Light of the Spirit Podcast

In today’s podcast, Abbot George is asked a question about Moksha. He then talks about arguments regarding levels of consciousness: are there seven levels of consciousness, or five levels, or fourteen levels?

Then he discusses the seven levels of consciousness or lokas (worlds or main divisions) in which the whole range of evolutionary relative existence (rungs on the evolutionary ladder) is encompassed, corresponding to the seven chakras.

He discusses the nature of consciousness in each of these realms, and their gradations or levels.

Then he illumines the much-misunderstood topic of avatars: what is the purpose and nature of avatars?

And most importantly he discusses how all these things relate to us and our spiritual evolution.

If you don’t see the player above, you can listen to the podcast Moksha, the Seven Levels of Consciousness, and Avatars here. The podcast is about 39 minutes long.

If you do not see the player for “How to Become an Angel” above, listen to the podcast here.

Today our friend Jonathan Mahoney asks Abbot George, “How does a human being evolve into an angel in this lifetime? How do they ‘get out of the game’”?

In this podcast Abbot George talks about the ideas of the processes of evolution in Christian and Hindu cosmologies. He then discusses the two paths of evolution: the natural path by “accumulating a lot of goodness,” and the deliberate path of evolution through yoga and meditation.

He also talks about evolving to “tapa lokas,” realms which are dedicated to intentional and intensive sadhana and spiritual practice. And he tells of people who limit their spiritual horizons by merely mundane aspirations. Listen to discover this and much more in this 20 minute podcast.

More podcasts:

* How to Tell if You Are Making Progress in Meditation

* Beyond Theory and Belief to Actual Experience

* Swami Sivananda’s Humor

In a new podcast, our friend Jonathan Mahoney asks Abbot George Burke the following question:

From Robe of Light, we have the quote: "The drama of creation simply stated is this. God breathes forth this vast universe. Slowly, it comes out and evolves according to set patterns. Then, after a precise measure of time, he breathes it back in again, involves it and vanishes. This he does eternally." So could you give us your definition of evolution and how it relates to the individual?

Abbot George begins by describing the ages-long process of "involution," the manifestation into and mastery of material creation, and the increasingly conscious process of evolution, "to move out of" materiality in our return to God-consciousness. In particular he speaks of the later stages of human evolution, where we move from outer awareness to inner awareness, and from outer dependency to self-reliance and responsibility. At that point we become capable to evolve ourselves consciously through the practice of yoga sadhana.

For our Christmas offering we offer you a podcast about Christmas, and about Christ being born in us. Today's podcast is from an interview by our friend Bianca Vlahos of radio station FIVEaa in Adelaide, Australia.

The subject of past life recall is a broad topic. So this interview of Abbot George Burke by our friend Bianca Vlahos of PBA-fm radio in Australia is a long one—just over 53 minutes.

Among the questions Bianca asks is "What is the main value in understanding our past lives?"

Here are some of Abbot George's comments from the interview:

"When you understand what has caused the present situation, you can often understand that situation. Often also it will tell you, or you understand then, the way you should respond to the present situation and the way to go from this point on onward."

Regarding difficulties in this life caused by past lives:

"That's why this stuff happens to us, for us to learn how to make a positive response to a negative situation."

Abbot George stressed the positive aspect of our growth from life to life:

"We are an unfolding story and every life is a chapter in that story. The next chapter can be maybe much more interesting and a much more happy chapter. If we do our best to be positive in this life then we can have a positive future. We created this present life and we are right now creating our future life."

"None of us is helpless. We are creating our own life."

Listen to the entire podcast interview to hear interesting stories of past life recall, and the effect it can have in our lives.

In a followup interview with Bianca Vlahos of PBA FM radio in Adelaide, Australia, Abbot George discusses the importance of understanding karma as the basis of reincarnation. With this understanding, we can begin to comprehend our present situation in life, and we can become empowered to create our future.

Abbot George says in the interview, we are meant to take charge of our lives, but we cannot take charge of what we do not understand. Dr. Morris Netherton, founder of "Past Lives Therapy," often said that we rarely respond to an actual event in our lives but that we are responding to an event in a previous live that the present event reminds us of.

Bianca asks Abbot George about the connections between people we meet in this life, and how we react with them, and our having known them in previous lives. He answers with examples both in his own life and those of others that illustrate the relationship between this life and past lives.

Last month our friend Bianca Vlahos of the Australian radio station PBA-FM interviewed Abbot George Burke on the broad topic of reincarnation. They discussed the source of  reincarnation (karma—our actions, both positive and negative) and the purpose of reincarnation: our spiritual evolution and growth.

Abbot George likened reincarnation to school. We can choose to learn the lessons of life and graduate to higher classes and new lessons, and thereby hasten our spiritual growth. Or we can dawdle along the way, refusing to learn the consequences of our actions, choosing to blame others for our faults and failures and suffering, and take the same courses over (and over).

Bianca gave the interview this title: “The Spiritual Journey of Humans – Discussing pain and suffering, enlightenment, karma, forgiveness, reincarnation, awakening, meditation, mindfulness and more.  Interview with Abbot George Burke discussing his book May a Christian Believe in Reincarnation?” (This book is available in print and as a free ebook on Amazon, and also on our site here.

Bianca plans to follow this interview with another in which she will ask Abbot George about past life recall methods and more. Stay tuned.

If you do not see the player above (it won’t show in emails), click here to listen to Reincarnation: Its Causes and Consequences. Podcast length: 52:00 minutes.

In part 2 of the recent interview with Abbot George about Buddha’s everyday wisdom as recorded in the Dhammapada, Bianca Vlahos of radio station PBA-FM in Adelaide, South Australia, inquired further about how to lead an effective and uplifting life in the world applying the principles which Buddha advocated.

The catalyst of this interview was when Bianca read a copy of Abbot George’s book The Dhammapada for Awakening (available on our site here and on Amazon here). One aspect of the discussion was the necessity to have patience and perseverance in spiritual endeavor, with Abbot George talking about the saying, “Lighting flashes brightly for only a moment, but the dawning of day is gradual and inevitable.”

We have divided the podcast into two segments, the second of which you can listen to below. You can listen to the first one here.

Click here to listen to Everyday Wisdom from Buddha, Part 2 if you do not see the player above. The podcast length is 32:03 minutes.

In part 2 of the recent interview with Abbot George about Buddha's everyday wisdom as recorded in the Dhammapada, Bianca Vlahos of radio station PBA-FM in Adelaide, South Australia, inquired further about how to lead an effective and uplifting life in the world applying the principles which Buddha advocated.

The catalyst of this interview was when Bianca read a copy of Abbot George’s book The Dhammapada for Awakening (available on our site here and on Amazon here). One aspect of the discussion was the necessity to have patience and perseverance in spiritual endeavor, with Abbot George talking about the saying, "Lighting flashes brightly for a moment, but the dawning of day is gradual and inevitable."

How can Buddha’s wisdom as recorded in the Dhammapada be applied in our every-day lives? That was the topic of the latest radio interview of Abbot George Burke by Bianca Vlahos of radio station PBA-FM in Adelaide, South Australia a couple of weeks ago.

Bianca read a copy of Abbot George’s book The Dhammapada for Awakening (available on our site here and on Amazon here) and as usual had very good and practical questions for Abbot George on how to best apply Buddha’s wisdom.

Here is what Bianca wrote on Facebook about her interview: “This is one of the wisest human beings I’ve had the privilege of speaking with. Listening to the wisdom and knowledge of Abbot George Burke is life changing.”

We have divided the podcast into two segments, the first of which you can listen to below. The second installment will follow shortly.

Click here to listen to Buddha’s Wisdom for Every Day: A Podcast Interview of Abbot George by Bianca Vlahos—Part 1 if you do not see the player above. The podcast length is 29:27 minutes.