By Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman, SVA Board Member 

It’s the season of giving thanks and lighting lights.  I am writing to ask you, please consider what your Svaroopa^® yoga practices have done for you.  And then consider what sharing yoga with others will do for the world.  When you are in service, you are focused on giving your resources.  Seva is about giving of your time and energy. 

Giving of your resources is also about giving financial resources to benefit yourself and others.  Contributing from your financial resources in gratitude for your teacher and the teachings is called “dakshina.”  I invite you to engage in this profound yogic practice by donating to your Ashram. 

Personally, I have always wanted to be in service.  Growing up in the Catholic Church, I especially wanted to be of divine service.  I sooooo wanted to be up on the altar lighting candles and assisting our parish priest.  My young self deeply felt the injustice that I could not serve in that way.  At that time, this opportunity was available to boys but not girls. 

So I searched for another way to be in service each week.  I appointed myself as the one putting our family’s donation envelope in the collection basket.  Despite our limited financial resources, my mom always had a five-dollar donation ready.  She gave it to me to drop in the wicker basket.  I learned the joy of giving financial resources very early on. 

Gurudevi says, “Being of service is a way of receiving blessings.”  I have certainly experienced blessings from offering service.  Being of service to our Ashram has brought me such joy.  Whether I’m giving my time and energy, or giving from my financial resources, the experience is energizing.  It reconnects me with my Self.  It pulls me right back into the flow of Grace.  And it cultivates my ability to live from that expansive state of joy and Grace.  How great is that?! 

When you support the Ashram with a financial gift, you support the organization that supports you.  Plus, your financial gift supports the spread of Gurudevi’s profound teachings even more widely.  And you share the light of your own divinity with the world. 

Please join me in donating to our fall campaign today.  Click for our website or on our Facebook page.  You can call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Thank You!