Join Gurudevi Nirmalananda for her FREE Wednesday evening chant and meditation program. With live music and printed words, you easily join everyone else in traditional yoga chanting.
After the chant, you’ll find meditating with a Master takes you deep effortlessly. It’s the best way to explore the inner dimensions of your own being. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced meditator, Gurudevi makes it easy as well as profound!
Gurudevi’s Wednesday satsangs are inspiring. My meditations are always deepened by her talk and her long chant. — Debbie M.
Online, this program is part of your Yoga Wednesday (bookends or full day). Or simply join us in-person in Downingtown PA.
Interviewed by Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna
Hearing Gurudevi Nirmalananda’s teachings on Swami Sundays is like getting a booster shot of the Self. Recently, Gurudevi said she’d received Shaktipat from her Baba over 200 times. And if he were still in his body, she’d still be getting Shaktipat from him. Hearing this filled me with an ongoing inspiration. If Gurudevi would still get Shaktipat, why wouldn’t I?
It had been a year since my last Shaktipat Retreat in 2021. My sadhana (personal practice) was neither moving forward nor moving me deeper within. Yet I knew Shaktipat could get me through whatever was keeping me blocked. Also, I felt a strong need to be in Gurudevi’s presence. So I signed up right away for the On-Site program last May.
Being surrounded by many deep yogis and swamis was so supportive. After I received Shaktipat, the swamis’ talks helped me understand the experiences I was having. For instance, in meditation, my thoughts can feel heavy. They are just words. But when I attach a story to them, they get me in the mud! But they are just words.
I also have a new appreciation for how Kundalini (meditative energy) works on my emotions. While in meditation, if an emotion comes up, I can sit with it and feel it. It has a purpose: Kundalini is burning through it. Since Shaktipat, I don’t have to pursue my emotions or thoughts in meditation. They no longer draw me out. Now experiencing them can draw me in deeper.
Swami Nirmalananda giving Shaktipat
Receiving Shaktipat has had a profound effect on my everyday life. I used to think enlightenment happened with a “boom” all at once! Now I see it is a process. I’m becoming more aware of a gradually deepening inner knowing. Gurudevi explains:
After Shaktipat, even when your mind returns to its familiar pattern, the deeper knowing is awakened and is always there.
Recently, I attended a street fair with my family. For some reason, I was getting more and more frustrated, annoyed and judgmental. I sat down on the curb and acknowledged my feelings. I began repeating mantra to myself. I could see what was happening as separate from my usual kneejerk reactions. I was able to stop my small-s self emotions. They couldn’t pull me where I didn’t want to go. Mantra shifted my state immediately. When I’m in capital-S Self, I can soften. I notice my relationships softening as well.
At the end of my Shaktipat Retreat, our assignment was to increase our meditation time. This felt challenging, as asana is always easier for me. Yet I am gradually working up to an hour. Now I really like meditation. I look forward to it every day. But it is my journaling that has changed the most. After meditation, Gurudevi always says, “Now is a good time to journal.” I used to stare at the blank page not knowing what to say after meditations. Now, the words just flow out of me! As Gurudevi promises, and through her Grace, I am still experiencing profound changes. They are ongoing, getting deeper and deeper, and better and better!
When you learn to teach others, you learn more deeply. Why does this happen? It’s because you care about helping other people, so you put more of yourself into your learning. When you put more of yourself in, you get more out of what you do. It’s true of everything in life and it works the same way in yoga. But what you get from yoga is more of your Self. By giving, you receive.
In Yoga Teacher Training (YTT), we make sure you know how to handle different kinds of bodies as well as different kinds of minds. When you put your new tools to work, and you really see how yoga works, you become ever more inspired. You truly can make a change in peoples’ lives.
I love watching new teachers transform. After your very first training, you begin teaching right away. Of course, when you do something a few times, you get better at it. The real surprise comes when you realize your own students are inspiring you.
They sleep better. They stand taller, walk stronger and breathe more deeply. They are less fazed by life’s surprises and more able to find answers that work. I remember the first time a student said to me, “My back doesn’t hurt anymore. I can pick up my grandchildren again.” She was delighted! So was I!
I decided to focus on teaching teachers over 30 years ago. I could see that the world needed more of what yoga offers even back then. It’s true now, too. I’ve trained over 3,000 teachers, from the beginning to advanced levels. When they share what they know, we are working together to transform and uplift the world.
Do you want to become a yoga teacher? Now is the time…
Bring a daily Ashram practice to your home with the Honored Guru Gita CD. Daily chanting of this essential text steeps you in Grace. Gurudevi’s guidance makes this practice accessible and joyful. The melody helps you find the rhythm of your breath and the Sanskrit words.
Free verse-by-verse pronunciation lessons are available online. In addition, all copies of the CD ordered in July come with a BONUS. You will receive a handout of the text, which includes Gurudevi’s English translation. You will be chanting the entire text in no time! Bring Honored Guru Gita into your home practice, and let Grace carry you deeper. Price: $19.95
Having grown up in America, freedom was an ideal that inspired me. As a kindergartener, I made pilgrim hats out of black construction paper, representing the Pilgrims who were seeking religious freedom. I was heartened by the preamble to the Constitution which I learned in third grade. It cites goals of union, justice, liberty and peace. Thus I was ready when I found yoga and learned that the goal is freedom. I felt an immediate resonance with it.
I didn’t understand what freedom was. As a teenager, I wanted a superficial freedom: an escape from my parents (seemingly) unreasonable demands and expectations. Once I started managing my own life, I wanted freedom to do what I wanted, as well as the freedom to do nothing at all if I chose. None of these are the freedom that yoga promises.
As important as freedom and social justice are, neither of these is yoga’s focus. Individual yogis may choose to focus there, as did Mahatma Gandhi in India 100 years ago. He successfully used yogic ideals as a launching pad for political goals. His work also inspired Rev. Martin Luther King in his world-changing mission.
Yogic freedom is an inner experience, not something you project into the world or ask of it. It is also called liberation. Consider this: if the goal is liberation, it means you are currently in bondage.
quora.com
Your bondage is internal. It’s about who you think you are compared to who you really are. These two fundamental principles of yoga are clearly summarized in the primary text of Kashmiri Shaivism.
Chaitanyam-aatmaa
Consciousness-Itself is your own Self.
J~naanam bandha.h
The not-knowing (of your Self) is bondage.
— Shiva Sutras 1.1-2
translation by Gurudevi Nirmalananda
These sutras define the mystical quest. Sutra 1 divulges the secret of your inherent Divinity. Sutra 2 explains that you don’t know your inherent Divinity. It’s a conundrum. It’s the cosmic game of hide and seek: you are hiding while you are also the one seeking your own Self. Like a dog chasing its tail, you go round and round for lifetimes.
This text guides you through a process that begins with Shaktipat, the initiation that activates the arising of Consciousness within you. After that, how long it takes for you to get enlightened is up to you. Your own blossoming forth is assured, just like daffodils that will bloom in the spring, but you don’t know when spring will come. The text gives you ways to push it along.
Join Gurudevi Nirmalananda for her Swami Sunday meditation program. She includes chanting, sutras and teachings from the ancient tradition as well as meditation instruction. Each step is not only effective but also delicious. Gurudevi’s traditional satsang format prepares you for a deep and easy meditation. Know your own Self better by the end of the morning.
Participating in the now familiar ritual of Swami Sunday guides my week, eases my mind, opens my heart, joins me to the community and settles me into my Self through the Grace of the Guru. — Peter G.
I am a devotee of Jesus Christ. I hadn’t understood how a Guru fit. When Gurudevi stood in front of me during the May Shaktipat Retreat, I knew. Her thumb on my third eye was a vast opening to Divine communion. There was no separation. I was an individual, but I experienced a state beyond the individual.
Meditation has always drawn me, but it has been somewhat elusive. During Shaktipat, I entered a deep place of meditation. Kundalini naturally straightened my posture as Gurudevi put her hand on me. My body was so still; I was immersed in a profound stillness. I was aware that I was in a body, but my awareness was beyond the body. The taste of that was absolutely incredible.
Even so, after we had received Shaktipat twice, I could feel myself contracting and fragmentation threatening. I did not want to lose this state of Grace. I went up to Swami Samvidaananda and asked to talk. The expansiveness of her words allowed my mind to rest in the experience of Shaktipat. Receiving Shaktipat synthesized Christian mysticism, yoga and all my experiences of the Divine. It went beyond any doctrine and was the unity of all that is Divine.
This is something I’ve been seeking a very long time. My relationship with Gurudevi goes back before 2006. I was simultaneously being drawn to the deep nature connection movement. In 2011, Gurudevi said I needed to make a choice. I had to choose between deepening my studies with her and continuing my nature mentoring focus; inside or outside.
A notice about Gurudevi’s December 2021 San Diego retreat called to me. It was partly due to some knee issues. But there was also something incomplete in having stepped away from her. Because of my decision to pursue nature connection in 2011, I asked Samvidaananda if it was alright to attend in La Jolla. She said, “All are welcome.”
The first night of the December retreat, I had a realization. My current yogic practice was not compatible with what Gurudevi was offering through Svaroopa® yoga. During the week, I experienced a tremendous place of fearless expansion. That retreat drew me to Shaktipat in May and brought me back into this yoga of bliss. It also gave me big appreciation for Gurudevi’s clear and practical advice. She guides us in flawlessly integrating yoga, family and spirituality.
After Shaktipat, I returned home to a lot of activity. I was aware of a lightness. It felt like I wasn’t carrying the karma I usually carry when I’m pushing my edge. Inside I found deep wisdom and clarity, accessible as needed. It felt like protection and guidance in every moment. Going within, I knew what to do on the outside. My gratitude is immense for this never-ending gift of Shaktipat. Offered by Gurudevi through the lineage of Svaroopa® yoga, this gift gave me an experience of my own Self.
I first took Svaroopa® yoga classes in 2000 — the same year I was invited to lead a workshop in China. I traveled to Tianjin, a northern industrial port. To face December subzero temperatures, I brought my long underwear and a big down parka. I also brought a small Sony tape recorder. I wanted to be able to listen to Gurudevi’s 1992 Shavasana audiotape, Relaxing: Cultivating Awareness. (I still listen to this tape today!)
The participants were scientists who advised national family planning policy. In our workshop, they were practicing leading teams and influencing stakeholders. I gave content and instructions through a translator. After the teams engaged in practice and held discussions, their responses were translated back to me. We engaged in these dialogues for many days. During each short break between sessions, I returned to my small hotel room. Exhausted and cold, I’d lie on my narrow bed. There I listened to Gurudevi’s voice on the tape as she led me into Shavasana.
Shavasana
After twenty minutes, Shavasana would restore my energy. I was then able to bring this energy back to the participants. They deeply appreciated the thinking that emerged from their work. I was invited to return to be their ongoing consultant. I was honored, but unable to commit to regular travel to China.
Returning to Boston, I continued to take weekly Svaroopa® classes. In 2007 I was privileged to attend Gurudevi’s Business of Yogacourse. It — and the business emerging from it — helped me establish my leadership development business.
Shortly afterwards, I was badly injured in a small plane crash. I broke fourteen bones and suffered three brain hemorrhages. I looked for every available modality that could heal me — from orthopedic surgery to energy work. My yoga teacher, Deborah Shapiro, kindly provided yoga therapy at my home. Svaroopa® yoga was key to my recovery.
During this time, I also worked with Gurudevi in phone courses. To accelerate my healing she encouraged me to start a daily Ujjayi practice. By 2008, I had recovered from my injuries and returned to in-person yoga classes. I also attended workshops with Gurudevi whenever she was in the New England area. I still saw myself as a weekly yoga student.
Fast forward to 2020, when my husband and I moved to Southwest Florida. There were no Svaroopa® yoga teachers within a hundred miles. Fortunately, I learned that I could take an online class at Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram. I began online yoga and meditation classes with Swami Prajñananda.
In January 2021, I underwent a complicated abdominal surgery. While recovering, I wrote a detailed letter to Gurudevi to let her know what was happening to me. She asked Brahmacharini Yogyananda to support me in restoring a daily Ujjayi practice. I was also supported in online yoga therapy with Swami Prajñananda. For the first time, I began my own daily yoga practice. In the spring, I was finally strong enough to participate again in a regular yoga class.
For many years, I had been contented with taking weekly Svaroopa® yoga classes. But my 2021 experiences have shown me that Svaroopa® yoga provides so much more. It is a reliable portal to deeper spiritual experiences. To learn more about yogic philosophy, I took Gurudevi’s Year-Long Programme (YLP). She took us through a deep inquiry about Being, Light and Bliss.
Gurudevi’s straightforward words conveyed a spiritual reality that I could hear and touch. She spoke to each student with great care and attention. At the same time, she was not hesitant in delivering challenging messages from an ancient body of wisdom.
During my YLP study, Gurudevi told me to read Baba Muktananda’s book, Play of Consciousness. Now I read from this spiritual autobiography daily. Like Gurudevi, Baba is eloquent in describing what it’s like to see God from within — as your own Self.
In November 2021, I decided to receive Shaktipat from Gurudevi. This was a big decision for me, but I felt ready to make it. After I received Shaktipat, my meditations immediately got deeper. Now in meditation I actually experience God within me. I am also beginning to understand the importance of being in the Guru’s presence. I appreciate her teachings in the weekly online Swami Sunday. They help me stay in touch with who I really am.
Looking back, I am so grateful to Gurudevi for “being” with me in China twenty-one years ago. Shavasana breaks led by her filled me with Grace. She supported me to support scientists who were advising a country of a billion people. I now see that those scientists and I were all interacting from Self.
I am grateful for Gurudevi’s contributions to my health, as well as to my endeavors to make my contribution in this world. But the key thing I am grateful for is her resolute commitment to sharing our lineage based in Kashmir Shaivism. Her commitment brings me access to Grace in my life on all levels. For this I do not have sufficient words of gratitude.
I told my husband I was going to God. He asked me if I was planning on dying. I said, ”No, through the Guru’s Grace I can go to Him while I am still living!”
I enrolled in the October Shaktipat Retreat only because Gurudevi came to me in a dream. It was about a week before it was to begin. I took the dream as a sign that I couldn’t let this opportunity go by.
Since 2012, I’d taken six in-person Shaktipat Retreats. Each was powerful in a unique way. My late decision to attend Shaktipat meant I had to opt for online. My experience was unexpectedly profound. In fact, it has proved to be a turning point for me on the Self-Realization path.
When Gurudevi gave Shaktipat by will, my head filled with light. A sense of infinite wholeness expanded from within my whole being. Physical boundaries dissolved. Inside and outside were the same. I recognized that infinite wholeness as me — my own Self. The meditation following was filled with light and bliss.
Turning my focus inward now, as I write, I find again an enormous, ineffable lightness. It is interwoven with grandeur and divine ecstasy. This experience marked a wonderous turning point. Paradoxically, however, it is more subtle than grand. It’s a shift to a quiet perspective — a plain, enduring clarity. It feels infinitely deeper than ecstasy. I feel the Divine Is-ness of all, inside and outside, no matter the circumstances.
The same weekend as Shaktipat, I lost my Norwegian Forest cat, Jay. Eleven years ago, he was found as a nearly wild stray kitten. Rescued, he learned to live as an indoor/outdoor cat. Jay had an unvarying routine. He spent his days sleeping in sun patches on my office floor or on my lap at the computer. At night, he left through the pet door for feline revelry outdoors. Without fail, he returned precisely at 5:30 am as morning meditation closed.
I last saw Jay on the day before my Shaktipat Retreat began. I had to move office furniture around to ensure Jay couldn’t get into my adjacent yoga room. Spooked by the hubbub, he bolted out and never returned. On Sunday afternoon following the retreat, his fur was found in tall grass. There was evidence of struggle with a coyote. Several years ago, he had encountered a Bobcat, and won that battle. But this past summer, Jay was no longer able to jump from the floor to my lap. Clearly, aging had slowed him down.
I feel the heaviness of his loss. Yet when I turn more deeply inward, the lightness of Is-ness shimmers. From there, I see that Jay experienced a different return. He retuned into the Formless. This transition was inevitable on all levels. His wild nature was a particular form of Pure Consciousness. He lived aligned with his natural instincts. His end was simply a natural outcome. This simple yet profound clarity arises from my Shaktipat turning point. I see “appropriateness” inside and outside.
Constantly experiencing this Is-ness sustains a clear perspective. Assisting Gurudevi in the Shaktipat Retreat, Swami Satrupananda gave a talk on kriyas. When awakened by a Shaktipat Guru, Kundalini uncoils from her sleep at the base of your spine. Just as it’s the nature of heat to rise, Kundalini climbs the spine. When her upward flow runs into blockages, kriyas happen. These spontaneous physical movements and movements of thought and emotion indicate that Kundalini is awake. Gurudevi reminds us that, once awakened, Kundalini is doing our work for us. But we need to cooperate.
When pesky thoughts arise in daily meditation now, I know them as evidence of awakened Kundalini. She tirelessly, lovingly does her job, clearing the limiting stuff of lifetimes. I meet these currents of thought with mantra. I bow to all. I know they are the divine action of Kundalini within me. I know I must attend to my mind’s engrained patterns. Having received the gift of Shaktipat, I follow Gurudevi’s guidance on mantra repetition and meditation to dissolve those patterns.
Doing so is my way of honoring Gurudevi’s incalculably precious gift, the blessing of her Grace. It returns to me again and again the knowing of my own Self — the One Self Being All. With that knowing, there is nothing to fear and nothing to mourn.
Though my professional career was in banking, I’ve trained to teach yoga as a Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher. Born in Sri Lanka, I was brought up in a yogic culture. I have always been interested in spirituality. While growing up, I studied the Hindu scriptures in school. On my own, I read many books on these ancient yogic teachings. I learned that they advise us repeatedly on the importance of the Guru on the spiritual path:
Only through a Guru can you understand the Vedas. [translated by Swami Mukundananda in his commentary on Bhagavad Gita 4.34]
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna states the importance of the Guru:
tad viddhi praṇipaatena paripra”snena sevayaa upadek.syanti te j~naanaṁ j~naaninas tattva-dar”sina.h. — Bhagavadgita 4.34
Learn the Truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him with reverence and render service unto him. Such an enlightened Saint can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the Truth. [translated by Swami Mukundananda, Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God]
Yet even though the scriptures talk about finding a Guru, I wasn’t interested in finding one. Then everything changed the first time I met Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati. I knew that I was in the presence of someone who had an extraordinary understanding of the teachings of yoga. Her skill at explaining these deep and profound teachings was exceptional. I realized I had been engaged in a “do it to yourself” spiritual process. Just reading about the great yogic teachings couldn’t give me experiential knowing.
After meeting Swami Nirmalananda, whom we affectionately call Gurudevi, I didn’t just want to teach yoga. I wanted to live yoga. I am forever grateful. It was truly transforming. That’s when I realized that having a Guru is more than important. This relationship is essential.
If you wanted to climb Mt. Everest and make it to the top, would you do it on your own? No, you would need a guide. You would need to be with someone who knows the way and would guide you. Gurudevi is my guide for the spiritual journey inside. Every step of the way, she is supporting me in scaling the heights. Yes, that is why I became a disciple of my Guru. God’s greatest gift has been bringing me to the feet of my Gurudeviji.
Having a Guru is essential because the human soul is clouded by ignorance from countless lifetimes. We don’t know the truth of who we are. We don’t know our Divine Essence. We need to receive this experiential knowing from a Self-Realized being who embodies the Absolute Truth. One cannot overcome their ignorance simply by their own effort. A person’s self-effort is essential. But without Guru’s Grace, individual effort is like a bird with one wing.
I was captivated by Gurudeviji’s unique capacity for teaching. She enables us laymen to understand the high philosophies of the ancient teachings. Her delivery of these great teachings suits the century that we live in. As I grew up, I felt one attained Self-Realization — liberation — only after living righteously for many more lifetimes. It seemed unattainable in my current life.
When I heard Gurudevi say that you can realize the Self in this lifetime, she certainly got my attention. Not only does she say it, she also leads us by being a living example. I am grateful to Gurudeviji for being the light dispelling the darkness, For that, I bow again and again!
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