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

At Lokananda, your Bliss Place, you will be nourished from inside and outside. Swami Nirmalananda carefully selects not only the curriculum of each program and the design and decor of your cozy accommodations, but the menu that will help feed your body, mind and Self. Nirmalananda explains, “Integrating Ayurvedic principles supports your physical changes, mental and emotional processes and the inner experiences you are having. Cooking with Ayurveda is not yoga – but it’s very yogic.”

Annapurna – Dining Hall at Lokananda

Annapurna – Dining Hall at Lokananda

“Excellent. Chef William was very responsive and willing to change things as required.”               Maitreyi

“The rooms are cozy and very well kept. The meals are very tasty and nourishing. My special food needs were met.”                                                                                                                                            Mangala Allen

“Both the housing and meals at Lokananda were a very positive experience for me.”              Rudrani Rosemary Nogue

Click here to help nourish Lokananda’s two teaching halls and upstairs apartments that house our immersion programs.