By Vicharinee Chafin

Gardeners know spring means you clean up from the winter and plant for coming months.   Except that Ashram garden clean-up and planting are a whole different experience, performed as seva on Sacred Soil.

Swamiji and her team created an experience for us, jam packed with the Grace and Love only a Guru can provide.  She plans each detail, down to the ingredients in an amazing scrambled tofu (recipe from Baba), leaving us “full-filled” with experiences of the Self.

Friday night began with a satsang in New Hope PA.  Returning to Downingtown, we headed for bed in Lokananda.  I was surprised to have a “yoga night,” as Swamiji calls it, with little sleep, lots of mantra and wonderful dreams.  I realized Lokananda is an arm of the Ashram, still connected to the body (Grace).  The same heart (our Guru) pumps its blood.  My thoughts that Lokanada would somehow be different melted away, a welcomed relief from that dualistic view.

After Saturday morning Guru Gita at the Ashram, breakfast was prepared for us by Swamiji herself.  It is so sweet to enjoy a meal with her, let alone have her cook for us.   How many meals have been prepared for me in the past?  How many do I really appreciate?  How many come with a side order of the Self?

We began our work, propelling us into muck and grit.  As we embarked, it was a balmy 50 degrees and raining.  So the resistance begins.  I was fooled into thinking my happiness lay in being comfortable and warm.  That expectation was leading to my unhappiness, as Swamiji taught us in satsang on the night before.  The rain created some mud — inside and outside.  But Ashram mud is unlike any other I have worked in.  This mud has always presented me with a fully blooming lotus.  Dhanajaya summed it up as “Mystical Mud.”

While we worked in the gardens, two sevites lovingly prepared fabulous meals.  We were so grateful for the wonderful food, as we had worked up appetites.  We ended the day with a group seva indoors, plus individual meetings with Swami, closing with arati and japa at Lokananda.

As we progressively settled into our-Selves, losing personal dysfunctions and expectations, we began to glow more.  Sunday brought our weekend to a close with chanting and meditation, ending with Swami Sunday discourse.

When I first arrive at the Ashram, it is apparent I am full of “shrama” (the fatigue of worldly life).   As the weekend and the seva progress, the onion layers peel away in the same way as in a teacher training or yoga immersion.   Each time I am changed and renovated, never to return to some of the mud I had grown accustomed to.  What a relief!

I am so grateful to Swami Nirmalanda for bringing us the teachings of her Guru, His guru and of all the ancient sages, making them modern and understandable.  Swamiji, thank you for the development of the Svaroopa Sciences and your unceasing efforts to have me know my Self.

Om svaroopa svasvabhava namo nama.h

by Marlene (Matrika) Gast

Yoga’s Spirituality is our teachings theme for 2016, as always, rooted in yoga’s ancient traditions and texts:

Yoga’s stated goal and purpose is to unveil your spiritual greatness to you.
— Swamiji & Rukmini

Our many practices, even the physical practices, are all spiritual practices from which you create your personal “sadhana,” your daily practice. For your sadhana, you choose the ones that open you inward to your own Divine Essence most reliably.  Your menu is extensive:

yoga poses (asana)
breath work (Ujjayi)
meditation
chanting
puja
dakshina
seva
vichara

While you may already be doing one or two of these, it’s time to explore others.  Expand your ability to can choose practices that most effectively nourish your relationship to your own inherent Divinity.

For designing, fine-tuning or re-establishing your own sadhana, see our latest Tadaa! e-zine. Let other yogis inspire you to go forward and go deeper. Finding bliss (a spiritual quality) in asana may be the core of your first sadhana. If asana is still your primary tool, what can you add to open even deeper within, so you are propelled toward Self-realization? In Tadaa! you will find a new and more potent way to uncover your spiritual greatness, the “More” within you.

It’s great if you are meditating!  But if your meditation is based on Swami’s pre-empowerment days (2005-2009), it’s time for an upgrade to a whole new level of empowered and empowering meditation.  Take a Shaktipat Retreat or expand your teaching skill in Reawakening Your Love of Meditation.  You will be steeped in Grace as you step into life and into your sadhana in a whole new way.

Ultimately, your daily practice — your sadhana — is all about unveiling your own Divinity to yourself. On this path you have an abundance of practices from which to select the most appropriate ones for you. The Svaroopa®‑ Sciences make it so easy.

By Kevin Maloney, SVA Business Manager

I spent two decades in corporate operations before joining the Ashram as Business Manager one year ago. As I contrast that experience with what I have witnessed since I came on board at SVA, some thoughts rise to the surface. Any organization needs to be responsible, meet its financial obligations, take care of the day-to-day requirements of operating in this day and age, set goals, and overcome obstacles. In many respects, the operations of this organization are no different from the operations of any corporate organization. Where the big contrast enters is in the areas of motivation and vision.

As for motivation, why do staff members come to work at SVA for less money than they could make somewhere else? Why do so many community members volunteer so much of their precious time and resources to help this organization operate? What is that motivation? Can you put a finger on it? Or is it a gentle, mysterious feeling deep inside that moves you and moves them?
As for vision, how can an organization use finances, not to generate more finances, but to further the vision of helping people experience Reality? How can we function efficiently and within the constraints of today’s world, and still carry the thread of our vision through everything we do?  How can we operate in a way that we can sustain the organization and yet also have just one goal of helping the people in our community deepen their experience of yoga, meditation, and the Divine?

As you ponder the questions about motivation, we here at SVA ponder the questions about acting out the vision. Thus, there is something happening here at SVA. This motivation and vision have yielded the practical results of a beautiful environment for programs and for deepening. We call it Lokananda. This Place of Bliss, which is what Lokananda means, is a physical building about 130 years old. It brings with it practical realities of renovation and maintenance in the tangible world. It brings the practical reality of finances, which means SVA still needs funding to complete what has been started (with stunning results to date!).

I am honored to give voice to our administrative team. They are truly dedicated to our vision and have that motivation I mention above. We are poised as an operation, and as a community, to flourish. We hope you join the effort to complete the Lokananda make-over and truly make her into our (your!) home for the long run. Join the 62 Svaroopis who have contributed so far.  Take this renewed opportunity to donate. We need your help.  Be generous.

Click here to donate or phone us at 610.644.7555.

“To have the immersion experience of doing regular practices and personal connection with Swamiji that helped keep me close to my SELF.”

“I thought it to be a very well planned immersion. I learned so very much and it made me so excited to continue my journey. I am very grateful for this experience.”

With your donations, we have been able to move our immersions into our new campus – Lokananda.  Whether your Yogimmersion is a weekend, a retreat or a professional training, you can look forward to thinking about nothing except what you are learning and the experience of your Self. You will experience Bliss multiplied exponentially.

The sacred space of Lokananda gives you easy access to your Self, so you can take your Self home with you. Please donate to our Capital Campaign so we can continue to grow our full immersion programs at Lokananda: Your Bliss Place. Every donation makes a difference. Click here to donate.

“I love Lokananda – so wonderful to be able to stay immersed in the shakti all the times.” 

“Its the most depthful and effective course offered -with so much time to really steeling the depth of my being while working on being able to talk about it and teach it. Also the support of being in the ashram at Lokananda was a big plus…it really works!”

“Housing was great! I’m so happy that Lokananda is available.”

Everywhere you look in the newly renovated Lokananda is a reminder of the Self. The pictures of Gods and Gurus, the mirrors reflecting the light and reflecting your own face – another Divine Being honored in this sacred space.

Swami Nirmalananda named our new home for one of the key sutras in Kashmiri Shaivism:

Lokaananda.h samaadhi sukham — “Siva Sutra 1.18

The bliss of Self-Knowingess is experienced in its fullness in every place and every time.

Please donate to the Capital Campaign so we can continue to offer full immersion programs at Lokananda: Your Bliss Place. Click here to donate.

It has been six months since your donations have aided us in moving our teacher training programs into our new Downingtown building, Lokananda. The students have been moving in and out in a graceful flow as we are back-to-back in our immersion programs.
With decorating complete, each room has taken on a personality and earning itself a name from Swami Nirmalananda.

Ground floor:
• Main Entry: Svagatam (pronounced SVĂĂ-gă-tăm, means welcome)
• Meditation classroom: Kailasa (pronounced KĂEE-lă-să, name of a sacred mountain in the Himalayas, the home of Shiva)
• Asana (yoga) classroom: Tapovan (pronounced tăp-O-văn, means the place of spiritual effort)
• Yoga therapy room: Rasayana Kutir (pronounced ră-SĂĂ-yă-nă ku-TĬR, means the place of healing)

2nd floor:
• Dining hall: Annapurna (ĂN-nă-PŬR-na, means abundance of food)
• Student lounge: Deviloka (DAY-vee-LO-kă, means the abode of the goddesses)
• Bedrooms — Varanasi (vă-ră-NĂĂ-see, the name of a sacred city in India)

3rd floor:
• Apartment 3E (closest to the parking lot) Bedrooms: Arunachala (ă-roon-ĂĂ-chă-lă, the name of a sacred mountain in India)
• Apartment 3W (nearest the intersection of 30 & 322) Bedrooms: Rishikesh (RĬ-shĭ-kesh, the name of a sacred city in India)

We need your continued support to our Capital Campaign for renovations for a new roof, new plumbing, blanket washing equipment, etc. Click here to donate and learn more about how your dedicated funds are helping build our Bliss Place.

“Décor is fabulous! All needed comforts are there. Love that there are blankets in every room.”

“Everywhere you look is a reminder of the Self.”

By Kristine Freeman

We members of the Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram community are in partnership with our Teacher, Swami Nirmalananda. The essence of this partnership is the flow between Guru’s Grace and Disciple’s Grace. Because Guru’s Grace enlivens the physical space in which she teaches, Lokananda, our new program and training facility, is now tangibly full of transformative Shakti. Disciple’s Grace flows in the form of financial support to manifest Lokananda, the place where our Guru’s embodied Divine Grace can be grounded.

Over the past year and a half, our 130-year-old Lokananda has been diligently, intelligently and artfully renovated. It’s already a turbocharged space. Through more than a decade in the Svaroopa® yoga community, I have experienced teacher training and other programs in many different places. None of them have felt as “rocket powered” as our new Lokananda, which physically integrates all facets of our organization under one roof: meditation center, training facility, immersions and retreats, local classes and administration. Lokananda is your launch pad into your own Self. This space has the capacity to help open you to your inner fast track.

Kailasa – Meditation Room

My experience of the Divine within has already been so much greater than in any other space. Speaking for myself and the rest of our Board, I thank the 36 donors who have already contributed to the Capital Campaign; you have taken us a huge step forward — in fact, 20% of the way toward our goal of $150,0000. Because of your financial support, the interior of Lokananda is comfortable, beautiful and fully supportive of your experience of svaroopa!

But more work on the “old dame” is needed, such as a new roof (isn’t that most always the case with the purchase of a new home?), more plumbing and wiring and a reserve for upcoming needs. Please look into your heart and into your wallet to see how you can be a part of Disciple’s Grace with a contribution to our Bliss Place Capital Campaign. Be part of creating the place for easy access to your own Divine Self.

To the 36 donors who have already contributed, we thank you so much. We could not have gotten where you are without you. Now we need the larger community to step in and help us get to the final goal. When we say any amount is welcome, we mean it!! We truly do!!! Your participation is even more important than the amount. Let us count you in. Then Lokananda will be ready to welcome you into a sacred space like no other.
“Just as a lightning bolt strikes the earth, Divine Grace must be grounded. It is yogis who make this happen, through their own practices as well as by providing a home for the Master who embodies and shares this Grace. I am forever grateful to those who make me able to do my work.” — Swami Nirmalananda