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Marinate in Grace at Gurudevi’s Swami Sunday meditation program (On-Site or Online).
You slip easily into meditation by chanting with her and receiving her teachings from the ancient tradition. Her talk always applies to living well spiritually in our modern world.
Sunday, September 27 is especially auspicious for your spiritual advancement. We formally celebrate Baba Muktananda’s Punyatithi. In yoga, we celebrate the life of a Great Being on the anniversary of their departure.
We remember the greatness of his service to the world. Gurudevi honors Baba as the one who gave her own Self to her, the one Self being all. Thus, she can give you your own Self.
This program also celebrates Gurudevi’s founding of Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram on September 28, 2009. The Ashram houses the Guru’s physical being, as well as the Shakti, the Divine energy of Grace, that flows through the Guru.
The Ashram’s purpose is to support you in finding and experiencing the Divine within. All of Gurudevi’s guidance and teachings serve this ultimate purpose.
Through the Ashram, Gurudevi makes herself and the teachings available in so many ways. She brings them to us through an amazing network of programs offered On-Site at the Ashram as well as Online. I love the availability of her writings and talks. I am blessed by the Ashram that gives so much. — Barbara (Girijananda) Hess
Online or On-Site — this satsang is not to be missed!
Just like Baba said, “Most people who meditate make the same mistake. When they sit for meditation, they do not focus on the Self, instead they run after the mind trying to find out what it is doing.” So, focus on your own Self. Use the mantra, this ancient sacred formula, to pierce through the mental activity that you usually find so intriguing. Mantra gives you your own Self.
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Sublime Spiritual State“
By Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington
Driving along, I realized that an oblivious driver was pulling out into my path.
To avoid the collision, I stomped on the brake and wrenched the steering wheel sideways. The fright and violent movements put my SI joints into spasm. My sacrum caught fire.
A month later the pain had not abated, even with my regular home yoga practice. Exhausted by relentless pain, I said to my sister, “I just want to go back to normal, or is this my new normal?” What a depressing prospect!
So I decided to get help from the experts. Five Svaroopa® Yoga Therapy sessions online with Swami Shrutananda brought temporary relief. Still, the activities of daily life continued to fire up the pain. Shrutananda observed that I was doing everything with my back muscles. I needed to strengthen my abdominals and legs to give my back a rest.
Evidently, my regular practice was no longer enough to combat the effects of time and gravity. At age 72, I had become weaker with every passing year, but without noticing.
Over the next three months, Shrutananda patiently guided me through a delicate balancing act. We worked simultaneously on strength building and pain management. This took us into April, and in May I put it to the test.
After my back seized up in December, I was dubious about attempting anything strenuous. But my siblings and I had arranged our May hill-climbing vacation a year in advance. Shrutananda’s advice was to spend at least as much time doing yoga as I spent hiking.
So I brought my yoga props along and continued with the therapeutic poses Shrutananda had taught me. On non-walking days I did lots of strength poses.
During one uphill walk, I realized I was flagging, leaning heavily on my walking poles. I told myself, “You’ve been working on strengthening your legs and abs. Use those muscles!” I straightened up and engaged my abs and hamstrings.
I picked up the poles and carried them. Instantly I felt better, more energized. I used this reminder multiple times during the trip.
Now back home, I continue with my twice-daily practice incorporating the therapeutic poses. The sacrum pain has dissolved and I have a spring in my step. Better yet, my new practices are also improving my mind and mood. Someone recently told me I was glowing.
This is my new normal! It’s even much better than the old version before the driving incident. I am deeply grateful for the gift of Svaroopa® Yoga Therapy.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
I opened the door one Halloween evening to find a family in costume, three children with their mom and dad. His T-Rex costume towered over them all, an inflatable wonder that made me laugh out loud. Later in the winter, he wore it while steering his mini-snowplow. Yet I never thought he was actually a dinosaur. I knew it was a costume. So did he.
In the same way, Shiva is being you, wearing the costume of your body while using your mind to move through the world. When you know who you are, all your insecurities vanish. You are being your own Self, in the midst of life, oh Shiva.
In full enlightenment, you are being Shiva while you are seeing Shiva being all. Self-Realization is a totality of Beingness, beyond the emptiness of nirvana, beyond the Divine love described in most religions and beyond the bliss of Consciousness described by yoga.
Nirvana is only partial enlightenment per the sage Abhinavagupta. While you are freed from suffering, this is merely a mental attainment. You have not found the one who has a mind. Nirvana means emptiness. There is no real physical or material existence. This is also called “no self.” While you are free from desire, aversion and delusion, you are stuck in emptiness, which yogis call “the void” (shunya).
The void is merely Shiva’s black cloak, hiding his fullness in an illusion of emptiness. When you experience the void (and how great that is!), consider who is experiencing the void. You will find your own Self. Shiva is revealed within you, being you.
Another path to partial enlightenment is…
By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar
Fresh from the Ashram kitchen, this crunchy, nutty blend is infused with the classic chai spices.
As the Ashram is the home of Gurudevi Nirmalananda, this granola is also imbued with shakti — the Divine energy that supports and uplifts. The granola is delicious and nutritious, as your experiences of Ashram meals at retreats and trainings attest!
Vegan and gluten-free, this granola is rich in plant-based protein. This yummy granola can be enjoyed in many ways. Have it for breakfast with yogurt or hot milk and stewed fruit. Or rely on this granola as a portable, nutritious snack.
The mix contains buckwheat, oats, flaked almonds, pecans, walnuts, coconut flakes, almond butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, salt, cloves and black pepper.
Moreover, it is Grace-filled. So however you choose to enjoy this food from the Ashram, it will nourish you inside and outside.
Email amaya@svaroopayoga.org to order.
You have the power to realize that God lies hidden in your own heart. Too much of the time, when you come from your heart, you’re coming from your emotional residue, your unfinished business. Your heart carries the weight of lifetimes – resentments and fears, unhappy memories and…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “What is Heaven?“
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Your inner light shines, though sometimes dimly. You like yourself better when your light is shining steadily and brightly. So does everyone else. So, how do you get there?
You spend time with someone who already glows. My Guru said that you become a Siddha (enlightened being) by spending enough time with a Siddha. I took him at his word, which is why I lived with him for years.
Guru Purnima was the best! Every year, July’s full moon was when his light shone most fully. We were bathed in his bliss-filled love, shining from outside and arising within.
I remember going to darshan, to bow to him, on this auspicious day, year after year. So many times I had this precious opportunity, to melt at his feet.
The melting is important, yet it is merely the opening of your inner doorway. After the door is opened, now the inner arising occurs. This is what is truly important. The Guru is the one that triggers the inner arising. This is why I bow to my Baba. Again and again, I bow.
Your inner light is what matters most of all. This is why the Guru is so important, for he gives you access to your own inner light.
Without this inner access, you wait for serendipitous moments to occur in your life. You plan family gatherings, vacations, holidays and birthdays, hoping to have your light brightened. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it’s more work than it’s worth.
But the Guru always shines. And always makes you shine.
Gukaaras tvandha-kaara”s ca rukaaras teja ucyate,
aj~naana-graasaka.m brahma gurur-eva na sa.m”saya.h.
— Shree Guru Gita 23
Gu is darkness and density. Ru is light, which illumines dark.
The Guru is the Knowingness that swallows the not-knowingness
In Sanskrit, each sound has meaning. The first syllable of Guru is “gu” (goo), which means the stuff you get stuck in. It is the inner darkness that hides your own Self from you. The syllable “ru” denotes movement, like the sound a child makes when playing with a toy truck.
The word Guru combines these two sounds. The word itself names the movement from darkness to light. One who prompts this in you is honored by the title, Guru. They destroy the darkness of you not-knowing your own Self, by revealing the inner light of your own Beingness.
Now you shine. Technically, you did already shine, at least a little bit. Science has now developed instruments that can measure the light shining off your fingertips. And light shines through your eyes.
In your best moments, you are radiant. You can feel it. I would like for you to glow this way in every moment of your life. So would you.
By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar
Listening to Gurudevi chanting “Om Namah Shivaya — Ganeshpuri Melody” deepens my inner experience of the Divine.
It gives me a new way to appreciate our lineage mantra. Chanting our mantra to the Ganeshpuri Melody before meditation, I am relaxed and focused.
The melody evokes the sacredness of Ganeshpuri, Gurudevi’s spiritual home, which is the site of Nityananda’s temple and Muktananda’s Ashram. I am carried inward to my own Self more deeply.
This chant is track 2 of Gurudevi’s album Namah: I Honor the Divine. Track 3, “Nirmalam,” honors the name Nirmala, which Gurudevi was given when she took sannyasa vows.
Nirmala means “without limitations.” This name celebrates the reality within Gurudevi, which is the reality within all. In her book, Yoga’s Sacred Songs, she writes, “This is my song, a song to my Self, which is Muktananda, which is Nityananda.”
“Nirmalam” begins with the chorus:
Shivo’ham svaroopo’ham
Shivo’ham svaroopo’ham
I am Shiva, I am my own Self.
I am Shiva, I am my own Self.
The concluding verse expresses deep devotion:
Nish-kalam nitya-yuktam
Chidanandam nama-myaham
Performing no actions, joined with the eternal,
to the One, who is the bliss of Consciousness, indeed I bow.
Gurudevi’s voice on this album uplifts my heart as I go about my daily chores. I experience tantra, perceiving the interweaving of the Divine in the mundane.
Yoga also describes how you usually use your mind, as well as a greater possibility. But yoga is the only one of all these traditions, that I have found, that says your Essence is Divine. How will you know if this is true? You will have to delve deeper within to see who you find in there, oh Shiva. You may go beyond who you think you are. This is why we meditate.
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Ideals to Live By“
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
