By Amala Cattafi, SVA Board President

I deeply thank each of you who have so generously and graciously committed yourselves to the ongoing financial health of your Ashram. Your practice of dakshina, supporting your Guru and her Ashram financially, moves me deeply. Clearly your contributions are an outpouring of love. Practically speaking, of course, this love-in-action means so much to our continuing operations, making Ashram services and programs possible.

Your love is also an essential element in the upliftment that infuses all of us on this path. It’s easy to see how Swamiji and our whole lineage make the Ashram into sacred ground. Yet, so do you! Through your Svaroopa^® practices, and your deep inner experiences, everything you touch becomes sacred.

I recently visited the World Trade Center in New York City. While I had been to the original Twin Towers many times and even stood at Ground Zero just days after the attacks, this was my first trip to the memorial.  My family and I were very aware that this was sacred ground, born of tragedy and loss. By the time we reached the observation deck at the building’s top, all of the sadness and focus on the past, present in the memorial and felt in our hearts, completely dissolved. Renewal, hope and a deep joy filled our hearts. It happened in that moment when the elevator doors swung open so we could see for miles and miles. We viewed the vast world from this higher perspective. How yogic!

Here in the closing days of 2016, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your participation in the Ashram.  Together we create the sacred space of the Ashram, not created from grief or pain but arising from the clarity, love and grace of the Guru, made available to all who seek to know their own Self.  I wish you all a new year filled with that higher perspective that allows you to see all that is sacred in your life and being.

Om svaroopa svasvabhava namo namah