The process of Self-discovery is a process. Sometimes it’s bliss-filled, sometimes not. Consider how many years have you invested in being unenlightened? How many days have you done your unenlightenment practices? How many…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Dharma, Karma, Moksha“
By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell, Ashram Board President
Our fundraiser, “The Gift of Grace,” is ending. I thank everyone who participated in giving.
Thank you for choosing to support Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram. Your financial support helps us to continue to shine light into the world as well as support you in uncovering your light. I am grateful for you and for our Ashram’s support over the years.
Our Ashram has helped me through physical and mental stuff (oh, mind!). This has helped me to see myself. I am so grateful for our Ashram and for all its offerings. I am more myself and I navigate through life more fluidly. What a gift it is to receive support from Gurudevi and the Swamis.
I opened the Gurudevi App today, and this quote was displayed:
The high points in life are when you’re shining with light, loving, generous, joyful and peaceful. You want to be that way all the time. Of course you do — because it’s who you really are, deep down inside.
– Gurudevi Nirmalananda & Swami Samvidaananda
Yes, that is what our Ashram does. It helps you to see yourself as you truly are and be yourself. What a gift it is to support you in this process. What a gift it is to have your financial support. Yes, a gift of Grace.
While our campaign is coming to an end, we still welcome and appreciate your financial gifts. They make a real difference in what we do!
Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555. Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Thank you again and again!
By Cayla (Mangala) Allen
The chanting, teachings and meditation with Gurudevi uplift my soul. Shifted into a sense of ease, I settle into my own Self.
Every week, I attend Gurudevi’s satsangs online: Swami Sunday and Wednesday Chant and Meditation. She delivers the full package from chanting, through teachings and on to deep meditation.
She brings this maha (great) yoga to life by making the ancient teachings accessible and relevant to our modern day lives.
Gurudevi’s Teachings Article comes out at the beginning of each month. It’s like a two-page sutra. Reading it, I receive mini aha moments.
At Swami Sundays, Gurudevi unpacks what she wrote making the article even easier to understand. I receive huge aha moments. This makes it easy to apply the teachings to my life.
Each satsang offers layers of understanding. While sitting at her feet, whether in person or online, I receive this by simply being aware. The effect on me, and on who I feel myself to be, is awesome.
Then sweet, deep meditation sets in as she offers her guidance. I settle in deeper as the meditation arises.
What I experience in these moments is beyond words. Sometimes unconscious, sometimes conscious, in Consciousness, I am somewhere beyond my mind.
The gong sounds. Gurudevi brings us through the sweet pause that closes meditation. I practice bringing my deep experience into my life.
I used to think the key to life was to live passionately. I now know it is to live fully enlivened from within, living in Self in every moment.
Passionate for me was living on the edge, riding the roller coaster of life with all its ups and downs. Now I live from center, blissfully observing the multi-diversity of the universe.
I revel in amazement of all that exists, knowing there is more than I can imagine. I am grateful for all. On some level I know there is only One and I am That.
I am grateful for a true Guru who reveals all and leads me to greater understanding. This readies me to receive more as I move toward Enlightenment.
Who am I? Why was I born? Who created me? And what am I supposed to do here? Why am I here? Your mind cannot answer these questions. Your mind asks them, even mulls them over and repeats them again and again. This is called contemplation. Your mind may try on various answers, but your mind won’t rest until….
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Having Experiences“
Your Inner Essence is deep, timeless, expansive, unchanging — the inner infinity of your own Divinity. And everything else is also Divine. So, you care. You care and you act on that caring, but freely, without need, without greed and without…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Perception“
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Every birth is a Divine embodiment, a manifestation of the One Source. Each and every one of us is made of the Divine energy that becomes all.
This means your birth was a Divine birth. It may be that your parents felt it. New babies are easy to adore. It is because they don’t yet know how to block their inner light from shining through.
Yet some babies grow up to share the Divine Light with others. The world celebrates the birth anniversary of a few: Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed. But were they the only ones?
No. Many saints are honored in several traditions, with their life stories told and retold in order to inspire and to bless others.
India specializes in saints. Not only do they honor more of them, throughout a longer timeline, but they acknowledge that anyone can become a saint. Even you? Yes, even you. But you have to apply yourself, like with anything you want to accomplish. And you need training.
Gururupaaya.h. — Shiva Sutras 2.6
The Guru is the goal as well as the path.
The Guru both teaches you about your Divine Essence and gives you tools to experience it — both the goal and the pathway to it. Since the Sanskrit word “guru” means teacher, it applies to a teacher of any subject. Maybe you had a piano guru when you were growing up.
The West has adopted this term to refer to an expert in any field, like a stock market guru or a basement guru. Yet the term came from India, specifically naming the God-inspired yogis who began coming to America in the 1800s.
A Divine teacher teaches about God. This is true of any priest, minister or pastor. Yet yoga holds them to a higher standard in order to qualify for the title, Guru. They must have found God, not merely on the outside, but within their own being. Now they are a Divine teacher in two ways: being Divine and teaching about God.
You are also able to find God within, yet you might not have the dharma to teach. Being a saint without having a world mission means you…
Something keeps your breath moving and your heart beating, even when you’re asleep. Oh, Shiva. The whole point of yoga is to know who and what this is, that makes your body be a living body – that makes the screen of your mind be so…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Inner Self“
By Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman
Ashram Board Member
Our “Gift of Grace” Ashram fundraiser has begun. Please join me in donating today.
Gurudevi Nirmalananda’s birthday was November 15th. Of course, you want to celebrate and wish her health and happiness! While she appreciates your well wishes, she needs nothing from outside, for she is filled from within. She is fueled by the light of Consciousness.
What Gurudevi wants is for you to be supremely happy and filled with the light of Consciousness all the time. She offers you this gift. It is the gift of Grace.
One who knows can give you the knowing. She gives it freely, every time you are in her presence, whether in person, online or even when connected to her in meditation or deep reflection.
But how do you receive this life changing gift? You do the practices she recommends. Thus, you step into the river of Grace she offers.
I receive this gift when I do yoga poses, or meditate, or watch one of Gurudevi’s videos. Doing seva and offering dakshina (financial gifts) also drops me into the river of Grace.
But nothing is as saturated with Grace as spending time in the physical presence of my Guru. Just walking into Lokananda, I feel so joyful. I am profoundly nourished by the gift of her Grace.
Embrace the gift of Grace and the yogic practices Gurudevi has given you. Don’t forget who you really are, oh Shiva.
In the midst of your daily life, rely on the clarity and wisdom that arises from within. Seeing with Divine eyes, you can make a difference in this world.
You can start with gifting back to our Ashram, the organization and the teachers who lead you on this path. Grace takes care of you. Surrender to and thus accept the gift of Grace by donating to the Ashram today.
Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555. Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Thank you again and again!
Your essence is Divine Consciousness concentrated in a unique and individualized form, but you compare your individuality to everyone else’s, and you can always find someone who…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Response Ability“
Rosemary (Rudrani) Nogue, Yogaratna
I donate to our Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram out of gratitude.
The rare, priceless gift of Guru’s Grace flows through Gurudevi Nirmalananda, our Spiritual Master. To receive that gift, you need only to be in her presence, in person or online. Or you can think of her deeply to be in the flow of her Grace.
Please join me in donating to our Ashram’s year end fundraiser, “The Gift of Grace.” Experience how both giving and receiving become sacred acts.
The bliss of your own Beingness fills you from within giving you something worth sharing.
—Gurudevi
This is my truth: Guru’s Grace fills and nourishes me. This fullness moves me to give from my Self in many ways, including offering dakshina (selfless financial giving) to our Ashram.
Grace opens me to a greater ME, clearer, more enthusiastic, more compassionate, more present and more generous. I am ME in a whole new way.
Gurudevi’s online daily Meditation Club, together with Sunday and Wednesday satsangs, are so important to me. Through them, I can be in her presence from my home in Calgary. Amazingly, other online Ashram programs present opportunities for staying in the flow of Grace every day.
After repeating a round of mantra recently, I offered arati (flame circles) to Gurudevi’s picture. I looked deeply into her eyes. The tangible flow of Grace uplifted me. So I give back out of gratitude. Donating is one of many yogic practices that expands my capacity to receive Grace.
Practically, our financial gifts support the Ashram infrastructure that dispenses the Grace of our Guru. Our gifts subsidize the maintenance and operational costs of Lokananda (our Bliss Place). It serves as our training and retreat center for in-person and online programs. It is also the home of Gurudevi and our Swamis.
Please give from your heart to our “Gift of Grace” fundraiser. You could raise your monthly donation, become a monthly donor or give a one-time financial gift. I invite you to be generous within your budget!
Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555. Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Thank you again and again!
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
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