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Swami Nirmalananda is a major part of my life.  Being in relationship with a living Guru is a rare opportunity I may have spent lifetimes preparing for.  I first met Swami Nirmalananda in 1997, and was both frightened and in awe of her.   Two years later I took one of her month-long Teacher Trainings. My tears came in buckets; I no longer knew who I was. At one point during the training, Swamiji sat quietly with her comforting hand on my back while I sobbed uncontrollably.

Before the training, I mistakenly believed when I graduated as a certified Svaroopa^® yoga teacher, I would be fully baked.  Of course, I have since realized that my learning and spiritual growth were in their infancy back then.  I was just on the tip of understanding what yoga is about and what being in relationship with my teacher and Guru could look like.  For several years after, I was in a process of new understandings and realizations, so I came to see that there were many steps and possibilities with this thing called yoga.  I was slowly grasping the “more” that the many practices of yoga offer.

Now, years later, I continue to teach Svaroopa^® yoga classes, teach meditation and lead satsangs, and I am in an ongoing relationship with Swamiji.  She is a dependable part of my day-to-day life, and I am aware of her often.  As Swamiji grew into her role as Guru, I have become more and more my Self.  Still at times the pathway to Self is unclear, yet Swamiji is the bright beacon and inspiration that guides me day after day after day. And I love her. She is the Grace that gives me my Self.  She is the One who awakened my Kundalini. She has already travelled this path, and I know all she wants for me is that I know my Self.

It’s amazing to have a being in my life with no hidden agenda, only wanting to spur on my spiritual development.  I know this process will keep going until I am enlightened. The longer Swamiji is in my life, the greater is my respect, humility and gratitude for her proven consistency, dependability, evenness, patience, dedication and commitment.  Her steady state helps me be in my steady state. She is wise, compassionate, loving and kind. Who else in my life can be all that I described and give me Shaktipat too? Who else in my life can see the truth of my being all the time, especially when I am blind to it?  She does what she needs to do to wake me up to Self. I don’t always understand her ways, but I always understand that me knowing who I truly am is her main goal.  Nothing else.

Swami Nirmalananda has given me (and all of us) a wealth of ways to be in ongoing relationship with her. I wrote a quick (yet incomplete) list of 16 ways that I am in relationship with Swamiji. Here’s a short list of my favourite ways to be with Swamiji while in the midst of life.  These practices dive me deep inside and bring me back past the web of the mind to Self – which is why I do them:

• Twice a day I light a candle and do arati with her bigger than life size picture.
• Swamiji and I repeat japa mantra together, made possible by her “Om Namah Shivaaya” recording.
• I start and end my deeper yoga classes and satsangs with “OM svaroopa svasvabhava.h namo nama.h” and I can feel the flow of Grace fill the room.
• Chanting the Guru Gita Thursday on the Shishya call with Swamiji makes me open to the Self for the whole day.
• I say the food mantras before every meal.

I am in awe of all I have been given through our Guru-disciple relationship. One way I give back is through donations to SVA. My husband Rudra (Bob) and I are long time monthly donors, plus we give one-time gifts too.  Yet any amount we donate seems small in comparison to how much we have been and continue to be given.  Our intention is to keep supporting Swamiji and the Ashram, day in and day out. With steady financial support Swamiji can generously and steadily continue to give teachings and serve as a conduit of Grace for our large established community.

To be in relationship with Swamiji is a rare and wonderful opportunity that I do not want to take for granted.  I plan to have Swamiji’s flow of Grace in my life now and in years to come.  I hope this is true for you, too. Please join me in generously supporting Swamiji and our Ashram with a monthly donation or a one-time gift — or both.

Kevin Maloney

Welcome to Kevin Maloney, our new Business Manager, who joins us at the beginning of April. He brings over 20 years of management experience with him and looks forward to applying it to a spiritual organization, especially with his deep meditation practice already well established. Kevin writes,

It is with deep appreciation and gratitude that I come to fill the role as Business Manager at Svaroopa. I feel my past experience, on a business level and on a personal level, have laid the groundwork well for my coming on board. Knowing I will be committing my time to helping an organization with the ideals that encompass Svaroopa is a great motivator. I look forward to meeting the challenges and rewards that lie ahead, and doing so in partnership with a great team.

Jayaa Julia Djaic

Congratulations to Jayaa (Julia) Djaic, our newest Teacher Trainer! Based in Brisbane, Jayaa has been supporting Janaki with the Foundations course for several years, and put her pedal to the metal in the last year to intern both in the USA and in Australia. It’s a pleasure to announce her as a Foundations Teacher Trainer. She says,

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve both Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram and the Australian Svaroopa® yoga community. I am looking forward to expanding the reach of Svaroopa® yoga starting with Melbourne later this year, as we continue to attract more Foundations graduates and hopefully bring Level 1 to Australia again in 2016. It is an honor to present the teachings in this way, I look forward to being a part of igniting the fire within for up and coming teachers, as my teachers have done for me.

Asia Simmons-Chulan

We’ve also welcomed Asia Simmons-Chulan in our Guest Services; she takes care of your meals and housing plans as well as your Ashram lunches, course handouts, airport shuttle, shop purchases and shipping. Darin Graybeal is our new bookkeeper, replacing Lindsay Dittbrenner. Darin operates her own business offering bookkeeping services and brings many years of experience in multiple industries. We’re grateful to have her skills supporting our students.

It started about two years ago, with lots of new FaceBook friends from India. At first I didn’t know if they were residing in America or in India, but correspondence with several of them told me that they are finding me from their home in yoga’s native land. Now half of my FaceBook friends are Indian. How sweet!

I asked an Indian, “Why are they visiting SVA’s website and friending me, an American girl, who owes everything to their native land.” He said, “They have a spiritual hunger, which is not available in their Westernized lives.” How true. East and West have met and switched sides, each looking for what the other has.

I experienced this first-hand last week in Ganeshpuri. In our retreat, I gave 2 hours of teachings every day, but those satsangs were limited to retreatants alone. Yet the tradition of public satsang is very strong, so I offered two special satsangs for village residents and other visitors (as well as retreatants).

It was such an honor to be able to give back! I could offer them Nityananda’s teachings, though in a foreign language because I don’t speak Marathi. Yet they clearly got benefit from my English discourse, nodding and smiling at the right places. When they came to me for darshan, a few of them let me know that they didn’t speak English but they got something anyway. Of course! It is Nityananda’s Grace; Baba always made that clear to us. I’m merely serving that river of Grace in the best way that I can.

One couple from a nearby city (4 hours away by car) delayed their return home. They’d planned on leaving at 10 am, but satsang wasn’t until 4 pm, so they waited. Leaving satsang after 6 pm, I knew they would not arrive home until quite late, so I was concerned for their welfare and grateful for their attendance. Someone had given me a gift of Nityananda’s photo, so I pressed it into their hands. They were deeply touched and asked for a photo of me as well. I gave them each a mantra card.

So I gave them the mantra, in the sacred town of Ganeshpuri, on a mantra card printed in America, with teachings in English – when the mantra came from Nityananda. Full circle. How it touches my heart to be able to give back.n

After only one week in Ganeshpuri India, from Calgary Canada, I wrote, “What an amazing experience so far.”

I had many opportunities to explore and experience my own spirituality, from abhishek at 4:30 each morning to honor Nityananda, contemplations and meditations, asana  practices, satsangs and just walking the streets and shops, observing the friendly people that live here and respecting their culture and beliefs.

As a newer Svaroopi in the group, I still have much to learn. There has been so much support within our community and each person has helped me with processing the ”process” of finding and honoring the Blissful Source within myself.

One of the things I’ve learned in Ganeshpuri is that  “anything is possible; even the impossible,” a sort of mantra I heard from our wise and hospitable tour manager, named Iqbal.

To be able to attain a sense of peace and a glimpse of enlightenment seemed impossible to me only a few years ago, but now I am learning how to access the Grace and Consciousness that is within each of us, facilitated by traditions and rituals such as the yaj~na fire ceremony, and chanting the Guru Gita.

Chanting the Guru Gita at Gurudev Siddha Peeth seemed surreal. The Ashram had such a peaceful environment; it was so beautiful to see all the people gathered together for the same purpose — reciting the sacred text to honor the One Guru, The Self — the Source, That which resides in each of us.

The lights were dimly lit, casting a glowing radiance in the hall. I took a breath and waited in silent anticipation for the chanting to begin. Within a few moments, I heard the serene melody of a flute followed by the rhythmic beat of a drum and the hum of the harmonium preparing all of us for the spiritual practice of chanting the Guru Gita.

The vibrations in my heart supported me in my own chanting, as I sensed the energy of Ganeshpuri coursing through my body, yet grounding me at the same time. I saluted the Guru—the embodiment of being, consciousness and bliss. Hearing the men and women rhythmically and melodiously chanting took me inside myself to feel and experience the love, the bliss, and Grace of the Guru within myself…inside and outside.  I feel full. I feel grateful.  I feel the power and Grace imbibed in Ganeshpuri within myself. Anything is possible….