By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell

Ashram Board President

Welcome to our year-end fundraiser — themed “The Gift of Grace.” 

I hope you will join me in yoga’s practice of dakshina (selfless financial giving). When you give back in gratitude for what you have received, you invoke Grace at the same time. 

Gurudevi Nirmalananda Saraswati, our Ashram’s spiritual head, explains that:

Grace is the fifth of God’s divine actions: creation, maintenance, destruction, concealment and revelation (grace).

Consciousness has contracted to become us by concealing our inherent Divinity.  This is our human condition.  Yet we are also given the decoder ring, known as Grace.  Receiving this gift, we can know our own Self. We can uncover the Divinity that has always been within, being us. 

Gurudevi is fueled by the light of Consciousness and she wants us to be as well. She tells us that you can receive Grace through teachings, satsangs, asana, meditation and more!  Grace is always there for us. What a gift.

I remember a time in my life when I was going through the loss of a friendship.  I was hurt deeply.  I worked during the day and chanted or repeated japa all evening.  

The Grace was there with me from the first note or mantra repetition.  It carried me through my tough time. Invoking Grace did not make the problem go away.  It helped me to accept it. It helped me to surrender to what was. What a gift.

Daily, I use the practices to invoke Grace to help clear the path to my own Self.  Gurudevi says, 

You need the Grace-fueled upliftment that shows you the scintillating energy of which you are made.

I am so grateful to have found Gurudevi and to have these tools available to me. I am grateful for her patience in showing me how to tap into Grace. I am grateful for receiving the experience of my Self. Yes — what a gift. So many gifts!

Has Gurudevi shown you how to invoke Grace? Have you had an experience of peace inside? Do you walk differently through life because of it?  Have you felt the upliftment of your own divine essence? 

Because I can gratefully answer “yes,” I donate to Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram. Through our donations, our Ashram can continue to help us uncover our light and shine it into the world.  What a gift! 

Please join me today in making your year-end donation to our Ashram in gratitude for the gifts you have received.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or send your check to Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown PA 19335.  Thank you again and again!

This is a key point in tantra.  It comes from the recognition that Shiva is being all.  Everything in the world and even everything in your mind is Shiva in disguise. So, what part of the world should you reject?  What part of you should you reject?  Certainly, your mind needs some conditioning, like a runner preparing for a marathon.  Your mind needs… 

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Celebrating Spiritual Greatness“

Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell, SVA Board President

It is my pleasure to introduce Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram’s fundraiser “Doorways to Your Self.” 

There are many ways to experience your Self, your Divine Essence.  One of them is dakshina (selfless financial giving).  Join me in giving to Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram. Bring yoga into your heart and wallet.

Gurudevi says:

If you do this yoga, you will come to know who you really are. It begins as brief glimpses, subtle knowings, inner impulses, flashes of insight and currents of bliss. They grow on you; they grow in you.

It is wonderful that there is not just one doorway to your own Self. You can access it many ways — Shaktipat, chanting, studying the sutras, mantra, asana (yoga), meditation and more.  I had the experience of Self in my first asana class, yet I could not put words to it. I felt different, like I was coming from a deeper place. Perhaps you have experienced it as well.  A dip into consciousness that left you feeling refreshed, joyful, deeper, more aware or embodied.

Recently, I have been experiencing my Self in the pause.  Particularly the pause when doing mantra repetition.  Between each mantra ( said out loud or silently), I pause.  I have found everything in the pause — joy, peace, contentment and more.

The feeling that arises when I think of all that Gurudevi has helped me uncover is gratitude.  Gratitude for her patient repetition of teachings, for creating Svaroopa^® Yoga, for helping me uncover what was already there by showing me the many doorways to my Self. 

If you have benefited from Svaroopa^® Yoga, please join me in supporting Gurudevi and Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram. Open the Dakshina Doorway to your own Self.  Please donate today. 

You can call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335.  Thank you again and again!

By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell, President 
Board of Directors 

The end of our “Tried and True” fundraiser is near.  I want to thank all of you who have donated.  If you have not donated yet, there is still time! 

I am so grateful to each of you for choosing to support our Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram, its teachers and teachings.  It is your donations that allow us to continue to bring our light into the world. 

I found this quote from Gurudevi: 

Take a moment, a few breaths and say thank you to your own heart.  In that moment of gratitude, you might even feel a feeling in your heart, a tangible feeling inside.

— “Exploring Your Heart,” February 2014 Teaching Article

When I practice this, I feel joy arising — the river of Grace.  Please try it and feel your heart expanding into the river of Grace.  This inner feeling is why Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram exists to support you in your journey inward. 

If you haven’t donated yet, consider doing so today.   You can call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335.  Thank you again and again! 

By Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman

Ashram Board Member

Our Ashram Fundraiser “Tried and True: Recipes for your Spiritual Journey” has begun. Please join me in making a donation today. 

Gurudevi describes herself as a modern-day representative of an ancient tradition. The yogic texts were written for monks living in monasteries. Yet Gurudevi makes these spiritual teachings relevant to us today. She shows us how to apply these ancient tried and true practices in our busy lives. And they work!

My yogic spiritual journey began with a referral to a Svaroopa^® yoga class from my physical therapist. I’d been cycling in and out of PT (physical therapy) for more than a year with chronic back pain. In my very first Svaroopa^® yoga class, my back felt better. I was so surprised!

Soon my teacher gave me a home practice to do. Right away I could feel the poses were more effective than the PT exercises. My mind was benefiting too. I felt a sense of overall well-being that motivated me to do more. 

I quickly found my way to a weekend workshop offered by Gurudevi. She generously answered my questions and offered context for the spiritual experiences I was undergoing. Twenty years later, my spiritual practices have expanded to include chanting, meditation, seva, dakshina and studying with my Guru. 

All of these practices are tried and true. They open you inward to the experiential knowing of your own Divine Essence. Ultimately, this experiential knowing can shift the world. What a great reason to be an Ashram Donor!

Donate today to our website.  You can call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335.  Thank You!

By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell, President Board of Directors

Asana, meditation, chanting, studying sacred texts — are these yoga practices reliable to make us feel better and to deepen us spiritually? I would say yes!

Can we bring them into our daily lives? Again, I would say yes! This weaving of yoga into life is tantra. It’s a recipe for living a spiritual life full of openings.

Dakshina, unconditional financial giving, is another practice that creates openings. Please join me in giving to our end-of-year fundraiser. Help Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram continue to share these practices with you and the world.

I can attest to what the practices have given me. Asanas (yoga poses) open my body and quiet my mind. And sometimes bliss arises. It could be the opening or closing Shavasana in a Svaroopa^® yoga class that does this, or it could be any of the poses in between. After Seated Side Stretch, your teacher has you pause for a moment. What do you feel? Are you sitting deeper in your seat? Do you feel more settled? Do you feel more open?

Gurudevi Nirmalananda’s teachings bring understanding to the experiences we have while doing the practices. Gurudevi explains in modern terms what is happening. She talks to us about the journey we are on, practices that will benefit us and where we can go.

This journey is not new to the 21st Century yogi. It is a journey that yogis have been on for ages. It is tried and true. It is the purpose of life — to know our own Self. It is the reason Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram exists — to serve seekers of Self-Realization.

Help Gurudevi and Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram continue to share the practices and teachings by giving today.

Donate today on our website. You can call us at (610) 644-7555. Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Thank You!

By Barbara (Girijananda) Hess, SVA Board Member

Yes, the light of Consciousness is contagious. I caught this “light contagion” the first time I met Gurudevi. 

I did not fully understand it.  But when I received this gift, I wanted to give back. I became a monthly donor and began supporting the semiannual fundraisers. Join me in offering financial support. 

Supporting the teachings and the teachers who bring them to you is a sacred practice. It’s called dakshina — unconditional financial giving. This sacred way to share your own light uplifts you. There is nothing better to do than to dedicate your actions to your own upliftment.  And it helps Gurudevi reach more seekers in search of a Great One. 

What she offers is contagious. It’s an ever-expanding process. After meeting her, I was expanding and wanting more.  Along with practicing dakshina, I started traveling to take courses with her. The effort I was putting toward studying and learning with a Great One sped me along my spiritual deepening.

Gurudevi says, “Like if you sit in the sun, you get warm. If you sit with the Guru, you get lit up on the inside. Why? Because your nature is light. When you spend time with one who lives in the light full time, you start to perceive your own.”  When you come to Lokananda for trainings or retreats, you feel this most strongly.

Have you caught the “light contagion?”  You are a yogi drawn to the Svaroopa^® Sciences which offer healing and transformation on many levels.  Arise! Awake! Learn!  And please participate in our fundraiser. You were born to share your transformation with the world, to let your inner bliss overflow into the world.

All that we do, we do for you. We appreciate your support more than you know.

Donate online or shoot us an email: donate@svaroopayoga.org.  Or send us a check: SVA, 116 E. Lancaster Ave, Downingtown PA 19335. Or give us a call and talk to a real person at 610.644.7555.