By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

I opened the door one Halloween evening to find a family in costume, three children with their mom and dad. His T-Rex costume towered over them all, an inflatable wonder that made me laugh out loud. Later in the winter, he wore it while steering his mini-snowplow. Yet I never thought he was actually a dinosaur. I knew it was a costume. So did he.

In the same way, Shiva is being you, wearing the costume of your body while using your mind to move through the world. When you know who you are, all your insecurities vanish. You are being your own Self, in the midst of life, oh Shiva.

In full enlightenment, you are being Shiva while you are seeing Shiva being all. Self-Realization is a totality of Beingness, beyond the emptiness of nirvana, beyond the Divine love described in most religions and beyond the bliss of Consciousness described by yoga.

Nirvana is only partial enlightenment per the sage Abhinavagupta. While you are freed from suffering, this is merely a mental attainment. You have not found the one who has a mind. Nirvana means emptiness. There is no real physical or material existence. This is also called “no self.” While you are free from desire, aversion and delusion, you are stuck in emptiness, which yogis call “the void” (shunya).

The void is merely Shiva’s black cloak, hiding his fullness in an illusion of emptiness. When you experience the void (and how great that is!), consider who is experiencing the void. You will find your own Self. Shiva is revealed within you, being you.

Another path to partial enlightenment is…

You have the power to realize that God lies hidden in your own heart. Too much of the time, when you come from your heart, you’re coming from your emotional residue, your unfinished business. Your heart carries the weight of lifetimes – resentments and fears, unhappy memories and…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “What is Heaven?“

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Your inner light shines, though sometimes dimly. You like yourself better when your light is shining steadily and brightly. So does everyone else. So, how do you get there?

You spend time with someone who already glows. My Guru said that you become a Siddha (enlightened being) by spending enough time with a Siddha. I took him at his word, which is why I lived with him for years.

Guru Purnima was the best! Every year, July’s full moon was when his light shone most fully. We were bathed in his bliss-filled love, shining from outside and arising within.  

I remember going to darshan, to bow to him, on this auspicious day, year after year. So many times I had this precious opportunity, to melt at his feet.

The melting is important, yet it is merely the opening of your inner doorway. After the door is opened, now the inner arising occurs. This is what is truly important. The Guru is the one that triggers the inner arising. This is why I bow to my Baba. Again and again, I bow.

Your inner light is what matters most of all. This is why the Guru is so important, for he gives you access to your own inner light.

Without this inner access, you wait for serendipitous moments to occur in your life. You plan family gatherings, vacations, holidays and birthdays, hoping to have your light brightened. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it’s more work than it’s worth.

But the Guru always shines. And always makes you shine.

Gukaaras tvandha-kaara”s ca rukaaras teja ucyate,

aj~naana-graasaka.m brahma gurur-eva na sa.m”saya.h.

— Shree Guru Gita 23

Gu is darkness and density. Ru is light, which illumines dark.

The Guru is the Knowingness that swallows the not-knowingness

In Sanskrit, each sound has meaning. The first syllable of Guru is “gu” (goo), which means the stuff you get stuck in. It is the inner darkness that hides your own Self from you. The syllable “ru” denotes movement, like the sound a child makes when playing with a toy truck.

The word Guru combines these two sounds. The word itself names the movement from darkness to light. One who prompts this in you is honored by the title, Guru. They destroy the darkness of you not-knowing your own Self, by revealing the inner light of your own Beingness.

Now you shine. Technically, you did already shine, at least a little bit. Science has now developed instruments that can measure the light shining off your fingertips. And light shines through your eyes.

In your best moments, you are radiant. You can feel it. I would like for you to glow this way in every moment of your life. So would you.

Yoga also describes how you usually use your mind, as well as a greater possibility.  But yoga is the only one of all these traditions, that I have found, that says your Essence is Divine.  How will you know if this is true?  You will have to delve deeper within to see who you find in there, oh Shiva.  You may go beyond who you think you are. This is why we meditate. 

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Ideals to Live By“

By Elena (Lila) Perri

I felt a profound shift as the blockage to my sadhana melted into nothingness.

It happened in Gurudevi’s recent Shaktipat Retreat. I have been meditating every day since, more deeply and with ease and delight.

At the same time, my Ujjay breathing and pose practices have become far more regular as well. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve also taken many of the Ashram’s online studies, which have deepened my meditations even more.

This morning’s meditation delivered another breakthrough. Breathing with the mantra, I was propelled into a deeper state of blissful union. As I floated in this inner realm, I had the realization that I can enjoy this same blissful union while not meditating — as Gurudevi teaches us. As everything is Shiva, it follows that bliss is always there outside of meditation just as I was experiencing it in this meditation. Goodness!

To meditate — what a profound experience! I have experienced gradual progress since my first Shaktipat Retreat with Gurudevi four years ago. Now, staying in my meditative state longer and longer every day, I am calm and peaceful. More and more, I feel that I’m living a heart-centered life.

I’ve experientially learned the truth of the teaching that, as Kundalini climbs my spine, she burns up karmic seeds. She clears out blockages. Old attitudes and resentments melt away.

Since my meditation breakthrough, emotions and distractions don’t control me. I am more easily navigating life. I’m living in my own skin and making decisions from my center.

The practices that I’ve learned from Gurudevi are the best endeavor of my life. They guide you in what to do if you want liberation. Old behaviors simply fall away. My gratitude is boundless and endless. 

The sage says:

Tadah drastuh svaroope vastanam — Yoga Sutras 1.3

In the moment your mind becomes still, you abide in svaroopa, your own Divine Essence.

Here you are, revealed in the space between your thoughts. This means your thoughts are usually hiding you from yourself. This is why all the yoga practices are for your mind, to quiet your mind, so you discover who you are. The you that is svaroopa, your own Divine Essence, aka Shiva. In the pause.

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “The Space Between“

Getting enlightened is a little like watching the sunrise.  It’s amazing how long it takes, from the time the sky starts getting lighter, until the sun is above the horizon line. It’s about forty minutes of gradual lightening, and then the sun comes up quick, in only two minutes.  Getting enlightened works the same way.  It takes longer to get ready than to actually light up.  

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Getting Free“

Guru Purnima occurs on the biggest full moon of every year, Wednesday, July 29^th this year.

Be assured of a rich spiritual experience when you attend Gurudevi’s meditation program on this holy day.

In India, people take off work to go visit their Guru, bearing gifts that will support him or her as well as the Ashram for the rest of the year. They bow at their Guru’s feet, as Gurudevi always did to Muktananda, to lower their head below their heart.

Thus they align themselves with the concentration of energy that flows out the Guru’s feet.

In honoring and celebrating her Guru on this day, Gurudevi gives us all a way to tap into our own inherent Divinity. 

Her presence as well as her teachings reveal your own Self to you. Besides giving you this profound experience, Gurudevi also guides you in understanding it, especially on this beautiful night.

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

As a resident of Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram, I feel that I live in heaven on earth. I felt the same when I went to live with my Baba, that I was moving into heaven.

The environs, especially in Baba’s India Ashram, were heavenly. Three meditation halls opened daily at 3:00 am. I walked past night-blooming jasmine in the gardens to get there, along pathways with sacred statues in every corner.

We had a lotus pond and 100 acres of mango orchards. Our little café served chai, lattes and croissants next to a reflecting pool with a fountain in the middle.

You also have your own setup, perhaps with a meditation room or nook, gardens or plants for you to enjoy as well as delectable coffees and treats in your own kitchen. Does that make it feel like heaven for you? Maybe you would simply call it “comfortable.”

I quickly discovered the heaven I was experiencing wasn’t about nature nor interior décor. Having also stayed in beautiful hotels and retreat centers, I know the difference. It was Baba that made the place heavenly.

I got up for 3 a.m. meditation, followed by chai and chanting. Baba is why we gathered in the central courtyard at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., to sit with him as he fingered his amber mala, doing japa (mantra repetition) for all of us.

I say he did mantra for us because, while I was sitting with him, I was not repeating mantra. My mind was flowing with mantra-virya, the mantric energy he emanated. Deeper than peace, thicker than bliss, more full-filling than love, I couldn’t jump-start a thought, not even a sense of awe or gratitude.

I was absorbed in ever-deepening inner realms, experiencing an open-eyed meditation simply by focusing on him. Looking outward at Baba was the same as looking inward at my own Self, except Baba made it easier and deeper.

That’s what the Guru does — makes it easier and deeper for you. Everything they do is to help you find you. They make themselves available…

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Happy birthday, America, 250 years and counting! May you live a long and honorable life.

I am grateful to live in a land where I am free to follow a yogic lifestyle. In many ways, this country meets the criteria listed in a yoga text from 1,000 years ago:

The yogi should live in a quiet place, in a prosperous land that is well-governed. The dwelling should be small, level with the ground, with a raised platform and fresh water nearby, and be kept clean and free from insects. Seated there, the yogi should free their mind from all distracting thoughts and practice yoga as instructed by his Guru. — Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.12-14

I live only an hour’s drive from the birthplace of America. The founding documents are displayed in a Philadelphia museum, treated with the reverence that is usually given to sacred objects. These are very secular papers, yet they were inspired by ancient principles from Greek and Latin texts.

The men declaring our freedom also drew on the European Enlightenment philosophers. However, those great thinkers were similarly tapping into ancient sources, including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others. And if you dig a little further, you discover their sources, bumping into the sages of India whose influence was felt in ancient Greece. America’s philosophical roots run deep.

Bringing principles into practicalities is always challenging. This is true not only for an individual but also for a nation. But the principles have inspired me since I was a schoolgirl. Maybe I caught a whiff of India’s incense still wafting through?

This is the USA’s “semiquincentennial.” I love the title! It means we are halfway (semi) to the 500-year mark (quin-centennial). Yet longevity is not the goal.

Happiness, technically the “pursuit of happiness,” is the stated goal, along with life, liberty and equality. If you’re noticing that there are some bumps in the road, they are unfortunately part of the journey.  We’ve still got a ways to go.

Yes, we want happiness, along with life, liberty and equality. Yoga sees these, not as a goal,  but as the starting point for a greater objective. The true goal is yogic freedom — enlightenment. It is not something you attain by comparing yourself to others, not individually and not within groups. Called moksha, it is an inner state, a spacious quality of being that opens your mind and heart along with your breath and body.

Our tantric system focuses on your spiritual development while you live in the world. You go through the process of inner expansion while in the relationships you choose, in the actions and location of your choice.

Yet you get there by letting go, not by stockpiling people and things. I liken it to holding a butterfly on your palm. No squeezing! You must relax and breathe softly if you want it to stay. As a yogi, you do the practices that make you able to live in openness and ease. Yes, the road will still have some bumps in it, but you keep breathing all the way through.

You learn how to do this from those who know how. Like our Founding Fathers drew on time-honored principles, you follow the path laid out by those who succeeded in this visionary quest. Some of these yoga masters lived quiet lives, based in their Divine Essence, which enriched their life and those around them.

Only a few such Siddhas made themselves available by writing and teaching. They are our guides today. They make principles practical, approachable and accessible. They give you access to your own deeper dimensionality. This enriches your life more than any outer circumstances could provide. And you still will choose to live in a quiet place, in a land of plenty. You may even find you want to declutter, so the space in which you live matches the spaciousness inside.

And you step into life with clarity, arising from your inner freedom, seeing where you can make a difference and doing it. Yogis don’t need to withdraw from the world to protect their state. Yogis shine like the sun and find ways to share their light with the world — yes, with their family and friends, as well as standing up for the principles they believe in. That’s called politics, folks…

Are you contributing toward making the world better? It’s part of yoga.