By Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda

I learned about undercurrents in the Pacific Ocean when I was a teen. I loved to go into the surf and paddle around for a while, but found that I was nowhere near my beach towel when I came out.  I had to walk north in order to find it.  The undercurrent there moves you southward without you realizing it.  It was always quite a trudge through the hot sand to get back to where I wanted to be.  That’s happening now.

You would think that sheltering at home would put you in your “safe place,” and that you’d be enjoying it even more without all the pressures of daily life.  Unfortunately, it puts you in your stuff.  Here you are, but without all the distractions of daily life, so there’s nowhere to hide from yourself.

You need to dive deeper.  It’s another lesson I learned in the ocean.  Paddling around in the surf, sometimes a bigger wave would come along.  It could be quite scary.  More than once I was tumbled so much that I didn’t know which way was up.  Then a surfer taught me to dive under the wave and come up on the other side of it.  I’ve been doing it ever since, but I do it with yoga.

Your psychological undercurrents are fueled by fear.  In this scary time, threats are coming from every direction.  Yet here you sit, relatively comfortable at home, with no one pounding on your door or pushing you around.  So you’re stuck with the inner fears, a constant undercurrent of anxiety.  It’s valuable to recognize that the undercurrent of anxiety was there before the pandemic started.  You’ve made too many of your decision out of fear and lived too much of your life in anxiety.

Medicating your anxiety doesn’t end it.  Drugs and liquor are like putting a bandaid on a broken heart.  They don’t help.  You need to look and see why your heart is broken.  That’s really the problem, you know, that your heart feels empty.  And that’s scary.  Your underlying anxiety has always come from a deeper inner feeling, a feeling of emptiness and loneliness.  Yoga calls it “avidya,” the not-knowing of your own essence.

The sages of India describe this as the human condition, caused by the five “kleshas.”  You get trapped in these five “root bindings,” inner levels of contraction that hide your innermost essence from yourself.  Your innermost essence is your mystical heart, not an emotional level of being, but a deeper essence — the only thing that really makes you feel full and whole inside.

You can work on unraveling the root bindings, as Patanjali describes in his Yoga Sutras.  Or you can dive beneath them and experience the depth and expanse of your own inner infinity. Svaroopa^® yoga is about the deep dive.  Yet I’ll describe the kleshas so you know what you are diving under. 

Avidya-asmitaa-raaga-dvesha-abhiniveshaah pancha kleshaah. — Yoga Sutras 2.3

Not-knowing, identification, desire, aversion and fear of death are the five root bindings.

The sage lists the bindings from the root upward but we’ll look at it from the top down.  On the surface of the wave, you paddle around in fear (abhinivesha).  Everything in life is scary right now, but it’s scary because you’re afraid you could die.  This fear is realistic for those with compromised health, but even fear of economic repercussions is fear of death.  While there are very real dangers, worry doesn’t help you avoid them.  Strategic planning and careful implementation can, but these are inaccessible when you’re overcome by fear.

So peek in and see what’s under the fear.  You are averse (dvesha) to experiencing illness, hunger, loss, need, pain, grief, etc.  Naturally you want to avoid these things.  You know what you’d like to experience instead, so you desire (raaga) things that keep you healthy, well fed and happy, as well as maintaining your lifestyle as you have become accustomed to it.

When you peek under aversion and desire, you find identification.  You get your sense of identity (asmitaa) from where you live, what you do and who you know.  You may identify with being an artist, an athlete, a gourmet cook, gardener or yogi.  These are all wonderful things, but the problem is that you want them to make you feel wonderful.  You rely on these external things to make you feel good about yourself.  Why?

Left to your own devices, with nothing to do and no one to turn to, you discover that you don’t feel so good about yourself.  Your mind runs a constant litany of self-deprecation, “not good enough,” and “just not enough.”  This is because you don’t know the deeper dimension within yourself.  It’s hidden by avidya, the not knowing of your own divinity. It’s like a dark heavy storm cloud that obscures your ability to see or feel your way inside.

Yoga specializes in getting you deeper, past the storm cloud, to the experiential knowing of your deeper essence.  Your deeper essence is the light of Consciousness, which is shining even when the storm cloud obscures your ability to see it.  Yogic specializes in ways to get you in there. This is why is remind you so often, “Do more yoga.”  I’m not telling you to exercise more, as beneficial as that is.  I’m telling you to dive deeper within.  This is Svaroopa^® yoga’s specialty.   It will take you there, even in your very first meditation or very first yoga class.  You cannot get distracted by thinking you’re exercising or managing your body or mind; the Svaroopa^® Sciences are all about opening up the mystical dimensions inside.  See for yourself.

By Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda

You cannot open your heart when your tailbone is tucked under.  Just like a scared puppy, when your tail is tucked, you cannot see straight or even breathe properly.  Your first priority is, understandably, your own safety as well as those closest to you.  That’s where the pandemic started people off, just a couple of weeks ago.

By now you’re getting used to the drill:  staying at home, disinfecting your grocery bags and boxes, washing your hands and letting your nose itch.  Here at the Ashram, we had a mask sewing party, with some interesting fabric options — lots of orange, of course.

There is a gradual lessening of fear, being replace by intelligent action.  It’s a huge improvement.  This lessening of fear is why I cried when I saw New Yorkers clapping for their medical personnel.  They (meaning we) are beginning to be able to see others.  The panic is beginning to subside.  It’s important because you cannot function intelligently when you’re in panic mode.  Worse, you’re not yourself.

Caring about others is one of the best ways to free yourself from being self-obsessed.  This is one of the reasons that my Guru emphasized seva, selfless service, as an essential practice for Westerners.  When you prioritize others’ needs over your own, you open your heart.  You also discover you don’t need as many things as you thought you did.  Opening your heart and becoming free from neediness – wow!

Living with an open heart is so much easier than what you’ve been trying to do.  Paired with freedom from neediness, you discover an inner steadiness that supports you in every moment.  Delving inward to explore that steadiness, you discover your own Self, your Divine Essence.  Serving others gets your mind out of the way, which opens up your ability to see all the way inward.

Meditation has the same goal: the inner exploration of who you are at the deepest level within.  But you withdraw from the world to meditate, even if only for an hour at a time, so you can explore the subtle inner dimensions.  By doing seva, you draw from that inner depth while you are in the midst of activity.  Your seva makes a difference for others, but it also makes a difference in you.

Right now, you cannot do some of the things we’re used to doing to serve others.  You cannot cook food and drop it off at their home.  You cannot babysit or elder-sit.  Even chatting over the back fence requires a little bit of shouting.  But you can clap for health care workers.  You can open your heart and care. 

When you care, you reach out to those who matter to you.  Technology makes it so easy to connect.  But while you’re connecting, and hopefully connecting often, look at the reason why.  Are you reaching out because you’re bored, anxious or lonely?  Then your reaching out is full of neediness.  Of course, if you have need, please please please do your best to take care of it. 

Yet you could reach out for other reasons.  Do you want to know how they are doing?  Maybe you have a funny story to tell, something that would cheer them up.  You could share a recipe or photos of your spring blooms.  I recently shared a photo of homemade pie, even though the recipients of the photo could neither smell nor taste it.  So we laughed about that.

You do care.  It’s built into being human.  You care about the health care workers, on the front lines of this battle against death.  You care about your family, friends, neighbors.  Even the people on the other side of the globe, you care about them.  What about people you disagree with, even politicians on the other side of your dotted line, do you care about them? 

Everyone matters.  Everyone counts.  The virus doesn’t see any differences between us, why should we? When you open your heart that wide and that deep, the one who gets the most benefit is you.  You’re halfway to enlightenment when the whole world fits inside your heart.

By Peter Czeck, interviewed by Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast

“My Svaroopa^® Vidya Meditation practice is a work in progress,” says Peter Czeck.  He and his wife began with Meditation 101 in June 2019.  Since then they’ve been regular students in weekly Svaroopa^® yoga and meditation classes at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center (DYMC).  In his mid-seventies and retired from teaching high school English, Peter explains meditation is part of his strategy for “conscious elderhood.”

“Before taking DYMC classes,” Peter describes, “I’d read about meditation. I experimented with audio-recorded guided relaxations and focus on the breath with background music.  But it was hard to get past my brain.  My experience did not meet my expectations of peace and serenity.”

A workshop on embracing conscious elderhood had piqued Peter’s interest in meditation.  He says, “It was transformative.  I realized I don’t want to waste the 20 years of life that I have left.  I don’t want to take each day just letting things happen.  That approach to elderhood is just putting in time.  In youth we do more, in aging we become more.  Two pillars of conscious elderhood vividly stand out for me. I must let go of the past, and I must live with purpose.  Without a purpose, you’re just putting in time.

“I knew that meditation would be a tool in this strategy.  When I found Svaroopa^® yoga and meditation, the practices fit what I knew I needed.  I don’t yet have an established daily practice.  Still, I’m working on it.  I know that it will evolve as does any new habit.  The Ujjayi Pranayama breathing practice and the mantra clear my head.  They support me on my journey to inner awareness, and I do find the serenity and peace within that I’m seeking.  I know I’m on the right path.

“I’m looking for ‘the More’ in a broad sense.  For me this means connecting the heart, the body and the mind.  I never thought about that in youth.  With my purpose of continuing to grow – working on what I can become – meditation gives me a chance of attaining ‘the More.’  It’s interesting, provocative and engaging.  When I meditate, I honor my capital-S Self. “I have no idea where this practice will take me, but it can’t be a bad place.  I am experiencing peace, serenity and awareness.  This experience, my DYMC meditation teachers say, is my Own Self — the One Self Being All.  A great destination!”

By Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda

Standing in front of my closet door, I was trying to pick out what to wear to school, a highly stressful moment in a 15-year-old girl’s life.  I realized that my hands were pressing on my low back, which made me notice that my back hurt.  I was surprised, not because of the pain, which I recognized was not new, but I was surprised that I even noticed it.  Somehow it meant another possibility existed, that pain was not inevitable.  Then a thought that was imbued with a completely different quality arose within, “I should know how to fix that.”  I was astounded!  Inside, I answered myself back, “How could I know?  I’m only 15.”  I never forgot this inner dialogue, brief as it was.  Off and on, I continued to wonder about it for another 15 years before I learned how to end back pain.  It was one of the many gifts I received from my Guru.

I learned anatomy from the inside-out.  When I received the gift of Shaktipat from my Baba, the inner arising of meditative energy moved me through spontaneous yoga poses every time I meditated.  Incredibly blissful and profoundly transformative, I looked forward to my daily meditations, learning more about how the human body works every time.  Though I had already trained as a yoga teacher, Kundalini became my teacher, the Divine Energy of the Universe having been awakened by my Guru.  After living and studying with him for years, I returned to mainstream America and to teaching yoga.

I could see that my students were not getting the blissful and transformative openings I had been blessed with, so I moved them into pose variations that would work.  I remember the first class in which I introduced a variation.  It worked so well that every single one of the 16 students stopped to talk with me individually after class.  Each one said, in their own way, “What was that!?  I feel so different.”  I continued week by week, moving them through a process of spinal decompression that I called “core opening.”

A visiting Sanskrit teacher told me I must name this profoundly different approach to the poses.  I was resistant but he threatened me, “If you don’t give it a name, they’ll name it after you.”  To forestall that, I named it after you:  “svaroopa” is a name for Self, your own Divine Essence.  Why?  The poses provide deep spinal release, which reliably opens up the inner bliss and experience of your own Self.  Along the way, they also make you pain-free.

As I continued teaching classes and offering private yoga therapy sessions, my students and clients pressed me to teach them how to offer the sessions and classes.  I created our Professional Yoga Therapist Training for them, along with multiple levels of Svaroopa^® Yoga Teacher Training.  Having now trained thousands of teachers and therapists, I know this stuff works no matter who’s teaching it.  It’s simple, yet powerful.  It works because your spine is the key to your whole body and mind, as well as the deeper dimension of your own cosmic beingness. 

Now in my eighth decade of life, I am pain-free.  I do Svaroopa^® yoga daily, to take care of my body and provide an excellent quality of life.  Yet more importantly, I now understand the source of those inner voices dialoguing inside me at age 15.  The inner arising was the voice of Self, revealing the course and direction of my life, as well as the inner source of the knowledge I would share with so many.  This is ultimately the purpose of all yoga, empowering you to delve into your own knowingness, the source of bliss and love, the wellspring of aliveness itself.  The goal and purpose of Svaroopa^® Yoga is promised in the name, the yoga that gives you svaroopa, your own Self.  And it makes you pain-free.  What a way to live!

By Rebecca (Rasa) Rivers, interviewed by
Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain

Most often, Rasa listens to the Guru Mantras track on Gurudevi Swami Nirmalananda’s newest CD, Spiritual Hunger and Fulfillment.  For 25 minutes Gurudevi chants the traditional invocation:

gurur-brahmaa gurur-vishnur

gurur-devo maheshvarah

gurureva para-brahma

tasmai shree-gurave namah

“I find listening to this verse so deep and quieting,” says Rasa.  “With it playing in the background, I can go into a quiet place inside of myself.”  Owner of Northern Light Yoga in Canton NY, Rasa purchased a copy of Spiritual Hunger and Fulfillment at a recent training.  Of the six beautifully complex tracks, she also especially loves “Bhagavan Namah” and “Purno’ham” for their “devotional quality.”

Rasa is grateful as well for the English translation of the “Atma Shatakam” (Adi Sharkaracharya’s poem of bliss and consciousness).  She describes, “Gurudevi’s words are so beautiful.  I appreciate the power of what is being said.  When I listen to chants in Sanskrit, I feel both the physical and mental effects.  Yet when I hear the words in English, they go deeper into the structures of my mind.  Understanding the words seems to do that for me.  Similarly, repeating Om Namah Shivaaya, our mantra, affects my body and mind.  But knowing that it translates to ‘I honor my own Self’ brings a part of my mind along in a deeper way.  There’s an internal shifting into Consciousness-Itself.  I appreciate that the English translation of Shankaracharya’s poem which Gurudevi provides does the same.”

Listening to the “Atma Shatakam,” Rasa feels she is being reminded of the Self-Realization path.  She says, “It’s like a map.  I know where my mind is going.  Even if I am identifying with something in the moment, I know there is more to me: Shiva.  It’s comforting to know that.”

She likens this experience to learning the philosophy behind our vichara (guided self-inquiry) process.  She recounts, “Studying the kleshas (inner bindings) and understanding them made my mind more transparent.  I could see: ‘Oh, there’s a klesha.’ And then I’d be less drawn into it or bound by it.  By listening to this chant, I often see where there’s another identification. In seeing it, I am less drawn into it or bound by it.  The chant helps me know there is always something more to discover within.  It is very freeing.”  Rasa can imagine sharing Spiritual Hunger and Fulfillment with her deeper students and meditation satsang gatherings.  She feels these students are better prepared for its depth and teachings.

Listening to this CD is a tantric practice for Rasa.  “It infuses my worldly life with practice,” she says.  “I can play it in the background during the day to spiritualize my work and make it like a prayer.  Listening to this CD lowers my resistance to whatever I may be resisting.  Cleaning the kitchen becomes a part of my spiritual practice!”  With a quiet mind, Rasa is beautifully getting things done in the world while maintaining a focus on the Self.  What an amazing gift Gurudevi’s new CD is to all of us!

By Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda

Things are changed and still changing.  We don’t know what’s going to happen, nor how long it will take.  Life has always been uncertain, but the uncertainty is now in your face.  It is a spiritual lesson.  Are you ready to open that door?

The door opens to an inner vista, a deep drink from the inner well that is so deep, it goes all the way to God.  You find your way there accidentally, when you chill.  Well, it’s chill time.  If you’re stuck at home for the interim, turn your home into a yoga cave.  Use some of the tried and true techniques to find your way all the way in.  It doesn’t have to be accidental.  It can be on purpose. There’s one big difference between yoga and Buddhism.  Buddhism is about ending suffering while yoga is about discovering inner bliss.  Patanjali defined it clearly thousands of years ago:

Yogas-chitta-vrtti-nirodhah.
tadaa drashtuh svaroope’vasthaanam.
– Yoga Sutras, chapter 1, sutras 1-2

Yoga is the quieting of your mind.
Once it’s quiet, you abide in the
bliss of your own beingness (svaroopa).

It’s true, when you chill, you can drink deeply from within.  But sometimes you’re chill on the outside while your mind is racing inside.  And sometimes you just fall asleep.  That sweet space, between crazy and unconscious, can be hard to find.

Yoga specializes in showing you the way inside.  Instead of waiting for your mind to still, yoga has ways to gently apply the brakes.  The yoga poses and breathing practices can help with this, but they are the tip of the iceberg.  The 90% that’s underwater, hidden from public view, are the techniques that intervene with your mind. 

It’s clear that your mind needs an intervention.  Left to its own devices, it goes crazy and takes you with it.  Especially when you’re housebound!  Not only do you lack your usual diversions, you’re stuck with the people who know how to push your buttons.  Or you’re alone.  I’m not sure which one is worse.

How do you take care of your mind?  First you have to understand how it works, then you work with it.  It’s just like getting a new phone. First you have to understand how it works.  Then you can utilize it for the things that are important to you. 

So how does your mind work, really?  It will be no surprise to you:  your mind is incredibly repetitive.  It repeats the same things over and over again.  And over.  And over…  Once you realize how redundant it really is, you’ll be kinder to the elders in your life who repeat the same stories over and over.  You can see that you’re doing the same thing inside.

Since your mind is going to repeat something, yoga says to apply that power of focus to something better.  Apply your mind to Consciousness.  Apply your mind to the inner exploration of your own existence, so you can see what you are made of, in the deeper dimensions beyond your mind. 

An easy way to do this is to watch your breath, not to watch the movements but to find that sweet space between the breaths.  It is a doorway inside, taking you to the sweet space between crazy and unconscious.  Notice the brief pause after your inhale, before your exhalation starts again.  Then notice the brief pause at the end of your exhalation, before your breath comes in again.  Repeat.

The pause between your breaths is already there.  You don’t have to make it happen.  Let your breath be easy and find it — don’t force it.  It’s a game of hide and seek, not a power trip. Your own Divine Essence is hiding within you.  As a seeker, you look where it’s hidden, inside.  Peeking into the pauses is like looking between the slats of window blinds.  You can see the whole thing by looking through the spaces.  On a practical level, one of those pauses will be easier, longer or sweeter for you.  Great!  But continue to peek into the other one as well.  They start out different, but they open up to be the same, and then they open up more.  Don’t do this all the time, only when you’re chillin’. It’s better than worrying.  It’s better than panicking.  It’s better than trying to find more ways to distract yourself from the unpredictable world.  Instead of going crazy, it’s a way of going sane.

By Ben Waters, interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

After a spontaneous Kundalini awakening, Ben Waters had energy coursing through his system and knew he needed some guidance.  Through internet research, Ben made a lucky connection with a Svaroopa^® yoga teacher nearby. He was thus led to Gurudevi Nirmalananda, only an hour from his home!  “It was perfect,” says Ben, who has now been studying with Gurudevi for six years.

“One thing I love about Gurudevi is that she is accessible. Available and approachable, she makes time for one-on-one talks. That’s big.  I know other people who have gurus. They either live in another country or just come around once in a while.  

“Gurudevi embodies that state I’m trying to get to, to transform into. She’s very real. She doesn’t look spaced out and is very grounded.  She doesn’t talk about lofty, unattainable stuff.  Her teachings and meditation instruction are accessible and profoundly deep.  She talks about having this amazing experience of Self-Realization and God within you, while also living an everyday life.  She displays that — she runs yoga programs and is a normal person, but so much more. 

 “I feel so much love from her.  I feel like she truly cares about everybody as well as me personally.  Every time I’m in her presence, there is at least one moment that I feel she’s there with me.  She does it with just a look, a tap on the shoulder or a comment.  She encourages me and I feel extremely supported by her. 

“Gurudevi has entered into my heart in a way that I can’t explain.  How does she do it?  I was skeptical at first but somehow she entered my heart. She is with me, even if I’m not in her presence.  She is the most important person in my life. 

“I admire her confidence and unwavering focus.  She is on point.  I’ve heard people ask questions and wonder how she will answer.  She exudes stability.  She’s confident about this path, these practices, where they will lead, and what they will do for you.  That means a lot to me. 

“She is loving but fierce, in a gentle way.  If you’re screwing up, she lets you know.  One time after a satsang, Gurudevi was asking questions about the teachings she gave.  I was in a spaced out state of mind.  When she asked me a question, I couldn’t respond because I was so much in the bliss.  She looked at me and said very firmly, “Get in your body! Now.”  It snapped me back into the present and in my body immediately.  It wasn’t mean but it was fierce.  She said, “I’m coming back to you in 30 seconds and I want an answer.”  Her words, her command, pulled me right back in.  I felt very grounded almost immediately and none of the bliss was gone. I could function with the bliss without losing myself in it.

“Gurudevi walks the walk.  I have watched her closely over the years.  There is nothing that I see her doing or living that is in conflict with what she’s saying.  She’s not saying one thing here and doing another over there.  It’s very clean.

“She gets people involved.  I’m kind of shy, but she reached out to me and said, “I’d like you to emcee these events.”  It makes you feel like she really wants you to be part of this family. “It’s great to see Gurudevi openly serve. I can tell she’s a servant of Consciousness.  When I first started, there were just four to eight of us at satsangs on Sunday.  Now people from all over southeast PA, NJ, and DE come regularly to her Swami Sunday Satsangs.  She’s serving this whole community all over as well as Ashram residents and yogis from all over the US, Canada, Australia and Europe, who are attending immersion programs.  It’s great to see how Gurudevi lives this life of seva (pure service).”

By Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda

I remember high school dances, with us girls all lined up waiting for a teenage boy to come ask us to dance.  Only once a year could the girl offer the invitation, on Sadie Hawkins Day.  The rest of the time, it was a waiting game.  It’s a waiting game again.

How long will this go on?  We don’t know.  How bad will it get?  We don’t know.  How long will it take to get going again?  We don’t know.  How many people will die?  We don’t know and we’re trying to make a big difference in that number.   You’re staying home and maintaining social distance not only to protect yourself, but to protect the most vulnerable people.  It’s a small price to pay in order to save millions of lives.

It’s true, tests are not readily available in most of America. It’s true, you can be sick and not have COvid 19.  It’s true, you can have it but not know it.  The reality is that lots of people get it and have no symptoms.

Even if you do get the virus, WHO tells us that the majority of people who contract Covid-19 suffer only mild, cold-like symptoms.  Most people who get it don’t need hospitalization — only some of them.  Basically, we’re all limiting our activities in order to protect the elderly and those with problems like high blood pressure, heart and lung problems or diabetes.  You’re related to some of them.  They are worth protecting.

What do you do while you wait?  Every little sniffle is scary.  The anxiety can be crushing, especially for those now facing financial challenges.  The isolation can make you feel isolated and depressed.  And it is going to continue for a while.  How long?  Nobody knows.

What a perfect time to meditate!  You’ve needed to do it for a long time.  Now you may even have time to do it.  And it may save your sanity.

What a great time to do more yoga!  Instead of getting by on 30 minutes of daily practice, you could do an hour or three.  Not only will you improve your immune system, you’ll even feel better.

What a great time to delve more deeply into the mystical teachings of yoga!  You can sign up for my online Year-Long Programme or work your way through our extensive library of freebies.  My own bookshelves hold a few yoga texts that I’ve never opened, even though they looked good enough to buy.  This is a delicious opportunity to read slowly, to savor the teachings that have come to us through thousands of years.

I once checked into a hotel in rural India.  It was located near an Ashram I was visiting daily for a week or so.  As the bellman walked me to my room, he pointed out the swimming pool and tennis courts, along with a game room where I could check out various games.  He said, “All this is to help you kill time.”  Shocked, I stared at him and said, “I don’t want to kill time.  I want to make the best use of it that I can.  That’s why I’m here, to study at the nearby Ashram.”

Do you plan to kill time for the next days, weeks or months?  Or might you make good use of it?

OM svaroopa svasvabhavah namo namah – Again and again I bow to your inherent divinity.

by Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda

If you had taken two weeks of vacation, just to stay home, what would you be doing now?  More yoga, you might say.  An at-home immersion will not only help you sail through the anxiety and family tensions, but also banish the boredom.  Or maybe you’re going to have more screen time instead.

This two weeks off is a great way to learn how important being productive is to you, being a contributing member of society.  When you go to work, you pour your energy into something that makes a difference to others.   If you’re focused on family, what you do for them makes a difference.  All types of work ultimately benefit other people, maybe even uplifting or serving the world.  Yet it also keeps you busy, perhaps even entertained.

With the whole world coming to a halt, the big question is how long will it last?  For some people, this is about starvation or paying the rent.  If the hiatus goes on too long, they’ll have some real problems.  If you’re not challenged in this way, you’re still challenged.  It is a time of whole-world austerity, even for those providing essential services who are working overtime. 

Instead of meditating or doing more yoga, most people are looking for external things to do.  Doing is an essential component of your humanness.  Internet based companies will make more money during this time of social distancing, as will cleaning product companies and food delivery services.  Consumer interest is necessarily shifted to home based activities.  This shift is likely to stay with us long past the current health crisis.  More than an economic crisis, it is a cultural change that is likely to create more distancing, alienation and loneliness, all of which fuels anxiety even more.  You do need more yoga!

What do you do when you’re doing more yoga?  There are many body-based practices:  yogic breathing, poses, improving your diet and (timely) cleaning of your physical environment. 

Your mind also needs support, for which the foremost yogic practice is mantra repetition.  How many times can you repeat mantra in the 12 hours of daylight we have each day? I’ve created a new Japa Club to help you with this. It’s free.

Other practices for your mind include study of the texts and writings of the great masters.  What if you fill your days with books by saints?  Who will you be in two weeks?  Either that or you can catch up on Netflix.  Which one will be better for you; which will be more enjoyable?

For your heart, chant.  Put on songs to God and sing along.  You can even dance along so you get your body involved too.  You can also share your heart by staying in touch with fellow yogis.  If you’re used to seeing them in yoga class or meditation satsang, reach out to them now.  If you care about them, even if you want to be cared about, connect with those who share your yogic perspective and aspirations.

One practice puts it all together:  seva (selfless service or karma yoga).  This is the practice that meets the human being in their need to be doing things.  Many organizations have opportunities to do seva that doesn’t require you be onsite.  Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram is one of them. 

In supporting any organization and serving others, you put your body, mind and heart all to work at the same time. With these three capacities all focused in one direction, you can make a difference in the world in just two weeks.  And uplift yourself at the same time.  For Ashram seva opportunities, email us at seva@svaroopayoga.org.

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Enlightenment will not give you happiness.  Instead you will abide in unending inner bliss.  This bliss is not the same as happiness, not even the same as lots of happiness.  Happiness is an emotion; bliss is a state of being.  Happiness comes and goes; bliss is constant.  Happiness is dependent on external things; bliss is independent, ever-arising from its inner source.  You look outside for something to make you happy, but you look inside for bliss, which is always there.

Inner bliss is an inner fullness, suffused with peace, joy and compassion.  These are not ordinary emotions.  Yoga describes them as “divine emotions,” not only because they are divine, but also because they come from a different direction.    

Ordinary emotions begin with external things (people or events), which your mind gloms onto and won’t let go of.  Your mind churns your heart, whether creating excitement, anxiety or pain.  Your entire nervous system goes haywire and you “feel” your feelings.  Your feelings are physical sensations caused by your thoughts, which is why we label emotions as “feelings.”  The events can even be long gone but your mind replays them, so you experience the feelings again and again, even getting stuck in a reactive loop that no one enjoys — not you nor the people around you.

Divine emotions arise from the deepest dimension of your own being, your own capital-S Self.  Meditation is the most efficient way to go looking for the source, which is why all of yoga’s practices are ways to prepare for meditation.  Exploring your own existence, delving inward to the source of your own beingness, you discover your Self, the One Reality who is being you.  Grounded into the inner infinity, you are being the One while knowing your own beingness.

When you open your eyes, you can stay grounded in the inner infinity of your own Self.  Now that expansive bliss and beingness can pour through your mind and emotions — this is what we call “divine emotions.”  They come from a divine source, an inexhaustible source, the source of this universe, which is the source and substance of your own Self.

Ever arising within, this bliss fills your thoughts and senses.  You see differently.  You think differently.  You breathe differently.  You step into your relationships more fully, more expansively, yet what you have to share is profoundly different, for you are sharing the bliss of Consciousness-Itself, your own Self.  What a way to live! You can’t get there by yourself.  Just like anything else you do, you need to learn how to do it from someone who already knows how.  More than mere learning, you need a boost, like a little kid sitting on their dad’s shoulders.  That’s called grace, the divine gift that reveals your divinity to you.  That’s why I studied with my Guru, and that’s why he sent me here to help you.  If you want to be enlightened, you’ll need to put some time and energy into it.  It’s a great goal, the greatest of all goals!  But to attain your goal, you need both: self-effort and Guru’s Grace.  Do more yoga.