By Sue (Shuchi) Cilley

I anchor my week in Swami Sunday.  I anchor my days in Meditation Club — every day of the week. 

It’s amazing how often Sunday comes around again.  Every Sunday, Gurudevi makes time in her schedule.  She invites me (and everyone else) to Lokananda for Satsang.  I come on Zoom.  Others, who live closer, come in person. 

I make it a priority in my week.  A monthly subscription makes it easy. Occasionally I can’t attend, but it’s rare. I care.

Baba says if you want enlightenment, go to one who’s got it.  I am so grateful to be able to spend this time with Gurudevi.  

What’s so great about Swami Sunday?  Technically it’s called Satsang. It’s an opportunity to experience Truth (sat), your own inherent Divinity, in the company of others (sangha). What’s a better use of time? 

Swami Sunday has a formal structure to it.  Using ancient practices invokes the inner arising of your own inherent Divinity.  It’s totally reliable.  So many practices.  We chant at several different times, we listen to stories and Gurudevi’s illumined teachings.  Can you keep your eyes open while she’s speaking?  

We use a candle flame ceremony to invoke the power of revelation. She gives meditation instructions; we repeat the lineage mantra and meditate.  She’s endlessly creative, always giving the gift of Self-Knowingness.  If you want to know, go to one who knows and can give it to you.

And now the Sunday subscription includes the Wednesday evening programs as well!  What a bonus that is!  

It’s a less formal evening, but no less powerful.  Each evening Gurudevi unpacks the nuances of the language from a multi-line quote from Baba’s writings.  Somehow each of them is magnifying the clarity of each other, invoking Grace.  She’s enlivening the teachings.  

Her words are profound and easy to understand.  I dive in deeper and deeper.  Then we do a longer chant and a longer meditation.  It couldn’t be any more perfect.  I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to be there.  Her invitation is open to everyone. 

Now Wednesdays are becoming a commitment, too.  All my inner and outer obstacles to attending have melted away.  I’m more securely aligned with the Grace which flows into every aspect of my life.  

If you want to know, go to one who knows and can give it to you.  I want to know and I keep showing up, sitting at the feet of my Guru – via Zoom.  Jai Gurudevi!

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

When I lead a meditation, at the end I ring the gong quietly five times. It invokes Grace, the fifth of the five powers of God.  

Creation marks the beginning. However, from Shiva’s perspective, this universe is part of the continuity of his own existence, which continues whether there is a universe or not. Creating the universe out of his own energy is a Divine act of great joy and playfulness, like a dog jumping around and spinning in circles. 

Maintaining what he has brought forth is another of Shiva’s cosmic powers, supporting and nurturing its continuation. Bringing things to an end when their time is up is another Divine act, called destruction. This includes unforeseen endings as well as the end of winter. Shiva as the destroyer is greatly honored by yogis, for he grants enlightenment by ending delusion. 

These three actions are frequently cited in the Old Testament, naming God as the creator, the nurturer, and the chastiser. The book of Psalms includes all three: 

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. (104.24) 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (46:1) 

He opposes the wicked and condemns them. (34:18) 

Yoga recognizes two additional Divine actions: concealment and revelation. Of many Sanskrit names for God, it is specifically Shiva that conceals and reveals. Shiva is the mysterious one, the mystical one, the most benevolent, the revealer of the hidden dimensions within every human being. 

Concealment is accomplished by Shiva masquerading as the mundane world, hidden within all beings, all objects and all actions. God disappears by… 

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Yoga says that if you quiet your mind, even for a moment, you will experience your own “capital-S Self.”

You don’t have to create a Divine Essence because your Essence is already Divine.  You don’t have to become somebody or something.  You are already radiant Consciousness.  All you need to do is uncover it. 

Yoga practices essentially subtract away the stuff that gets in the way.  They remove the blockages until your own capital-S Self is revealed. 

This is why, at the beginning and at the end of programs, I bow to your own Divine Essence.  I chant: “OM svaroopa svasvabhava namo namah.”  Namo means “I bow to,” and namah means “I bow to.”  So I translate namo namah as “again and again I bow.” 

To what do I bow?  To svaroopa, your own Divine Essence.  Yet while I am bowing to you, I am bowing to my own Divine Essence.  Because there is only one Divine Essence.  The One Reality is being each of us and all of us at the same time. 

It is like light that shines through a window with many panes; the reflection on the floor looks like different squares.  Yet there is only one light.  The one light takes on all the different shapes so it can shine in all the different forms.  The One Reality has become you, me and all that exists…

— Excerpt from Yoga: Embodied Spirituality, pages 17‒18