Excerpt from Telecourse by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Your mental and emotional state affects your relationships, your work and even your health.

Emotional pain and psychological needs can be what motivated you to start yoga, but everything changes when you discover what you really get — your capital-S Self.

The bliss of the Self is far greater than any blissful sensory experience. The depth at which you live, within yourself, is more meaningful than anything outside of you can provide. While the Svaroopa^® practices improve your psychology, they’re not about psychology. They’re about enlightenment.

Yet, on the way to enlightenment, you become a better person, a happier person, more understanding, more generous, more genuinely present in everything you do. But if your goal is to be better, happier, understanding, etc., you’ll settle for too little. Wearing the clothes, wearing the jewelry and wearing the mask of spirituality just freezes you into another superficial sense of self

Yoga’s spirituality is for a purpose. Just like a car’s purpose is to provide you with reliable transportation, not to give you an identity. For example, I’m now driving my 6th Honda over the years, but I don’t have the identity of being a Honda owner.

The Guru keeps you on track, if you let yourself be seen. Many Svaroopis keep a careful distance from me, because they know that, if they come, I’ll see how they are and where they’re at. Of course! I care about you! If you’re stuck in your stuff, do I want to leave you there?

Excerpt from Leaps & Bounds, Module 2

By Elena (Lila) Perri

I took my first Shaktipat Retreat in May 2022.  That retreat and the two following opened me more and more to the power of mantra and meditation.  My fourth Shaktipat Retreat was last September. 

After we chanted the Guru Gita, I felt Kundalini moving upward promptly in meditation.  I felt her hitting blocks and triggering thoughts related to difficult relationships.  I sent forgiveness to all.  This allowed Kundalini to fly up more powerfully and expansively. It was an intensely strong realization of the power of forgiveness. 

When our Swami Nirmalananda gave the first Shaktipat, I felt Kundalini rising into my heart.  She began to meet some resistance.  I experienced physical movements, spontaneous bucking as Kundalini continued her upward journey.  

Suddenly, I began to sob uncontrollably.  Tears followed as I cried silently for no apparent reason. I was in a timeless space. Then as quickly as the sobbing and tears started, they abated.  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. 

Gurudevi gave Shaktipat again in the afternoon.  Again, Shaktipat opening blessed me with the same state of bliss.  I received profound knowing and realization.  No material pursuit, activity or endeavor renders bliss.  I have experienced bliss only through Shaktipat openings.  

A Shaktipat Retreat is a deep dive into blissful communion with Self.  Time stands still.  All worldly experiences pale in comparison.   I am grateful to Gurudevi for her service, Grace and the most precious gift of Shaktipat. 

This gift has changed my life.  I am now grounded in what I have always yearned for.   The more I sit in Self, the more Self is being one with Self.  I feel the freedom to be there and allow Kundalini to move through me.  After the meditation, I feel unburdened of the distractions of life that I hadn’t realized I carried.