July 10, 2007 — Ocala Star-Banner: Amrit Yoga is Front Page News!

The Ocala Star-Banner ran a front-page feature about Amrit Yoga, Yogi Desai and the Amrit Yoga Institute: http://ocala.com/article/20070710/NEWS/207100322/1025/NEWS

Watch the Flash movie and listen to Priti teach a class and Gurudev speak on the meaning of chanting.
http://www.ocala.com/assets/slideshow/EnchantedSpaces070707/index.html

2006 - Growth at Amrit Yoga Institute

Gurudev has shared his intention to create a center where we can relax, renew and transform ourselves and our lives through the practice of yoga. With your involvement and support, that vision is taking shape. This year we were able to advance program development and to accomplish several essential projects to support the infrastructure at the center.

Our vision is to create a facility with the capacity to serve 100 people. Currently, our capacity is 35 guests plus staff. Growing programs present a welcome challenge. Plans are moving forward to expand our facilities over the next few years. Our next stage of growth will require strength of intention, support and funding from our worldwide Amrit Yoga family. Many of you contribute to this work by teaching Amrit Yoga, attending programs, and performing seva at the Institute. Your continual connection through teaching, learning and service allows us to move forward.

Opportunities to Serve: Teaching from Bapuji

When one lives just for oneself, life is full of pain. When one lives for everyone else, life is full of bliss. One who donates anything to the family, society, nation, and the world, according to his capacity, is a truly wealthy and cultured person. It is irrational to equate wealth with material abundance. Actually, anything considered valuable is an asset and is, thus, a form of wealth and prosperity. From this perspective, we should treat as assets and wealth our physical and mental health and well-being, our love, and our knowledge. Some portion of whatever one gets should be set aside for others; only then should the person whole-heartedly enjoy whatever remains. Donation is a basil leaf through which the subsequent enjoyments become prasad (blessed food).

Thanks to you…
With the blessing of your generous support in 2006, we were able to:

• Develop continuing education credits for bodyworkers and mental health professionals
• Renew accreditation with the Yoga Alliance for all of our teacher and professional training programs
• Continue our scholarship program to provide assistance to deserving individuals in attending Amrit Yoga trainings
• Implement our strategic plan to bring senior Amrit Yoga teachers to your neighborhoods throughout Canada and the USA
• Create more program space by removing the bowling lanes in our darshan room and expanding the shop
• Replace the roofs on all of our buildings

Mataji’s Legacy

Mataji’s passing in July touched all of us. Her life was a guiding light for all who practice selfless service. The Amrit Yoga Institute established The Mataji Living Legacy Fund to continue Mataji’s karma yoga into the future, and the fund is already growing. Proceeds from the Mataji Fund will be used to provide needed educational supplies for children and financial support to women in a yogic environment that aligns with the spirit of Mataji’s lifelong mission. Visit http://www.amrityoga.org/donate-mataji.htm to learn more about the Mataji Fund and how you can help.

“When you help another person, you don’t even know how that act of giving or how many other people could be affected by your generosity.” Mataji

Support the Amrit Yoga Institute through www.amrityogatravel.com

Announcing the new Amrit Yoga Travel site! When you book all your personal and business travel at www.amrityogatravel.com, an average of 8% of your purchase—40% of all commissions—will be donated to the Amrit Yoga Foundation at no additional cost to you. Services include air travel, car rentals, lodging, vacation packages, travel insurance, event tickets and many other extras.

We encourage all of you to use this site for all your travel needs, whether for work, vacation, or group travel, and to explore the extra features of the site as well. Tell your family and friends about the site and you will be helping the Amrit Yoga Institute while you also fulfill your travel needs!

Our heartfelt thanks to Paula Bayer and Your Travel Biz, who created and donated this site for the Amrit Yoga Institute. Please contactus at the Amrit Yoga Institute for more information: (352) 685.3001 or info@amrityoga.org

A message from Gurudev...

I extend to you an invitation to share in the grace and blessings I have received from Bapuji. The experience of carrying out his vision in America and perpetuating the spiritual depth and dimension of yogic practice has touched every part of my life. It has changed me at the very core of my being, and has been a profound support in bringing the power of lineage to you.

I feel that our center has progressed very well with your participation, love and care. I invite you to join me in carrying on our mission by being a co-creative participant in developing Bapuji’s vision. Sharing from the heart creates an opening for us to become the recipient of that which we provide. This is how giving becomes receiving.

You have already contributed so much in the past. Your personal participation and unqualified support is at the core of the expansion of our facilities and ability to reach out to others. Now we have come to a stage where it is crucial for all of us to share in the continuation of the authentic values and timeless teachings of our lineage.

As we experience rapid growth we have discovered that we need to extend our facilities to accommodate this growth. With your help we can continue to expand our programs to all those that want to deepen their practice and become part of our lineage of light and love.

Your loving support of this vision is a co-creation in the spirit of compassionate service.

A Message from Malay...
We write to you with excitement and gratitude for all that is happening at the Amrit Yoga Institute. Our dedicated family of people carrying the light of this lineage into the world—of which you are a part—continues to grow. This year we celebratedthe graduation of nearly 150 new Amrit Yoga teachers and Amrit Method™ Yoga Nidra facilitators and served many more people in additional programs throughout the year.

Now is a powerful time to be connected. As Gurudev enters deeper into his sadhana, we all experience new depth and inspiration in our practice of these timeless teachings. As is always the case with transformation, growth at the Amrit Yoga Institute has come along with profound change. Transformation has produced both growth and profound change at the Amrit Yoga Institute this year. Following are some brief highlights which we hope will bring you joy and inspiration to continually renew your connection to your practice and to our shared purpose of serving in ways that nourish ourselves, our families and the world.

As a member of our cherished Amrit Yoga family, we invite you to impart the power of your intention to this ongoing work by making a year-end donation to the Amrit Yoga Institute.

Your giving will help us fulfill the vision of Amrit Yoga and our lineage. It is in this spirit that we ask for your gift now. You can donate online or download a printable donation form. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at (352) 685-3001 or info@amrityoga.org

if you have any questions. As we move toward another year of growth and transformation, we look forward to connecting with all of you.

Please check our 2007 programs calendar and stay tuned for updates on the magical unfolding of the work we share. Many blessings for health, peace, and prosperity in the coming year.

Jai Bhagwan,
Malay Desai

Spring 2004

Pilgrimage to Mother India

In January, Gurudev led a group of 35 people on a unique tour of Northern and Western India, designed to provide participants with an intimate experience of the culture and spiritual heritage of this lineage. The focus of the tour was a pilgrimage to the holy site of Bapuji's Mahasamadhi, or burial site, at Malav Ashram, as well as an extended stay at the Kayavarohan Ashram, the site of the Lakulish Temple, where Bapuji spent most of his years of sadhana. Gurudev offered his special understanding, insights and the experiences that helped develop his spiritual heritage, his unique path of love and spiritual unfoldment in the Lineage of the Masters.

Gurudev and Mataji on the steps of Dadaji's Temple in Kayavarohan.

The group prepares to attend their first puja to Dadaji at Kayavarohan.

At Kayavarohan Temple, puja is performed to the Dadaji statue every morningat 5 a.m. The "pujaris" cleanse and adorn the statue with garlands, tilak and oils.

Mahadsamadhi Temple which houses Bapuji's burial site at Malav.

Gurudev holds one of the marble plaques depicting Bapuji's spontaneous asanas that will adorn the interior of the temple in Malav.

Malay (in blue shirt) and group visit the house where Gurudev lived in Halol as a young boy (far left) .

Gurudev tells the group about his boyhood visits to Bapuji when he lived in this goshala (cowshed) in Halol, Gurudev's hometown.

Just outside Bapuji's goshala in Halol, Gurudev shares a story about Brahma bulls.

Malay Desai captured the entire tour with his ever-present video camera.

A gate over one of the entrances to the Rishikesh Ashram depicts Krishna and Arjuna in a battlefield scene from the Bhagavad Gita.

A typical mealtime at the ashram in Rishikesh.

Gurudev (center), Shri Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji (far left) and Mataji offer arti in a ceremony on the banks of the Ganges River in Rishikesh.

Swamaji and Gurudev perform a ritual agni hotra prior to the arti ceremony on the Ganges. A lifesize statue of Shiva sits in meditation in the river.

An awe-inspiring 12-foot tall Shiva in majestic meditation at Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh.

Gurudev and Mataji look on as Balayogi gives an outdoor lecture in Rishikesh.

Gurudev gives morning darshan to the group at the Welcome Hotel in Baroda. All photos Copyright © 2004 Amrit Yoga Institute