By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

As a resident of Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram, I feel that I live in heaven on earth. I felt the same when I went to live with my Baba, that I was moving into heaven.

The environs, especially in Baba’s India Ashram, were heavenly. Three meditation halls opened daily at 3:00 am. I walked past night-blooming jasmine in the gardens to get there, along pathways with sacred statues in every corner.

We had a lotus pond and 100 acres of mango orchards. Our little café served chai, lattes and croissants next to a reflecting pool with a fountain in the middle.

You also have your own setup, perhaps with a meditation room or nook, gardens or plants for you to enjoy as well as delectable coffees and treats in your own kitchen. Does that make it feel like heaven for you? Maybe you would simply call it “comfortable.”

I quickly discovered the heaven I was experiencing wasn’t about nature nor interior décor. Having also stayed in beautiful hotels and retreat centers, I know the difference. It was Baba that made the place heavenly.

I got up for 3 a.m. meditation, followed by chai and chanting. Baba is why we gathered in the central courtyard at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., to sit with him as he fingered his amber mala, doing japa (mantra repetition) for all of us.

I say he did mantra for us because, while I was sitting with him, I was not repeating mantra. My mind was flowing with mantra-virya, the mantric energy he emanated. Deeper than peace, thicker than bliss, more full-filling than love, I couldn’t jump-start a thought, not even a sense of awe or gratitude.

I was absorbed in ever-deepening inner realms, experiencing an open-eyed meditation simply by focusing on him. Looking outward at Baba was the same as looking inward at my own Self, except Baba made it easier and deeper.

That’s what the Guru does — makes it easier and deeper for you. Everything they do is to help you find you. They make themselves available…

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Happy birthday, America, 250 years and counting! May you live a long and honorable life.

I am grateful to live in a land where I am free to follow a yogic lifestyle. In many ways, this country meets the criteria listed in a yoga text from 1,000 years ago:

The yogi should live in a quiet place, in a prosperous land that is well-governed. The dwelling should be small, level with the ground, with a raised platform and fresh water nearby, and be kept clean and free from insects. Seated there, the yogi should free their mind from all distracting thoughts and practice yoga as instructed by his Guru. — Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.12-14

I live only an hour’s drive from the birthplace of America. The founding documents are displayed in a Philadelphia museum, treated with the reverence that is usually given to sacred objects. These are very secular papers, yet they were inspired by ancient principles from Greek and Latin texts.

The men declaring our freedom also drew on the European Enlightenment philosophers. However, those great thinkers were similarly tapping into ancient sources, including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others. And if you dig a little further, you discover their sources, bumping into the sages of India whose influence was felt in ancient Greece. America’s philosophical roots run deep.

Bringing principles into practicalities is always challenging. This is true not only for an individual but also for a nation. But the principles have inspired me since I was a schoolgirl. Maybe I caught a whiff of India’s incense still wafting through?

This is the USA’s “semiquincentennial.” I love the title! It means we are halfway (semi) to the 500-year mark (quin-centennial). Yet longevity is not the goal.

Happiness, technically the “pursuit of happiness,” is the stated goal, along with life, liberty and equality. If you’re noticing that there are some bumps in the road, they are unfortunately part of the journey.  We’ve still got a ways to go.

Yes, we want happiness, along with life, liberty and equality. Yoga sees these, not as a goal,  but as the starting point for a greater objective. The true goal is yogic freedom — enlightenment. It is not something you attain by comparing yourself to others, not individually and not within groups. Called moksha, it is an inner state, a spacious quality of being that opens your mind and heart along with your breath and body.

Our tantric system focuses on your spiritual development while you live in the world. You go through the process of inner expansion while in the relationships you choose, in the actions and location of your choice.

Yet you get there by letting go, not by stockpiling people and things. I liken it to holding a butterfly on your palm. No squeezing! You must relax and breathe softly if you want it to stay. As a yogi, you do the practices that make you able to live in openness and ease. Yes, the road will still have some bumps in it, but you keep breathing all the way through.

You learn how to do this from those who know how. Like our Founding Fathers drew on time-honored principles, you follow the path laid out by those who succeeded in this visionary quest. Some of these yoga masters lived quiet lives, based in their Divine Essence, which enriched their life and those around them.

Only a few such Siddhas made themselves available by writing and teaching. They are our guides today. They make principles practical, approachable and accessible. They give you access to your own deeper dimensionality. This enriches your life more than any outer circumstances could provide. And you still will choose to live in a quiet place, in a land of plenty. You may even find you want to declutter, so the space in which you live matches the spaciousness inside.

And you step into life with clarity, arising from your inner freedom, seeing where you can make a difference and doing it. Yogis don’t need to withdraw from the world to protect their state. Yogis shine like the sun and find ways to share their light with the world — yes, with their family and friends, as well as standing up for the principles they believe in. That’s called politics, folks…

Are you contributing toward making the world better? It’s part of yoga.

Your soul is great and Divine, even if it’s carrying some baggage.  You know how when you’re wearing a heavy backpack, or carrying a suitcase or two, it can throw you off-center? So, you might be trying to live your life while balancing all the baggage, meaning you’re living off-center.  The good news is that you’re shedding the baggage with every yoga practice, with every meditation, with every mantra repetition, with every pose and yogic breath, with every chant.  And even listening to these teachings, you’re shedding baggage and getting more and more centered. More and more based in your own Divine Essence.

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Centered in Self“