Swami Nirmalananda is a teacher of the highest integrity since 1976. In 2009 she was honored with initiation into the ancient order of Saraswati monks. Now wearing the traditional orange, she has openly dedicated her life to serving others. Usually called Gurudevi, she makes the highest teachings easily accessible, guiding seekers to the knowledge and experience of their own Divine Essence.
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…
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.
Here’s the secret that nobody wants to know about desire. The more you fulfill your desires, the more desires you will have. When you don’t fulfill a desire, it comes back. You don’t fulfill it; it comes back again. When you don’t fulfill it again, it takes longer for it to come back. And you don’t fulfil it, it takes even longer for the desire to arise and it is…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Timeless Beingness“
Take a breath. And another one, slower. Now, one more…
This simple stress reduction technique comes from yoga. Along with the “Relaxation Response,” these methodologies were mainstreamed in the 1950’s to 1970’s.
Yoga poses were first taught in America by Swami Vivekananda in the 1890’s. While his focus was meditation and yoga philosophy, he taught poses in some of his week-long retreats. Most of the participants were wealthy women who had servants who could take care of their household while they were gone.
In the 1930’s, the cosmetics mogul Elizabeth Arden opened a women’s spa in Maine. Along with beauty techniques, the guests learned yoga poses from teachers that Arden brought from India. They took yoga home with them, along with their new creams and cosmetics.
Theos Bernard made his first trip to India in 1936. On his return, he taught yoga to New York socialites. Many years later, I met one of Theos’ students. In her 70s by then, she shared a 16mm movie of her doing extreme yoga poses from her studies with him. It was impressive, but not user-friendly.
Indra Devi began teaching yoga in Los Angeles in 1948, where she relocated from India. She repackaged yoga as a relaxing health and beauty routine, which attracted Hollywood elite. She had been a famous actress in India, so she understood that world very well.
By the time I got interested, Richard Hittleman was teaching on television, with women demonstrating the poses as he gave instruction. He included tidbits of yoga philosophy in his shows. His books included meditation. His shows were on daytime TV in the USA, so the viewers were mainly women.
Lilias Folan’s TV classes began in 1970, again showing on daytime TV. She demonstrated the poses herself while teaching, making them seem very accessible. Every women’s magazine featured yoga poses — for decades.
My first in-person yoga class was in 1975, with a teacher trained by Indra Devi. She taught at my local Parks & Recreation Department as well as in her own home. By then, every California suburb had a yoga teacher offering classes in her home. Soon I was one of them.
While meditation was an undercurrent in all these classes, it got lost as yoga moved into the athletic clubs in the 1990’s. It began to attract more men, though it is still over 70% women in America. Athletic and aerobic yoga styles grew exponentially, overshadowing the slower and meditative approach originated by the ancient sages.
From 1997-2002, I helped with the founding of Yoga Alliance, setting Teacher Training standards that included the historic roots and philosophy.
The therapeutic approach was pioneered by Michael Lee with Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. Within Svaroopa® yoga, I introduced yoga therapeutics in 2000, with a growing concentration of classes in this area since then.
In 2014, the United Nations established International Day of Yoga by a rare unanimous vote. The resolution notes “the importance of individuals and populations making healthier choices and following lifestyle patterns that foster good health.”
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, spoke to the cosmic perspective of the ancient sages. “Yoga is an invaluable gift from our ancient tradition. Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action… Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature.”
We are the beneficiaries of many generations of Western yoga teachers, making this time-honored tradition accessible today. The rich diversity of yoga styles means you can find your niche, whether it is therapeutics or a gymnastic approach. At Downingtown Yoga, we focus on therapeutics as well as the meditative practices.
Please join us for this 12th International Day of Yoga. We will honor the occasion at our Sunday meditation program:
Swami Sunday (On-Site or Online) Led by Gurudevi Nirmalananda June 21 from 10:00 – 11:30 am
And you can do more yoga on Yoga Day by coming to our afternoon class:
Yoga & Meditation Class (Online) With Swami Prajñananda June 21 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (Eastern Time)
I feel fortunate to have watched yoga’s seeds bloom in America. Many of the events and teachers I have described are significant parts of my life story, for which I am very grateful.
Yoga keeps me healthy and happy, even as I complete my 80th year of life. Beyond mere happiness, I delight in yoga’s deep roots and spiritual heritage, which can be accessed by turning inward. One way to begin is by taking a slow deep breath…
However, there is a danger in the relationship with a Siddha. In this yoga of relationship, you can get so wonderfully overwhelmed with the Guru’s light that you forget to look for your own. You have to listen and learn. You have to watch closely for the Guru honors you, as much as they…
To get enlightened you have to cooperate with the process. So you may have to revamp your diet. And your mental diet. What thoughts do you feed yourself? And you may have to work on how you show up in relationships. Meditating in solitude won’t make you a master of relationships. A yoga master is a master of the world, as well as a master of…
In the Upanishads there is a question, “What do human beings want?” The answer is that we want happiness. Everything we do, we do for the sake of happiness. We seek that happiness through our work, through our friends and family, through art and science, through food, drink and entertainment. For happiness we perform all the…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “I Gave My Life to God“
Like an iceberg in the ocean, you have a clear and distinct sense of individuality, yet you are made of the same substance you are melting into. Iceberg and sea are like time and timelessness interwoven together. This is our world.
I found timelessness by listening to the clocks ticking in my elementary classrooms. I stopped hearing the teacher as I listened to the silence between the ticks. Looking back, I think I was meditating. The teacher didn’t appreciate me tuning her out.
Right/wrong, good/bad, pleasure/pain — yoga calls these “the pairs of opposites.” We see the world this way, though it is much more complicated. The sages of India explained that the world is not merely black and white. Finite reality is manifesting in bold living color, yet it is all made of the infinite. It’s all Divine, even when you’re not getting your way.
You have probably invested time and energy in doing things right. The theory says if you do everything right, you will get what you want. It works most of the time. But some days give you different results. Also, it works differently for other people. Trying to calibrate all the differences can spin your mind out of control.
Yoga says you don’t have to track it all. You don’t have to map where all the individual icebergs are headed. Find the water in which they rest, that substance of which they are made. When you find your own essence, you find Essence-Itself, flowing in a Divine choreography. While each dancer hears a different song and creates their own moves, it all lives and breathes in timeless time.
Na shivam vidyate kvachit. — Svacchanda Tantra
There is nothing that is not-Shiva.
What exists that is made of something other than Shiva? There is nothing that is not-Shiva. This is true because “that which exists” is called Shiva. Thus, if something exists, it is made of Shiva. Even that which does not exist is made of Shiva! The texts explain that…
I never dreamed I would live this long, but here I am, still going strong. It’s from yoga, of course, especially from receiving Shaktipat 50 years ago.
Baba always said that the effects of Shaktipat are unerring. Keep doing your best in life while meditating every day and you will attain Self-Realization. The best part is that, in every meditation, every day, you get a taste of enlightenment. Baba’s mantra makes this happen. This is why I share it with you.
Each enlightenment-moment leaves an imprint in your mind and heart. They add up. Guaranteed. It’s Baba’s guarantee. And I have benefitted from it personally.
One of Baba’s swamis shared a conversation with a new meditator who wanted to know if he should change his lifestyle. The swami reassured him that all he had to do was meditate every day.
Getting more specific, the man asked, “I can eat meat? I can have my brandy snifter every evening? I don’t have to give up my girlfriend, that my wife doesn’t know about?” The swami gulped and said, “All you have to do is meditate every day.”
A year later, a woman came to say thank you to the same swami. She said, “My husband has been meditating every day. He has given up meat and his daily brandy. And he gave up the girlfriend he thought I didn’t know about. Thank you.”
Yes, you will change. I did. And I am so grateful. Because all those external pursuits had never made me happy, not even when I practiced them more intensely. Meditation filled me from the inside, freeing me from the desire for the things that had never actually worked.
Best of all, Kundalini dissolved all my gripes and complaints about life. Shaktipat awakens the energy of Consciousness to arise within, uplifting you in her pathway from tail-to-top. I rock-n-rolled through my meditations for years, with Kundalini moving me into classical yoga poses. I learned anatomy from the inside-out as deep tensions were melted away.
The transformation in my body was only part of it, for each tight area had its related mental-and-emotional tensions. As they dissolved, I outgrew my past. While I still loved the people who had raised and trained me, I was no longer limited to their ideas of who I was or what I could do.
Baba described it this way:
Once a disciple’s spiritual energy has been awakened by the Guru and he begins to meditate, the unresolved impressions of past actions, or spiritual debts, are reduced and the seeker’s future automatically brightens.
Two types of impressions dissolve, karmas and vasanas. Karmas are the yet-to-come consequences of your prior actions, which balance out your deeds from many lifetimes. Now you don’t have to live through events to complete your karmas. They resolve in your meditations.
Vasanas are the mental-and-emotional patterns you have so carefully installed through repetitive thoughts and the strategies you’ve been using to get through life. For example, if you always speed up when a traffic signal turns yellow, you’re going to end up in an accident. Or if you eat when you’re sad, you’re going to end up with some health problems. Worse, you’ll be sad a lot of the time.
When these patterns dissolve, you see life differently. It’s like your peripheral vision has expanded. More light is coming in through your eyes. Better yet, your inner light shines brighter, more of the time.
How do I know? I took my own advice. I have been doing more yoga for decades!
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