Of course, you can have a breakthrough on a vision quest in nature, or in a dream. Maybe not a piece of chocolate. But anything, potentially anything can stop your mind and let your inherent Divinity peek through. How great it is. Or rather, how great it was…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Guru’s Grace“
Attending Gurudevi’s satsangs, you get her profound teachings, delicious opportunities to chant and guidance to easily slip into meditation.
Her meditation programs are Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. You deepen inward, enjoy a rich experience and learn how to understand it.
Wednesday July 9th is a unique opportunity to dive especially deep. We will be celebrating Guru Purnima. This holy day occurs on the biggest full moon of the year, and is dedicated to honoring your spiritual teacher.
As a Meditation Master, Gurudevi Nirmalananda makes herself available as Grace Personified. She gives us a way to tap into our own svaroopa most easily. On Sunday, July 13, her teachings and chants will focus on honoring and celebrating her own Guru.
The Ashram’s Vowed Order will be on retreat during with this celebration. You’ll be joining these deeply committed yogis, whether you come in person or online. They’ve travelled from near and far to sit and bow at the feet of their Guru. You will feel the amped up power of Guru Purnima!
Inspired to learn more about our Vowed Order? Sign up for Gurudevi’s free Vows Info Call to ask all your questions!
You know, in the beginning most people use mantra to calm themselves when they’re upset. How great that it works for you. You can calm yourself. You can get centered again when you’ve been thrown off center. Yes, use mantra for this. But consider, what if you did mantra when you didn’t “need” it? If it will give you your Self when…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “I Got It!“
By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar
Within the Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram community, I am a Sadhaka. This means I am committed to doing Svaroopa® yoga practices daily. Recently, I found myself challenged to do so. I was in pain as I began recovering from a recent surgery.
A Svaroopa® yoga friend suggested I listen to the “Long Guided Awareness” track on the Experience Shavasana with Gurudevi Nirmalananda album. This had been helpful for my friend’s husband in coping with a chronic illness.
When I listen to this Guided Awareness, the muscles around my surgical incision relax. This release allows me to participate more fully in other Svaroopa® yoga practices, including Ujjayi breathing, mantra and meditation.
Another yogi friend suggested that I practice Easy Breathing. For guidance, I turned to Gurudevi’s album Mystical Yogic Breathing. When I listen to track three, “Easy Open Breathing,” I’m able to release constrictions around my abdomen and chest exacerbated by surgery. When I release these tensions, I benefit more fully from Ujjayi breathing. I practice it on my own for 30 minutes at a time and find it especially healing.
All Mystical Yogic Breathing tracks give me new teachings about the healing power of yogic breathing. I can use them in my daily practice. When I listen to these CDs and apply their lessons, I experience the bliss of Consciousness moving through me. This reduces my pain and enlivens my body and my mood. What a gift in the midst of a long recovery!
When you look for others’ opinions to make you feel good about you, it’s called other-worth, not self-worth. It’s a deeper sense of self that you need. And when you uncover this deeper sense of self, you still…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Words of Power“
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Growing up, I was confused. My schoolteachers said, “Do your best.” But when I finished the assignment in 10 minutes, they would tell me to go back to my seat and redo it. Confusing!
In church, they told me to have faith. I couldn’t figure out how to believe in something I couldn’t see and that had no scientific proof. At home, my family said, “We love you.” Then they followed up with, “Be good so we can love you.” But if I have to be good for you to love me, then you don’t love me when I’m bad. So, what is love?
It took me decades to figure out that the problem wasn’t me. What I needed was better teachers. Searching far and wide, I found that only yoga gave me teachings I could trust and a teacher I could rely on. Better yet, I was given genuine upliftment as well as practical ways to better myself.
Yoga’s teachings and practices come from the ancient sages of India. Their inward focus shows the way to your inherent wholeness and holiness. It is the only thing that ever fulfilled me.
J~nanam annam. – Shiva Sutra 2.9
Self-Knowing is the only real nourishment, that which gives satisfaction.
Your experiential knowing of your own Self is the only thing that truly feeds you. When you apply your mind to lesser truths, you are left feeling half-empty, still looking for something more. In the inner knowing of your own Beingness, all frustrations and disappointments fade away. The light of Consciousness fills you from the inside out.
Yoga’s profound teachings resonate with something deep inside. It’s like tuning forks — when one is struck, the other also rings. True teachings touch your soul and deeper, all the way to your own Self.
Once you have experienced your inner infinity, your old ideas of yourself cannot hold you. Thus this sutra also has a second meaning:
Limited knowledge is to be digested.
These differing translations arise from the ambiguity in the word j~nanam (nya-nam). While it means knowledge, it can refer to…
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
It’s gone. I cannot remember the pain anymore. Shaktipat blasted me out of it.
It took a while for me to understand what I truly had gotten, and now I can’t remember the way it used to be. I remember events, names and places – but my memory of the pain is gone.
The pains and patterns that had defined so much of my life are gone. It’s like lighting a candle in a dark room – the dark cannot remain.
Yes, I am grateful. Beyond mere gratitude, I owe my life to my Guru, just as it says in Shree Guru Gita:
Guror aaraadhana.m kaarya.m sva-jiivitva.m nivedayet. — verse 27
Honor and worship the Guru. Dedicate your whole life to him.
Yes, I honor and worship my Guru. He made it easy to see the Divine in him. Better yet, he made it easy to see the Divine in me. That’s the whole point; that is what the Satguru does by giving Shaktipat. Who else gives so great a gift? I have found it nowhere else.
Yes, I dedicate my life to my Baba. There is nothing for me to desire, nothing to seek that would be better than what I’ve got. Baba gave me — me. And authorized me to share his gift with you. I serve him by serving you. Thank you for allowing me to give what he gave.
Jai Muktananda!
You can be so entrenched in your patterns and habits, even in your ideas about who you are that you don’t let the fire of Consciousness burn away your limitations. Chanting helps with this. Vichara, our guided self-inquiry process, helps with this. Japa, mantra repetition, helps. And…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Changing Your Past“
Yoga says, “Look inward.” 👀
It doesn’t mean that you stop doing things, but that you find who you are while you’re doing them. What you find is your own Self.
Your early experiences of Self are peace, creativity and happiness. ☮😄 And then it gets better.🕯
The experience of your own Self, as you learn…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “How to Find Happiness“
May 31st is Gurudevi Nirmalananda’s Shaktipat Anniversary. She celebrates this holy day by sharing deep teachings honoring her Guru, Swami Muktananda.
Gurudevi explains that this day is the anniversary of her birth into Self, more important than the day on which she was born into this world.
She takes this opportunity to share the depth of her heart and the wealth of what she has received from her Guru, saying:
How can I begin to express my gratitude for His gift. He gave me to me.
For the satsang nearest May 31st, Gurudevi’s discourses are traditionally a tribute to Baba Muktananda. She includes deep teachings about the power of Shaktipat and shares her personal experience of receiving Shaktipat from Baba Muktananda.
You may also observe this holy day by renting any Deep Teachings Videos of past Swami Sundays near May 31st. Most recent, “The Guru’s Qualifications” is her discourse for the Swami Sunday on May 29 2024.
Recounting her time living in Baba’s Ashrams, she tenderly portrays his serene and compassionate service. Her presentation of her personal journey of upliftment is both profound and lighthearted, portraying the unique qualifications of a Shaktipat Guru. You gain an understanding of the rare and great blessings of such a spiritual master.
This year, she celebrates her Shaktipat Anniversary in her Swami Sunday on June 1st. Be sure to register for online before 6pm EDT on Saturday, May 31st.
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
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