By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Something wonderful happens when you simply sit. No phone, no music, nothing to read, to say or to do.

Whether you’re under a shady tree or in a quiet indoor spot, you gradually settle into an easy motionlessness — your body becomes still.

Then your mind becomes still, like when the ripples on a lake dissolve back into the lake.

This is why people have a chaise lounge in their back yard, to stretch out and gaze at the plants, to watch the birds and butterflies. After a few minutes, you’re not seeing anything anymore. You’re settling inside. Most people fall asleep or drift in a dreamy sleep-like state. You have done this so many times.

But on the way inward, you can take the other fork in the road. Instead of settling into unconsciousness, you can delve into the bliss of Consciousness within. This is yoga’s promise, that when your mind settles, you experience your Self — called svaroopa.

Tadaa dra.s.tu.h svaruupe ‘vasthaanam — Yoga Sutras 1.3

As your mind settles, you are established in your own Divine Essence (svaroopa).

How do you get your mind to settle?  One of the easiest ways is to use your body:

Sthira-sukham aasanam. — Yoga Sutras 2.46

Asana means to sit, in easy motionlessness.

In the beginning, you may need to scratch your nose, even cough and yawn. All that will soon settle down and you will be at ease. This is even a military command, “At ease, soldiers.” It’s useful for everyone.

Everyone practices it, even unconsciously, maybe lazing in bed during snooze-alarm minutes. Not sleeping, not really awake, coasting the inner edge, it’s quite blissful. It is even more bliss-filled when you take the road less traveled…

Your body’s condition affects your mind and heart, which affect your relationships, which affect your whole life.  Yet the purpose of the poses is not merely health and happiness.  Every pose is for your spine which we work with very directly in the…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Body Matters“

Would you like your mind to be like a waveless ocean – calm, infinite, pure? Simply remember your experience of the Self.  It’s a matter of taking care of how you feel.  If you want to feel differently than you’re currently feeling, use yoga to make a shift.  Using your memory to bring back the…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Want to Be Happy?“

Probably right now your experience of your own beingness is not fluid, is not constant.  You have moments when you know who you are.  And you have moments when you’re lost in the differences – dotted lines. But you know the way inward. And if you don’t, I’ll remind you again to honor…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Dotted Lines“

Baba commented on this verse, saying, “The Guru destroys the darkness in the hearts of his disciples, and fills them with the light of knowledge. The Guru is the one who dispenses Divine Power.” The Guru points you inward, takes you by the hand and walks you inward and …

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Light Incarnate“

Inner happiness is ever-arising, independent of any external circumstances. This is what yoga calls your own Self. Well, not the happiness. Your own Self is not merely happiness; it is the source of happiness within. When you’re based in your own Beingness, you live in…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “When You Grow Up“

Yet any and every holy site is important for only one reason – the effect it has on you. It opens you to the greater reality within, the inner infinity. Many people go on pilgrimage so they can open to God, whom they…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Pilgrimage to the Infinite“

Who am I? Why was I born? Who created me? And what am I supposed to do here? Why am I here? Your mind cannot answer these questions. Your mind asks them, even mulls them over and repeats them again and again. This is called contemplation. Your mind may try on various answers, but your mind won’t rest until….

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Having Experiences“

Your Inner Essence is deep, timeless, expansive, unchanging — the inner infinity of your own Divinity. And everything else is also Divine.  So, you care. You care and you act on that caring, but freely, without need, without greed and without…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Perception“

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Every birth is a Divine embodiment, a manifestation of the One Source. Each and every one of us is made of the Divine energy that becomes all.

This means your birth was a Divine birth. It may be that your parents felt it. New babies are easy to adore. It is because they don’t yet know how to block their inner light from shining through.

Yet some babies grow up to share the Divine Light with others. The world celebrates the birth anniversary of a few: Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed. But were they the only ones?

No. Many saints are honored in several traditions, with their life stories told and retold in order to inspire and to bless others.

India specializes in saints. Not only do they honor more of them, throughout a longer timeline, but they acknowledge that anyone can become a saint. Even you? Yes, even you. But you have to apply yourself, like with anything you want to accomplish. And you need training.

Gururupaaya.h. — Shiva Sutras 2.6

The Guru is the goal as well as the path.

The Guru both teaches you about your Divine Essence and gives you tools to experience it — both the goal and the pathway to it. Since the Sanskrit word “guru” means teacher, it applies to a teacher of any subject. Maybe you had a piano guru when you were growing up.

The West has adopted this term to refer to an expert in any field, like a stock market guru or a basement guru. Yet the term came from India, specifically naming the God-inspired yogis who began coming to America in the 1800s.

A Divine teacher teaches about God. This is true of any priest, minister or pastor. Yet yoga holds them to a higher standard in order to qualify for the title, Guru. They must have found God, not merely on the outside, but within their own being. Now they are a Divine teacher in two ways: being Divine and teaching about God.

You are also able to find God within, yet you might not have the dharma to teach. Being a saint without having a world mission means you…