By Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver, Yogaratna

Member, SVA Board of Directors

The Svaroopa^® Sciences practices are like glittering gems.  On their own, they sparkle.  When you do more of them, YOU sparkle.  It’s because these gems are infused with the scintillating Grace of the Masters of our tradition.

Sparkling and shining with the Light of Consciousness, it’s easy to feel open-hearted and generous. Many of you have donated to our fundraiser, Body, Mind, Heart and More. And many of you have increased your monthly pledge.  And if you haven’t yet donated, there is still time!

We’re fortunate to have found a system of yoga and meditation that gives us so many doorways inside.  Our system of yoga and meditation is led by a living Meditation Master. She has the key to set us free . Ours is a mystical tradition. Gurudevi Nirmalananda unlocks access to your own Self.  Then she hands you the keys.  You can propel yourself all the way to enlightenment, if that is your goal.

Your goal could be continuing to feel better as well as to enjoy life more by taking yoga classes.  That’s terrific. Or you may want to shed the layers wrapping and warping your mind by using vichara (self-guided inquiry).  Awesome.  Maybe you want to delve deeper into your heart with chanting and meditation.  How wonderful.  All these radiant gems are there for you.

Still, there’s more.  These practices shine the light on all that you are.  Then Grace fuels your process and lifts you up, no matter what doorway you enter.  You shine brightly, like a diamond glittering in the sun.  You shine with the Light of Consciousness.

Keep the light shining for yourself and others with another one of yoga’s gems.  All your yoga practices open an inner flow that makes you want to share.  Dakshina, the yogic giving of financial resources, is an organic extension of this.  In our fundraiser, Body, Mind, Heart and More, contribute from all that you are.

When you give from the depths of your being, you feel generous, organically.  Open your body, mind, heart and more.  Give to the organization that gives you so much in return. Give to the organization that gives so much so freely to the world.

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 Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi

Member, Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram Board of Directors

I choose a life filled with treasure.  Not treasures made of gold or silver, but of the most precious gems – Svaroopa^®yoga gems.  

It is Gurudevi who lays before us this dazzling array of yoga practices and teachings.  So I support Gurudevi’s work in the world.  Please join me in offering your support during our Ashram’s current fundraiser: “Body, Mind, Heart and More.”

Our priceless Svaroopa^® practices show us our inherent personal value plus how to make life meaningful.  The practices allow me to choose the treasures of an open heart and an open mind.  I choose the treasure of health and vitality.  

I choose a life of service to others and commitment to my own growth.  I choose to bask in the radiance of my own Self within.  All this is possible because of the precious gems of Svaroopa^® yoga.  Miraculously, you can choose all of these amazing treasures, and more, and still live fully in the world.

My husband doesn’t really “do yoga.”  Yet he has chosen the gem of weekly Embodyment^® sessions for the last 12 months.  He sees the benefit in his body.  And I see the shift in his state.  Just the other day, he experienced a sharp, unusual pain radiating through his torso.  When I came out of meditation, he calmly described, “I’m not saying it’s a heart attack, but…”  

Asked whether he wanted to go to the emergency room, he said yes.  We calmly got into the car and went.  My husband remained steady and calm throughout the check-in and tests.  They couldn’t find anything wrong, and sent us home after five hours.  Once home, we went on with our day.

I am showered with Svaroopa^® yoga gems.  They light up my life with clarity, peace and joy. Please consider how Svaroopa^® yoga gems have enriched your life.  Then I hope you will join me in donating to our Ashram in gratitude.

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 Beth (Bhanumati) Cunningham

I am astounded at the power of dakshina.  Dakshina is the practice of supporting the financial health of our Ashram. For me, no other practice offers more tangible transformation.  If I didn’t give to the Ashram, what tremendous gems would I be missing out on? That’s why it’s important to me to donate.  I don’t want you to miss out either.  So I hope you’ll join me in donating to the Ashram’s “Body, Mind, Heart and More” fundraiser.

A year ago, my family and I were set for some travel.  I was also planning a yoga retreat in the summer.  Everything was funded.  Then, we had a large amount of money stolen.  We cancelled everything.  We even had to borrow to pay our taxes.  It was tough.  About two weeks later, I got a phone call to donate to the fundraiser going on at the time.  I had a good excuse not to, but it didn’t even cross my mind.  I re-assessed what we could offer and made a donation.

By the end of the evening, Grace showered the returns upon me.  I discovered a great compassion for the people who had stolen the money.  Then, I had a powerful karmic clearing.  I realized that throughout the entire ordeal, I was still Me.  My Self was still there, whole and untouched.  What had the thieves stolen — really?  Nothing that I would not have freely given for such priceless gifts.  

These gifts continue to unfold.  Soon after, I got a significant raise.  Within six months, I was earning double what I had been.  Somehow, with little effort on my part, we’ve quickly recuperated the money we lost.  I’ve also been able to take Ashram courses that I couldn’t afford before the theft.

Yes, I am astounded at the power of dakshina.  Please join me in donating and be astounded yourself.

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 Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman

The Svaroopa^® Sciences are all about yogic growth.  This encompasses your body, mind, heart and more.  My daily yoga practices support this growth in a slow and steady way.  

Then when I travel to our Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram for onsite, immersion programs, I experience yogic shifts as a more rapid spiritual growth spurt.

My experience of dakshina follows a similar pattern.  Dakshina is the yogic practice of offering financial resources to support the Source of Grace and knowledge.  It sustains our Ashram as well as promoting its growth.  And dakshina does the same for us donors.  So I am inviting you to join me in this profound practice.

As a monthly donor, I consistently support the Ashram in a slow and steady way. Regular monthly and predictable financial support from us monthly donors helps sustain our Ashram.  Yet I benefit even more from offering the Ashram this ongoing support.

I also support the Ashram’s twice-yearly fundraisers with a larger donation.  Then I am doing a dakshina immersion!  It gives me another spiritual growth spurt.  And it provides essential financial support for the organization that supports me and so many others.

All your yoga practices open you to an inner flow that makes you want to share.  Dakshina is an organic extension of this inner flow. Gurudevi says, “You love to give.  Making a difference for others matters to you.”  It isn’t about how much you give.  It’s about the place inside from which you give.  As Gurudevi explains, when you settle into your own Essence and Beingness, you feel less needy and anxious. 

Giving from the depths of your being, you feel generous, organically. Open your body, mind, heart and more. Please join me in giving to the organization that gives us so much in return. Give to the organization that gives so much so freely to the world.

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 Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

Body, Mind, Heart and More — this phrase resonates with me on all levels.  It’s the title of our current Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram fundraising campaign.  It’s also where I’ve received profound, beneficial change all the way to the roots of my being.  And this deep shift orients me to what I always wanted.  That’s why I gratefully donate to our Ashram each month as well as in the twice-yearly campaigns.

I invite you to join me in this glorious yoga practice: dakshina.  Practicing dakshina, we give back in gratitude to the source of the transformative yogic teachings.

For two decades, the Svaroopa^® Sciences have unraveled the roots of my mental and physical pain.  Already a yoga teacher in another style, I accidentally discovered Svaroopa^® yoga and meditation.  My main reason for pivoting to the Svaroopa^® practices was wanting to teach them.  They gave me the previously unknown experience of Consciousness arising from within — pure bliss.  The Svaroopa^® poses and meditation reliably opened me inward to this experience.  

I wanted it!  I wanted teaching it to be my life’s work.  Unlike in previous styles, Svaroopa^® yoga and meditation reliably, consistently opened me inward to bliss — even in home practice.  In teaching, I see my students experience the same.

My heart opens.  My relationships improve — with myself as well as others and the world!  The most radical shift has been in what I want.  While I did get teaching Svaroopa^® yoga and meditation as my life’s work, I got more.  I got “ME.”  This is the experience of the One Self Being All.  In the beginning, I had a vague awareness that was what I longed for.  Now it’s clear.  What I’ve always wanted is to be rooted in Self.

What do you yearn for?  What do you receive from our Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram?  I hope your answers guide you to join me in practicing dakshina.  Allow your beautiful generosity to unfold from gratitude.  Be ready to experience even more of the bliss of knowing yourself as the Ever-Existing Self.

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 Beth (Bhanumati) Cunningham

As a child, I was often accused of “expecting the world on a silver platter.”  I learned that I had to work hard to get anything.  Then, I stumbled into Svaroopa^® Foundations.  
Behold, the Silver Platter!  

It spilled over with the gems of yoga: “Body, Mind and Heart and More” — the theme of the Ashram’s current fundraiser.  It reminds me of how full and rich yoga has made my life.  It reminds me of all the different ways inside to the Self.  It reminds me that “There is nowhere there is not Shiva.”  

For that teaching alone, I support our Ashram, Gurudevi and her teaching swamis.  Please join me in donating to the Ashram in gratitude for all you receive.

In supporting the Ashram, I have benefitted from another of yoga’s gems – dakshina. Dakshina is a precious and magical yogic practice. It is the practice of giving selflessly through financial contributions.  While this helps the Ashram, it helps me far more. 

Dakshina has sanctified my relationship with money, and with the work I do to make money.  I work hard, yes, but it is no longer drudgery.  I welcome the easiness of life and appreciate what comes to me.  I want to give and give freely.  I give in gratitude for teachings and the teachers who have given me my Self.  Every time I give, my silver platter gets bigger and fuller.  Grace is truly generous beyond measure.

I invite you to join me in sharing this gem of a practice – dakshina.  Give what you can and get more than you can imagine.

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 Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell, President

SVA Board of Directors

It is hard to believe that our fall fundraiser, themed Guru’s Grace, is coming to an end.  However, the Grace is still flowing. It continues to flow every day, everywhere and in everyone.  Grace is always there for us.

I greatly appreciate your generous support of our Ashram’s mission through donating to the River of Teaching, the River of Freebies, and/or the River of Community.  Swami Samvidaananda wrote, “It’s a tricky balance between taking care of your needs, your family’s needs, taking care of your future, and giving some away.  The good works in the world won’t happen if you don’t support them.”  (June 2015 Contemplation)

I feel such gratitude to all of you who give and support our Ashram. Donations make up a significant portion of the funds that support Gurudevi’s teachings.  They reach seekers far and wide, through programs, satsangs and free podcasts, other Freebies and more.

I hope that Board member articles over the past few weeks have helped you contemplate the Grace in your life.  Can you feel the Grace flowing?  I hope that you were able to give in gratitude for all that you have received.

Your Ashram donation, in any amount that fits your budget, is a great benefit to the world.  Even when you don’t expect a benefit for yourself, it comes to you as well.  In his great poem Mukteshwari, Swami Muktananda writes:

Give freely, as God gives.

If after giving, you forget about it,

Then that gift grows fully. (verse 145)

May your gift grow fully as you deepen into yourself.