliss we need.” That sums it up very well.

Another leading spiritual figure of the Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Premeshananda, once wrote: “We have presently become inundated by this ‘guru doctrine.’ The purpose of the guru is to lead us to the realization of God; but God has been left behind, and the guru has become the latest fashion. So it is not safe to talk about a particular person. If one places a powerful personality before others, they will hold on to him instead of to God.”

The aspiring yogi can then feel safe and assured that God will be his guru, just as He has been for all the enlightened throughout the ages.

In conclusion let us look at the words of Sri Ramakrishna himself on the subject as found in the Majumdar translation of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: “Satchidananda [Existence-Consciousness-Bliss] alone is the guru; He alone will teach” (1.2.8; also: 4.2.1, 5.1.2, 5.5.1). “If somebody addresses me as a guru I say, ‘Away you rascal!’ How can I be a guru? There is no other guru except Satchidananda. There is no other refuge but Him. He alone is the ferryman who takes one across the ocean of relative existence” (1.12.8). “A man cannot be a guru” (2.19.6). “He who says of himself that he is a guru is a person of poor understanding” (3.17.4). “The more you will advance, the more you will see that it is He who has become everything and it is He who is doing everything. He alone is the guru and He alone is the spiritual ideal of your choice. He alone is giving jnana, bhakti and everything” (4.26.2). “Do you pray to Satchidananda Guru every morning? Do you?” (4.9.2).

In the Nikhilananda translation, on October 22, 1885, when someone refers to someone as Sri Ramakrishna’s disciple, he says: “There is not a fellow under the sun who is my disciple. On the contrary, I am everybody’s disciple. All are the children of God. All are His servants. I too am a child of God. I too am His servant. ‘Uncle Moon’ is every child’s uncle!”

Shankara comments: “Just as the human teachers turn their face towards the wholly devoted pupil and give him their favor, so this supreme teacher gives his favor when there is pure contemplation on him.”

More on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:

• The Internet Archive of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (HRIH). Translations of the Yoga Sutras into a surprising number of languages, plus other Yoga Sutra resources.
• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali–an Introduction. The collection of Yoga Sutra resources collected on the Atma Jyoti website.

Next: How to Find God, and What Are the Obstacles?
Previously: How Near Is God-Consciousness?

Q: I want to experience sweet fellowship with God. Also, how do I get to know God without giving my mind away while still being surrendered?

Intimate communion with God is not just a possibility–it is your actual nature. Even at this moment you are absolutely one with God, but the focus of your consciousness has slipped away from the Divine Center into a state of disunity in which the dream has hidden the Divine Dreamer. Nevertheless, nothing has really changed any more than if you dream your are someone other than your waking self makes you that someone. When you wake it is all over. In the same way, when you awake from this prolonged dream we call samsara and Maya, you will not be attaining something or becoming something, you will be remembering the reality of yourself and the Reality that is God.

How to go about awakening is the crucial question. Even though awakening is a purely spiritual process, we cannot forget the body and mind that presently are blinding us to the Divine Vision. So here are some recommended steps:

1. For the body: Become a vegetarian if you are not already so, eliminating all meat, fish, and eggs totally from your diet. Further, abstain absolutely from alcohol, nicotine, and mind-altering drugs.
2. For the mind: Obtain and read the first four books listed in A Yogi’s Recommended Reading List on our website.
3. For both body and mind: Adhere strictly to the principles of yama-niyama as outlined in the article The Foundations of Yoga.
4. For the spirit: Begin meditating seriously and regularly, using the next three resources listed in A Yogi’s Recommended Reading List.

Surrender?

Now about your second sentence. First of all, the idea of “surrender” in spiritual life is a Western concept and a colossal aberration. God is not your enemy, so why would you surrender to God? Surrender is a tool of cult domination intended to bully people into giving up their intelligence and personal welfare. Guru cults traffic in this propaganda of surrender, but they are spiritual criminals, not true dharmic institutions. In Sanskrit the word they mistranslate is sharanam, when means refuge, protection, and shelter. Taking refuge in God is hardly surrender: it is safety and assurance, the end of doubt and fear. It is loving trust placed in the only worthy Protector.

As far as giving your mind away is concerned, it is the same situation. This is why the Bhagavad Gita should be studied. Krishna keeps speaking of the necessity for Buddhi Yoga, the cultivation of the intelligence and discrimination. There is no giving up of the mind in the path to Self-realization. It is just the opposite, for spiritual cultivation–yoga–enables us to master our mind and use it as a tool for furthering our evolution.

Finally, please do not accept the mistaken idea that we “give” ourselves to God or are some kind of “offering” or “sacrifice” to God. That, too, is complete and dangerous nonsense. We are one with God right now; giving, offering, or sacrificing is an impossibility. What is needed is reclamation of what we have never lost! That is one of those glorious contradictions in which Eastern wisdom abounds, but whose realities can be experienced by the yogi.

“Therefore become a yogi” (Bhagavad Gita 6:46).

Further reading:

• Useful articles on Vegetarian Diet
• The Pathology of Super-Gurudom
• Meditation: Where to Begin

Subscribe to the Atma Jyoti Blog and read the latest articles on practical spiritual life.

First, The Song of God–the translation by Swami Prabhavananda–should be read, for no translation conveys the “spirit” of the Gita as well as it does. Also, it is a very interpretive translation and makes it easier to grasp the subtle meanings found in the Gita. The Song of God should be read through several times to get the full benefit of the translation.

Next, a student should get a word-for-word translation–and the best is The Bhagavad Gita by Winthrop Sargeant.

The translations of Swami Swarupananda and Swami Sivananda
should also be obtained. (These are also available as PDF downloads on our Gita page.)

Whenever you want to get the full meaning of a verse, consult each translation.

There are also many other good translations you can benefit from. Experience will enable you to tell which are the best.

But when you are ready for the “graduate course” I recommend you get the two-volume translation of Paramhansa Yogananda entitled: God Talks with Arjuna. That is a treasure beyond price for those who want the most complete understanding of the Gita.

Further reading:

• Read Swami Nirmalananda’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung.
• Also, Swami Nirmalananda has made a full spiritual Commentary on the Gita.
• A practical suggestion on studying the Gita.
• Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita.

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Paramahansa Nityananda

The Chidakasha Gita is a transcription of random teachings of Nityananda, given when he would walk unannounced into a house, sit down, and begin speaking. Though the devotees did the best they could, writing frantically in hope of keeping up with his words, the resulting records are often disjointed and sometimes make no sense since something is missing. This of course is a defect of the transcribers and not of Nityananda who was speaking spontaneously in spirit consciousness without interest in polished expression. Nevertheless, a devotee collected these fragments and had them printed under the title of Chidakasha Gita. [Chidakasha–from A Brief Sanskrit Glossary: “The Space (Ether) of Consciousness.” The infinite, all-pervading expanse of Consciousness from which all “things” proceed; the subtle space of Consciousnesss in the Sahasrara (Thousand-petalled Lotus). The true “heart” of all things.] They have been translated into several Indian languages as well as English.

Swami Nirmalananda has attempted to separate them under different subject headings to make it easier for students of spiritual life to examine these valuable teachings.

Our friend Kumuda (Sharon Janis) of Spiritual-Happiness.com has recorded the Chidakasha Gita according to topic and made it available for listening on her website. She has also made her recording available for purchase on CD or as a MP3 download, as well as other spiritual recordings. They are well worth listening to.

Below are some excerpts from the Chidakasha Gita on our site:

Bhakti

• It is not bhakti to give a man some money or to give him a meal as charity. Bhakti is universal love. Seeing God in all beings, without the least idea of duality, is bhakti.
• Bhakti in the beginning is selfish. Afterwards, there is no selfishness in it.
• A vessel without water is of no use. Bhakti is water; intelligence (buddhi) is the vessel. He who has no subtle bhakti is no man.
• Take ten men; their bhakti is not of an identical nature. When ten people are going on a journey, if one of them sits to take rest, the remaining nine will also do the same. Likewise, one man is inspired with bhakti; other people, by seeing or hearing him become also bhaktas.
• Bhakti is the state of eternal bliss.
• Bhakti (devotion) is nothing but love a man manifests towards an object. A man should believe that thing as great by which, because of his faith, he has been much benefited. This belief should not be relaxed. There is not a single thing without bhakti. All animals have bhakti. Just as water flows in different directions, so also is bhakti of different types. All animals have a right for bhakti. Bhakti is in all objects. Bhakti should be absolutely pure. Bhakti should be realized in the sky of consciousness. Bhakti should be internal and it should realize the subtle. Then a man becomes desireless and sorrowless. This state is eternal mukti. Let mukti be entered into by the path of sushumna.

God-vision

• You must see that God Who is in the heart-space. Yes, you must see Him. You must see that Krishna who is eternal bliss (Nityananda). It is delusion to regard stone as God.
• All tattwas have one root tattwa called Parabrahman. When this is realized, it is called jivanmukti. You must see the river at its source and not after it merges into the sea. You should see the mother root of a tree. All the trees have one mother root. So also, all have one and only one God. When you have realized all as one, homogeneous, this realization is mukti.
• One who has become one with the Supreme has accomplished the object of his birth. One must concentrate his mind on the Supreme. One must become one with the Supreme. Wakefulness, dream state, and sleep state must melt in the Supreme and become one.

Mind (Manas–Buddhi)

• The glass of a chimney lamp, when covered with carbon, is not transparent. Similarly, the carbon of the mind should be removed.
• Just as camphor is consumed by the flames of fire, so also, the mind must be consumed by soul fire.
• There are matches in a match-box. Fire is produced only when the match is rubbed against the side of the box. So also, the manas is the match; buddhi (intelligence) is the side of the box. We should rub the manas against buddhi and then we get the kingdom of atman which is the same as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
• Buddhi is the king; manas is the minister; manas should be subordinated to buddhi.
• Your mind should not flicker like the reflection of the sun in the shaking water.
• The sea water is boundless; the tank water has a boundary. Our mind must be like the tank water. Mind is the cause of good and evil. A man may be good and bad according to his good or bad thoughts. God does not do good or evil to any man. The reason is, intelligence and knowledge are the divine faculties in man. A man protected by good thoughts cannot be harmed even by a cannon shot. Without yoga, liberation from karma is impossible.
• Mind is the creator of ideas. When the gross ideas are suppressed and the man lives in the subtle, this state is called nirvikalpa samadhi or samadhi without ideas. Just as we teach a bird how to talk, keeping it in a cage with its feet bound, we must keep our mind in our buddhi. A man must learn for himself.

Read more of Nityananda’s Chidakasha Gita.

Find definitions to any unfamiliar terms in A Brief Sanskrit Glossary.

Listen to the Chidakasha Gita online.

Keep up with new articles as they are posted. Subscribe to the Atma Jyoti Blog.

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.