By Barbara (Girijananda) Hess

Gurudevi is a modern-day mystic who comes from a long line of Self-Realized mystics.  She walks the walk she talks. Gurudevi says there are three criteria that must be met in order to teach:

• • First, it is learned from the living Guru, so it is enlivened knowledge. 

• • Second, it is documented in the texts. It is traceable back to yoga’s ancient roots. 

• • Third, the teacher must have experienced it in order to teach it.

Everything that Gurudevi teaches or writes meets these criteria. This was very important to me when I heard it.  I knew there was validity in what was being taught or written.  Gurudevi makes these ancient teachings so accessible.  She gives us so many opportunities on our road to Self-discovery. 

The Living Mysticism 2025 Calendar Journal is a golden opportunity for us.  Gurudevi’s introduction reads: “Day-by-day, let these teachings support your inner experience of your own Divine Essence. Each quote is like a sutra, with profound meanings in a few words… Weave Divine Grace through your life.”

The year begins: “Yoga is choice-full living. You choose where to put your time and your energies.” And the Teachings Article containing this quote is listed: “Just Do It, October 2023.”  You can contemplate the sutra and deepen your understanding by reading the article.  You find each article in our online Freebies.  

Below the quote, the journal page is blank. You have lots of space to write down your own experiential understanding. Or to draw it out.

Such an amazing way to start my day! I read the sutra. I listen to Gurudevi read the sutra in her morning Meditation Club. Something stirs deep inside me — an understanding, a knowing or a yearning. In gratitude I am sitting at my Guru’s feet learning from her, knowing she learned this same deep teaching from her Guru. 

I am imbibing a Truth teaching passed down through the ages from one Guru to the next.  I am so fortunate to receive Gurudevi’s deep teachings day by day. 

Join me in utilizing the 2025 Calendar Journal. Day by day weave Grace through your life. 

By Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

Attending Swami Sunday online gives me an infusion of Grace each week.  Sometimes there’s a satsang that especially speaks to me, and I need to hear it again.  Sometimes, again and again!  

With Gurudevi’s Deep Teachings videos online, I can easily watch them.  The subscriber discount makes it cost less than a latte at Dunkin’^® Donuts.  It’s so powerful to see Gurudevi in these videos.  More of my senses are engaged.  Grace is just pouring out of the screen.

I visit my son in California every few months.  Before flying, I rent and download several videos to watch during the flight.  It’s like having Gurudevi with me.  Each video is available for three days, and I can watch as many times as I want in those three days.  The three-day clock doesn’t start ticking until I start watching.

Another way I use them is on a long drive. I drive from Massachusetts to New Hampshire regularly to see my 85-year-old dad, who needs lots of support.  I load the videos onto my phone, put it in my cupholder and listen.  It puts me in a great state for whatever I encounter with my dad that day.  These videos are a game-changer. 

Gurudevi’s satsangs are grounding me in a deeper understanding of the teachings. That’s especially so when I watch the videos multiple times. Last week, I taught a “Troubleshooting Your Meditation” class.  I noticed I was teaching from a greater depth.  Both I and my students benefitted from that.

Yes, you are spirit, clothed in a human body.  Your inner essence is enlivening your body and using your mind to manage the tasks and functions of the physical world.  You are not your body.  You are not your mind. You are not your body, and your mind put together.  You are…

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Wearing a Costume“

By Amanda (Purna) Schmidt

Aratis, bhajans, kirtans — it’s all here!  Find them all in Yoga’s Sacred Songs, Gurudevi’s newly published compendium of all the Svaroopa^Ⓡ yoga chants.

Learn the inspiration behind each chant, as Gurudevi explains the importance of the words as well as melody. You’ll also find a Sanskrit pronunciation guide as well as photos of Gurudevi.  

Best of all is Shree Guru Gita, which she has rendered into English verse.

The companion CD, “Mystical Song of the Guru,” is also available now. These wonderful new resources make the mystical experience of chanting more accessible than ever. It’s never been easier to bring this Ashram practice into your daily life. Deepen both your understanding and devotion.

By Barbara (Girijananda) Hess

With Gurudevi’s new album, chanting brings me to such a blissful inner space. 

I feel the eternality inherent in Guru, the remover of darkness, revealing the light. OM flows into Guru which flows back into OM. I coast inside on the slow, melodic repetition of OM Guru, OM Guru, OM Gurudev. I become aware of the infinite depth of my own Self. 

This is what the Guru does — she removes my darkness to reveal the light of my inherent Divinity to me. She shows me the source of illumination inside. The formless and the form at the same, time, she guides me in coming home to my own Self. This chant opens me to this ever-expanding awareness. 

Recorded at our Vowed Order retreat, this chant is a call and response between Gurudevi and the chorus of vowed members. During our recording session, my heart expanded. I perceived the devotion of Gurudevi singing to her Guru, my own devotion, and the devotion of my fellow vowed kula singing to her. 

The powerful simplicity of this chant stays with me wherever I go. I find myself singing it out loud or silently many times during the day. Even amidst daily life busyness, I am drawn inside to the bliss of my own Self, the One Self Being All. Jaya Gurudev!