Your mind is made of cosmic Consciousness but mixed with your individual prana. Which means your mind accesses only a limited part of Consciousness, only as much as your prana allows. And that means when you’re low on prana, your mind is dying on the vine. So, your mind brings up all the threatening things that could happen, or have happened, giving you thoughts that match…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Prana – Life Energy“
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Discover a whole new dimension to your own being and learn tools that help you bring that into your life.
The profound inward path of Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation begins with Shaktipat.
Receiving this initiation from Gurudevi opens inner access to the powerful flow of meditative energy within you.
Her teachings support you in understanding the goal — knowing your own Self. And you learn how to manage the enlightenment process along the way.
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I felt an enormous rush of heat moving up from the base of my spine. Then a vision of pure white light also rushed up my spine. I melted into a supreme state of bliss. — Elena P.
My experience was sublime. When Gurudevi touched my forehead, I was infused with mantra. I felt this go from between my eyebrows and land with a slight jolt just below my navel. I have experienced subtle changes ever since. 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. — Ellan C.
It is your soul, purusha, that reincarnates from one lifetime to the next. Shaktipat gives you freedom from the cycle of lifetimes, freedom from the limitation of feeling separate from others, freedom from the feeling of being separate from God. For God is being you, and me, and everyone and everything. When you look all the way inward, you find…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Body, Mind & More“
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
You have earned your current condition. Yoga calls this your bhava, meaning your state of mind and body as well as the circumstances of your life and status of your relationships.
You have invested your time and energy into getting what you’ve got, which includes the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s called karma-phala, the repercussions of your prior actions.
This is karma-bhumi, the world of action. Bhumi means land, literally earth, also referring to our planet. Karma means action. You must have a body to exist in this plane. Having a body means you are propelled into action.
This plane of existence is based in perpetual motion. Even if you decide to abstain from external activity, your mind keeps going. The key question is — what is your motivation for any of your actions? Your motivation determines what your karmic repercussions are.
Being a good person is a primary motivator for most people. They will forego pleasures in order to take care of their loved ones and handle other obligations. The Bhagavadgita, an ancient yogic text, focuses on you being a yogi while fulfilling your dharma — your roles and responsibilities.
Classical yoga systems begin with morality and ethics. The yamas and niyamas are lifestyle practices that clean up your act. My Baba summarized them succinctly:
They are nothing but rules of self-control: living a regular and disciplined life, going to bed and getting up punctually, talking less, speaking the truth and eating only as much as you can digest. Now who in the world doesn’t need these rules?
When I met Baba, I hadn’t been following the rules. I had invested years in breaking every rule I could find. As a teenager in the 1960’s, I took rebellion seriously. Fortunately, tantra is for everyone. Even if your lifestyle isn’t yogic and your karma is a bit messy…
I describe it this way: you are more than what the world tells you that you are. You are more than you think you are. You discover who and what you really are, oh Shiva, by looking within. And you still live in the world. You still have experiences, but they don’t make you who you are. Now, based in Self, you draw on Divine intelligence within to guide…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Self-Mastery“
You are not your body. You have a body. Your body is not who you are. Everyone identifies with their body. If they are coughing and sneezing, they say, “I have a cold,” or “I have allergies.” If you change your words and say, “My body has a cold,” or “My body has allergies,” you might actually….
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Physical Condition“
Join Gurudevi as she honors her spiritual roots on her 80th birthday. Two special events are planned!
On the day before her birthday, Gurudevi will do a special fire ceremony, only for 80-year-olds. Sahasrara Chandra Darshanam celebrates that she has lived through 1,000 full moons. It conveys gratitude, longevity and spiritual maturity.
On her birth anniversary, Gurudevi will participate in the morning ceremonies for Nityananda in his temple. She has done this several times before, and says:
I am grateful to be able to honor Nityananda in such an intimate and personal way. This ceremony always gives me the feeling I had when sitting with my Baba. What a glorious way to honor my Baba — by honoring his Baba.
You are invited to join her. You will sit at her feet just as she sat at the feet of her Guru. The transformative effects of her teachings and practices will be amplified.
Golden Jubilee
Begins Monday November 9
You will dive deep into Consciousness with Gurudevi each day. Sutra discourses, chanting and meditation prepare you for profound transformation. Svaroopis who have travelled with her to Ganeshpuri attest to this:
Gurudevi already has us on the fast track to enlightenment. Being in Ganeshpuri with her adds a turbo boost. The power and Grace in every square inch of Ganeshpuri adds to what she already gives. — Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi
Sitting with Gurudevi in my home over Zoom is awesome. Sitting at Gurudevi’s feet at Lokananda, I am enveloped in Grace. Sitting at Gurudevi’s feet in India is being transported to the land of Grace, to the Heart of Being. I’ve been to Ganeshpuri with Gurudevi twice. Nothing surpasses sitting with her in the powerful, mystical presence of her Guru and his Guru. This is truly a sacred journey of a lifetime.
— Lori (Priya) Kenney
By Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain
Why travel to the other side of the world to sit with your Guru? After all, you can come to Downingtown, or you can watch her on Zoom — so why India?
It’s Gurudevi’s Jubilee, the celebration of her 50 years of teaching. Come to honor one who has taught thousands of yogis how to know their own Self and reside in bliss. Come to spend these exceptional days with her.
Gurudevi’s purpose has never wavered. This purpose was nourished in Ganeshpuri, her Guru’s hometown and Ashram. She lived in this little, remote rural village when she was in her late twenties! What courage that must have taken! What a visionary she was, even then.
There she sat, day after day, marinating in Swami Muktananda’s state. Today, we are the blessed beneficiaries of her endeavors. This is reason enough for me to fly to India in November: to celebrate my Guru’s life and her achievement.
To honor her for all she has bestowed upon me, to be at her feet, in the very place she sat at her Baba’s feet — I consider this a most holy pilgrimage. And a celebration of my own Self.
Come to Ganeshpuri. You, too, will receive the spiritual nourishment of a lifetime: mystical and grounding, all at the same time!
Your existence is concentrated right now in this body, this life. But your existence is that which has always existed, even before this body existed. You existed before you were born. You will exist beyond this body’s ability to sustain your presence in this form. Your own existence is the one existence that has…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Tantric Systems“
By Swami Samvidaananda
Your yoga poses make it so easy to meditate. Peace, deep stillness, quietude, joy, expanding bliss — this is how students have described their meditation at the end of their Yoga + Meditation class.
Again and again, they share how deep their meditation was, and how easy it was to meditate. They share how comfortable they were in their seats. They say they felt like they could sit and meditate forever.
This is the purpose of all yoga poses: to make it easy for you to sit for meditation. Gurudevi gives this teaching again and again. It was one of the first lessons I received in my first yoga teacher training, 27 years ago.
We learned a seated pose, we did a sequence of Svaroopa® yoga’s signature core-opening poses, and then we sat in the same seated pose again.
What happened? To start, I was more comfortable. Aches had melted away. I settled into an easy uprightness. I was so surprised and delighted by how easy it was to sit that I ran up to Gurudevi after class to share: “You said let it be easy and it was!”
As your body settles and stills, your mind can settle and still as well. As you settle into your seat, you settle into your Self, your Divine Essence, your Beingness.
The easy stillness of your body is a doorway inside to your Self. Peace, stillness and joy — this is just the beginning of what you find as you delve into your divine, multidimensional depths.
Your yoga poses make this so easy, so accessible. That’s why we offer several Yoga + Meditation classes a week. This is the reason that many Svaroopa® yoga teachers offer Yoga + Meditation series. They combine an hour of asana (poses) followed by seated meditation preparation and a nice long meditation.
You’ll discover right away how the purpose of the poses is to make you able to sit for meditation. You’ll dive effortlessly deeper. Check out our Global Calendar to find a Yoga + Meditation class at a time that works for you.
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
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