See how Gurudevi’s new Calendar Journal helps you celebrate the special days in the year, beginning with Valentine’s Day. Let her teachings seep into your day and fuel your yoga.
February 14 — Valentine’s Day
Since yoga makes you more “you,” you become more loving and more loveable.
February 15
Your love becomes pure and powerful only when you discover the perfection, wholeness and fullness of your Self.
February 16
The infinity of your own svaroopa is made of love — and more.
February 17
Your heart doesn’t need filling. It already encompasses the ocean: the ocean of your own immortality.
I was mesmerized when I heard the song You Raise Me Up, sung by Peter Hollens. Being so full of gratitude, love and devotion, it got me contemplating: whom do I have gratitude for?
Who has raised me up? The composer, Rolf Loveland, states everyone raises one another up. Josh Groban, who wrote the lyrics, says God raises him up. This is Grace.
I have found that Grace has been there throughout my whole life. Perhaps yours, too. Not everything has been easy, but I have gotten help along the way. As I listened to this song, I thought of my family, my teachers, co-workers, friends and God. They all supported me and raised me up to more than I thought I could be.
Then I found a spiritual master, a yoga Guru, Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati (aka Gurudevi). She showed me that I am so much more. More than others think I can be. But more importantly — so much more than I think I can be.
This is the specialty of the Svaroopa® Sciences. They raise you up physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You get it all!
You can’t pull yourself up to such a state by your own bootstraps. You need a Guru. A Guru is an agent of Grace. The importance of the Guru is that they raise you up to what they got from their Guru.
From their Guru, they got the knowing of their own Divine Greatness within, the one Self being everyone and everything. So a Guru is someone who can guide you, inspire you and push you when needed.
For me the Grace of the Guru is described in this verse from “You Raise Me Up”:
When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary
When troubles come, and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until You come and sit with me.
Soul level is the deepest level of your individual existence, reincarnating from lifetime to lifetime. It empowers you to bring your sense of separation and pain with you, along with all your karma. Your soul needs a way to access the Ultimate Reality — your own Self — that you feel separate from.
To end that sense of separation, meditation is a primary practice. You sit in an easy upright position and wait in silence. But being left alone with your mind and all its thoughts can be a little daunting. In SvaroopaÒ Vidya meditation you are given the mantra of this lineage to repeat. This sacred phrase settles you inward deeper than your mind. Your meditations are deep and easy.
How does the mantra work? The mantra is the portable Guru. When repeating mantra, you are calling the Grace of this lineage to you. With each repetition you are invoking their presence and their blessings. They support you as you undertake your inner exploration of your own Divine Greatness.
One morning during meditation, I suddenly felt like I was being lifted up right off my meditation seat. I was reminded of this meditation experience by the song’s second verse:
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.
In that meditation experience, I saw and felt the force that was beneath me. It was Bhagavan Nityananda, a Great Being of this lineage. I was being lifted up on his shoulders. Surges of bliss were coursing through my body. Angels were singing his chant, Jaya Jaya Arati. We chant this at the Ashram to honor Bhagavan Nityananda every morning. I was ecstatic.
From that experience, I know I am riding on the shoulders of the great spiritual giants of this lineage. This is Grace. The Gurus raise you up to more than you think you can be.
Once you know your own Divine Greatness, you can stand on mountains. Not only stand on mountains but know you are the mountains, the skies, the oceans and more. You will come to know you are that One Divine Reality that has become everything and is being everything and more.
You have equanimity of mind because you are anchored in the depths of your own Divine Greatness. When based in your own Divine Greatness, you can walk on stormy seas.
Yet, there is more. This is a mystical tradition. In this tradition the Guru is a Shaktipat Guru who gives Shaktipat initiation. Gurudevi is such a Guru. Shaktipat initiation awakens your Kundalini, the Divine Energy within you.
This empowers you to attain the highest goal of human life — knowing your own Divine Greatness, your own Self. This is Grace. When awakened by the Guru, Kundalini climbs your spine from tail to top. She is the mystical force that is the energy of your own Self-Realization, as described in the Sanskrit text, Shree Guru Gita:
You should perceive your joyous Self
Through the gift of Guru’s grace.
This is the Guru’s proven path
Where Self-Knowing shines from within
— Sri Guru Gita verse 110 (1)
It is the gift of Guru’s Grace that raises me up to the knowing of my own Divine Greatness. You can receive this gift as well. Meet my Guru online or in person. She wants you to know your own Divine Greatness, your own Self.
Plan your yoga-year with our “Living Mysticism 2024 Calendar Journal.” The title is a wonderful promise for the year ahead.
Each day has its own dedicated page with a quote from Gurudevi. In these pages, you will find space for organizing your day. In addition, blank space leaves room for journaling and other creative expressions.
Keep this compact book with you on the go. It will help you bring yoga’s teachings into daily life. Stay inspired all year to live a yogic life.
“I want this. I need that. I don’t want this. I don’t want that.”
Want, want, want. Need, need, need. Your mind churns over your desires. Again and again, it reviews what or where or how you are lacking. It’s exhausting both mentally and physically. And worst of all, you too often live your life based on an assumption of “not enough.”
What if you lived your life based on the assumption of enough or — better yet —abundance? The reality is that you are likely amongst the more fortunate in this world. You have Internet, you are literate and you have your basic needs met. This gives you the opportunity to focus on your spirituality. What if you saw the abundance in your life and wanted what you have?
There are many well-known gratitude practices to cultivate a different mindset. You can have a gratitude journal or jar. Our Ashram Staff meetings end with a gratitude moment. Each person shares what they are grateful for. These psychological practices can be powerful for changing your mind’s perspective.
Yet yoga approaches it differently. While psychology changes the content of your mind, yoga targets the source of the problem. Yoga looks at why your mind is thinking those thoughts. You want things because you feel incomplete, empty, not enough and/or alone. Yoga cures this feeling.
How? By revealing to you the fullness and completeness of who you truly are. When you feel like you are lacking something, you are not experiencing your true Essence. When you are being your true Essence, you know and experience that you are full and complete.
Yoga practices are designed to reveal to you the fullness that you are. Over time, the yogic process that you go through fills you up from the inside. You know this from your yoga practices already. You do poses or breathing practices and then feel calmer, more satisfied and at ease.
This is because you are experiencing your fullness on the inside. You learn to live in that fullness all the time. Then you see this same Essence being everyone and everything around you. Living in the fullness of your Essence, you don’t need anything on the outside. You don’t want or need anything to make you feel full.
Your mind becomes free from all desires, for externals and for things promised in the scriptures, giving a state of complete freedom and ease.
When you don’t want things, you gain great freedom. Your mind no longer churns over your desires. This frees up a tremendous amount of mental energy. With your thoughts changed, your words and actions also change. Instead of being a slave to your desires, you are free.
This freedom also includes the freedom to give more, love more and do more. With actions, thoughts and words motivated by getting something, you are limited by what you can do. You are limited by your focus on what you can get. When you are full, you are looking at what to give. Your capacity grows. You have great freedom. It’s the best way to live.
My favorite way to experience the truth of these teachings is by repeating mantra. So many times, I’ve turned to mantra when I have been caught up in my desires. I repeat mantra. Sometimes, it’s for just a few minutes. Sometimes it takes longer. And, without fail, the mantra fills me up from the inside. The mantra reveals my Self to me.
The fullness of my Self leaves no room for desire. Then the same external circumstances look completely different to me. Being full on the inside, my heart overflows. I am looking at what I can give. I care and I want to help. When you fill up from the inside, then you love more as well as care more. You are fully and effectively engaged in the world.
In the sutra above, the Sanskrit word vairaagyam is often translated as non-attachment or dispassion. This can lead to a misconception that you must distance yourself from the world. But it’s the opposite really. Filled up with knowing your own Self, you are freed from neediness and desires. An abundance of love and caring fills you. You stay engaged in the world so you can give from this abundance.
The Pandavas were travelling to holy places in the forest accompanied by Sage Lomasa. They came to a hermitage where Uddaalaka lived, a great sage and teacher of Vedanta. Lomasa told Yudhishthira and the Pandavas the story of that place.
Sage Uddaalaka, who is mentioned many times in the Upanishads, had a disciple named Kahola. Kahola was virtuous but not so knowledgeable. Uddaalaka appreciated his disciple’s virtues, devotion and manners, and gave his daughter Sujata in marriage to him.
Sage Uddalaka (1)
The couple was blessed with a child who inherited the characteristics of his grandfather. It is said that he had learned the Vedas while he was in his mother’s womb. Every time his father made mistakes while reciting the Vedas, the child in the womb twisted his body in pain. As a result, the child was born with eight crooked twists in his body. Due to that, the child was known as Ashtavakra, meaning eight deformities.
Kahola met his end by drowning in the sea, by getting defeated in a debate on the scriptures with Vandi, a court scholar of Mithila. So Ashtavakra pretty much grew up under the guidance of his mother. Yet he became a scholar in Vedas and Vedanta when he was just twelve.
One day Ashtavakra came to know about a King Janaka of Mithila, who was holding great yaj~na and debates on the scriptures by scholars. Accompanied by his uncle Svetaketu, Ashtavakra set out to Mithila to attend the yaj~na and debates.
King Janaka, Guard, Ashtavakra & Uncle Svetaketu (2)
On their way, they came across the king himself with his entourage. The guards were shouting ahead asking people to move away to make way for the king. Hearing and seeing this, Ashtavakra intervened. Stepping forward, he spoke to the guards in a manner that caught the King’s attention. He said that a righteous man, even if he is a king, must make way for the blind, deformed, women, people carrying loads, great beings, and those learned in the Vedas, reminding them that this is instructed in the scriptures.
Astonished by the words of this young wise child, the king accepted the truth in his words and made way for them. When Ashtavakra and Svetaketu were trying to enter the yaj~na hall, they were stopped again by the gatekeepers. The gatekeepers said only wise men learned in the Vedas are allowed into the hall. Ashtavakra politely pointed out that they should not judge anyone by age or appearance. And assured that they both have observed the necessary vows and have learnt the Vedas sufficiently.
The gatekeepers refused to believe how a mere boy could have learned the Vedas and was come to debate with renowned Vedic scholars. They decided that Ashtavakra was simply bragging about himself to enter the court. Ashtavakra insisted that looks is no indication of knowledge or worth, nor is age. And he reminded the guards that those who have understood the truths of the Vedanta will not judge another on mere considerations such as age or appearance. He also emphasized that grey hair does not prove the maturity of the soul. The mature man is the one who has learnt the Vedas and mastered their substance and realized their essence.
King Janaka & Ashtavakra (3)
As this commotion was going on at the gate, the king himself happened to come there. He easily recognized Ashtavakra, the wise boy whom he had met before. King Janaka asked, “Do you know that my court scholar Vandi has defeated many great scholars in the past and caused them to be cast into the ocean? Would that not discourage you?”
Ashtavakra confidently said, “Your renowned scholar Vandi has not yet met someone like me who is an expert in the Vedas and Vedanta. Vandi has become arrogant with easy victories over decent men who were not real scholars. I have come here to repay the debt on the account of my father, who was defeated by Vandi and made to drown.”
Ashtavakra at King Janaka’s court (4)
Saying this, he requested the king to summon Vandi. The king invited Ashtavakra into the debate hall and summoned Vandi for a debate. Ashtavakra and Vandi debated for a while, each devoting their utmost learning and wits to amaze the other.
At the end, the court unanimously declared the victory of Ashtavakra. Vandi accepted his defeat by drowning himself in the ocean. It is said that the soul of Kahola gained peace and joy in the glory of his son.
Completing this story Sage Lomasa gave the teaching on the subject, quoting Kahola, “A son not necessarily should be like his father. A father who is weak may have a strong son and an ignorant father may have a scholarly son. It is wrong to access the greatness of a person by the person’s physical appearance or age. External appearances are deceptive.”
Sage Markandeya (5)
During their time in the forest, Yudhishthira, along with his brothers, heard other stories from various other sages.
Sage Markandeya, to emphasize the importance of controlling oneself and duty, told the story of Kaushika, an ascetic who observed the vow of celibacy. However, Kaushika had anger management issues.
One day, while sitting under a tree and reciting the Vedas, a crane’s dropping fell on Kaushika. His reciting of the Vedas was disturbed by this, so he looked up angrily at the bird and the poor bird died. Kaushika felt so bad and regretted that a sinful thought passing through in his mind in that moment of anger had killed an innocent bird. Yet his anger remained as an issue.
Wife cooking for husband (6)
Another day he went to beg for alms from a household. The lady of the house was serving her husband at that time, therefore was delayed in attending to him. Kaushika got angry and looked at her with fiery eyes. The lady calmly apologized for being late, and politely asked him to control his anger. She said, “I am not a crane, to be affected by your anger, as I was merely doing my duty towards my husband. That’s my dharma.”
Kaushika was taken by this, as he wondered how she knew about the crane. She told Kaushika that anger is the worst enemy that lives in all, and that he was not aware of that. She then asked him to forgive her for the delay. She also requested him to visit Dharmavyadha of Mithila to learn to live one’s life dutifully.
Kaushika visits Dharmavyadha (7)
Astonished by her words Kaushika blessed her and went in search for Dharmavyadha, thinking that he is a great being living in a hermitage far from the city. After searching for him in ashramas and holy places, Kaushika was dumfounded to find him in a butcher’s stall. Kaushika was disgusted by the fact that Dharmavyadha was a butcher, so Kaushika was reluctant to even go close to him.
But Dharmavyadha came running to him and paid his respect and took Kaushika to his home. There Kaushika witnessed Dharmavyadha, after all his hard work at the shop, serving his parents and family dutifully with all his heart. Seeing this Kaushika, learned about duty and dharma, and returned home to take care of his neglected parents, a dharma which he had forgotten to fulfill.
Princess Savitri (8)
The teaching from this story is that the occupation may be one a person is born to perform in society, or forced on to him by circumstances or taken up by choice, but what really matters is the attitude of sincerity and faithfulness with which the person does the life’s work with compassion.
Later one day, Yudhishthira asked Sage Markandeya, whether there had ever been a woman who was devoted to her husband as much as Draupadi. The sage recited the following story.
King of Madra, Ashwapati prayed to the Sun God, wishing to have a son. He was blessed with a daughter whom he named Savitri, honoring the deity. Savitri’s beauty was unmatched. That intimidated all the men, so no one dared to ask for her hand. Thus her father, the king, asked her to find a suitable groom on her own.
Savitri & Satyavan (9)
The princess was sent out on a journey with the chosen best warriors to protect her. She went around the land to find a suitable husband. In the forest, she found a handsome young prince, Satyavan, the son of a blind king, Dyumatsena.
Dyumatsena had been exiled by his enemy and was living as a forest dweller. Satyavan was taking care of his blind father and mother. To take care of them he chopped and sold wood. With the humble income they got, they lived a happy life. Savitri was strongly drawn towards them and fell in love with the young prince.
As her search ended with finding Satyavan, she returned to her father. Sage Narada was visiting the king and alarmed the king that Savitri had made a mistake by choosing Satyavan, for Satyavan destined to die in a year. That didn’t change Savitri’s decision as she was determined to marry Satyavan.
Your own Self is the One Divine Reality, the source and substance of everything that exists.
When you know your own Self, you feel blissful, whole, and complete. But you probably don’t experience the bliss of your Self as often as you would like to. My Guru, Gurudevi Nirmalananda, explains how you can:
Your own Self is always there, always right here, inside. All you have to do is look deeper. The mantra gives you this ability.
With Svaroopa® Vidya meditation, you repeat mantra, and it takes you deeper. It takes you beyond your mind, to the glorious depths of your Self. Beyond your mind?
I didn’t understand how this was possible when I first began to meditate. I’d had tantalizing experiences of my Self, from the start. They were blissful glimpses. But it didn’t make sense to me that I was going beyond my mind. After all, your mind is how you know and understand things, both in the world, and in your own body, mind and heart. And you use your mind to repeat the mantra in meditation.
This is all true. Your mind is important. It is valuable. But it is puny compared to your own Self. Your Self is so much greater than your mind, that your mind can’t hold the whole of your Self. A classic example is a bucket of water under a full moon.
Imagine a clear night sky. The moon is big and full, a luminous ball glowing in the dark. You fill a bucket with water and set it on the ground outside. When you peek in the bucket, you’ll see the reflection of the moon. The whole circle of the moon is glowing on the surface of the water.
But is the bucket holding the whole moon? Could you take your bucket full of moon, spirit it away, and the moon will be gone from the sky? No, the bucket is too small to hold the whole moon. It can only reflect it.
Your mind is like the bucket of water. It can only reflect your Self. The reflection is valid and real, but it’s not the whole. The whole of your Self is much more.
You are not just someone with a bucket full of moon. You are the bucket, the ground beneath you, and the moon and sky above you. You are the whole of the earth. You are the whole of the universe, while being you. You are the One Reality that created this whole universe, is being this universe, and is beyond this universe. That is your Self.
Because you are the Self, you have the capacity to know you are the Self. That knowing is deeper than your mind. But you need help to get to that knowing because it has been hidden from you. That’s why you don’t experience the bliss of your Self all the time. It’s a cosmic set-up.
So you need help from someone who knows. Someone who can point the way. Someone who has the key to unlock your deeper knowing. Someone like Gurudevi. She is a yoga master, in a lineage of yoga masters called Gurus. She has dedicated her life to your upliftment.
You can trust her when she says, “Your own Self is always there, always right here, inside. All you have to do is look deeper.” Except, you don’t have to trust her. That’s because she gives you what you need so you can know for yourself, as she explains, “The mantra gives you this ability.”
The mantra is the key that unlocks your not-knowing. She gives it freely to everyone who asks for it. It is the mantra of Gurudevi’s lineage. The Gurus have enlivened the mantra with the energy of revelation.
This is the cosmic power that reveals your Self to you. Repeating this enlivened mantra propels you beyond your mind. You dive into the depths and infinite expansiveness of your Self.
In the beginning, I didn’t understand how this could be true. But now I know that it is. You can know, too. You are already whole. More than whole, you are holy. Here, now.
And you find your wholeness, you find your holiness, by meditating with the lineage mantra. If you want the mantra, ask Gurudevi. She will give it to you.
Sage Lomasa and the Pandavas reached the hermitage of Sage Raibhya on the banks of the Ganga. Sage Lomasa told them about the sanctity of this holy place. Then he started to recite the story of two sages, Bharadvaja and Raibhya who were dear friends.
Hermitage (Ashram) (1)
Raibhya had two sons named Paravasu and Arvavasu. They became scholars in Vedas just like their father and were respected by all, along with their father. This made Bharadvaja’s only son, Yavakrida jealous. He wished to gain knowledge of the scriptures quickly without seeking a teacher.
Instead of learning for years, he chose a shortcut — to please Indra, the Lord of the Devas, asking him for direct knowledge of the Vedas. So he did intense penance and austerities to achieve this.
Indra (2)
Indra appeared in front of him and advised that austerities are not the way to gain knowledge. The path to acquire knowledge is to study the scriptures under the guidance of a teacher.
Yavakrida, however, didn’t yield. He refused to take Indra’s advice, went on and pursued more austerities, with even greater means, to please Indra. Indra appeared again and warned him that the path he was taking to seek knowledge was not the right path, saying that one can acquire knowledge only by studying. He then reminded Yavakrida that his own father Bharadvaja gained knowledge by studying patiently. Yavakrida refused to accept this answer again and threatened to cut off his own limbs and offer them to the sacred fire. He wouldn’t give up on his penance.
74-8 Yavakrida and Old Man (Indra) (3)
Continuing his severe penance, one day when he went for a bath, he saw an old man strenuously throwing handfuls of sand from the bank into the river Ganga. Yavakrida was puzzled by his action and asked what he was trying to accomplish. The old man replied, saying he was building a bridge across the river so people could easily cross.
Yavakrida yelled at him, saying how foolish he was to accomplish his task in this ridiculous manner. The old brahmin said, “It is no crazier than learning the scriptures through austerities instead of studying under a teacher.”
Yavakrida recognized that the old man was none other than Indra himself, and asked for his blessings. Indra at last blessed Yavakrida with knowledge of the Vedas, but with a lot of reluctance. Yavakrida became very proud to have learned Vedas directly from Indra instead of through conventional learning.
After becoming a scholar in the Vedas, Yavakrida grew an attitude. He was thinking that he had acquired the knowledge of the Vedas through the boon of Indra instead of through a human, thus making him special. His father warned him against his pride. But Yavakrida was too proud to listen.
Mountain (4)
He started to disrespect Raibhya very much. Bharadvaja feared that his son might ruin himself by this attitude, so he decided to advise him by telling him an ancient story.
There once lived a sage named Baladhi. His son’s untimely death plunged him into grief. He decided to do severe penance in order to get a son who would be deathless. He spent years on rigorous penance, needed because he was asking for immortality,. However, he realized that attaining immortality is not possible, so he was motivated to ask for a different boon.
Seeing a mighty mountain in front of him. Baladhi asked for a son with a life that will persist as long as the mountain in front of him lasts. So, the sage was blessed with a son named Medhavi. He grew up with an arrogance, thinking that he was safe from death forever, as he would live as long as the mountain existed.
He angered a great sage by disrespecting him in an unwarranted manner. The angry sage cursed Medhavi that he would turn into ashes, but the curse didn’t work on him. Medhavi remained in perfect health. The sage then realized that Medhavi had protection from the boon that he had received, to live as long as the mountain existed.
Wild Buffalo (Sage) & Medhavi (5)
So, the sage took the form of a wild buffalo. By the power of his own penance, he crashed the mountain and broke it into pieces. That ended Medhavi’s life. After reciting the story, Bharadvaja concluded, telling his son to learn wisdom from this old story and not to be ruined by pride. Bharadvaja urged Yavakrida to cultivate self-restraint, and not to disobey the limits of good conduct, and to be respectful to the great Sage Raibhya.
One day Paravasu’s wife was alone in the garden of the hermitage of Raibhya. Yavakrida happened to see her. She was so beautiful and attractive that Yavakrida felt an irresistible desire to have her. Totally losing his self-control, overcome by lust, he dragged her to a lonely place and violated her person, committing the most dishonorable sin.
Demon & Yavakrida (6)
Raibhya came to know about his daughter-in-law. He was enraged about the manner she was disgraced by Yavakrida. He had no words to console his daughter-in-law. With his yogic power from his sacrificial fire, he raised a maiden as beautiful as his own daughter-in-law, along with a terrible demon. He commanded them to kill Yavakrida.
The maiden tempted Yavakrida with her charms while he was performing a ritual. When Yavakrida was distracted, she ran away with his kamandala, the water jug he was using for his rituals. The demon jumped at Yavakrida with a spear in his hand. Terrified, Yavakrida ran after the maiden to recover his kamandala, knowing that his mantras would be powerless until he cleansed himself with water.
Funeral pyre (7)
Unable to catch her, to save himself from the demon, he rushed to a pond for water but unfortunately the pond was dry. Then he ran to a nearby stream which also dried up as he approached it. There was no water for him anywhere. Together the maiden and the demon accomplished their task. Yavakrida was killed at the entrance to his father’s hermitage.
Bharadvaja was very much distressed about his son’s death. In grief, he cursed his dear friend Raibhya for killing his only son. Regaining control of himself soon after, he yelled, “They alone are blessed who have no sons. I have not only lost my only son, but in the foolishness of my grief, I have also cursed my dear friend. What is the use of continuing my life?” He cremated his son’s body and then threw himself into the same funeral pyre.
Paravasu kills Raibhya (8)
After some time, Raibhya’s sons Paravasu and Arvavasu were invited to the palace of King Brihadyumna to perform a great yajňa and sacrifice. While arrangements were being made for the yajňa, Paravasu desired to go and see his wife, walking alone all night. Near the ashram he saw in the twilight something moving, which seemed to him like a wild beast and therefore shot it down with an arrow.
It turned out that Paravasu had killed his own father, Raibhya, who was dressed in tree bark, mistaking him for a wild beast. He realized that the fatal mistake happened as a result of Bharadvaja’s curse. He returned to the yajňa and told his brother Arvavasu what had transpired.
Arvavasu consoled his brother and asked him to continue to perform the yajňa and said that he will go and perform their father’s last rites. He also said that he will do the penance on behalf of his brother freeing him from the terrible sin of killing their father. After finishing his penance on behalf of his brother, Arvavasu returned to the court of the king to join his brother and assist in the yajňa.
Paravasu accuses Arvavasu (9)
Seeing the radiance on his brother’s face, Paravasu became jealous and told everyone that Arvavasu had killed their father. Arvavasu tried to deny his brother’s accusation, but none believed him. Arvavasu was expelled from the yajňa hall by the order of the king. Being not only learned but also virtuous, he retreated to the forest with a heavy heart.
To find justice in the world, in despair, he immersed himself in rigorous penance. Soon the Gods appeared and asked him what boon he sought. Arvavasu asked to free his heart of all anger at his brother’s misconduct and to bring his father to life again. In this way, his brother’s sins would be washed off and he would be freed from his wickedness. The Gods fulfilled all his wishes.
Sage Lomasa thus finished the story, advising the Pandavas to take a bath in the holy river Ganga nearby, to purify themselves. He later emphasized the teaching in the story, “Learning is no protection against vanity or lust. A wise man should never lose his self-control. Many acquire knowledge and fame, only to lose self-control. They fall prey to lust and ruin themselves.”
He continued saying, “Learning is one thing and virtue is quite another. It is true that one should know the difference between good and evil, if one is to seek good and shun evil. But this knowledge should soak into every thought and influence every action in one’s life. Then indeed knowledge becomes virtue. The knowledge that is undigested information, merely crammed into the mind, cannot instill virtue. It is just an outward show, like our clothes and it is not really part of us.”
Bittersweet chocolate is the best. The sage Narada agrees, describing the yearning for God as the most painful and most blissful of the 11 types of Divine Love.
Today, I honor my Guru on the anniversary of his departure from this earthly plane. It is a day of great grief and a day of great gratitude – both of which are based in Divine love.
Grief is when you feel you’ve lost something important to you. Yet the fact that it was important means you are grateful for what it gave. Thus, grief is the flip side of gratitude.
Wonderfully, this gives you a pathway out of grief — simply express your gratitude. When you put words to all you’ve received from that source, you are filled up inside and there’s no room left for grief.
I was in Spain when Baba left. At the pivotal time in India, it was sunset where I was, on private retreat in a small town overlooking the Mediterranean. That sunset lasted longer than any I’ve ever seen, with colors ranging from golden orange into deep purple.
As I sat and watched it, Baba spoke to me inside. For a long time. Mostly it was wordless communion, but sometimes a few words would come – deeply loving while giving me direction for my life.
He was my sunset. He was my sunrise. He was the sun that lit up my whole world, even my inner universe. Or I thought he was. As long as he was in his body, I could see only Baba. He took up the radar screen of my mind in an ecstatic and glorious way. It was a whole lot better than anything else I’d had on my radar.
It was only after he was gone (seemingly gone) that I could look past my mind and discover what he had given me. He gave me my own Self, the vast profundity and inner reality of Beingness being me. But frankly, I’d rather look at him than look at me.
That’s bhakti yoga, the science of Divine Love. Tukaram, a poet saint of India said it this way, “Please, please, dear God. Keep me just a little separate from you, so there’s still a ‘me’ to love you.” Yes, I love to love Baba. Which is why I indulge myself in sweet moments of Divine Grief – so I can feel the love, the longing, the yearning, while I know I am the One who was He.
There is only One Reality, the ultimate, ever-existent, present-right-here-and now Beingness. Called by many names, our tradition honors the One by the name Shiva, meaning the Auspicious One who plants his auspiciousness in all.
But it’s not like planting a seed in earth, with the seed being different from the earth. Instead, Shiva plants himself in you by being you. Shiva is being you while being me, while being all and beyond all. Oh, Shiva!
So when I look for Baba, I find him inside. I love to look at his photos, but it is always he who is looking through my eyes. I masquerade as a bhakta, lost in love of the Divine, while being the One who is being both the lover and the beloved. There’s no better way to live, always lost in Divine Love, yet knowing that it is me loving me – even when I am loving you.
bittersweet chocolate bits
Jai Muktananda! Hail to Muktananda! As he said about himself, I also proclaim to the world – I don’t care what anyone says about my Baba. He gave me everything.
And he sends me to share it with you. Does anyone want some bittersweet chocolate? We can laugh and cry together. It’s a glorious way to live!
My birthday is this week. A day to celebrate life. I’ve been contemplating this, starting with my body. It has changed quite a bit since I was born. It has grown as I have grown. It has learned as I have learned.
My body has served me very well, but I haven’t always served it well. Yet I need my body to live my life. My quality of life is directly affected by the care I give it. Just like a car, the better you care for it, the longer it will last and the better condition it will be in.
I have to admit, pre-yoga I was not very good at caring for my body. I pushed it to the max and beyond, many times. Even after finding yoga, I’ve been known to do this. Yet Svaroopa® yoga and meditation excel at self-care.
It starts with getting you in your body. For most of us, we live our life in our mind, which is always on the go. It can take you to the moon and back in a second. It can mire you in your most terrible memories and send you chasing after possible future scenarios. Every thought creates a castle in the sky, dragging you away from the present moment.
This is why every Svaroopa® yoga class begins with a Guided Awareness. You start with your toes, all ten toes…all at the same time. You get present in your own body from toe to top. This is so important, for your body needs your presence to be a living body.
Next you do Ujjayi Pranayama, the breathing practice that re-enlivens you. It pumps your prana, your vital life force. It’s very much like taking your car to the gas station. Without fuel, your car won’t go far. It is the same with your body. It needs to be fueled up with prana to work at full capacity.
After Shavasana and Ujjayi, you do some yoga poses which release your muscular tensions. Your aches and pains melt away, and you move more easily and fluidly. Your body is transformed. This makes a difference in your day-to-day life. Yet the truest purpose is to make you fit to explore the deeper dimensions of your being.
There is a big misconception about spirituality, that you must transcend your body. It is actually quite the opposite. For it is in your own body that you have the ability to explore your own greatness. Gurudevi says it this way in her new book, Yoga: Embodied Spirituality:
You must dive into your own body, your own mind, your own being and discover who you are and what you are made of. Yours is such a precious body. What an extraordinary place, a physical location, to enter into and to explore. What a great gift the body is!
Truely, your body is a great gift. You were born with a body and mind to explore the outer world as well as the inner world. We have gotten very good at focusing externally. Now it is time to use your body and mind differently, to explore inside.
Your body is a pathway inward. For when you are present in your body, you are in the here and now. In this place, in this space, in your own skin. When you look inward, deeper than your mind, you discover that you are Presence-Itself. Presence is not so limited to your idea of outside and inside. For Presence is all-expansive, all-encompassing, Existence-Itself. Yet when you are finding your own Presence, you don’t start with the macro. You start with the micro.
While a birthday is a day that we label as special, really every day is a celebration of you. You were born into a body for the precious opportunity to discover who you truly are. It is with your own body that you can do these spiritual practices. It is with your body that you can explore the inner dimensions of your own being. There is so much to discover inside. If you’re not sure where to begin, start with your toes!
