Svaroopa Vidya Ashram’s Podcast

In the Upanishads there is a question, “What do human beings want?” The answer is that we want happiness. Everything we do, we do for the sake of happiness. We seek that happiness through our work, through our friends and family, through art and science, through food, drink and entertainment. For happiness we perform all the... — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “I Gave My L...

There are two ways to be experiencing yogic bliss: from the outside — looking inward, or from the inside — looking outward. When you do some spinal release poses, or Ujjayi Pranayama, mantra, chanting, any of the practices we do, when you’ve gotten lost in the world again outside yourself, you do these practices and now, you’re looking inward. Any of these practices settle you inward. And the deep...

One of the glorious things I love about Baba’s gift to us is when I see it blossoming in you. Of course it’s Shaktipat that makes it happen. That’s Baba’s gift. But you are the one who’s blossoming, and I get to watch as you become more you. As you find who you really are, you bring your light and your Essence into your life and into the world. You glow in the dark, and you can feel it. — Gurudevi...

Spirituality changes your body as well as your mind and heart. The changes blossom forth as your spiritual essence fills you from the inside. This is not merely a mood change. Your body changes. A body that runs on anxiety is different than a body running on bliss. Your nervous system and hormones operate differently when you stand down from red alert. Research has proven that, when you are happy,...

When I met my Baba, I hadn’t been following the rules. As a teen in the 60’s, I took rebellion seriously. Fortunately, tantra is for everyone. Even if your lifestyle isn’t yogic and your karma is messy, the Satguru will give you Shaktipat initiation. External perfection is not a prerequisite because tantrics recognize imperfection as another form of the Divine. Besides, once you’ve been awakened t...

But if you’re not putting your time and effort into these teachings and practices, what are you putting your time and effort into? If you put your time and effort into reinforcing your limitations, your feeling of emptiness and neediness, reinforcing your pain and suffering, what will you get from that? You already know. So, you put some time and effort… — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s...

I saw so many people transformed by their encounter with my Baba. And I saw so many people who got nothing at all. They left Baba’s Satsang saying, “That was nice. Shall we go to the movies tomorrow night?” The were looking for an evening out — something enjoyable, entertaining; not uplifting, not transformational, not life-changing, not… — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “...

When you’re lost in your thoughts, or your reaction to them, you’re lost. So, it takes longer to find your own Self. Mantra takes you home. But if you don’t use mantra, where are you headed? So, you recognize where you’re at, and you meet yourself there by invoking… — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Enlightenment Timeline" here: https://gurudevi.vhx.tv/products/enlightenme...

Your life lessons are presented over, and over, and over again until you get it. Once you learn the lesson you don’t need to repeat it. You can move on, which I call “Outgrowing Your Past.” Even if the same or similar events recur, you see them differently. Thus, you react differently. Your knee-jerk responses, your old ways of confronting or hiding… — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full...

You need a body to be here in this world. This means your body is important. Your body’s condition affects your experience of life. You know this from having the flu. Not able to do anything, you can’t even think. It works the other way around. Your body experiences your thoughts as real events. You can think yourself into a panic. You can think yourself into exhaustion. Does this mean you can thi...

Your mind is made of cosmic Consciousness but mixed with your individual prana. Which means your mind accesses only a limited part of Consciousness, only as much as your prana allows.  And that means when you’re low on prana, your mind is dying on the vine.  So, your mind brings up all the threatening things that could happen, or have happened, giving you thoughts that match...  —  Gurudevi  Nirma...

It is your soul, purusha, that reincarnates from one lifetime to the next.  Shaktipat gives you freedom from the cycle of lifetimes, freedom from the limitation of feeling separate from others, freedom from the feeling of being separate from God.  For God is being you, and me, and everyone and everything.  When you look all the way inward, you find... —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s fu...

Something wonderful happens when you simply sit. No phone, no music, nothing to read, to say or to do. Gradually settling into easy motionlessness, your body becomes still. Then your mind becomes still… Next, most people fall asleep or drift in a dreamy sleep-like state.  But on the way inward, you can take the other fork in the road. Instead of settling into unconsciousness, you can delve into th...

I describe it this way: you are more than what the world tells you that you are. You are more than you think you are. You discover who and what you really are, oh Shiva, by looking within. And you still live in the world. You still have experiences, but they don’t make you who you are. Now, based in Self, you draw on Divine intelligence within to guide... — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s...

You are not your body. You have a body.  Your body is not who you are.  Everyone identifies with their body.  If they are coughing and sneezing, they say, “I have a cold,” or “I have allergies.”  If you change your words and say, “My body has a cold,” or “My body has allergies,” you might actually....  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Physical Condition” here: https...

Your existence is concentrated right now in this body, this life. But your existence is that which has always existed, even before this body existed. You existed before you were born. You will exist beyond this body’s ability to sustain your presence in this form. Your own existence is the one existence that has... — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Tantric Systems” here: h...

However, the type of benefit you get depends on the type of meditation you do.  If you meditate on peace, you will experience peace.  If you meditate on joy, you will feel joyful.  If you meditate on God, you will…  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Good Meditation” here: https://gurudevi.vhx.tv/videos/good-meditation-2-22-26   #meditate #meditation #gurudevi #yogamystici...

But you can get so caught up in looking for blessings to come from these many external sources that you miss the most important holy site – you, inside you.  My Baba described this, “You are the holiest of all holy places, the…”  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda    Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “O Holy Night” here:  https://gurudevi.vhx.tv/products/good-meditation-2-22-26-1 :     #meditate #meditation #...

This is why I teach meditation on your own Self.  I don’t teach meditation on your breath, not on your chakras, not on God, or Gods or Goddesses, not on success or happiness. I remember one woman came to Baba and asked for a husband.  Baba told her to meditate on Self for happiness.  So, she went to a different Guru and got... —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “I Wanted to...

Research has proven that spiritual practitioners have a better quality of life. They experience less depression and live longer. They have better health outcomes. Yet spirituality is not merely about improved quality of life. It’s about “spirit.” Yoga defines spirit as your inherent Divinity. Finding your own essence is finding the One Divine Reality within…   Read Gurudevi's Teachings Article in...

My Baba emphasized the importance of the seated pose. He wrote, “For meditation the most important thing is asana, that your spine be kept straight, upright.” Sit up. Glide your neck and head back so they’re in line with your spine. At the crown of your head, the top of your head, is a thousand-petaled lotus... — Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Sitting for Meditation" here...

Parinama is the gradual transformation. It comes from the inside out, and from the outside in.  When you experience the rising of Consciousness within, you’re being transformed from the inside out.  And when you study, when you’re learning – in these discourses, in my teachings, in books, in yoga texts - you’re being transformed from the outside in.  Your progress toward enlightenment is…   Watch...

While the universe responds to what you do, what you put out — when you put out what you’ve always put out, you’ll get the response you’ve always gotten.  When you do something different, it might take a little while, but what happens is you get a different response.  This means you can actually change the world...  —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Proactive” here: https...

Your body’s condition affects your mind and heart, which affect your relationships, which affect your whole life.  Yet the purpose of the poses is not merely health and happiness.  Every pose is for your spine which we work with very directly in the…   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Body Matters” here: https://gurudevi.vhx.tv/products/your-body-matters-1-11-26   #yoga #downingtownyoga #svar...

Would you like your mind to be like a waveless ocean – calm, infinite, pure? Simply remember your experience of the Self.  It’s a matter of taking care of how you feel.  If you want to feel differently than you’re currently feeling, use yoga to make a shift.  Using your memory to bring back the... —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda   Watch Gurudevi’s full discourse “Want to Be Happy?” here: https://gurudevi...