Svaroopa Vidya Ashram’s Podcast

Sound Bite: A Sweet Surrender

Gratitude and devotion are not the same thing.  Gratitude is always for something, it’s transactional.  You get x, so you feel grateful for it.  You say, “Thank you.”  You even know how to say thank you whether you’re grateful or not.  But hopefully you get to enjoy being grateful. Still, it’s a transaction.  Devotion is unfounded, even unbounded.  When you experience devotion, it’s...  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “An Attitude of Gratitude” here. 

 

#spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Teachings Article: Devotion

Devotion is the sweetest, easiest and most intoxicating of all the yogic paths. As a comprehensive science of spirituality, yoga includes your heart along with your body and mind.  Bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion, with practices that grow your love for God and Guru. The practices include chanting and candle flame ceremonies along with… 

 

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies. 

Sound Bite: A Mantra Recess

There’s an easy way to get out of your own way.  When you find yourself blocking your Divine Essence from shining through, give your mind a mantra recess.  Just do five or ten minutes of mantra. And then… —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Getting Blasted” here. 

 

#spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Sound Bite: The Sword of Mantra

In the fourth century BCE, Alexander the Great arrived in Phrygia, a kingdom in what is now Turkey. There, outside the castle, an oxcart was parked tied to a post with a complex knot called the Gordion knot.  An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel the knot was destined to become the ruler of all of Asia.  Alexander the Great took a look at that. And he reasoned his way through it, thinking that it… —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Mind, Heart and Soul" here.

 

#yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda

Sound Bite: Your Words

The splendor of Shiva-Consciousness is imprisoned within you.  The prison cell bars are made of words.  You lock Shiva down and hide him away by the words you use.  You are so powerful.  You can imprison Divine Consciousness.  You can hide God.  You can dim...   —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Your Words Create Your Reality" here.

 

#yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda

Sound Bite: Breakthrough

Breakthrough!  Once I received Shaktipat, the old identities couldn’t limit me anymore.  Oh, I still did daughtering. I still did worker-bee. I still did pay-my-taxes, vote-in-elections. I still renewed my driver’s license when it was due.  But they were things I did, not…

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Open the Curtains" here.

 

#spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Sound Bite: You Are Spirit

Yes, you are spirit, clothed in a human body.  Your inner essence is enlivening your body and using your mind to manage the tasks and functions of the physical world.  You are not your body.  You are not your mind. You are not your body, and your mind put together.  You are… 

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Wearing a Costume" here.

 

#meditation #yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda  

Teachings Article: Words Matter

Divine sounds lie at the root of your existence. This is what makes words affect you so deeply. They reverberate all the way in. The power of words originates in the Divine sound, OM.  In order to manifest as the universe, Shiva emanates his bliss as the subtle sound OM. It grows and expands, then blasts itself into many sounds, called Matrika.  In this yantra, the sounds emanate forth into the energetic structure underlying the universe, as expressed in the Sanskrit alphabet. It’s all made of energy, with every energy having its own sound…  

 

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies. 

Sound Bite: Yogic Transformation

Yoga tells you to focus on your own inner process.  Support your yogic transformation with yoga practices.  You will change, it is guaranteed.  And the world will change as you change.  When you become healthier and stronger…

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "A Personal Upgrade" here.

 

#meditate #meditation #gurudevi #yogamysticism #spirituality #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Sound Bite: The Source of Love

The more energy you put into getting love from others, getting your sense of self-worth from others, getting your happiness from others — the more energy you put into this, the more bound you are.  Freedom comes from…

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Subtle Perceptions and Powers" here.

 

#yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda

Sound Bite: Pleasure

Nila and sukha, the blue of Consciousness and the pleasure of sensory experiences – one of them lasts, the other doesn’t. Which one is your focus? The good news is that in tantra you don’t have to give up pleasures. You have to give up…  — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Into The Blue" here.

 

#meditation #Gurudevi #groupmeditation #Svaroopa

Sound Bite: Being Here

That’s one of the reasons I love when you’re able to come, to come here in person.  Of course, I love to reach your wherever you are, to guide and to support you in the midst of your life.  But when you can come here in person, it’s like diving in at the deep end of the pool.  And your immersion in the water, in the Grace, makes it easier…

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "What is an Ashram" here.

 

#meditate #meditation #gurudevi #yogamysticism #spirituality #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Sound Bite: Yes, You Meditated

One easy way to tell if your meditation was truly meditation - regardless of what happened during your meditation, when you open your eyes do you feel different?  Washed clean, rested, refreshed. Settled - meaning centered, free from anxiety, serene.  Perhaps your breath is…  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Inner Experiences" here.

 

#meditate #meditation #gurudevi #yogamysticism #spirituality #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Teachings Article - Intuition & Insight

You must develop your intuition, but for different reasons than you suppose. Intuition is the inner knowing by which you know your own Self. It’s called in-sight. However, using intuition for external things sabotages your spiritual progress.

 

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies. 

Sound Bite: Yoga Can Free You

That’s because yoga meets you where you’re at.  And if you’re having any trouble with it, if you’re experiencing pain, it’s because yoga is excavating, digging up your own patterns to clear them away and free you from them.  In a pose, Svaroopa® Yoga may get into some gnarly stuff. But it’s merely finding what was there and would be causing… 

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Sensory Pleasures" here.

 

#spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda 

 

Sound Bite: Settle Within

This is how you use your senses. You get them running around outside — looking this way, looking that way, listening to the sounds, aware of smells as well as the temperature of the air around you.  It’s like your senses are roaming out there looking for something that… 

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Your Ten Senses" here.

 

#meditate #meditation #gurudevi #yogamysticism #spirituality #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda 

Sound Bite: How to Use Your Mind

Your mind is capable of blocking Consciousness.  Don’t trust your mind.  Well, not yet. Not until you know how to use your mind to access Consciousness, and to use your mind as a conduit of Consciousness.  You need your mind.  You need it to be shining with the light of Consciousness.  Only then can you…  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda  

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "The Best Chant Ever" here.

 

#lightofconsciousness #divinemind #divineemotions #yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda 

Teachings Article - The Power of Your Senses

Your senses pull you outward in a constant search for bliss.  But the bliss is inside. Crazy-making?  Fortunately, these two things work together. They are perfectly paired to keep you in bondage and delusion. By contrast, yoga sets you free. Yoga shows you how to turn your senses inward, to explore the multi-dimensionality of your own Beingness. This is called pratyahara, which is made easy by Grace.

 

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies. 

 

#lost #seeking #seeker #spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda 

Sound Bite: Bliss Is Guaranteed

While bliss is guaranteed, it’s not always immediate.  You may need some clearings first, before you can find the bliss.  It’s like looking for the sunrise when you have the drapes closed.  There needs to be some inner opening first.   Baba said, “When the bliss of the Self arises from within…”  This means that bliss is an attainment.  In the beginning it may feel like peace, or contentment, or simply like...  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Opening The Inner Door" here.

 

#spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Sound Bite: Your Own Inner Center

What about the people you live with, or connect with most often?  They are always changing.  Mostly going up and down with the internal weather of their mind and emotions. Do you have any control over them?  So, the only place you can land, if you want peace and happiness…

Where can you land if you want peace and happiness?  Satguru Swami Nirmalananda explains in this excerpt from her discourse at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center on July 28, 2024.

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "The One Who Sees" here.

 

#peace #happiness #meditate #meditation #gurudevi #yogamysticism #spirituality #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda

Teachings Article - Doorways Inside

When you get lost in the world, you have not only lost your way, you have lost your own Self. If you go for a hike and get lost in the woods, after a while you know you are lost. You try to retrace your steps or find a pathway out. But you never get so lost that you think you are a tree. You still know you are a person and that you have a home to return to. Getting lost in worldly stuff is like thinking you are a tree. You don’t remember that you have a home, a place inside where you are already whole, full, complete and… 

 

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies. 

 

#lost #seeking #seeker #spirituality #meditation #Gurudevi #yogamysticism #svaroopa #meditate #divine #yoga #swaminirmalananda #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda 

Sound Bite: Cosmic Energy

This is the energy that fires off volcanoes. This is the energy that keeps our sun burning. The energy that lights the stars or even makes them explode or collapse in on themselves.  Kundalini Shakti is cosmic energy hidden in you. The name kundalini describes how….  

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “The Form of the Formless” here.

 

#kundalini #yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda

Sound Bite: Turiya – Deep Meditation

Turiya is the fourth state.  It is beyond your mind and senses, and free from the density and darkness you know from deep sleep. Turiya is vast, comforting, incomprehensible, indescribable and unthinkable with the mind.  Turiya is serene, tranquil, filled with bliss. Here you find your own Self.  This is the Self that is to be realized.   — Gurudevi Nirmalananda  

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “The Primordial Sound” here.

Sound Bite: Your Meditation

Your meditations make you a better person.  They make you a deeper person.  You know if you drop a penny in a rain puddle it makes a big splash, but if you drop it in a deep lake there’s no splash, “bloop.”  Every meditation, whether you were enjoying it or not...     — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

What does your meditation do for you?  Satguru Swami Nirmalananda explains in this excerpt from her discourse at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center on July 7, 2024.

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Meditation Experiences” here.

Sound Bite: Live This Way

I love to see you shining.   You love to glow.  Your eyes shine, the corners of your mouth turn up, your breath opens, your collarbones widen, and you get taller.  Best of all, your mind is clear.  You can understand the intricacies of the teachings I bring you. You understand your life and...   — Satguru Swami Nirmalananda explains in this excerpt from her discourse at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center on June 30, 2024. 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Light & Shadow” here. 

Sound Bite: Divine Eyes

How do you get Divine Eyes?

Satguru Swami Nirmalananda explains in this excerpt from her discourse at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center on June 23, 2024.

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Yoga - Then and Now" here.

Teachings Article - The Blue Pearl

Scientists have continued to refine the Big Bang theory including coming up with new terminology. They now say there was something there before the bang. What was there? What banged? It was a single point, a dot. They call it a singularity. In Sanskrit it is “bindu.” It still exists. It was not destroyed in the bang. You can find the bindu inside. It is blue. My Baba called it the “Blue Pearl.” When you see it in meditation, you are assured of liberation in this lifetime. It is the mystical form of...

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies.

#singularity #bluepearl #yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda

Sound Bite: Guru's Grace

When Grace flows through the Guru, you receive blessings, yes, but the blessings are not about making your life better.  They are about making you better.  Gurukrpa, Guru’s Grace, makes you better, and then you make your life better.  Gurukrpa shows you...  — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Baba Means Father" here.

Sound Bite: Shiva

Shiva.  Shiva underlies all that exists and is being all that exists by dancing his Divine dance of creation, maintenance and destruction. Shiva conceals himself in you by making you infatuated with your powers.  So, you think it’s you that’s so creative, so nurturing, so decisive, so productive.  But Shiva is hidden within, where he is called...    — Gurudevi Nirmalananda  

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "The Inner Source" here.

Sound Bite: Like a Butterfly

With anything in your life, I suggest you hold it like a butterfly.  Open your hand and soften it. Get really still.  Wait for the butterfly to land.  Relax into a sweet stillness as it crawls around on your hand.  It’s a really weird and funny feeling.  Breathe smooth and steady, and...   — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Stepping into the Light" here.

Sound Bite: You are More

Whatever you think is possible through meditation, there is more.  Whatever you think you are, you are more.  Whatever you can imagine you will attain, there is more.  When I met Baba, he’d already been enlightened for twenty-one years.  As I studied with him, I watched…  — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Teachings Article - God's Grace

I ring the gong five times at the end of meditation, to invoke Grace.  It is the fifth of God’s five powers. The first three are well-recognized: creation, maintenance and destruction.  It is Shiva’s mystical teachings that reveal what has been concealed, his own additional powers. As an individualized form of Shiva, every human being has all five powers…

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

#Shiva #fivepowers #grace #yogamysticism #gurudevi #svaroopameditation #spirituality #divine #yoga #siddhayoga #muktananda #gurudevinirmalananda #meditation #blissyoga #svaroopayoga #swaminirmalananda

Sound Bite: The Fire of Yoga

Baba said, “The Guru should be one who has fully realized the mantra and can charge it with conscious force.  He should be a master of Shaktipat, possessing great spiritual power.”  While Baba was describing what he found in Nityananda, he himself also exemplified his own description.  His spiritual power uplifted thousands, including me. Simply sitting in his presence was like...   — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "The Revealing Power" here.

Sound Bite: The Light of Consciousness

When I was the president of Yoga Alliance, I proposed that we give participating yoga teachers the initials RYT, meaning registered yoga teacher. But I explained that it comes from ṛta, the rightness, suchness, is-ness of things. As a yogi, as a meditator, you are diving into this Essence within, so that you embody the Light of Consciousness. You come to live your life by that inner gyroscope, so you always know which way is up. 

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Teachings Article - The Formless Being Form

The four-fold model of Consciousness details how the One, being formless, manifests into form. Shiva becomes the universe as well as everything else that exists. Your meditative process unravels all this, so you discover who you are. You are Shiva, who is being all while being you.  All this and more unfolds within when you step onto the path of the Great Masters.  

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

Sound Bite: The Inner Experience

Simply repeat mantra.  Why is it so simple? Because the enlivened mantra invokes the inner experience to arise within, which uplifts and transforms you completely.  This process is called… — Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Just Know" here

Teachings Article - Three Ways to Get Enlightened

There are three paths to enlightenment. The first is cultivating the knowing or feeling of being Shiva. The second path is to fill your mind with the energy of Consciousness by doing more mantra. The third path is to delve into the yoga practices that you resonate with. Most importantly, the support and guidance of a Master will help you on your path to enlightenment.  

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

Sound Bite: Jesus was a Mystic

Jesus was a mystic.  When I say that Jesus was a mystic, then I have to explain:  What is a mystic?   The dictionary gives us a good definition, saying that a mystic is a person who seeks to attain unity with or absorption into the deity or the Absolute by contemplation and self-surrender.  Or, one who believes in the spiritual knowing of truths that are beyond the intellect.   You might qualify, you think?

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Jesus was a Mystic" here.

Sound Bite: The Highest, The Greatest, The Ultimate Attainment

You matter. In life you usually focus on the experiences, as though they matter, as though they make you who you are. But your essence is unchanged, regardless of the circumstances. You are you. You are Consciousness. You matter.

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "The Highest, The Greatest, The Ultimate Attainment" here. 

Teachings Article - Duality is Reality

Your mind lives in multiple realities simultaneously. Unfortunately, this is called delusion.  The fictional events in your mind are real. They have real effects on your mind and body. When you are not yet enlightened, you think God is separate from you. This is called duality. But there is only One Divine Reality, who is the source and substance of all that exists.

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

Sound Bite: In Process

If all you ever do is familiar stuff, the rest of your life will be a replay of what you’ve done so far. Is this what you want? Or do you want something more? People sometimes tell me it feels weird, it’s strange. Yes. It means you aren’t who you used to be. And you’re not yet who you’re going to be. You’re in a process and you…

- Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

 

Sound Bite: Sail Through Life

Most people invest a tremendous amount of mental and emotional energy in fear and desire. And when their desire is thwarted, they get angry. So, they are either anxious or angry most of the time. Sometimes even both anxious and angry, at the same time. But with yoga, your anxiety goes down. Your desires are...

- Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Listen to Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Teachings Article - Aura

Your energy field, your aura, extends beyond the edges of your body. It enlivens and sustains your physical body, but it depends on how your energies are flowing, which is a function of your mind. Yoga’s goal is Self-Knowingness, which gives you the bliss, as well as the mastery of your mind, your energies, and your body.  

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

Sound Bite: That Inner Doorway

The way out is the way in. Once that inner door has been opened for you, you can see inward to a whole new level. You can feel your way. You can find your way in there, which is in here. And once that inner door is opened… 

- Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: Explore Within

It was yoga that gave me the ability to see beyond the blame game. As my gaze lifted up out of my past, even out of my future, and turned inward, I discovered dimensionality and resiliency I had never dreamed of. It was clear to me that I could point to someone specific for this...

- Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Teachings Article - Embodied Consciousness

The purpose of yoga is to empower your discovery that the whole of Consciousness is hidden within you. The goal is to discover your own source, so you can enjoy the bliss of Consciousness while embodied. You are fully, wholly, and completely made of light. You truly are more than you think you are.

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

Sound Bite: Shine All the Time

While you probably focus much of your time and energy on what you do, yoga focuses on who you be. When you settle into your own humanness, something shines through. Hidden within every human being is the light of Consciousness. This is your own light shining through. This is your best side. I’d like for you to shine all the time. More than me wanting you to....

- Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here 

Sound Bite: The Most Wonderful Time of Year

For 20 years, this has been researched — proving that generosity makes you, the giver, happier.  It even improves your physical health measurably and increases life satisfaction.  And it doesn’t have to be big gifts.  A yogi told me about baking cookies and delivering them to the neighbors — a long-standing tradition.  Just waving another driver into the lane in front of you increases your well-being.  Holding the door for someone to walk through, running an errand or driving someone where they need to go, picking up trash off the sidewalk — there are so many things simple things you can do to make the world a better place, and they make you happier.  Why do we have to wait for December for this to happen?

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" here.

Teachings Article - Sharing Your Happiness

When you base yourself in the deeper dimensions of your own being, bliss is ever arising. Consciousness arises within and overflows into your life, becoming an open-heartedness that motivates your actions. Keep your bliss tank full so you can give more, do more and share more with others.

Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in our Freebies

Sound Bite: Your True Nature

We haven’t found the real abode of bliss. We haven’t learned how to obtain it. And for this reason, we remain unhappy. The closer we get to the inner Self, the more happiness we experience. Happiness is your true nature. Happiness is inherent to you. Your own Self is the embodiment of happiness. Like ice is the embodiment of water, your own body, mind, heart and soul are the embodiment of Consciousness.  – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here