By Swami Samvidaananda

As a teenager in the Eighties, I loved when Prince sang, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate this thing called life.”  At least, that’s what I thought he sang.  The lyrics are actually “to get through this thing called life.”  I’ve had it wrong all this time!  

I think I misheard the lyrics because I actually celebrate this thing called life. Sure, at times I’ve felt like life was something to get through.  There’s been pain and the uncertainty of hard times.  But alongside that, I’ve had glimpses of the sacredness of life.  Moments of perceiving how being a human being is a precious opportunity.  And then I met my Guru.  She confirmed the reality of those glorious glimpses.  She teaches that life is Divine:

What seems to be only a mundane world is Divinely designed to engage you fully.  Each and every person, critter and object is made of the One Divine Energy, shakti, coalescing into a separate and fascinating form.  When you step into the marvel, the awe and majesty of this amazing creation, you live in the bliss of Consciousness

– Gurudevi Nirmalananda, “Being a Yogi in the World”

The world is made of Divinity.  Well before modern day physics, yogis knew that everything is made of energy. Named shakti, this energy is not an inert, lifeless substance.  Shakti willingly, knowingly, blissfully chooses to be the dance of Existence.  More than merely conscious, she is Consciousness, concentrating into everything.  Every thing on this planet, every thing in the universe, every thing that exists.  Including you.  

You might think, “Well, okay, everything is made of Consciousness.  But not me.”  What are you made of, Swiss cheese?  Oh, Swiss cheese is made of Consciousness, too.  If everything that exists is made of the same substance, then that has to include you.  Your body is made of consciousness-concentrate.  Every cell is distilled Divinity. 

It’s like what Salinger’s short story character Teddy McArdle says:

I was six when I saw that everything was God, and my hair stood up, and all.  It was on a Sunday, I remember.  My sister was a tiny child then, and she was drinking her milk, and all of a sudden I saw that she was God and the milk was God.  I mean, all she was doing was pouring God into God, if you know what I mean.

— J.D. Salinger, “Teddy,” Nine Stories, 1953

Do you know what he means?  As a human being, you have the unique capacity to know that everything is God, like Teddy did when he was six.  You’re not just a part of God, like you, Teddy, his sister and the milk are pieces of a God-puzzle.  All the pieces together make up the whole.  

It’s more like you are a drop of water When you drop into the ocean, kerplunk!  You merge with it.  Then, which part is the ocean and which part is the drop?  You’re the whole ocean.  Your Self = God = Consciousness = the One Divine Reality.  That is who you are.

So, how come you don’t know that’s who you are?  You do know, sometimes.  You get glimpses, like I did.  But it’s not enough.  You want more. To know your Divinity all the time, your capacity has to be activated. 

Gurudevi can do that for you with an initiation called Shaktipat. She is a Shaktipat Master, empowered and authorized by her lineage.  She doesn’t just tell you that you are Divine; she gives you the experience.  And she teaches you to meditate, so you can do your part. 

Every time you meditate with the lineage mantra, you immerse your mind in your Self.  Your mind needs the help, because it is used to focusing on the mundane instead of the Divine.  And it convinces you that you are small, separate, unworthy and unlovable.  

But when you meditate, you drench your mind in your Divinity.  Over time, your mind becomes less capable of blocking your bliss.  So you know the marvel, awe and majesty of this thing we call life.  We each have our role.  And we each are the whole — the whole of Divinity.  Outside and inside, there’s only One.  You find the One inside when you meditate.  Gurudevi will show you how.

By Swami Samvidaananda

The birth of Jesus is celebrated today.  It’s a holy day that honors a great being.  Merry Christmas!

I grew up in an Italian Catholic family.  I adored the baby Jesus nestled in the little wooden manger under our brightly lit Christmas tree.  I was taught that Jesus was both human and divine, and I believed it.  But I didn’t understand how it could be true.  I wanted to know. 

And then I found yoga.  Yoga opened up my ability to experience Divinity ― my own and the Divinity of everything that exists.  Yoga says you can experience your Divinity.  This is because there is One Divine Reality, and that Reality is your own Self:

Caitanyam-aatman — Shiva Sutras 1.1

Consciousness-Itself is your own Self.

(Translated by Swami Nirmalananda)

Consciousness is the source and substance of everything that exists.  The physicists and yogis agree that everything is made of energy.  The yogis go a step further.  They explain that everything is made of conscious energy: Divine, Sublime and Self-knowing.  More than conscious, it is Consciousness-Itself.

The sun, the moon, the stars, your houseplants and your pets are all made of cosmic Consciousness.  They are all inherently Divine.  And so are you.  Cosmic Consciousness is your own Self.  Except, you don’t know your Divinity, not enough of the time.  Instead, you experience yourself as limited.  You feel small, separate, and painfully alone. But you have the capacity to experience your Self.  This is yoga’s purpose: to reveal your Divinity to you.  

How does yoga do that?  Well, not with yoga poses, as beneficial as they are.  Yoga says, spend time with a living yoga Master, a Siddha.  That’s what I do.  I meditate with Gurudevi Nirmalananda Saraswati.  She knows her own Divinity.  She sees everything that exists as that same radiant Divinity, all the time.  In this tradition, she is described as Self-Realized.

Other traditions have their own names for those who live in a pure, steady, spiritual state.  In the West, Christianity recognizes great beings as saints and mystics.  The meditative traditions of the East — in India, Burma and Thailand ― call them enlightened, illumined, God-intoxicated. 

What happens when you spend time with such a being?  Their ecstatic, God-saturated state is catching.  They love to share!  They don’t even need to try.  They radiate Divinity.  They are like a tuning fork, emitting a pure tone of bliss.  When you’re with them, you begin to vibrate with bliss too.  

That’s because their bliss is your bliss.  Their Divinity is your Divinity.  There’s only One Divine Reality, and it is your own Self.  There’s only one difference between a Self-Realized being and you.  They know they are the Self and you don’t.  Not yet.  But you can. 

With a Siddha like Gurudevi, it’s not like going to a concert.  There, you catch a blissful high, then go home and lose it.  The yoga masters in her lineage give you more than a temporary experience of your Self.  They are empowered to give Shaktipat, the mystical initiation that awakens you to your Inherent Divinity.  

She received this initiation from her beloved Guru, Baba Muktananda.  And he received this initiation from his Guru.  And his Guru had a Guru, who had a Guru, who had a Guru, in a lineage of Shaktipat Gurus that stretches through time.  

When you receive this inner awakening, your Divinity is revealed to you.  You know your Self in a way that you will not lose.  Oh, you may get distracted and forget for a while, then remember again.  But you can’t ever not-know your Divinity the way you did before, unto lifetimes.  Meditation will clear your mind, body and heart from the inner distractions that get in your way.  So one day, you will be Self-Realized.  You will know your own Divinity.  And you will see everything that exists as that same radiant Divinity, all the time.

I wanted to know how it’s possible to be both human and divine.  Now I know.  Because when I meditate with Gurudevi, she gives me my Self.  I experience my Divinity reliably, unfailingly, gloriously.  And I am still human.  Do you want to experience your Self?  Then meditate with Gurudevi Nirmalananda.  She will be delighted to teach you how.

By Swami Samvidaananda 

“You are your own Guru,” wrote a renowned Guru, Swami Muktananda.  As a brand-new yogi, I didn’t know what a Guru was.  Let alone that I was supposed to be my own Guru.  That’s how I took this teaching when I first heard it.   

Fellow yogis seemed to confirm my understanding.  At classes and conferences, I met wonderful, independent, confident yogis.  They had focus, dedication and a daily home practice.  They were doing it for themselves.  I admired them.  I wanted to dedicate myself to yoga, too.   

So I found a teacher, one that I admired and respected.  And she taught me that “guru” is Sanskrit for teacher.  A Guru with a big “G” is a spiritual teacher.  A guru with a small “g” is any kind of teacher.   

How many gurus have you had in your life?  So many.  Your first guru is your mother or whoever raised you.  They taught you to eat, to walk, talk, play peek-a-boo and blow out birthday candles.  You had gurus who taught you to read and write, to play soccer or trombone.  

My dad learned how to be an electrician from his dad.  So my grandpa was my dad’s electrician guru.  Anything you’ve learned to do, a guru has shown you how — even if you go to YouTube or you read a blog or a book.  These are all created by people who are sharing what they know, so you can know.

The yoga teacher I found all those years ago is a Guru.  Her name is Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati.  She has dedicated her life to sharing with you what she knows: the mystical truth of your spiritual essence.  She teaches that there is One Divine Reality that is the source and substance of all that exists.  That One is called your Self.  

Gurudevi not only teaches you about your Self; she awakens you to the knowing of your Self.  And then you foster and further your own knowing every time you meditate.  That’s why this meditation is called Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation.  Vidya means experiential knowing, and svaroopa means your own Divine Self.  

Awakened to your hidden Divinity, you see the glorious Divinity of everyone and everything that exists.  This is a Divine world created of Divinity, expressing Divinity, rejoicing in Divinity.  That Divinity is you.  You are Divine.  You always have been.  You just didn’t know it, at least not all the time.  

When your Guru reveals it to you, then you know.  And then, you know that  “you are your own Guru.”  Because you are the One, and She is the One. There’s only One. 

Yoga is not DIY.  You do not have to figure it out on your own.  You need one who knows, one who can give that knowing to you.  Swami Nirmalananda will tell you she only has something to give because she got it from her Guru, Swami Muktananda.  And he would credit everything he had to give to his Guru, Bhagavan Nityananda. 

And he had a Guru, who had a Guru, in a lineage of Gurus that stretches through time.  Do you want a Guru?  Swami Nirmalananda will be yours, if you want her to be.  You’re the one who decides.