I begin my 80^th trip around the sun today, having completed 79 years. I know many yogis who are ahead of me and I celebrate their presence in this world.

As I thank so many of you for your birthday greetings and well-wishes, I know it’s not about my birth. When I was born, like all babies, no one knew what I might choose to do with my life or how it would affect others. It is my yogic dedication that makes my decades worth celebrating.

For this, I thank my Guru, Swami Muktananda Paramahansa. His gift of Shaktipat was like a second birth for me, giving me clarity and purpose — a direction for my life. The years before that great event were confusing, even frustrating in their purposelessness. Once he turned on the light inside me, I knew where to go.

One of my favorite verses of Shree Guru Gita explains it perfectly:

Guu.dha-vidyaa jagan-maayaa dehe caaj~naana-sambhavaa,

udayo yat-prakaa”sena guru”sabdena kathyate. — Guru Gita 10

Birth is into not-knowingness, spellbound by Maayaa’s worldly dance.

Giver of the upwelling light of your own Self is called Guru.

I did my best to max out on the not-knowingness, looking for a sense of self-worth in other people’s eyes. Baba gave me my own Self, freeing me from the neediness and fear that consumes most people’s lives.

Now it is my honor and privilege to share his great gift with you. I am deeply touched when you accept the gifts I offer, through our Ashram’s publications and programs. Thank you for letting me serve you.

When you are based in your own Self, you see all the different things, all the different people like different blossoms on the one shrub. For there is only One, being all. And when you don’t see the One hidden in Her divine disguise, as the person sitting next to you, as the driver of the car turning into your lane, as the neighbor walking their dog…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Beyond Measure“

If you know that doing some yoga or repeating mantra for five minutes will make you happy, and it will, sometimes you simply won’t do it.  It’s like you prefer being unhappy to being happy.  Well, maybe it’s familiar. And I’d like to rescue you…  

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Searching for Happiness“

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Sometimes you just know. In the midst of a real life situation, perhaps unexpected, you simply know exactly what to do, or what it is that you can say that will make a difference. Illumined action — wouldn’t you like to live this way?

Yoga says you can. Tune in to your own inner light. Let your Divine Essence shine through your mind and heart. Your words will have the desired effect. Your actions will serve a greater purpose. To live this way, base yourself in your own Self, drawing from your inner depth and dimensionality in every moment. In every breath.

First, you delve inward to find your own Self. Then you rest in your Essence and Beingness, the source of bliss within. Free from need, greed and fear, your words and actions are divinely inspired.

You are not the only one who benefits from this. Your words and actions are motivated by clarity and compassion, seeing what will bring about the most beneficial results. In other words, you don’t leave the world.

Nartaka atma. — Shiva Sutras 3.9

One who knows their own Self is an actor on the stage of the world.

When you know your own Self, you won’t want to retire to a forest or a cave. You will accept your role in the cosmic drama and participate fully. You still have a body and must take care of it. You still have relationships. You still have things to do, places to go, ways to contribute to the welfare of the world. You still have karma. While it doesn’t define you, it does keep you engaged in life.

Those who want to hide away are wannabes, not yogis. Their inner state is so fragile that they can’t know about world events. They want everyone around them to be peaceful, to be nice, to be kind, to be pretty and to talk softly. They need the outside to help them with their innards. Yoga says you have to do your inner work. It’s an inside job.

Enlightened beings care about the world and the people in it. I have been fortunate to meet many Gurus who were acknowledged as having reached the summit of their tradition. They are the busiest and most effective people I’ve ever met. They care. Yet the events that transpire don’t affect their inner state. Based in Consciousness, they…

The wonderful thing about this yogic path is that you can stay in your home with your beloveds doing what you’ve already chosen to do and get enlightened while you’re there.  Except it’s harder in some ways because you have your usual dance patterns, the way you interact with everyone in your life. And they want you to keep being the same old…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Maayaa“

This is the point of meditation, that your Kundalini will climb your spine and merge into your sahasrara.  That you will be jivanmukta, enlightened while alive.  And you will be engaged with the world — fulfilling your dharma, completing your karmas, giving from the… 

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Merging Into the Inner Infinity“

Soul is not Self.  When you experience the soul level of your being, it is profound.  It is meaningful.  It is deep and holy.  You are deep and holy.  Yet, there is more.  Soul is like the sunlight shining through a window.  Your soul is a window through which you can see…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Self & Soul“

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Maayaa is illusion. Moha is delusion.

The difference can be confusing, though it is easy to sort out. A magician doing card tricks is a master of illusion. To believe that their illusions are real is delusion.

Our world is made of energy, manifesting as matter. This means that matter isn’t really solid. You could call it an illusion. Some meditative traditions base their teachings and practices on this principle.

Kashmiri Shaivism says the illusion is real — you are living in a movie set. But there is nowhere else to go. This is Shiva’s movie set. The storyline is compelling, due to Shiva’s incredible creativity.

All the players are Shiva in disguise. The disguise is called Maayaa, the illusory power of Consciousness.

Maayaa is like the night sky on the Fourth of July in America. The stars and expanse beyond them are hidden by exploding fireworks. Maayaa is the fireworks. Maayaa is a great and powerful energy, so powerful that she can hide Shiva from you.

As you enact your part in the storyline, unfortunately you get lost in it. Your happiness depends on the story. Your whole sense of self is determined by…

Your mind has the ability to erase an old way of looking at the world. Your mind has the ability to create a new relationship with the world. Your mind has the ability to see the same old world in a whole new way. You’ve been looking for the change to come from…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “One Pulsation“

Clinging means your happiness depends on this certain thing. Repulsion means your unhappiness is guaranteed by a certain thing. But when any single thing will either give you happiness or unhappiness, that thing or that person is in charge. You already know not to rely on the weather for your happiness, yes? How about…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Differences Divide“