Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

Tapping into Grace

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By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell

Board President, Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram 

I am honored to announce our Ashram’s 2022 fall fundraiser.  Our theme is Guru’s Grace (guruk.rpa).  We are focusing on the Grace that Gurudevi brings us, having received from her Guru, who got it from his Guru.   

This Grace has led you to the Svaroopa® yoga practices.  Like a constantly flowing river, Grace flows through Gurudevi’s teachings and all the teachers whom she has trained.  Guru’s Grace is everywhere.  It will find you when you need it.  

Gurudevi teaches us many ways to access Grace.  The list includes Shaktipat, meditation,  repeating mantra, chanting, and practicing and teaching Svaroopa® yoga.  Guru’s Grace is always there for us, always with us.  We can reach out (in) anytime, anywhere.  We can float on it, settle into it, or dive deep.  It is there always.  

When you support our Ashram with a financial gift, it’s not about how much you give.  It is the act of giving itself that puts you in the river of Grace.  A contribution of any amount supports the source of the teachings. 

One of the ways that I tap into Grace is by saying mantra.  Just one and you have tapped into Grace.  Say more and you can immerse yourself in the river.  If you have not yet tried our free Japa Club, currently offered twice daily, try it.  Say the mantra out loud with Gurudevi and others, you’ll experience the power of Grace. 

For me, mantra is a reset button.  It grounds me.  It settles me and allows me to tap into the river of Grace that runs inside me. No matter what is going on in life, Grace is still there, waiting within, to welcome me home to my own Divine Essence. 

To be devoted to Grace means being devoted to your own spiritual path and your own Self-Realization. It keeps you steadfast in yoga, meditation and life. Gurudevi advises us to look for the Guru in the depths of our own hearts.  Guru’s Grace is not about the Guru.  It is about you.  It’s about finding your way inward.  How beautiful is that!  

Join me in immersing your Self in the Grace of dakshina, selfless financial giving, to support SVA.

Donate today.  Click below or call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Thank You!

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FREE Mystical, Magical & Meditation Mastery

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Gurudevi is a meditation master, authorized within an ancient yogic lineage.  She specializes in making the mysteries understandable and accessible.  

Mystical and magical are not the same.  In her free program, you learn the difference between magic, mysticism and what meditative mastery really is.

After Gurudevi’s discourse and our meditation, thoughts and things suddenly fell into place.  She helped me to put puzzle pieces together into a beautiful picture. — Alina U.

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From Longing to Attainment

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By Amanda (Purna) Schmidt

Spiritual Hunger & Fulfillment, Gurudevi’s latest CD, illumines the yogic path through song, sharing her journey from longing to attainment.

Seven tracks guide us modern-day yogis through this age-old experience. The melodies echo themes of yearning, surrender and devotion that culminate in pure Grace.

Are you ready to explore your own inner greatness? These chants will open the door and draw you inside. Follow Gurudevi’s footsteps on the path, and discover your own Self. Price: $9.99

Buy Online: Spiritual Hunger & Fulfillment

CD Tracks:

  1. OM Svaroopa Svasvabhava
  2. Atma Shatakam – Shivo’ham Shivo’ham
  3. Atma Shatakam Translation
  4. Bhagavan Namah
  5. Guru Mantras
  6. Purno‘ham
  7. OM Namo Bhagavate

Consciousness Imprints

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by Satguru Swami Nirmalananda

You were trained by masters.  Your family and schoolteachers were masters of “busy mind.” They did their best to cultivate your mastery.  Yogic training gives you “quiet mind,” a sweet inner stillness, spaciousness and peace.  It deepens into bliss.

This process involves both training and conditioning.  Training is when you study the theory and begin to apply it.  A baseball pitcher gets coaching on his throw or a golfer on his swing.  Their His coaches take videos and measure the speed of his ball.  Then they show him how he’s losing power with some little thing, like the placement of his foot.  He tries it out.  The coaches help him fine-tune his new plan.

Now the conditioning begins.  He practices.  He throws the ball, then he throws it again.  Hundreds or thousands of pitches later, he’s ready to bring it to the game, with the crowds roaring and his teammates watching his feet placement.  He has to forget it all, even the theory and plan, so he can simply do it.  He gets in the groove and throws the ball.

You need both training and conditioning.  Theory alone is not enough; you need to practice.  This means that you quiet your mind.  But quiet mind doesn’t last very long in the beginning.  Your mind gets busy again, so you have to quiet it again.  And again… Repetition is the key.

Yoga excels at quieting your mind.  All yogic practices are about quieting your mind, including the poses.  With athletic and aerobic yoga styles, quiet mind is often attained through exhaustion.  You’re too fatigued to think, which is mildly blissful.  Similarly, most meditation systems work this way.  You sit through the internal storms, waiting for them to pass so you get a moment of inner stillness.  Then you do it again.

Svaroopa® Yoga is different.  It works energetically.  Your spine is the central conduit of energy in your body, so our poses decompress it, opening up new levels of energy inside.  In Svaroopa® Vidya meditation, you pour your mental energy toward infinite Consciousness.  These energetic interventions work more powerfully than…

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Shaktipat Is the Mystical Key

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By Elena Perri

Interviewed by Margie (Maitreyi) Wilsman

After my first Shaktipat Retreat with Gurudevi, awareness openings followed, in my body, mind and being.  They continue to this day. 

Gurudevi awakened my Kundalini.  I experienced an upward flow of energy from the base of my spine through my body.  It rendered a joyful bliss I had never experienced before.  As we chanted the mantra, the bliss gradually expanded into a silky, warm sensation.  It moved into the base of my skull and filled my head.  It was what I can only call an ineffable experience.  I felt all-encompassing universal love envelope me.  It was a quiet knowing of being safely held.  It was as though the arms of the most loving, nurturing mother held me.  

Swami Nirmalananda giving Shaktipat

Returning home, I continued meditating.  I gradually shifted in unexpected ways.  After the Shaktipat, I found myself effortlessly disengaging from political and social dramas.  Similarly, the judgments I had always struggled to overcome transformed as well.  I spontaneously began to see people more compassionately rather than critically.  Rather than harsh judgments, I felt compassion for their state of being.  

Quietly, I acknowledged my own struggles with less than favorable behaviors.  I found it easier to forgive rather than to begrudge.  I think of these shifts as the Divine Grace that Shaktipat ushered into my awareness.  I am forever grateful and humbled. 

Spiritual evolution has always been the compass for my journey.  My life’s yearnings have been to achieve these transformations and to experience such Grace.  Getting over myself has taken a lot of time.  Finally, I can open my heart with humility.  I have found my way to Gurudevi’s vast offering of blessings and wisdom.

But the time it took and missteps along the way mean nothing to me now.  All that matters is the mystical and seismic transformation of my being through the awakening of Kundalini.  Kundalini fills my heart and thus fills my being.  Shaktipat is the mystical key that unlocked the gateway into the knowing of True Self. Thank you, Gurudevi.

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Gurudevi’s Mid-Week Satsang

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Come chant and meditate with Gurudevi Nirmalananda in her free Wednesday evening program, live in Downingtown.  To zoom in, enroll in our online Yoga Wednesday (Bookends or Full Day).

This satsang features a long chant and meditation, both led by Gurudevi.  Live music accompanies the chant in the traditional yoga style.  You’ll find it easy to follow the printed words and everyone else singing along.  After the chant, Gurudevi guides the meditation, making it easy for newcomers, while simultaneously making it deep and profound for everyone.

The chant and meditation during Gurudevi’s mid-week satsang is powerfully deep.  I settle in much more deeply than I can with chanting and meditating on my own.  I attend every week! – Lynn C.

Chant & Meditation

Easily Do More Yoga 

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Amanda (Purna) Schmidt 

Build your home practice of Svaroopa® yoga with Daily Practice pose cards.  They complement the Foundational Poses found in the Svaroopa® Yoga Basics set.  Learn how to establish a consistent home practice that suits your needs. 

Practice deeper variations of reliable spinal release poses, and get more comfortable with seated poses.  If you are interested in meditation, this new information helps you get started.  New and experienced yogis alike can benefit from these pose cards.  Revel in the results of daily practice! 

Pose Instruction Cards: Daily Practice

Dimensions: 8.5” x 5.5” 

Price: $11.95 

Free Binder: Cards come hole-punched to fit your matching binder (FREE with the purchase of the Svaroopa® Yoga Basics Pose Cards. 

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Meditate with Gurudevi Daily 

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Every day at 6:30 am, you can join Gurudevi for your morning meditation.  The most important of yoga’s practices is meditation.  But it can be hard to get it going on your own.  Meditating with others makes it much easier, especially when they are experienced meditators.  When you meditate with a Master, your meditation is fueled by the blessing of their knowing. 

Meditation Club — so much Grace.  To have daily access through phone connection direct from the Ashram community is divine. –Barbara H. 

Let Gurudevi and the Ashram residents support your process by sharing our daily Ashram meditation with you.  Meditation Club is available on Zoom by monthly subscription.  Gurudevi begins with a short reading from her Guru, followed by a short chant, invoking blessings on your meditation.  Next you sit in the holy silence, transmitted from the Ashram, for the rest of the hour, a sweet and Grace-filled experience. 

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What Are the Chances? 

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By Kelly McKee, interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

Sitting in that Grace-filled room with all the yogis and Gurudevi, a Shaktipat Guru, I thought: “This is really remarkable.  How did I get here?  What are the chances?  This is extraordinary.”  I live in the same town as a Shaktipat Guru.  Yet I knew nothing about this kind of yoga until five years ago. 

In a community flyer, I saw an ad for yoga classes at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center, a branch of Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram.  I showed up for the class with a beach towel for a mat.  My teacher was super kind and got me all set up.  Soon afterwards, I received a postcard in the mail about a free meditation class with Swami Samvidaananda.  I loved it and wanted more.   

Attending Swami Sunday Satsangs, I loved listening to Gurudevi give her discourses on the ancient teachings.  That’s how I learned about Shaktipat.  I’d never heard of it before.  I’d been interested in a spiritual path and what Gurudevi said made sense to me.   

One day, I was browsing the Ashram website.  I needed a part-time job.  On a whim, I looked in the Opportunities Section and saw the Ashram needed part-time help.  It was just what I was looking for.  I now assist with Ashram meal preparation and other household tasks.  I keep thinking how lucky I am to be working at an Ashram.  Again, I wonder, “How did this happen?” 

When the May Shaktipat Retreat came along, I wanted to sign up.  I told Swami Praj~nananda I wanted to go, but she said the On-Site spots were already filled.  Soon after, someone cancelled.  At the last minute, I was able to get into the On-Site Shaktipat Retreat. 

Gurudevi spoke about her Guru, Baba Muktananda, and how he gave her the teachings she shares with us.  Even more, he gave her the inner experience that the teachings describe.  I realized, the gift of Shaktipat is receiving that inner experience.  It’s totally amazing.  I remember feeling reassurance and being hopeful.  Here I am, I’m on this path.  I’m sitting here with a teacher from an extraordinary lineage.  I have been put on the path to enlightenment.  That’s the big goal.   

Since the retreat, I’ve noticed changes.  Meditations are definitely deeper and more expansive.  My spine feels more open and straighter.  I’m more even and kinder and less reactive to other people.  Words that I don’t want to have don’t fly out of my mouth anymore.  I feel less separateness and more a part of everything.  And I realize I don’t have to be perfect.  The “small-s self” part of me is being worked on.  My essence is already perfect.   

I feel immense gratitude for Gurudevi, Grace and the lineage.  I’m so grateful for Shaktipat and receiving that gift of glimpses of my Self.  Sometimes how graced I am just washes over me.  What an extraordinary gift it is to have her. 

Turbo Charge to Spiritual Progress

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By Janet (Janaki) Murray

I took Meditation Teacher Training in 2005.  After 17 years it is still a memorable event for me in so many ways. For starters there were nearly 50 people on the course. The Shakti (energy) was incredible! And what an experience! I cannot say it was easy – far from it; but it gave a turbo-charge to my spiritual progress. 

It was hard work. Ten days of early mornings, late nights and every minute filled through the day. Yet it was truly a Grace-filled course, and it was certainly Grace that carried me through. The course kick-started a whole new range of personal shifts and changes.  The baggage of life, and lifetimes, fell away – and continues to. 

As I write I am filled with gratitude, once more, to Gurudevi for the gift of this course. And for her presence in twenty plus years I have known her.

Through the deep experiences during the course, I not merely learned but imbibed the philosophy. I became able to talk about and write about Consciousness with joy and confidence. Previously, I had not been much of a meditator.  Yet 17 years later, meditation remains the keystone of my practices. I cannot imagine not meditating. 

MTT gave me all the tools and confidence needed to teach the three-week introductory meditation course. And I am still teaching it. It is such an amazing course to teach, particularly for beginning meditators. It is well conceived and constructed and includes everything needed to get people started. 

Straightaway, students get a deep understanding of what meditation is. This is important as many come in with a range of misunderstandings. Sometimes both the student and I are blown away by the depth of their experiences.  This happens even in their first week. 

Many come to the course thinking meditation is somehow a difficult thing. The course soon teaches them that it is really quite easy. It also includes lots of practical tips to support their meditation. These things are very motivating for beginning meditators. Almost everyone who takes it loves this course! 

I love teaching it too. I find it such a delight to sit with a group of students who are getting so much. Yet it is so simple. When I sit with them, the Grace that flows through these teachings is palpable. 

The Continuing Education for Meditation Teachers is also excellent. I have taken two MTT updates since 2005. They were quite different from each other, though both completely relevant. They were really well worth taking both to my own development and to my Meditation teaching.