The feeling I had after my first yoga class was the beginning of how I always feel now. The peace, the awe, the inner vastness, the lightness of being, the ease and openness — I was experiencing Self. My first yoga teacher didn’t give me words for it. I could only call it “that yoga feeling.” It made me want….
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Dedicated Time“
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
I stayed up all night to go to the Rose Parade — more than once.
I partied until midnight with friends, then hopped in a car and drove 100 miles to Pasadena. We slept on the sidewalk and awoke to the bands marching by and the flower covered floats. Additionally, I confess that I have stayed up all night many other times to do stupid stuff.
Now you can stay up all night for a better reason – to get enlightened. On the dark of the moon near the end of February is MahaShivaratri, the Night of Shiva. Simply stay up all night for extended meditation practices and don’t fall asleep! This holy night every year is an open doorway, an invitation to step into the inner infinity of your own Beingness.
If you plan to stay up until sunrise, plan for your all-night practices, including recesses during the night with healthy treats. Chant, meditate, read the ancient teaching stories about Shiva. Do poses, both to keep awake as well as to make your sitting for meditation better. Then meditate again. Repeat until sunup — or until as long as you have planned. Decide in advance and apply yourself.
Even if you are practicing solo, you will be in good company. In India and around the world, Ashrams and Temples will be open all night. In life, we are challenged in so many ways. This is a chance to challenge yourself on purpose. This spiritual challenge is for the ultimate purpose of human life: to know your own Self.
If you’re going through pain now, simply name it. You are the one who is naming it. You’re not your pain. You’re the one who’s naming it. Yes, you have to deal with it. But you’re not your pain. You are more, so much more. The best way to discover that you are more than your pain is…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Freedom from Pain“
By Amanda (Purna) Schmidt
More of Gurudevi’s music is now available in digital form. This makes it easier than ever to enjoy yogic chanting with Gurudevi wherever you are.
Her digital music collection spans decades, and includes both singles and full albums. She herself created the cover art for the re-released singles!
Check out iTunes or Amazon Music to purchase and download music to your device.
Or, try a streaming service. Choose what works for you! Immerse in the joy of chanting, anytime and anywhere.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Love is essential. It is Divine Essence, expressed outward.
Your Divine Essence is found inside, which yoga calls “Self.” When you are experiencing your own Self, your eyes shine with light and your heart overflows. Other people experience it as love, but you know that it is God, shining from within.
The only time you ever have a problem with love is when you look for it outside. When you feel empty and you want someone else to fill you, it never lasts. It might work for a while, but never for long. The reason is that you’re looking in the wrong place.
Getting love from outside is like trying to fill a dry well. The way that wells work is this: you dig a deep hole that fills with water from underground. The source is called the “aquifer,” like an underground lake that comes from rainfall or snow melt that soaks into the ground.
If your well runs dry, and you have a water truck come in to fill it, the new water will soak in deeper, replenishing the aquifer. You cannot fill a dry well. The water must come up from a deeper source.
Love works in a similar way. It comes from deep within. In yoga, you base yourself in this deeper dimension of your own being, so you are always full. Not merely a well, you are a geyser! Your inner experience is sourced from your own Divine Essence, so you never run dry. Thus you never look for others to fill you.
A friend recently showed me a photo of his new granddaughter. His face lit up. His voice changed. He giggled. I’ve never heard him giggle before. It was delightful!
What is happening here? The child is not old enough to say, “I love you, Grandpa.” He’s not getting love from the infant. He is tapping into his own essence and overflowing from inside.
Why doesn’t every child make him feel that way? Why doesn’t every person make him feel that way? For him, love is related to DNA. If there’s no shared DNA, there’s no love. It’s like you have to compare your genealogical charts before you allow yourself to feel love. How limiting!
On Valentine’s Day, let your love expand to include everyone in your neighborhood, everyone in your town, in your county, in your state, in your country. How about everyone in the world? The way you do this is to dig deep so your well is being filled from the inside out.
We are in a tantric tradition. Tantra goes about it completely differently. Tantra says, “Let’s just shred anava mala.” Through Shaktipat, I will open you up from the inside out. Shred anava mala so you have experiences of your own Self. You know who you are. Go ahead…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “From the Inside-Out“
By Sheralee (Shambhavi) Hancherow
Interviewed by Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna
Last year was filled with a lot of emotional tapas along with incredible support. People don’t understand how much support is available from our Ashram.
I discovered that to undertake a healing process, I just had to stop and allow Guru’s Grace to work on different levels.
During the 2023 winter holidays, I overdid it. I pushed myself non-stop through the season. By January 2024, I flatlined emotionally. I wasn’t feeling much of anything and certainly not joy or bliss. In response, I chose “Feel” as my word for the year. I went into overdrive to try and fix myself by doing more yoga, vichara, workshops, etc.
In March, I saw an email about Gurudevi’s Office Hours. They are available to yogis who have a Shishya Membership. Fortunately, I’d been a Shishya for a decade. So I signed up for a phone call. I have always handled struggles on my own and was nervous in front of our Guru. Yet I knew she would help me.
Surprisingly, the help she gave me was not what I expected. But it was exactly what I needed: a mantra yoga buddy.
In April, I took the Healing Retreat. Being in the online option, I could experience the practices and profound changes in my own home in Canada. After that, one of our Swamis followed up and provided more support by Zoom.
The Ashram then arranged for a yogi in our community to call me every week to check on my progress. We discussed the asana and meditation practices I was doing daily to support my process. Then the yogi reported back to Gurudevi. Over the summer, I continued to work on this heavy karma and took Gurudevi’s advice to see a counsellor. Learning about the patterns that limit me opened me up to a whole new level of Grace.
During this time of releasing so much “stuff,” my word-of-the-year — Feel — was paramount. I was on an emotional rollercoaster. Vichara (guided self-inquiry sessions) with my local Svaroopa® teacher, who is also a Vichara Therapist, provided profound learning. When she was out of town, I contacted our Ashram Enrollment Advisor and scheduled vichara with a Swami. Through these sessions, I was learning about myself. Though it was not always a joyful process, I persisted.
At the same time, I found a local Ayurveda physician. I’d been seeking one for a long time, and suddenly I found her. Her diagnosis included the observation that she did not see joy bubbling up within me.
Yet now joy is doing just that. Cooking my breakfast this morning, I was dancing and singing in the kitchen while listening to my yoga music.
Yes, I’ve done a lot. I’ve learned it’s not about fixing myself but opening to the Grace that is always there. The support that comes from our Guru is profoundly deeper than I thought possible.
I have learned to tap into that Grace. It is transformational and illuminating, and I am forever grateful to my Guru, the Swamis and my yoga community.
When you’re comparing what’s happening to what you think should be happening, you’ll be lost in your reactions.
What you need to do – let’s be very simplistic about this – if what’s happening doesn’t match your plan, then you need to…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Bondage & Freedom“
By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar
A famous Indian singer composed “Jyota se Jyota” in Hindi as a tribute to Baba Muktananda. Gurudevi has rendered this beautiful hymn into English verses. You can find audios and lyrics of both.
We sing the full version as part of the arati (candle ceremony) honoring Baba Muktananda before the morning meditation. We subscribers to the online Meditation Club joyfully sing it with Gurudevi and the Swamis every day. The shortened version with English is sung in our Satsangs, in-person and online on Sundays and Wednesdays.
When I wanted to be able to sing along, I learned this hymn on morning walks along the harbor. Every day, I would bring two lines to memorize. I started with the chorus:
Mera Antara timira mitavo,
Sadaguru jyota se jyota jagavo.
Remove the darkness concealing me,
Teacher of Truth, awaken my inner light
You, too, can memorize this chorus and join us in song. All the resources you need are now available:
Even better, listen to Gurudevi sweetly sing it in Hindi on her new album Honoring the One Who Needs No Praise, and in English on the recently released Mystical Song of the Guru.
As the song starts to wind down, I look forward to belting out the final verse:
Jivana Muktananda Avinashi. (x2)
Charanana sharana lagavo.
Sadaguru jyota se jyota jagavo!
O limitless one, Swami Muktananda,
In your lotus feet, I take shelter.
Teacher of Truth, awaken my inner light!
Hearing this perfectly sets me up for meditation. Muktananda awakens “my inner light.”
Come sing along with us!
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Born into bondage, your life’s task is to fly free. You begin the process like a caged bird who keeps flexing its wings, wanting to fly. Your cage door is opened by one who is already free.
This is the Shaktipat Guru’s task, to set you free by opening up the inner arising of Consciousness. Thus you discover the truth that has been hidden for so long, that your essence is Divine.
The not-knowing of your own Self is what causes all your pain. It is the result of Shiva’s decision to become individually and uniquely you. He does this by hiding himself in multiple levels of contraction.
It puts you on a merry-go-round, locked down by Shiva, going round in circles for lifetimes. What you have to do is grab the brass ring! Get Shaktipat, the inner awakening that sets you free.
The inner bolt of I-Consciousness bestowed by the Guru shatters the not-knowingness, setting you free.
Udyamo bhairavah. — Shiva Sutras 1.5
Prior to receiving Shaktipat, I had a few expansive experiences. Though they were rare and never lasted long. I wanted more. Some of my friends used substances to get there, but I preferred spending time in nature, as well as…
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