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Always Breathe, Always Love

A Talk by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

July 25, 2013

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My mum says to me every day: "Always breathe, always love, and always be the one you always want to be." In a big project I had at school I got frustrated, but then I remembered to "always breathe" and when I did, I felt love for the project not frustration.

After that, I was able to look again at the task sheet and I read that you can make a video for the project, which is something I like to do. So I gathered some friends together and I had them act out a scene. I showed the video as my project. So I was able to be me and to make my project fun.

an eleven-year-old Siddha Yogi from Melbourne, Australia

It's late in the afternoon, I am at work, and it's been a difficult day here at the office. I decided to open the Siddha Yoga path website for a quick pause and was able to read Gurumayi's talk, “Always Breathe, Always Love.” I feel deeply restored by reading this talk and by returning my focus to my own heart and Gurumayi's love. Now I'll go back to finishing my tasks with a more centered mind and a more peaceful heart.

Thank you, thank you.

California USA

I love this brilliant teaching, “Always breathe, always love.” I return to my breath and feel calm and centered, which returns me to my loving Self. I focus on who I always truly want to be. I keep returning to this sublime teaching.

I have been a Siddha Yoga student for over twenty years, and I find this so exciting and motivating.

Thank you, Gurumayi.

Auckland, New Zealand

It's amazing how the breath and love are connected. About twenty years ago, I was skiing with friends on a mountain. At one point, I fell down with one arm against my chest. I couldn't breathe anymore. The only thing I was able to do was to pray for my breath to come back. After a minute, which seemed to be hours, my breath came back. At that moment, I found that it was the most delicious thing in my life. When my friends came towards me to see what happened, looking at their faces, I only saw love. Looking at the valley, I saw love as well. In that total immersion in the breath, love shone.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for reminding me to always breathe, to always love.

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France

Like a butterfly emerging naturally from its cocoon, this entire year for me has been about making the birthing pushes into "always being the person I always want to be." After nearly 28 years on the Siddha Yoga path, guided by the Guru's grace, I have gotten to a place in my sadhana where things now feel easier and more effortless.

Lately, as I read the soul-touching shares from around the globe, I realize that my personal progress is also being supported by the momentum I receive from the courage and accumulated discipline of the entire sangham.

Arizona, USA

The talk, "Always Breathe, Always Love" gives me so much freedom to continue in my life with love: love for my work, my art, and life on earth with all beings (nature, animals, and humans). I read the words often, and I am very thankful for these words.

Graz, Austria

It is amazing how Gurumayi always gives me what I need. I had computer trouble during the Maha Abhiskek Puja Satsang and wasn't able to participate, so I missed Gurumayi’s talk the first time around. Now is the perfect time, on so many levels, for me to hear the teaching, "Always be the one you always want to be."

My youngest child has started school, and now I am looking for ways to increase my hours of professional work. I haven't been at such a crossroads since I finished high school and was trying to decide what career to pursue in college. Gurumayi’s words, "Always be the one you always want to be" are helping me tremendously in clarifying my next steps.

"Always be the one you always want to be..." with my children, with my husband, with my friends, as a disciple, a mastana. By focusing on my breath, feeling the ever-present love in my heart, the Guru's words are guiding me to be my highest Self.

Pennsylvania, USA

Months ago, I asked for grace to go deep into my heart and feel more and more love for God, and to turn my life into a love offering to God with every breath. And I began to recite Shri Guru Gita every day.

When I received the invitation to participate in the Maha Abhishek Puja through the Siddha Yoga path website, I was so astonished and happy. It was great prasad to be together with Gurumayi in this sacred event. Her words opened my heart, and the deep experience of grace I’d had in Gurudev Siddha Peeth twenty years ago reawakened with infinite sweetness and power.

Gurumayi said, "Be a mastana. Be a lover of God." Yes, Gurumayi! I want to be a mastana! I want to be a lover of God. I feel more happiness now doing my sadhana, and my hunger for God is greater.

Thank you, Gurumayi.

Caracas, Venezuela

Reading Gurumayi's words, “Be a mastana. Be a lover of God,” I feel very enthusiastic. I keep coming back to the talk to read it again and again. “Be a mastana. Be a lover of God.”

Also, it reminds me of the Siddha Yoga Message, “Be filled with enthusiasm and sing God's glory.” As I studied that Message, I experienced that singing God's glory is not only sitting in one place and chanting the name of God, but experiencing God's perfection in all the people I meet. It is acknowledging the goodness that I see in each person.

Yes, Gurumayiji, with your grace I will be a mastana. Thank you for this vision.

Texas, USA

When I first heard Gurumayi’s words, "Keep coming back," at the conclusion of the Maha Abhishek Puja, I thought they meant I should keep coming back to the website. When I read them on the website, the new understanding that resonated in me is that I should keep coming back home. When Siddha Yoga came into my life, I felt strongly that I was coming home. Yes! I feel that every breath I take is a step towards home.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for guiding me and accompanying me on this journey.

Rome, Italy

For some unknown reason, I had felt tense most of the day. As I drove back home, that feeling became even more intense. Then, I heard an inner command: "Breathe easy."

As soon as I started breathing consciously, I could feel the tension leave my body. It was as if some heavy load had been lifted off my shoulders. A surge of happiness and lightheartedness allowed me to enjoy the rest of my drive in the rain. Arriving home and finding Gurumayi's talk, Always Breathe, Always Love, on the website, I felt even more energized and happy. The happy feeling has remained with me.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for your grace and subtle teaching.

Illinois, USA

As I read this talk, the sentence “Always be the one you always want to be” stood out for me. I recalled many of my experiences during meditation, chanting, and japa walks during which I feel that I entered into the eternal bliss and joy of the Heart, and I remembered how in all those moments I'd longed to become that state.

Here Gurumayi has given us such a simple and yet powerful teaching to do that: “Always breathe.” I feel that Gurumayi is showing me that by always following the path of the breath, I can keep going back to the Heart until I become fully established in it, until I become the Heart.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for showing us how simple it can be to do sadhana!     

Shree Muktananda Ashram

Revisiting these words through the Siddha Yoga path website was an amazing experience for me. As I read them, the words "Always be the one you always want to be" revealed another layer of meaning for me.

For the last couple of days, I have been feeling in sync with the natural and easeful rhythm of my heart. As I move about throughout the day, I have been carrying with me a sense of ease. As a result of practices done for a prolonged duration during this week, I have found myself in the place I always want to be: calm, serene, and centered in pure love. I have not felt “pushed” by situations or people. When I read Gurumayi's reassuring words on how to stay centered in love no matter what happens in  life, I realized that I have been living in my heart.

Thank you, Gurumayi. And thanks to the website team for making this precious message available on the Siddha Yoga path website so that we can reconnect with them.

Pune, India

My study group is so delighted to read this talk on the website and we are all contemplating it. We will actively focus on these teachings as we do our practices in order to go deeper in our understanding and experience.  

This morning I was meditating in Baba Muktananda’s  samadhi shrine. Remembering Gurumayi's words, "Always breathe," I focused on my breath, which helped me to calm my mind.  I felt a gentle shower of serenity draw me deeper into meditation.

We all want to thank Shri Gurumayi for giving this talk after the Maha Abhishek Puja and for presenting it again on the Siddha Yoga path website.

Gurudev Siddha Peeth

Reading Gurumayi's words, I was transported back to a time in Gurudev Siddha Peeth when Bade Baba told me in my heart, "Stay here forever." I realized then that he meant the Heart. As I recalled this experience, a new understanding of Gurumayi's words—“Keep coming back"—hit home: "Keep coming back—to the Heart."

As I practice being inside of myself—not ahead, not rushing, but taking the time to just be—I experience exquisite beauty and perfection. It is the perfect meeting the perfect.

Such a gift of the Guru! Yes, I'll keep coming back!


Hawaii, USA

When Gurumayi says, "Always be the one you always want to be," it rings a bell!  When I was a teenager, I used to visit Shree Muktananda Ashram in the summers and I remember Gurumayi telling us teenagers to become what we want the world to be. I loved this teaching. My understanding was that the Siddha Yoga path is for creating a better life for ourselves, our friends, and for the whole world.

Now I am a high school teacher, and I still feel inspired by this teaching. I understand that I can trust my connection with my heart, I can trust my own values. And I will apply this teaching from Gurumayi next week, when I return to teaching. I will let my pupils know that I trust that they will become the person they always want to be.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for always reminding us how great we are, and how we can transform the world and the people around us.

Paris, France

Gurumayi has given us the guidance, "Always breathe. Always love." To me, the two phrases command me to love fully and unceasingly until my final breath—at the very least!

What amazing grace it is to be walking such a noble path, and to know that my Guru is dedicated to helping me change my life so that love is the guiding force in everything I do.

Michigan, USA

The Maha Abhishek Puja was such a beautiful and profound experience for me. Watching Gurumayi perform abhishek to Babe Baba, I felt we were all being washed clean of impurities with this sacred ritual. My mind became still, and as time went by and the abhishek continued, I felt lighter and lighter, and so happy I wanted to laugh. When the puja ended, I felt renewed and free, so present and alive!

Then Gurumayi spoke, telling us: Always breathe. Always love. Always be the one you always want to be." Yes, that was it! I was being the person I always want to be, and Gurumayi´s words helped me recognize it.

This is such a gift, to be able to recognize who I always want to be. The mantras and her words, Always be the one you always want to be, are still resounding in my mind and in my heart, and when I hear her, I instantly reconnect with that feeling of being the real me.

Thank you, Bade Baba. Thank you, Gurumayi!

Mexico City, Mexico

Reading Gurumayi's words from the Maha Abhishek Puja, I am taken straight to my heart. And that is the me I always want to be: alive, awake, and residing in my own heart!

Gurumayi teaches me over and over again to stay connected to my heart, to remember the love that is possible in my own heart. She says, “We are always together in the Heart,” that we meet in the space of the Heart. The Siddha Yoga path website has become for me a visible, tangible heart space that I visit every day to stay connected to that divine love.

California , USA

Thank you for providing Gurumayi’s talk from the Maha Abhishek Puja. I am so delighted to read and contemplate her teachings. Today I am going to focus on practicing this teaching in seva and in my meditation.
 

Gurudev Siddha Peeth

I think it's true. You should always breathe, always love. My meaning for the teaching, "The Heart is the hub of all sacred places. Go there and roam" is that the Heart is the center of all special places. Go there and meditate.

I think that "Be who you always want to be" means that I try to be who I want to be, but sometimes people keep shoving me into places and things I don't want to be. So I just have to be myself, be who I want to be. And I know that this teaching is very, very true. So just follow it!
 

an eight-year-old Siddha Yogi from New York, USA

When I heard Gurumayi say, “Always be the one you always want to be,” the phrase called to me. I experienced her words in the region of my heart as though I were being drawn to move beyond the borders of my small harbor into greater more expansive waters. Her words have stayed with me since that extraordinary event in July.

I returned this week to my job as a high school teacher, a role I have been playing for many years. Yet in all those years I had been holding back from being the teacher I have always wanted to be: the one whose words are alive and emerge from that space of the heart, the one whose words will wake students into thinking and seeing differently, the one whose words inspire. I knew on the first day of class that “always” meant NOW. The waiting time was over.

And so the true teacher in me emerged, the one I always wanted to be, fearless and rooted in the heart. “This is what I wish for you by the end of the year—that you will see with new eyes,” I began. As my words flowed with a new ease and assurance, I could see students’ eyes lighting up. In that moment I knew that a heart-centered connection had been made. I was being the one I always want to be.

New York, USA

Gurumayi says in her talk, "Keep coming back." And in her generosity and compassion, she has created this magnificent, ever-new Siddha Yoga path website which is so nourishing, so inspiring, so grounding, so beneficial that it too calls out to me, over and over again, "Keep coming back." And so I do.

The result? Through the grace that pours through its pages, I keep coming back to my heart, I keep coming back to the Siddha Yoga teachings, and I keep coming back to being and becoming "the one I always want to be."

Oregon, USA