Monday - September 03, 2007
New Visitors at the Ashram
Deer from the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico have been visiting the orchard of our new ashram to taste the apples.
Saturday - August 18, 2007
Atma Jyoti Ashram Moves to New Mexico
Our new shrine at the new Cedar Crest location of Atma Jyoti Ashram
after the inauguration worship.
On Friday, August 17, at 2:30 p.m., the Atma Jyoti Ashram was formally declared open in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, followed by offerings in the ashram temple.
For quite some time it was evident that the incursions of agribusiness in our peaceful Borrego Valley were threatening the literal lifeblood of the area–the water. For Borrego does not have a replenishable water supply, but is subsisting solely on “fossil water” millions of years old. Water that is removed from the aquifer will never be replaced. There was enough water for centuries if only normal household use was the only tapping, but “big business” came in and began draining the water resources. The more obvious the drain, the more agribusiness pumped out. Once when driving around the valley we saw one commercial well which was gushing all over the ground at a tremendous number of gallons per minute. But no protests could change anything. Our ashram was involved for the last few years in a citizens’ group attempting to correct things, but the truth had to be faced: with the usual denial and false complacency that prevails everywhere, nothing was ever going to be done. So we decided to leave and find a more reasonable location for the ashram.
Over a year’s searching in various states resulted in our deciding that the East Mountain area near Albuquerque, New Mexico was most suitable. A combination of fortunate circumstances resulted in our purchase of the property at the highest point in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. After some years of looking at mountains from a valley floor we now overlook a valley from the top, seeing for a great distance at both north and south. (We can see to Santa Fe on the north.)
So now we are settling in and getting acquainted with new friends. Already two large deer friends have walked through our yard, and the hummingbirds are zooming by occasionally to ask where the feeders are. A couple of nights ago Swami Satyananda heard a bear roaring in the very early morning, and we are reading up on how to welcome such visitors, which may include moose, cougars, and bobcats.
We already feel very at home in our new community. Our first electrician was a Buddhist and the second was a Taoist. A day or so ago man in the grocery store asked about classes in Sanskrit. We fit right in!
Monday - May 21, 2007
Aquarian Gospel Text Now on Website
IIn 1908 a book appeared on the shelves of American bookstores that was destined to garner interest throughout the world, so much so that today it has gone through more than seventy editions in America alone. This book was The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi H. Dowling. Destined to be continually derided by those who “give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil”–in other words the Bible-believing of varying stripes–it yet evoked a response in those who intuited and sought for a deeper meaning of the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Many at that time, as well as today, could not honestly accept the limited interpretation of Jesus and His words that was offered by “Churchianity”–an acceptance that would have obligated them to reject Him as but one of many misperceiving religionists of the past. For them the Aquarian Gospel was truly Light in Darkness, a fount of life-giving knowledge
• Read the full text of the Aquarian Gospel
• Read Introducing the Aquarian Gospel to find out more about the history of this remarkable book.
Wednesday - March 28, 2007
Atma Jyoti Blog Update
The software used for the Atma Jyoti Blog was recently updated, but still has some bugs. For one, the RSS feed does not work properly. Those who have RSS feeder enabled browsers, such as Firefox or Safari, will find that clicking on the RSS link in the browser URL bar rather than on the link in the Blog will give better, though not perfect results. Also, display of the sidebars in Internet Explorer on PCs is erratic. We hope to have these irregularities fixed soon as we work to improve the Blog
In the meanwhile, we hope to be posting more frequently to the blog, including excellent Questions and Answers, more photos, web resources and more. Keep up to date by visiting the Blog frequently.
Sunday - March 25, 2007
New Video of a Pilgrimage from Belur Math to the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple
The
Dakshineshwar Kali Temple
and ghat seen from a boat
on the Ganga.
On the banks of the Ganges River north of Kolkata are
two of the most remarkable religious sites in all of India. On
one side is the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, where Sri
Ramakrishna practiced intense spiritual disciplines while
serving as the priest of the Goddess Kali. The temple compound
has become a place of pilgrimage for devotees of Mother Kali
and Sri Ramakrishna alike.
Down river, on the other side of the Ganga, is Belur Math, the monastery founded by Swami Vivekananda, the world-renowned disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, which has become the world headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission.
In 2003, monks from Atma Jyoti Ashram visited Bengal, staying at Belur Math, and took a long-awaited pilgirmage from the Math to Ma Kali's Dakshineswar Temple. This video is a short (eleven minutes) edited version of that event.
The video is in Quicktime format. If your browser will not show the video, simply download the latest free version of Quicktime from the link below the video. Click here to view the video "From Belur Math to Dakshineshwar ."
Sunday - March 25, 2007
Audio Talk "Sri Ramakrishna as the Mother" added to Website
A talk given by Swami Nirmalananda at
the San Diego Vedanta Society this month, "Sri Ramakrishna as
the Mother" is now available at the Atma Jyoti website. The
talk is about how Sri Ramakrishna embodied the characteristics
of the Divine Mother, and what those characteristics are.
Listen now to the downloadable mp3 talk.
Sunday - March 25, 2007
Welcome to the Atma Jyoti Blog!
Atma Jyoti Ashram now has a blog where you can find up to the minute posts on all aspects of spiritual life. You can also subscribe to our blog in an RSS feeder, so you can stay up to date without even needing to open your browser --- news from our site will be delivered straight to your desktop!
In the Atma Jyoti Blog, you will find information about meditation and spiritual life. We will post articles on aspects of inner life as are found in the Atma Jyoti website (www.atmajyoti.org), as well as news about the website, new articles, recipes, humor, and anything that might be of interest to us and to you, the reader. Visit often, and find out what is new and interesting.