The splendor of Shiva-Consciousness is imprisoned within you.  The prison cell bars are made of words.  You lock Shiva down and hide him away by the words you use.  You are so powerful.  You can imprison Divine Consciousness.  You can hide God.  You can dim…  

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Words Create Your Reality“

Words create realities. What you say comes into being. It’s as simple as saying, “I’m going to wash the car.” And then the car is clean. But if you said, “I probably should wash the car,” is it going to get clean?

Nope. Not unless someone else contributes their words, “Come on, let’s do it. I’ll help you.” A few simple words change the quality of your day and, for days afterward, the quality of your driving experience.

Words lead to action. That’s because words are an action in themselves.  When you speak words, you are speaking, which is an action.  Even thinking is an action, so every one of your thoughts is an action you are carrying out. Words are powerful, whether they are spoken or not.

Words are described in the Shiva Sutras:

Words have a tremendous influence in shaping our ideas which do not allow us to realize the splendor of Shiva-Consciousness, imprisoned within ourselves.

Wow! This says you use words to imprison Shiva within you. You lock Divine Consciousness up, out of sight, out of mind — by your words.  Your words and ideas shape your whole sense of self…

The splendor of Shiva-Consciousness is imprisoned within you. The prison cell bars are made of words. You lock Shiva down and hide him away by using the words you use.

You are so powerful! You can imprison Divine Consciousness. You can hide God. You can dim your own inner light.  You are able to make the all-pervasive seem to be absent. You can turn this Divine universe into a desolate landscape, all with your choice of words.

Does this incredible power have another outlet? Is there another way to use it?

Excerpt from Gurudevi’s Satsang Discourse, November 10 2024

Breakthrough!  Once I received Shaktipat, the old identities couldn’t limit me anymore.  Oh, I still did daughtering. I still did worker-bee. I still did pay-my-taxes, vote-in-elections. I still renewed my driver’s license when it was due.  But they were things I did, not…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda  

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Open The Curtains“

Yoga tells you to focus on your own inner process.  Support your yogic transformation with yoga practices. 

You will change, it is guaranteed.  And the world will change as you change.  When you become healthier and stronger… 

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda  

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “A Personal Upgrade”

by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Divine sounds lie at the root of your existence. This is what makes words affect you so deeply. They reverberate all the way in. The power of words originates in the Divine sound, OM.

In order to manifest as the universe, Shiva emanates his bliss as the subtle sound OM. It grows and expands, then blasts itself into many sounds, called Matrika. In this yantra (drawing), the sounds emanate forth into the energetic structure underlying the universe, as expressed in the Sanskrit alphabet. It’s all made of energy, with every energy having its own sound.

J~naanaadhishthaana.m maat.rkaa. — Shiva Sutras 1.4

The underlying limitations are rooted in Matrika.

The sounds combine to make words. Thus, words embody the energy of Consciousness at a primal level. Other people’s words impact you unless you are based in a deeper level of your own Beingness. The words you say to yourself have even a stronger impact, which is why mantra[1] is such an important yogic tool.

Your current “human condition” is one of feeling incomplete and insecure. It makes you turn toward the world in order to create identity and self-worth. It matters to you how other people see you and what they say to you. What they say about you to others is almost more important. You crave their good opinions in order to feel good about yourself. Thus their words matter enormously, even if inaccurate or untruthful.

When you turn your attention inward, settling into your own Beingness, you see that their words are simply their opinions. Thus we get the saying…

[1] To receive the mantra from Gurudevi, attend one of her programs or request a mantra card at https://svaroopa.org/mantra-card.

The more energy you put into getting love from others, getting your sense of self-worth from others, getting your happiness from others — the more energy you put into this, the more bound you are. Freedom comes from…

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Subtle Perceptions and Powers“

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda   

There are two types of desire. I will call the most common one the “passing desire.” It is a desire that arises from an inner feeling of being incomplete.  

This inner feeling makes you sense you lack something, which makes you desire something to complete you. It is a desire to get something from outside of you, which gives you a sense of fulfillment that lasts for only a short time. It might be a desire that is easy to fulfill, maybe to eat something or to phone somebody.  

It might be something that takes longer: a desire to spend more time with somebody or to go a particular place on vacation. It could be a long-term process, like the desire to be successful in your profession or to support someone who is going through an illness.  

This type of desire may even feel like a compelling need for something, because it arises from an inner sense of being incomplete. This is the source of almost all of your desires and it motivates all of your actions. You are trying to fill up the bottomless well inside, the well of “lack.” 

There is another type of desire, which I will call a “true desire.” It arises from a deep inner sense of fullness. This desire is a recurring desire. It keeps coming back to you, arising from somewhere profound within you. It is not really a desire; it is foreknowledge of your own destiny. 

Excerpt from Yoga: Inside & Outside, page 127