By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Life didn’t have a clear destination, not that I could identify.  It’s very clear to me when I travel.  I get off the airplane or out of the car or train after several hours, and I’m in a whole new place.  Waking up the next morning is different than the day before.  I’ve arrived.  The things I will do are different, things that are specific to this new place I’ve come to.

That didn’t happen for me after I graduated from school and had the big wedding.  I got the big job, was promoted several times and broke the glass ceiling for women in the firm.  Even though I did everything right, I never felt like I’d arrived.  Life didn’t really change.  All the things I did continued to be quite mundane, not fulfilling really.

No wonder I kept looking.  I called myself a seeker, but I didn’t know what I was seeking.  Yoga classes helped.  At least they lowered my stress level, stress that was basically a feeling of being underwhelmed by life.  Isn’t there something more? 

I was willing to work hard in order to get whatever I would get.  I knew how to apply myself to reaching a goal but I couldn’t find a destination worth arriving at.  Until I got Shaktipat.  It was a breakthrough moment, a pivot point that changed my life for the better.  While nothing changed on the outside, it opened the door to a new level of fulfillment on the inside.  It showed me the goal and gave me a way to get there.

“Know Thyself” had guided my quest before.  I felt the power of the saying echoing from the ancient Greeks, but even my graduate work in psychology didn’t help me attain it.  Shaktipat gave me a way to do it.   More importantly, the experience redefined “Self” for me.  Beyond theory, I had a tangible, undeniable, in-lightening inner experience of my own Self, defined by yoga as “your inherent Divinity.” 

Even more valuable, this inner experience repeated itself every morning in my meditation, for Shaktipat had awakened the inner power that fueled my spiritual quest.  Each day, I was pulled deeper and deeper within.  I could feel the profound progress.  I could see the changes in my mind, heart and life.  I was no longer a seeker.  I became a finder.  I found my own Self.  That changed everything. Now I serve others by giving them the same jump start.  The fire of yoga, awakened within, climbs your spine, clears your mind and opens your heart.  This mystical force is both Divine and human, for it shines the light on the reality of your own multidimensionality.  Once you’ve received Maha-Shaktipat Diksha, you’ll never be the same.  Thank God!  You’ll be more you, expanding into your fullness and blossoming into your greatness.  That’s the destination.  That’s what yoga is all about.