Svaroopa Vidya Ashram’s Podcast

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…

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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.  

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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.  

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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.

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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.  

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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.

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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.

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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

Sound Bite: One Thing

Whatever you want, I promise you that yoga and meditation will help. It’s very simple. I offer you this one thing, yoga and meditation, and you’ll get what you want. When different people want different things, I don’t have to change up what I offer. These practices give you an inner opening that fulfills your desires…

 – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: Authentically You

This meditative system is not about emptying.  It’s about filling, but you don’t fill the pot from outside.  Shaktipat initiation makes the space inside expand, even glow and arise to fill you from the inside out.  You get so full that you overflow, filling the space around you as well, just like a light bulb shines light for all around. And you’re so full that you don’t feel needy anymore.  Need, greed, and fear dissolve in the light of Consciousness that is arising within, setting you free.  In this extraordinary freedom, you are free from what used to hold you back and keep you small – plus you are free to love, to care and to share.

 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Authentically You" here:

 

Sound Bite: Karmic Repercussions

It’s not the action, it’s the desire. You want to be noticed. You want to be liked. You want to be appreciated. Only because you don’t know the Self. When your actions are motivated by need, they have karmic repercussions. Karma-free action, this is what Krishna is talking about. You have certainly done many karma-free actions in your life, but you probably don’t...

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: Your Inherent Greatness

I went to Baba because I had no clue about my own inner light.  I had tried the only thing I knew, which was getting light from others.  I had proved to myself that I wasn't good at it.  Part of it is that the people I knew had precious little of their own inner light.  And part of it was that I didn't really want someone else's light to fill me up.  I wanted me.   Yet, when you've lost track of your own essence, you do want others to fill you up.  That's because any light is better than none.  When you've lost your own Self, you go to others for what they can give you. Especially you go to family, especially on holidays.

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "Your Inherent Greatness" here.

Sound Bite: One Who Knows

I felt the truth of it. I felt something deep inside me as the teacher shared: “You are Consciousness. Your own essence is Divine. Your core beingness is Beingness Itself. What you are looking for is you.”  But you need help in finding you. You need one who knows to show you what is hidden…

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite Action Is An Imperative

Action is not a choice; action is an imperative. If you don’t have enough to do, you get bored. And when you get bored, life loses it’s meaning and purpose. Your light dims, you even become less intelligent. Boredom is not good for the soul.  

 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Action Is An Imperative" here.

Teachings Article - Why Do You Do What You Do?

What is it that motivates you? When you look outward for fulfillment, you don’t see your inherent inner fullness. Develop your ability to see who you are, while you are in your life and all its realities. Let Divine inspiration fuel your life, giving you answers as well as the love that makes everything possible.

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Sound Bite: Start Inside

Something happened in me, for me, with me, to me, when I sat with him. Something I couldn’t access so well on my own. So I spent as much time with him as possible. But I didn’t see God in him. Not in the beginning. If you can’t see God in a God-realized Being, where can you see God? You have to start inside. First you find God inside, then you see... – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: What Do You Want

What do you want? Whatever you want, I’ll promise you that yoga and meditation will help. It’s really wonderful that I can offer you this one thing, yoga, and meditation, and you’ll get what you want. When different people want different things, I don’t have to change up what I offer. These teachings and practices give you an inner opening that fulfills your desires, whatever they are. One thing — and you get it all. Pretty amazing

 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "What Do You Want" here.

Sound Bite: Action and Reaction

When you know your own Self, you will still have a generous heart. You will still participate in the world. You will still care and share. And your actions will make a difference in other people’s lives. But you’re like the masked man, not looking for their appreciation. You do it because it’s there to be done.  

 

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse "Action and Reaction" here. 

 

Sound Bite: Guru

One who gives the upwelling light of your own Self is called Guru. If someone else gives you the upwelling light of your own Self, then call them Guru. Personally, I never found anyone else who did. I definitely found people who caused upwelling feelings in me. Emotions ranging from happiness to pain, ranging from anger to love, ranging from fascination to fear. But no one else gave me my Self. No one but Baba. – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Listen to Gurudevi’s full discourse here.

Sound Bite: Once You are Enlightened

Once you are enlightened, you will still have a body. And it will still experience heat and cold, as well as pleasure and pain. Oh Arjuna, manage to endure them, by seeing that you are more than your senses… You’re not waiting for life to make you happy, because you already are. Happier than happy, you live in the continuing flow of the bliss of Consciousness. – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: What's Happening Matters

Why do you care about the world?  Why do you care about people you’ve never met?  This caring comes from recognition, the key principle of our tantric path.  Recognition is even the name of one of the primary texts of Kashmiri Shaivism, the Pratyabhijnahrdayam. The title is made up of two words, hyrdayam, which means the heart, the essence or the core of the teaching; and pratyabhijna which means recognition.    

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "What's Happening Matters" here.

Teachings Article - Just Do It

Bring your spirituality into the world. It’s not about fulfilling your desires; it’s about serving others. You choose to share, to give, to live in a spirit of generosity. Your life becomes filled by the river of Grace. You see the bigger picture and choose to operate from that higher perspective. Yoga is skillful action. Just do it!

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Sound Bite: Happiness and Bliss

What’s the difference between happiness and bliss? Happiness is the mind’s experience of bliss. Bliss is deeper and more expansive. When it arises from its source within, which is your own Self, it can fill your mind. That’s happiness. When you let the bliss arise from deep within, and you let it come up inside, come all the way up, literally through your neck and.... – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: Your Bliss Tank

Bliss is what fuels your life. When you abide in turiya, even while waking, then the bliss is always arising. But, if you’re not abiding in turiya, you don’t have enough fuel to get through the day. So you have to fill your tank. If you don’t have enough bliss in your tank, you sputter, and die out. You can’t keep going. You gotta get your bliss. Why? Because bliss is… – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Teachings Article - Pleasure, Happiness & Bliss

When you do something pleasurable you get happy for a short while. The happy feeling comes from a momentary experience of supreme bliss. When you know your own Self as Consciousness-Itself, you live in a steady state of contagious bliss. It uplifts those around you as well as yourself. Instead of pursuing pleasure, follow the bliss!

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Sound Bite: Happiness in Action

Your inner feeling of happiness supports you from the inside, while you do whatever needs to be done. Like, after a beautiful holiday meal, you and everyone else is happy. So, you just pop up and.... – Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: What Is Happiness

You look for happiness on the outside because your inherent nature is happiness. Wait, does that make sense? Even though you are made of happiness, you’re looking for it on the outside.  I don’t get it. Here’s the situation. Yes, happiness, better yet bliss, is your nature — but you’re not looking at your inherent nature, so you think you don’t have it. Thus, you feel you are missing something essential to you — your bliss filled essence is missing. So, you go looking for it.

 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "What Is Happiness" here.

 

Sound Bite: The Quest For Bliss

The creative power of Consciousness is on tap for you, ready to give you answers to all your problems, as well as to empower you to create fascinating opportunities.  All you have to do is tap into it, but it’s like standing in front of your bathroom sink.  The water won’t run unless you turn on the tap, so you actually have to do something to get the creative power of Consciousness to flow through you.  What do you do?  It’s called yoga.  Yoga is the science of Consciousness, the way you discover the Consciousness that is your own Divine Beingness — so you live in a constant inner bliss and profound clarity — leading to illumined actions.  It’s how you want to live. 

Watch Gurudevi's full discourse "The Quest For Bliss" here.

Teachings Article - A Juicy Life

In meditation you delve into your own inner dimensionality; you tap into the source of life. Yoga calls this rasa. Fill your tank before going out into the world and eventually learn how to base your life in the inner flow. Rasa is juice, spirit, energy. Bring yours with you and you have something worth sharing.

 

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Sound Bite: What a Guru Does

I don’t fix your problems. I don’t fix you. That’s not what a Guru does. I give you the tools to see your problems a different way, to see yourself a different way. To see the light of your own Divinity, which is already shining forth. And you have to do…

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: Perfectly Imperfect

You are already perfect. Now, there might be someone in your life who doesn’t think you’re so perfect. Or maybe even your own mind tells you that you’re not perfect. I agree. You are both perfect and not perfect at the same time. Dare we say you are perfectly imperfect? But your Essence is perfection itself. You are the One Divine Reality, which is purna, perfection itself.

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Teachings Article - Where Are You Going?

Your destiny is to know your deeper essence, to live in the constant flow of inner inspiration. Let your Divine light overflow into your life, your relationships, and the world. Shape your thoughts and actions as if you were already enlightened. What you are thinking is what you are becoming.

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Sound Bite: Illumined Actions

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: My Life Was Changed

My life was changed the day I got Shaktipat from my Baba. At the time, of course, I didn’t understand it. The energy climbing my spine at that moment was so ecstatic that I wanted nothing else. And it happened again every morning during meditation. At first, nothing external changed. I lived in the same place and pursued the same desires. But gradually, I found I needed less and less of those things. Particularly the ones that weren’t good for me fell away…

Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse here

Sound Bite: This is Perfect

True wisdom comes from the Self, the inner fullness of being, your own essence and Beingness which is purna — full, whole, complete, effulgent, perfect.   You are already perfect.  Now there might be someone in your life who doesn't think you're so perfect or maybe your own mind tells you that you're not perfect.   I agree.  You are both perfect and not perfect at the same time.  Dare we say you are perfectly imperfect?   But your essence is perfection itself.  You are the One Divine Reality which is purna — perfection itself.   
 
Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “This Is Perfect” here.