merkal2005: Hi Swami! Please tell us about yourself and the Atma Jyoti

ReddyK: As for me, I simply manage the Atma Jyoti Blog. Since the blog has nothing to do with me personally, I use the pseudonym ReddyK or Reddy Kilowatt, when trying to promote the blog. Managing the blog has, however, been an education for me, since it allows me to read and edit the writings of Swami Nirmalananda, the abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, who is a gifted, prolific, informed, and entertaining writer. The ashram is a monastic establishment dedicated to meditation and the realization of the spiritual truths of the world great religions.


merkal2005: Where does the name Atma Jyoti come from?

ReddyK: Atma Jyoti is sanskrit for "Light of the Spirit". We felt it was an appropriate name for the monastery because it stresses both the Eternal Light which is God, the primal Spirit, and that Light which is in us, as spirits within that Eternal Spirit.


merkal2005: What was the reason for you to keep a blog on meditation and spiritual life?

ReddyK: There is a great need for traditional and truly informed writings on spiritual life, which was why we stared the website and blog. We wanted to make Swami Nirmalananda's writings available in a format which was readily available to people. Often the blog posts are shorter than the writings on our main site (www.atmajyoti.org), and therefore more digestible to on-the-go readers. Also readers can subscribe to the RSS feed, and even have new posts emailed to them whenever the articles are posted.


merkal2005: Will you add video/audio content into your blog?

ReddyK: We already have audio on our main website on our <a audio satsangs page (http://www.atmajyoti.org/sa_audio_satsangs_main.asp), where Swami Nirmalananda and other monks from the ashram talk about various aspects of spiritual life. We hope to add more from time to time, and will let our blog subscribers know as it happens.

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