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You find your inner compass that always points you to where you want to go. You get the inner answers to your questions about your life’s purpose.
While your worldly processes are enhanced, you move toward enlightenment. This combination is the hallmark of tantric mysticism.
This is how you use your senses. You get them running around outside — looking this way, looking that way, listening to the sounds, aware of smells as well as the temperature of the air around you. It’s like your senses are roaming out there looking for something that…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Ten Senses“
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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Don’t beat people up with your spirituality!
If you were truly a sannyasi (spiritual adept), you would watch the football game with them, serving them by sharing the time with them.
The feeling that you don’t want to be there means you haven’t yet renounced your desire to separate yourself from others, nor your desire to choose your own pleasurable activities. Sannyasa is when you know, “If no one was home, I would meditate, but they are home, so I am going to sit with them.” Sannyasa is renunciation, not rejection and not abandonment.
The good news is that you don’t have to be a sannyasi in order to become Self-Realized! Neither do you have to be initiated as a sannyasi, nor do you have to wait until you age into it. Gurudevi says, “My Baba often taught about the householder-saints in yoga. You can become Self-Realized today in the life you are already living. You have my permission and my blessing.”
How do you weave your spirituality into the stage of life you currently inhabit? You begin with accepting the stage you are in. The bottom line is, “Be Here Now.”
You can focus on “Be,” which is the ultimate mystical Knowingness of who you are. Or you can focus on “Now,” a popular way of pointing you inward toward your own spiritual essence. But you also have to focus on “here.” You are in the stage of life that you are in. Enjoy it.
Live a spiritual life and progressively deepen your spiritual practices. This is a beautiful life.
Excerpt from A Yogic Lifestyle, pages 243‒244
Develop your understanding of the Guru through the teachings in Shree Guru Gita – now sung in English!
Gurudevi Nirmalananda has completed her versification of the text, rendering the Sanskrit words in modern English. And she recorded so it is easy to sing along for a profound inner opening.
This inner opening is the purpose of the chant as well as the purpose of having a Guru.
She sings it, ending with her English version of Jyota se Jyota, the poem of praise and gratitude that honors her Baba. The words are in her companion book, “Sacred Songs: Chants of Svaroopa® Yoga.”
By Ellan (Shanti) Catacchio
I have received Shaktipat from Gurudevi Nirmalananda many times over the years.
Each one is different yet the same. After the immediate and unique experience of receiving Shaktipat, changes manifest over time.
My most recent immediate experience was sublime. When Gurudevi touched my forehead, I was infused with mantra. I felt this go from between my eyebrows (aj~na chakra) to my third chakra (manipura). It landed with a slight jolt just below my navel.
I have experienced subtle changes ever since. Mantra is more present in my life, often running through the background of my day. I am doing more out spoken japa before meditation and at the end of the day. This, of course, brings me closer to Consciousness, closer to God, within.
I approach my practices with a deeper sense of reverence and calm, which I can carry through the day now. I am more open and accepting than I was. While I am aware of these changes in retrospect, they happened to me gradually over time. Though I am grateful for them, I did not deliberately plan or work on attaining them.
With another opportunity to receive Shaktipat this year, I’m planning to attend. It is important to me to keep the gift of Guru’s Grace flowing. This helps me to get closer to being ME.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Your senses pull you outward in a constant search for bliss. But the bliss is inside. Crazy-making?
Fortunately, these two things work together. They are perfectly paired to keep you in bondage and delusion. By contrast, yoga sets you free.
I experienced the power of the senses with the scent of honeysuckle. I was walking briskly but a cloud of fragrance stopped me in my tracks. I stood there and breathed it in. Motionless for a long while, I felt deeply centered and peaceful. It is a mild state of bliss.
When I opened my eyes, I turned outward again, looking around to find the source. After that, every time I walked through there, I paused and sniffed the air to see if the honeysuckle was blooming. I looked outward for honeysuckle, thinking it was the source of my bliss. But what really happened is that delicate fragrance stilled my mind so I experienced the bliss that is always inside.
Your senses are always scanning outward: your eyes, your ears, your nose, your tongue and whole-body sensation. Think of it like a radar screen, with your senses looking for the little blip — looking for something you will enjoy.
The word enjoy could be spelled in-joy. That’s really what you want — to be in joy. I wish for you that your whole life be joy-filled. But that will happen only when you find the source of joy. It doesn’t come from outside.
When you in-joy something, it’s because inner joy is arising to fill you. To live a joy-filled life, tap into the inner source of joy so it fills you all the time. What is this source? It is your own Self, your inherent Divinity. The yogic sage Patanjali explained this over 2,000 years ago…
Delicious, nutritious vegetarian food, with lots of plant-based protein — Gurudevi shows you how to cook & eat as a yogi.
Zoom from your kitchen into her Ashram kitchen, you learn to feed yourself consciously.
She draws on yoga, Ayurveda and scientific nutritional guidelines. Improved health as well as pleasure and (most importantly) spiritual development are in your future.
Enrollment is limited, so everyone can participate in the discussions as well as get personalized support and recommendations.
By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar
I love this chant! Gurudevi sings the lively chant “Na Shivam” with a group in a call and response format.
The chant repeats the sutra “na shivam vidyate kvachit.” It is lively and engaging, and easy to sing along to. It makes my steps lighter. The beat feels like a heartbeat, and I dance to it as I work around the house.
Gurudevi translates the verses into English:
There is nothing that is not Shiva!
There is nowhere that is not Shiva!
As she pointed out in a recent discourse, the lines are worded as “double negatives.” In chanting this double negative, we become present to the “everything” that is Shiva, the One Reality — Self — being you and being me and everything else in the universe!
Everything that I see is HE!
Everything that I see is ME!
Then the refrain Shiva Shiva Shiva Shiva Shiva! is sung out with great enthusiasm.
Listening to this chant will lighten your step and invoke in you the feeling of the all-pervasiveness of Shiva. And it will bring you closer to Shiva within — your own Self.
By Rosemary (Rudrani) Nogue, Yogaratna
Swami Sunday and Wednesday Satsang are magnificent Guru gifts. I am thankful that both satsangs are easily accessible online. I live far from the Ashram (like many of you). From the first 2020 online Swami Sunday to today, I’ve cherished these lifelines to Guru’s Grace.
Recently, I travelled to Downingtown and participated in person in two Swami Sundays and two Wednesday Satsangs at Lokananda. There were similarities between online and in person. Gurudevi’s inspiring talks always resonate and offer what I need to hear (again). I always feel that each talk is the best talk ever! Gurudevi helps me slide into easy, deep meditations whether I’m online or in person.
Still, there were wonderful upgrades to being with my Guru in person. Arriving early at the meditation hall gave me the opportunity to prepare myself to receive more. I settled into the undeniable energy and repeated mantra.
Upon Gurudevi’s arrival, I bowed with my hands together in front of my heart (Anjali Mudra). I felt seen. Group chanting immersed me in a delicious surround-sound. During darshan I rested my head on Gurudevi’s feet. Upon sitting up, Guru and Self were One.
Gurudevi answered a personal question and blessed my sacred object. Prasad was sweet. During the gathering in Lokananda’s café area, I shared, listened, and learned from others’ experiences of Swami Sunday. Another of Gurudevi’s brilliant offerings!
Being with Gurudevi gave me an openhearted experience of being “here” within. My Grace receiving capacity expanded while my reverence for Gurudevi and Self deepened.
I look forward to returning soon. Gurudevi always offers more when I am ready.
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
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