Shine Your Light into the World

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By Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver, SVA Board Member 

Everything I do and everything I give is in service to the Self.  The Self is the One Reality, that which is being you, being me, being Gurudevi and everything else.  This truth lights my yogic path.  It keeps me yearning for Self-Realization — to know my own Divine Essence ALL the time.  

For this reason I give of my time and financial resources to the Ashram.  I encourage you to do the same in our Fall Fundraiser — Being in Service.  Thanks to your generosity, we are more than halfway to our fundraising goal.  Still, we only have a few weeks left to reach it. 

Reaching our fundraising goal has never been more important.  These past 18 months have been challenging for all of us.  Under Gurudevi’s wise touch, the Ashram rapidly pivoted to provide more Online services.  We are now offering On-Site programs too.  Both help us cover our bottom line.

But as a not-for-profit organization, we receive fully one third of our revenue from donations.  The real bottom line is that we cannot offer Gurudevi’s amazing and important teachings without you.

The gratitude and generosity that bubble up from your own essence are gifts from your yoga practices.  Gratitude and generosity have a tremendous effect on your body and your mind.  Gurudevi says, “By giving of yourself, you get filled up.  It doesn’t come from being thanked.  It simply feels good to give.”  She adds that “true generosity opens your heart and quiets your mind.”

In the season of giving thanks and lighting lights, please consider what your yoga practices have done for you.  And consider what sharing this yoga with others will do for the world. 

When you support the Ashram with a financial gift, you support the organization that supports you.  When you support the Ashram with a donation, Gurudevi’s profound teachings can be spread more widely.  You share your own inner light.  You shine it into a world that forgets it too easily.

Celebrate the divine human you are with a gift of light to all humanity.  Open your heart and quiet your mind with a donation to the Ashram’s fall fundraising campaign today.  Follow our Master Teacher’s example.  Be in service.

Donate today on our website or on Facebook.  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!

Yoga: Solitary or Social?

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

For almost two years, I’ve been writing about how to do more yoga on your own.  Even online classes have you doing yoga on your own mostly.  It’s different than being in the room with other yogis and your teacher — the group energy clearly contributes to your physical prowess and yogic state.  But the pandemic required a more solitary practice, with in-person classes just getting going again.

It’s a fallacy that yogis practiced alone.  The iconic image of the skeletal yogi sitting alone in a cave in the Himalayas is incorrect.  While there were yogis who ventured into the frozen wastes, they each had a teacher and a supply chain, with a nearby villager bringing them food and other supplies.  Yoga has been a community-based process for thousands and thousands of years.  Better yet, no one had to make it up on their own.  They had Gurus.  In fact, without Gurus, these ancient teachings would never have made it to us, here in the West today.

The yogi should practice in a small room situated… in a country where justice is properly administered, where good people live, and food can be obtained easily and plentifully. – verse 1.12 

In such a peaceful environment, the yogi could rely on the generosity of those around them.  Such a yogi devoted full time to their practices.  Those living around the yogi supported him, making him able to dedicate himself to such an elevated lifestyle, pursuing enlightenment. 

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In the West, we shoehorn our practices into a busy life, managing family and work responsibilities.  You already know that creating time for your own personal practice improves your ability to manage things while it improves your health and mental and emotional state.  Yet when you get together with those who share your practice, they contribute to your ability to continue and deepen into it.  You’re working on enlightenment even when you don’t realize it!  And it’s easier when we work on it together.

Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati leads Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center & Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram.  An American yogi, she is an inspiring teacher with a loving manner and a great sense of humor.  Before becoming a swami (yoga monk), as Rama Berch, she served the yoga community as the founding president of Yoga Alliance.  Traveling and teaching nationally and internationally, she is authorized to initiate people into deep meditation through Shaktipat, as did Swami Muktananda, her own Guru.  Her website features extensive Freebies, including articles and audio recordings on the principles of consciousness as taught by the sages of India, as well as how to apply them in your life today.

Copyright © 2021, Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, All Rights Reserved

Being in Service 

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By Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman, SVA Board Member 

It’s the season of giving thanks and lighting lights.  I am writing to ask you, please consider what your Svaroopa® yoga practices have done for you.  And then consider what sharing yoga with others will do for the world.  When you are in service, you are focused on giving your resources.  Seva is about giving of your time and energy. 

Giving of your resources is also about giving financial resources to benefit yourself and others.  Contributing from your financial resources in gratitude for your teacher and the teachings is called “dakshina.”  I invite you to engage in this profound yogic practice by donating to your Ashram. 

Personally, I have always wanted to be in service.  Growing up in the Catholic Church, I especially wanted to be of divine service.  I sooooo wanted to be up on the altar lighting candles and assisting our parish priest.  My young self deeply felt the injustice that I could not serve in that way.  At that time, this opportunity was available to boys but not girls. 

So I searched for another way to be in service each week.  I appointed myself as the one putting our family’s donation envelope in the collection basket.  Despite our limited financial resources, my mom always had a five-dollar donation ready.  She gave it to me to drop in the wicker basket.  I learned the joy of giving financial resources very early on. 

Gurudevi says, “Being of service is a way of receiving blessings.”  I have certainly experienced blessings from offering service.  Being of service to our Ashram has brought me such joy.  Whether I’m giving my time and energy, or giving from my financial resources, the experience is energizing.  It reconnects me with my Self.  It pulls me right back into the flow of Grace.  And it cultivates my ability to live from that expansive state of joy and Grace.  How great is that?! 

When you support the Ashram with a financial gift, you support the organization that supports you.  Plus, your financial gift supports the spread of Gurudevi’s profound teachings even more widely.  And you share the light of your own divinity with the world. 

Please join me in donating to our fall campaign today.  Click for our website or on our Facebook page.  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! 

Being in Service 

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By Ruth (Rama) Brooke, SVA Board Member 

How great is the Guru’s capacity for Being in Service?  Gurudevi ascribes everything she does — every breath, every word, every action — to serving her Guru, Baba Muktananda.  She says, “It all comes from my Baba.”  She understands the generous gift Baba has given her — her Self.  She resides at Baba’s feet, serving him always.  She serves him by giving unceasingly to you and me.

I see Gurudevi modeling an abundant capacity for Being in Service, the theme of our Ashram’s fall fundraising campaign.  She sparks it within all of us students as she teaches the benefits of seva (selfless service) and dakshina (financial support).  She explains that through both, we stand to receive exponentially more than we give.   

So I ask you to join me in contributing to our Being in Service Fundraising Campaign today.  In giving, you share the light of your own divinity.  You shine it into a world that forgets its own essence too easily.  Your gift to the Ashram supports Gurudevi’s service.  Donations sustain the Ashram infrastructure and operations necessary to spread her profound teachings widely. 

How great is your capacity for Being in Service?  Our capacities are ever expanding.  We are bolstered by a lineage of Great Beings who have served throughout time.  We receive the ageless gift of Shaktipat.  It kindles our awareness, opening us to our capacities.  We’re divinely inspired to turn inward and steep in the essence of Beingness.  Gratitude naturally begins to well within.  We become motivated to share and to serve.  This natural cycle of giving and receiving is exemplified within our Svaroopa® community.   

Consider what Gurudevi has done for you.  Through your financial support, what she might do for others in the world?  For me, this inspires the next question.  How can I be of service, giving from a state of expanded awareness and beingness?  Over the years, I’ve been amazed at the capacities that have arisen within me.  The deeper I am based in Self, the more easily they arise and flow.  First, I was surprised to realize my capacity to teach yoga and then meditation.  Then came Guru Seva, serving on the Ashram Board and supporting various Ashram functions and programs.  I’ve developed skills I never knew I had. 

Gurudevi describes the impetus for the cycle of giving and receiving this way: 

The gratitude and generosity that bubble up from the deep well of your own essence are gifts from your yoga practices.  This has a tremendous effect on your body and your mind.  By giving of yourself, you get filled up.  It doesn’t come from being thanked.  It simply feels good to give. 

Gurudevi then adds that “true generosity opens your heart and quiets your mind.”  So I ask again: will you open your heart and quiet your mind with a donation to our Being in Service Fundraising Campaign today? 

Follow our Master Teacher’s example for Being in Service.  Contributing financially, you help sustain Ashram operations that support Gurudevi’s service to you and other seekers worldwide.  Choose the form of service, below, that most resonates with you:  

In Service to Your Body – support the Ashram’s yoga programs 

In Service to Your Mind – support the Ashram’s meditation programs 

In Service to the World – support the Ashram’s teachings by our swamis. 

Donate today on our website or on Facebook.  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! 

The Gift We Can Give to Gurudevi

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By Pat (Sumati) Morrison, interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney`

I went up for Gurudevi’s darshan.  My mouth was flapping around but nothing came out.  Gurudevi came close and said, “Use your words.”  I said, “I don’t know what to say, what to give you.”  Gurudevi said, “For you to know the Self, that is the gift you could give me.”

Besides the Ashram buildings, we have the virtual Ashram with freebies and online programs.  Then there’s the essence of the Ashram, which is Grace.  It permeates everything. 

During the pandemic, I couldn’t visit the Ashram.  But I didn’t feel the need to be physically there.  I did lots of Zoom programs and felt very supported by the virtual Ashram.  I enjoyed the wonderful sense of community with other yogis.  It felt like the Ashram was here whether or not I was doing programs.  I felt it while doing mundane things.  Even so, it’s important to have a physical place for Gurudevi to be.  She has planted the Shakti there. 

I know that Grace is always present, not just in certain places.  It’s not only in Gurudevi’s presence.  That knowing comes from beyond my mind.  Though I’ve never felt Shakti the way others speak of it, I’m more aware of the effect.  Thus I know that the Shakti is really strong at the Ashram.  But whether I’m physically at the Ashram or at home, the most important thing is Gurudevi.  Being in her presence and seeing her in the flesh — whether on-site or online — that is the most important. 

I’ve known Gurudevi for a long time.  When she was Rama Berch, she was an awesome asana teacher.  As she deepened, she brought me and everybody else along with her.  I know her energy and everything she has created for us.  There is her love for us, her caring and her interest in us. That’s what she exists for, to bring us all along.

Yet there’s something beyond all that.  It’s what she is.  It’s like Self meeting Self with her.  It’s like seeing your Self reflected back to you.  And it’s the best version of yourself that is possible.  She models that for us.  Her conviction that this is possible for us is incredibly powerful.

I was doing every Yoga Wednesday on Zoom.  I really yearned for that connection to the Ashram.  It was important to be with Gurudevi and the swamis online, mornings and evenings.  Then I went to the Ashram for a retreat last August.  It was so wonderful that when I went home, I was full.  Though I still feel I don’t need anything, I realize that I can’t consistently sustain the depths.  I know I need more practice.  I’m staying with it.  I’m staying in the flow of Grace. 

Bliss Quotient

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Every person has a baseline requirement for bliss, which is your Bliss Quotient (BQ).  When you’re not meeting your BQ, you go looking for something to create bliss.  Unfortunately, the places you look have side effects.  If the side effects damage your health, your mind, or your life, it is called “addiction”.  Drugs and alcohol have been fairly easy to identify as addictions. Now food, work and exercise are also identifiable addictions. 

Yet all of these things can be catalysts to the experience of bliss and are being used to meet your basic BQ.  A famous writer once described how he decided to live in bliss by staying high on LSD all the time.  He discovered after several days that it was impossible, because he couldn’t handle basic life needs (like eating), and because the side effects were damaging his body.  So he decided to go to the bliss experts, the yogis in India. 

The teachings of the ancient sages describe that your desire for bliss is a desire to know your own nature, but you’re currently cut off from yourself.  Yoga or “union” is the resolving of this inner split so that you experience the natural bliss of your own Being.  This internal split shows up in the endless conversations you have with yourself inside your head.  It shows in your posture and habitual facial expression, in your relationships (which often have a disturbingly repetitive quality), in your Freudian slips and more.  It is easier to point out others’ internal splits than to see your own.  Yet the split is there, or you would be living in constant bliss, and you wouldn’t need anything external to trigger it.

Bliss that is triggered by externals is temporary bliss.  If your bliss comes from skiing, you’ll only be in bliss while you’re skiing, or while you’re talking about skiing, or planning to go skiing, or buying skiing supplies and magazines, etc.  Your focus on skiing will be complete, because skiing is your catalyst to bliss.  All your friends will take up skiing, or you’ll make new friends with the people you meet on skis.

Yoga says there’s nothing wrong with skiing.  The problem is that your bliss is temporary; it only happens when you’re skiing. You have a low BQ.  Where’s your bliss when you’re eating or sleeping?  What about your work and relationships, or when you’re stuck in a traffic jam? You’re stuck with “dependent bliss”, meaning your bliss depends on something outside of you and is only temporary.  Also, your skiing bliss is only partial.  You’re not a “perfect” skier.  You may fall down, or your form is imperfect.  Or perhaps you’re really good at it but your mind is running the litany of all your problems.  Where’s your bliss? 

Yoga is the science of bliss.  Every technique of Svaroopa® yoga is for the purpose of increasing your bliss. The first stage of bliss is relaxation, which progresses to a tingling aliveness throughout your whole body.  Then it becomes a contagious joy that arises from inside, without any external cause. This bliss is more than merely physical and is accessed by a variety of yoga practices including yoga poses, breathing, chanting, meditation, contemplation and study of the ancient texts, etc.

How does Svaroopa® yoga work?  Each of the practices is for the purpose of stilling the relentless activity of your mind.  That mental activity distracts you from the bliss already there.  Yoga’s practices quiet your mind so you can discover the bliss that is inside you and has always been there.  Bliss is what you experience when you’re not worrying, ruminating or analyzing your life, and arises naturally when you quit looking for something outside of you to create your bliss.  Yoga shows you how.

You have to actively do something to get out of the normal rut that you live in, and you can’t do it with the tools you already have at hand.  All the tools you’ve been taught, or been given by example, produce what you now experience.  Would you describe yourself as truly healthy and completely happy?  The emphasis on rational-logical mind and the techniques of the West are excellent for business and competition, but not very useful for bliss.  The question is, “Can an old dog (you) learn new tricks?”  That’s what our classes and meditation programs are for.

Happiness or Bliss?

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

I went for a walk alongside a lake, enjoying the beauty of nature.  The trees and the sky were reflected in the lake’s surface, a scene that inspires tranquility and happiness — that’s why so many people go for walks in nature.

I came to a creek that fed into the lake and watched a green heron standing where the water fed into the lake.  Motionless for long periods of time, he stared intently into the water.  He wanted the water to make him happy by giving him fish to eat.  It reminded me of the heron metaphor that my Guru often used to teach meditation.  He said the heron was meditating, but meditating on something outside of himself.   Yogic meditation is about meditating on something inside.  That something is your own Self.

Yet the act of meditating is the same.  It’s only the object of your meditation that changes.  Yet this change is so important!  It means the difference between happiness and bliss.  You can choose either.  Happiness is triggered by outer things.  Bliss arises within when you find the source within.  Meditation is the direct route.

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To meditate successfully, yoga directs you to steer your mind where you want it to go.  Instead of waiting for it to quiet down, which can take a long time, you steer your mind into the depths of your being.  Like a heron looking deep into the water, you fix your inner gaze on the goal, the experiential knowing of your own Divine Essence.  

While a heron will get distracted by the fish flitting by, you can learn to look deeper, like when you look beyond the treetops to the full moon in the sky.  Only you are turning your attention to look inward.  There’s a trick to it, which my Guru taught me.  He made meditation both deep and easy.

Happiness is triggered by outer things, but it is only temporary.  Bliss is permanent.  It is your spiritual destiny.  This is yoga’s specialty:  getting you past your mind, past the perpetual movement into which it propels you, getting you into the depths of your own being.

Why I Need a Guru

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By Nirooshitha Sethuram

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:

aachaaryavaan puru.so veda.h. — Chhaandogya Upani.sad 6.14.2 [v30]

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!

The Qualities of My Satguru

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By Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi

All ancient yogic texts speak of the importance of a good Guru.  In our modern times, experts in many different fields are called gurus.  Yet the ancient yogic texts speak of a spiritual Guru.  While there are many spiritual Gurus out there, a truly qualified, living spiritual master is a rare and precious find.  Allow me to share with you the qualities of my Guru.

She is a Satguru, the most masterful and rare kind of spiritual Guru.  She is a blessing beyond compare.  Ancient teachings from the Advaya Taraka Upanishad explain:

aacaarya-lak.saṇam aacaaryo veda-sa.mpanno vi.s.nu-bhakto vimatsarah

yogaj~no yog-ani.s.tha”sca sadaa yog-aatmaka.h “suci.h. (14)

guru-bhakti-samaayukta.h puru.sj~no vi”se.sata.h

eva.m lak.sa.na-sa.mpanno guru-rityabhidhiiyate. (15)

A qualified Guru is knowledgeable in the Vedas, a devotee of God, free from jealousy, an expert in yoga, does yoga practices, is always in a pure yogic state.  He is devoted to his own Guru and is a knower of the Self.  Only one with these qualifications may properly serve as Guru.

These ancient verses from the Advaya Taraka Upanishad are around 2,000 years old.  Yet they describe our own Gurudevi perfectly.  In the same way, they describe her own Guru and his own Guru.  These Upanishadic descriptions hold true for the spiritual masters in an unbroken lineage of thousands of years.

These verses describe a “qualified Guru” as one who is knowledgeable in the Vedas, the ancient texts.  Gurudevi always amazes me with her depth of ancient knowledge.  She has a deep experiential understanding of yoga’s ancient mystical teachings.  She lives them.  She brilliantly brings yoga’s teachings to life for us in a modern way.  Thus, we can live them as well. 

The verses also describe a qualified Guru as one who is “a devotee of God.”  When I met Gurudevi, I had an experience of my own Divinity and the Divinity of all.  It took me years to understand that my experience was propelled by Gurudevi’s own inner state.  She is truly a devotee of God.  Yet just being a devotee of God does not make one a Guru.  It was Gurudevi’s pure yogic state, being established in the knowing of her own Self.  Her own Divine Essence propelled me into the experience of my own Divine Essence. 

A qualified Guru must also be devoted to their own Guru.  Gurudevi models her devotion to her Guru, so beautifully.  She shows me every day how to live in the world in gratitude and in service.  She lives to serve her Guru, honoring and serving him with every breath.  Why?  Because he gave her the ultimate gift, the knowing of her own Self.  Every day, she gives us the same gift.

But the notable and sublime qualities of Gurudevi transcend the words of these ancient verses.  Yes, she is everything these verses describe.  True, she propelled me into the experience of my own Self.  However, I was not ready to live in that pure yogic state all the time.  I needed, and still need, her guidance.  To attain and maintain the pure yogic state of Self-realization, her continuing example is essential.  Being in relationship with her — a living Guru — is crucial.  She provides a constant, living example of yoga’s highest attainment.

She leaves no stone unturned in rooting out the things that block me from my Self.  With just a word, Gurudevi can dispel my feelings of jealousy, anger, sadness, anxiety, and smallness.  She burns up my feelings of “not good enough” with a simple loving glance.  In her presence, my mind gets peaceful and quiet.  I remember who I am.  In her presence, I remember my own Self.  Thank you Gurudevi, again and again.

You’ve Got Skills

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By Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati

You know how to drive, to manage household and personal needs, even to manage other people and their needs.  Your education and professional skills make you able to adapt to changing times, like now.  But your self-care skills might need some improvement.  The current pandemic conditions may prompt another round of pandemic panic.  It’s time to take inventory.  How do you handle this?

Masking – you know how.  I first saw people wearing masks over their nose and mouth in my travels in Asia over 30 years ago.  I thought it was brilliant!  I didn’t adopt it at home because of peer pressure, but now the pressure is going the other way.  You are completely capable of breathing, talking and smiling under that mask.  You may even have your preferred mask style along with a lanyard, bracket or nose strip.  Plus you’ve even got designer options.

Social Distancing – you know how.  As fall brings us indoors again, you’ll need to use this skill again.  It’s like riding a bike; once you know how, you can do it again.  It’s an easy thing to do.  In most conversations, we’re seated or standing about 6 feet apart anyway.

Self-Care — you know how.  You know you feel better when you do yoga every day.  Your quality of life improves if you’re hydrated, if you have regular mealtimes and if you get up before the sun.  Meditation is even more important and fits into all the others.  Meditating before the sunrise is the most blissful.  Yoga helps prepare you for a better meditation.  And when you’ve meditated today, you’re more likely to feed yourself properly and drink enough water.   Not to mention being kinder, even more intelligent.  How bad will you let yourself get before you do something about it?  The time is now.  Do more yoga.