In this episode, Marydale Ma speaks with Yogacharya Devjani Mohanty, whose life reflects the quiet truth that the sincere seeker is always being guided. Born in Puri, Odisha, and raised in a devotional family, Devjani Ma carried an inner longing through years of life across England, Japan, and Australia — until, in April 2000, she met her beloved Guruji at a satsang and recognized that her search had reached its goal. She shares the grace-filled story of her initiation into Kriya Yoga, the way her practice became an anchor through profound loss, and her journey into guiding meditation and initiating seekers herself. It is a tender conversation about devotion, surrender, and the living presence of the Guru.
About Our Guest
Yogacharya Devjani Mohanty is based in Sydney, Australia. Born in Puri, Odisha, she nurtured a deep longing for spiritual growth throughout her life and career, exploring many paths until April 2000, when she met her beloved Guruji during a Satsang and knew her search had reached its goal. She and her husband Arvind were soon initiated into Kriya Yoga, with their sons following. With the blessings of the lineage, Devjani Ma began guiding meditation in 2023 and initiating seekers in 2025, offering her service with deep devotion to Guruji and the teachings.
Episode Transcript
Marydale Ma
Welcome, beautiful souls, to Living in Joy. I am so grateful that you’ve chosen to join us today as we once again gather in sacred friendship, reflection, and love through the voices of women walking the Kriya Yoga path. Today promises to be a gentle unfolding, a remembering, a conversation about devotion, destiny, surrender, and grace. Before we begin, let us all arrive together in this space.
If you will, and you feel comfortable, go ahead and gently soften your gaze, perhaps even close your eyes for a moment, and join me in a nice deep inhale, exhaling with ah. Again, deep breath, and relax. Allow your body to soften, your mind to quiet, your heart to open. Beloved Father, Divine Mother, Sri Gurudev Paramahamsa Hariharananda, Beloved Guruji Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, our Paramguru Paramahamsa Yogananda, and all the radiant masters of the Kriya Yoga lineage, we bow to you in gratitude for this sacred gathering.
May this conversation unfold in truth, humility, wisdom, and love. May we listen deeply. May we feel the living presence of you, our beloved masters, among us. May we remember that there is no sincere prayer that is ever unheard.
Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Amen. Beautiful. There comes a moment in many spiritual lives when the outer search quietly begins turning inward. We may travel through careers, countries, relationships, responsibilities, and countless experiences, and still feel that something essential is calling us home.
And then, sometimes quite unexpectedly, grace arrives. A teacher appears, a path opens, a recognition occurs so deeply within the soul that life is never the same again. Today we’re blessed to sit with a woman whose life beautifully reflects that sacred unfolding. Let us warmly welcome Yogacharya Devjani Mohanty.
Welcome, welcome, welcome, Devjani. Pranam, pranam, everyone, pranam. Pranam. We’re so, so happy to have you on this day.
And it’s truly a blessing and a joy. And what I’d like to do, with your permission, is just encourage you to share as you did with me about your incredible upbringing. As yogis we know that an auspicious birth is the result of good karma from the past, and gratefully you gave me a glimpse of how very precious your childhood was. I would really love for you to hold our hands now and allow us to journey back in time to what it was like for you to grow up in Odisha, India.
Devjani Ma
Thank you. Thank you, Marydale Ma. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my words and thoughts together with you all. I grew up in Odisha from my childhood. I was born in Puri, a very sacred place. My mother’s family is from Puri too. So from childhood, every summer vacation during June, July, when there’s school holidays, we used to go visit our grandparents, maternal grandparents. And their house was just opposite to a big, huge pond, whose name is Narendra.
And that was the pond. During this summer vacation, Lord Jagannath used to take a parikrama in the water, because this is summer, and people used to put sandalwood paste on him, on his body, because they treat him just like, you know, their own — to have the cooling effect. So experiencing that from childhood, I was really, really fascinated with what’s going on with so many people, and so much festivity; it’s like a big fair.
And where my uncle’s — where my grandfather’s house was — the next door was a math, like it was a different set; it’s Vaishnav Sampradaya. It’s like they worship Radha and Radharani and Lord Krishna. So I used to get up four o’clock in the morning with their kirtan and bhajan, with the beautiful kancha sound and this bell sound and sacred bhajan. So I used to see — oh gosh, then I didn’t know what it was.
Oh, it’s so noisy. But slowly, slowly it got into me. And that’s why every year when we visited my grandparents’ place, I got exposed to their bhajans, their singing, their loving nature. And the most beautiful thing is the amazing prasad. I think as children, we are all attracted towards the sweet.
So what attracted me was the sweet prasad. So that probably was what was purifying for me, slowly, slowly. And also my mother’s family, they come from a very beautiful lineage of Raya Ramananda’s family. So Raya Ramananda is one of the prominent devotees of Lord Chaitanya.
So he was the one who was given the opportunity to see what actually Lord Chaitanya was — the combination of Radharani and Lord Krishna. Coming from that family, of course there’s something in the lineage, something in the blood that would escape a few generations and come to some other second or third generation. So I was blessed with that loving and devotional atmosphere while growing up during my childhood. But I took it for granted, because when you are given ample, you don’t realize how precious it is.
I never knew that that would shape me in a different way, where I would embrace it at the later part of my life.
Marydale Ma
And you mentioned how you can still taste the childhood prasad to this day, which really touched me. And it really was an incredible birth and childhood that you were blessed with. Thank you so much for taking the time to share. Is there anything else you’d like to add about your childhood, your grandparents, your parents, their influence?
Devjani Ma
As I said, my mother’s family was coming from a very — what do you call it — devotional family. So devotion was there right from childhood. And as I used to visit my grandparents’ place every summer vacation, so the car festival, and that, which is a theater, and going to temple, mixing with all the activities, and looking at all the rituals was really, really very inspiring. And also, it was amazing.
And I can’t really explain how you’d feel it. It was like the whole atmosphere is uplifted to a different dimension. And I never understood then as a child what it is, because we just took it for granted. This is what happens.
But later, when I was away from Odisha in my adulthood, then it comes to my 30s, my 40s, and then I realized what a privilege I was given while growing up. And now I can’t even go and visit the temple without any crowd. So it’s so crowded now. It’s really, really hard to even have the darshan.
But then we were giving the darshan in the innermost chamber of the temple. And also my father, he comes from a family where they were very much devoted people, but they are more like Advaita Vedanta. They believe in everything. My mother comes from a devotional family.
My father, they believe in everything. They believe God’s presence is everywhere. So it’s a mix of two that brought me to this path. And my father was like — years back, I think in the 90s, ’92 or ’93, when they visited me in Sydney, he used to go to his bedroom and close the door for at least one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening and won’t come out.
I used to ask Mom, what is Dad doing inside? Then she would say, you know, he’s praying, he’s doing his yoga. I said, if he’s doing his yoga, why is he closing the door? So I used to go and peep, because, you know, in Western houses there is no peephole in the door, so it’s locked when it’s locked.
So then he needs to come back. After dinner, I just ask him, what are you doing there for one hour? Are you praying for so long? He said, no, I’m just doing my meditation.
I said, what is this meditation? He said — can you teach me, please? Then he used to say, I can’t teach you, but if you pray really hard, your teacher will come to teach you. But — we pray hard.
Then he said, well, when you come to India, we’ll see. I’ll take you. Then I said, when we go to India, it’s once in a year, 15 days with my parents and 15 days with my in-laws. Where is there time to go and look for gurus? I said, it’s not under my control that I’ll go and look for a guru.
But if guru wants, guru would find me. When I really didn’t know that he had taken initiation from Gurudev — and yeah, that was when Guruji was a Brahmachari in Itteshuruji’s ashram. So it so happened that Guruji, during his travel to Australia in the 90s, I missed out, I think, twice, because of weather, or maybe my time was not right, maybe I didn’t mean to. Well, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Marydale Ma
Let’s skip that a little bit. So I’m very excited to hear that your father was a Kriyavan. I did not know that. And that was very precious.
And I know that it had to be hard for you when the time came for you to leave India, but it is a remarkable gift that you were able to live in England and Japan and eventually ended up in Australia. Share with us how moving through different cultures and environments shaped your understanding of life, identity, and spirituality, because it was a big shift for you.
Devjani Ma
When we went to London, my husband was an international banker, so he had these postings — three years, three postings, overseas postings. So when we went to London, that was in ’81 or ’82, I had my young son with me, so very much — and it’s a new culture, new place, everything is new, there was no help. So I was completely uprooted. I felt a little uprooted from my comfort zone.
But that time also, where we lived, on the weekend we used to go to the temples there. There was one temple a little far, we used to go occasionally, but we used to travel. I — like, in London, I didn’t have much experience of meeting any spiritual person or meeting any discourses. Traveling was hard, and with the baby, with a small baby, it was also hard for me to go out leaving the baby. So that was not much that happened in London, except just being with the family and looking after the family and mingling with others, knowing the other culture. But then we came back to India for a short while, for six or eight months, when I had my second son.
Six months we lived in India, then traveled to Japan. So in Japan, we stayed in a city called Kobe. It’s an international city where we had all the international schools for children, and all the Indian government offices had their place to stay there, so we don’t feel left out of the country. Japan was really nice, because their culture is more like praying to the ancestors, praying to Lord Buddha; praying was much more — I felt the spirituality and the atmosphere is more like how I grew up.
Every kind of suburb used to have a temple. Temple means their way of what they worship. They worship Lord Buddha, they worship their ancestors, but they go put the incense sticks and they pray for their well-being, their family’s well-being, and for others. And all the functions there, annual functions, were always combined with worship.
So that’s what I enjoyed there, three years — their culture, their language, and their softness, their embracing nature. Really, I enjoyed it. It was a little hard for me to make friends because I didn’t know how to speak Japanese.
And then also people were not speaking English as much, so I joined YWCA to learn Japanese, and also a private teacher came to teach me. So by the second year I was fluent in Japanese, so I could make friends and get into their culture, attend their tea ceremony, their ladies’ get-together — because they are a community, they don’t want any foreigners to get into their household, looking into their lifestyle and all. But I got a friend, made a friend, who was really, really very happy to help me out with conversation. And she was also kind of very happy that I could speak to her in English, so that her conversation would get improved.
The spoken language would get improved. So I enjoyed my stay in Japan. Wonderful. Then from there to here, to Sydney, to Australia.
Marydale Ma
Great. And that was in 1989? That was in ’88. Yeah, so you’ve been there now quite a long time. And I know while you have been in Australia your spiritual practice began to take some wings, and you were becoming more involved with the Vedanta Centre.
Devjani Ma
Yes. When we arrived here in ’87 — sorry, ’88 — there was, again, I was little, the children were small, so for a couple of years I was very busy looking after them, and then the household, then the family. Slowly, when I came to know about different organizations here, spiritual organizations, whenever we used to get time on the weekend, we used to go and visit. But the shift came when I was introduced to one of the organizations called Siddha Yoga Organization. So there I used to go and participate with their evening arati, Guru Gita chanting on Sundays.
The family also used to go, because the boys were a little grown up by then. So we could leave them home and go during the weekends, or during the weekends — if they’re okay with their homework, they used to come and join. I actually encouraged them to come with us, even if it’s for one hour, to come with us, just sit down and feel the atmosphere. Then that went on for a couple of years.
I was going to the temples, normal temples and other organizations, but there was something lacking in me. It was okay for me, but I was not feeling any completeness within me. Just to keep it a practice, I used to go and attend the functions — any visiting monks come to Sydney to attend the lecture in the town hall or any other public places.
Then came the Vedanta Centre. The Vedanta Centre came in, I think, 1999 or 2000. And I was one of the devotees who were there with this visiting monk. He was in his 70s then.
So we used to go and sit down in the rented place and listen to him, his talks. Sweet monk, like a fatherly figure to me. So then he encouraged us to come and attend Gita classes, Vedanta classes, Upanishad classes. So it was a kind of nectar for me.
So three days a week, I used to go and attend the classes with him. Then came 2000, when I was kind of invited to this satsang where I met our Shri Guruji.
Marydale Ma
Amazing. You know, sometimes the search itself becomes a form of grace. And every longing, every question, every restless moment quietly prepares our heart for recognition. And then one day, the soul just knows.
And for you, that was, I think, in April of 2000? Yes. What do you remember about your first meeting with Guruji? What happened within you? What made you realize your search was over?
Devjani Ma
It was a Tuesday evening. So this friend of mine, family friend of ours, called me on the weekend, told me that — Devjani, please come in the evening, Tuesday evening, and we are having a satsang. And this monk has come from Odisha and also from Ravenshaw.
And so you’d like it. So initially I thought, weekdays, my God, coming back from work, then make a dish — and she lives half an hour drive from me — whether I would be able to take my family together with me before the time. But somehow I just could manage to come home early, cooked a dish, then two boys, all four of us went, and it was just past 7:30 in the evening, and her lounge was packed and there was no spot to go inside to sit. So we entered and I sat under the steps, the living room steps.
And the moment I walked in, I looked at Guruji — to me, he seemed as if I’m looking at Vivekananda, with his cap on, not the turban, just a small cap on. I just squinted my eyes and said, oh, maybe Vivekananda has gone so much inside me, I see him in others also. So the satsang went on for one hour and I really liked it.
It was so simple, so beautiful. And then came the dinner time. So after we had the dinner, in the normal way, Guruji served everybody. Everybody had their plate.
So after the dinner, I had a chat with Guruji. And then it so happened that the professor of economics, my professor of economics, was also his professor. Some few known lecturers also were there when he studied. So it was a kind of — I really felt happy to know someone who went to the same university, had the same subject and the same professor.
So I was really, really happy and very happy. So, and also, for some reason, I was able to feel that completeness slowly kind of engulfing me from inside. So I came back, and in the car, I hardly spoke. So I was just really enjoying that fullness of my heart.
And that was, I think, the 19th or 20th of April, probably. I don’t remember exactly. Then came the 25th of April. In the meantime, I was kind of mulling it over, like, you know, to take the initiation.
So on the 25th of April, it was a public holiday here, Anzac Day. So we were going to Canberra to meet an old family friend. So then when we went there, we met Guruji there. He also had come there for the evening prasad.
And these people are from Odisha too. So I met him there again. And when I met him again, then this desire again came to my mind that I should take the initiation, because Guruji would be leaving next weekend. If I have to do it, I have to act immediately.
So I asked my husband, Arvind, should we take initiation? He said, yes, and I was very happy. So I went back to Sydney and contacted the person who was in charge of the initiation program. Then he said, Ma, Guruji is leaving next weekend.
So the only time that you can have initiation is the one weekend left, and Guruji leaves on Monday. So I said, that’s fine. The following weekend was Easter weekend and Monday was Easter Monday. Guruji was going back.
So Friday was a Good Friday holiday, so I prepared everything, and then Saturday morning we had the initiation and Sunday the technique. And Monday — I think he was leaving on Tuesday, yes. Monday we had the meditation class. On Tuesday, he left.
So from work, I went to see him off at the airport. But the previous night, when I had the initiation, I came back, I rang home and spoke to my dad. I said, Appa, you know, I took initiation. He thought me being so crazy, like going here and there, I must have taken initiation from someone without, you know, checking.
So he said, where did you go? Where did you take initiation from? Then when I said Guruji’s name, Baba Prajnananandaji — then he said, from Kriya Yoga? I said, yes.
Then he said, oh, Triloki Baba is there? I said, yes. I said, how did you know? He said, Ma, I have taken initiation from Gurudev, and Triloki Baba was a brahmachari there.
I — you won’t believe, my little Mom, my heart just had so big. I said, God. So I said this, then he said the same line. See, I told you, you need to pray to God.
God will send someone to initiate you into the right path. So that was — my search was over after I heard from my father. Then the next day when I went to work, on Tuesday, and went to see Guruji at the airport and did my pranam, I said, my father has sent his love and best wishes to you.
He said, what’s your father’s name? When I said my father’s name, he said, oh, Banju Baba. So you’re Banju Baba’s daughter. I said, yes.
So he said, I was there when he was taking initiation. So that was the culmination of my happiness. And I really felt so grounded, so grounded that it was humbling. It was that I have reached home.
Yes. Yes. It took a long time. My journey is over.
I also remember that all these years that I went to other places to attend aratis, the classes, the discourses — they are also part of shaping me into this path. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Marydale Ma
Yes, and you said so beautifully, so enduringly, that when you met Guruji, you found your Swami Vivekananda in him, which is just so precious — that recognition. And it’s a wonderful blessing. I mean, flabbergasting about your father, and then that your husband and your sons also have been initiated. So your whole family is being held by the Guru, which is just a beautiful thing.
How did the initiation change the atmosphere within your family and your home life? Was there a shift that took place?
Devjani Ma
Yes, it is always good to meditate together if both husband and wife have taken initiation. So I used to come home, first of all look after the meals, the dinners. So after the dinner is cooked, I take a shower. Because the kids are a little older, they do their homework.
Then both of us sit down and meditate, and we’ll have late dinner. If the kids are hungry, I say that you can come down and have your dinner. But slowly what happened, they would have a little snack. They wait for both of us.
Then four of us will have dinner together. So my dinner was never before 7. It was always close to 9. But it didn’t matter.
At least we could sit together and meditate.
Marydale Ma
Oh, that’s so beautiful and powerful. It truly is. And I know that you have shared that having your strong Kriya practice is an anchor in your life and has supported you through ups and downs and challenges. Would you speak about how your practice has supported you through these difficult periods or uncertainties?
Devjani Ma
Yes. Like life comes — like life itself unfolds its mystery, mysterious path, and the situations. After we had the initiation, one year after, it was going so smooth, like, you know, I was happy. The children were at school, one is doing his uni, the other one is in high school.
There came a time where life completely changed. I lost my husband in an accident. So it was absolutely — you turn like — didn’t know how to react. But for something that happened, maybe it’s Guruji’s blessing or Guruji’s prayers in my life, his love, his caring nature just lifted me from the ground and put me where I belong.
I remember that it was September 11, 9/11, that thing, you know, that old wall. Guruji was here for three weeks because of this and that, he couldn’t go back. And it had just happened a month before. I was devastated.
And Guruji came, and three times a day — I was on leave — three times a day he would have the meditation sessions, and when I entered the meditation room, I was completely as if nothing had happened. Those few weeks actually gave me so much strength inside, because of meditation in his presence and his loving gestures, his prayers for my well-being, his prayers for my steadiness — everything just put me into the right place. So I knew that life is not going to be the same again, but you can’t really take it for granted that life is going to be the same every day of your life. It is a journey that we all have to endure, whatever comes in your path.
So the moment you accept your life, the way it unfolds to you, I think your inner strength comes in. And it just takes over. And I feel Guru’s grace is the most beautiful thing in your life. And your loving surrenderedness — when you surrender completely with your love, with your devotion, someone else looks after your life.
That powerful energy, that grace, divine grace, makes your path less troublesome. Troubles will be there, troubles come, troubles go, but it just doesn’t affect you, doesn’t shake you, doesn’t uproot you from your path. So I keep saying to everybody that, you know, once you ask for Guru’s grace, that Guru is within you, outside you, everywhere, around you. Just living in his words, and Gurudev.
It is just amazing. My visit to Gurudev on his 95th birthday — those four days were such a blessing in my life, that I could see Gurudev and his living presence on his birthday, 95th birthday. And I was mesmerized just looking at him. Beautiful eyes, powerful gaze.
Through that gaze, the love that he kind of transmits within you — just amazing. And what we have got now, Guruji, is no less. I see Gurudev in Guruji each time I look at him. You know the saying that what you think, so you become?
Guruji, every thought is Gurudev. Right. So he has become Gurudev for us. He truly has.
So we have this loving, living presence of Gurudev in Guruji. Absolutely. So my surrenderedness to Guruji, loving Guruji, his love, his guidance — it has just brought me this far. And I’m sure this will take me till the end.
Marydale Ma
Well, and just listening to you, Ma, I see clearly that your whole life prepared you for Kriya at the exact right time, that you and your family needed it to support you further, so that you had Gurudev and Guruji with you. I mean, it’s the sweetest story, and just accentuated that your father was already there. So it’s very dynamic, this story, and precious. And I appreciate you being transparent and brave enough to share this with us. We appreciate it. We truly do.
Devjani Ma
And I want everybody to know that once you surrender, nothing is yours. Let the divine look after and take over you.
Marydale Ma
Absolutely, absolutely. And you’ve done just that. And I know that you left India, you left ashrams, you left a lot of the deep tradition of India behind you. And yet, through your association with Guruji and your Kriya initiation, you have managed to witness the planting of seeds in Australia for Kriya, with the beginning of our ashram there. And I’m sure that’s been a very poignant and important birthing for you. Can you share what that’s been like for us a little bit?
Devjani Ma
Guruji has been coming here for the last close to probably 30 years now — 28, 29 years now. So in, I think, 2011 or ’12, this sprouting of having an ashram just came into, like, you know, just a few older devotees who’ve been with this organization for a long time. So then Guruji used to come, used to talk to them about the ashram. First it started with a rented property.
Gurupriya Ma, Sarvatmanandaji, they came and stayed. So the rented property was within a residential area. So we couldn’t have functions. The parking was difficult.
Gathering was difficult because of the noise. And people are very vocal. If it is loud, there is parking difficulty. So then the idea came: now we are ready to look for an ashram.
So I remember 2018, or ’17, ’18 probably — sorry, ’16, ’16 or ’17 — Guruji suddenly came for one week to take rest, nobody knew. So within that time, the center leader and a few other older disciples selected a few properties that Guruji would go and look at. So Guru Prema, Guruji, they went around looking for three, four ashrams, and out of that they narrowed down to two.
One is the present one, another one which was a little closer to Sydney. But the present ashram is in a beautiful hilltop area — so secluded, lots of greenery, beautiful old trees. And it looks like the ashram. So it happened that the following year, we had this property for the ashram, and Guruji and a few other monks came for the inauguration.
And for the first time, there were seven monks here for the inauguration of this property — which became such a beautiful ashram now. The blue sky, the star-filled sky in the night. When you stay in the ashram — it’s not a huge ashram, but such a beautiful ashram.
The ashram runs only with rainwater. So there is no chlorine water. You drink rainwater, you shower in rainwater, you cook with rainwater, it’s completely natural. And the girls who live there now, they’re looking after the ashram and the garden so beautifully.
It’s a divine garden now, with Guruji’s touch, Guruji’s care. Whenever he comes every year, it’s his care, his instructions, just like Gurudev — a divine garden. He goes around and gives what to be done, what to be looked after, how to look after. So all the instructions are there, and people follow it, and the garden is flourishing.
Marydale Ma
That is just wonderful. I’ve seen many photographs, and it is truly heaven. It truly is, and I’m so happy that it’s there. I really am.
And I know you, Ma, in 2023, with the blessings of Guruji, began to guide meditation yourself. How did that invitation unfold, and what did it awaken within you personally?
Devjani Ma
When the email came for the Yogacharya training, I read it twice. I never thought that it would come to me, because I never had expected anything, never. I read it — it’s my name. I said, it’s my email, must be my name there. So when I read it, I said, if it has come from — nothing comes without Guruji’s knowledge, right?
It’s the blessings and guidance that Guruji has given me. So I accepted that with gratitude and grace of Guruji. So I took the training from Atmavidyanandaji Baba here, and life changed from that. So whatever I have received from Guruji, if I can do a little bit of seva for this organization, my life will be meaningful.
Yes, doing something or helping in Guruji’s work, spreading his love — that is the most that I can look into. Beautiful.
Marydale Ma
And now, beginning last year, you are initiating seekers on the Kriya path. That’s such a sacred responsibility. How do you hold that experience inwardly?
Devjani Ma
Initially, I was really not comfortable, because to initiate, you have to be — I said, gosh, you know, Guruji has given me this responsibility. So in the morning after the meditation, I fervently prayed to Gurudev — Gurudev, this is your work. It’s my hands, my hands only doing the work, but you be installed yourself within me, so that whatever I do, it’s not me, it’s you. So I give everything, like in the prayer I said, it’s not me, it’s you. I’m not initiating anybody. So if I do anything wrong, please forgive me. But please let me be connected to you, be with you, you be with me as my breath. If you are my breath, nothing will go wrong. That was it.
Initially I was, you know, a little uncomfortable, a little doubtful, but the moment I started with prayer, I think somebody just took over. Gurudev, Guruji just took over.
Marydale Ma
Yes. I truly believe that, and I have had the privilege of attending many initiations over the years, and you can feel the presence of the masters there.
Devjani Ma
It is absolutely palatable.
Marydale Ma
And I think that our whole team, we’ll call them, of Yogacharyas in this lineage are just wonderful, wonderful. There are no mistakes, Ma. No mistakes. That’s lovely.
So we thank you for standing up and letting go, surrendering, and just allowing yourself to be a tool for the masters. It’s beautiful.
Devjani Ma
It’s very empowering as well, when I feel inside. I feel the intense presence of Guruji and Gurudev within me. When I entered the meditation hall in the ashram, the day of initiation, I could feel that. It’s like vibrating, living energy there.
So it just has to be tuned to that. What I feel is that the more I tune myself, the more I empty myself, the better I can tune. So there’s nothing in me that is mine. Okay, so it’s Guruji and Gurudev.
So when I say that, I really mean it. Yes. We just — you know, both of them, they just take over.
Marydale Ma
Yes, they do. And it’s amazing to see how Kriya is taking root all over the world because of them. It’s just — it’s a phenomena. But Ma, I know that you know our ministry exists to uplift and support women walking the spiritual path. What unique challenges, and perhaps unique strengths, do you feel women bring to spiritual life and practice and teaching?
Devjani Ma
I think women have got this powerful insight, particularly when you are meditating regularly — your concerns become clear. You are more focused. And what you say, you really don’t make it up.
It comes from within you. And with that powerful instrument, women are always powerful. They have got a different insight. They have got different senses.
They can do many things at the same time. But when you follow this meditative path, and guide others, you become empowered with that hidden energy — matru shakti, that Divine Mother’s energy. So this energy, Divine Mother’s energy, is within all of us. It just has to be activated, just has to be roused.
So once it is there, there is no doubt. When there is no doubt, there is no fear. When there is no fear, you are yourself a divine being. So then you can guide others in the same path, what you are treading on, what you are working on, and what benefit you get working on this path.
And people can watch you, people can see you. If you say what you are, if you are that, people would believe it. People would kind of feel it. If you say something from your heart, it goes to the other person’s heart.
If you say something from your mouth, it goes to the ear and comes out of the other ear. So you really have to believe in what you say. And that becomes your power. But that comes with the inner experience and more meditative life.
Marydale Ma
It truly does. And I believe that we surrender into becoming a true yogi. Yoga is our life, meditation is our life. And that is thanks to our divine masters, our Guruji. It’s palatable. And we’re very blessed and fortunate to have found this path, no doubt about it.
And as you well know, our podcast is called Living in Joy. I’d like you to think for a minute what that really means to you, after all these years of spiritual practice, service, family life, all of it anchored in deep devotion since you’ve been a child until now, and going through the tragedy of losing your husband and yet coming out of it as a better person in many ways, ready to support others through their difficulties. How have you been able to embrace and continue to live in joy day to day?
Devjani Ma
Once you lose that fear that you are alone, the knowledge of the divine comes in, like divine protection comes in. And you feel that you are protected. When you have got this divine protection, what do you fear? So for me and for others, if we can get rid of our kind of restricted life — that I am small, you know, I can’t do this, I can’t do that.
So we are constricting ourselves, limiting ourselves with our body, mind, and our thought processes. Once we get rid of that, thinking that helping others or showing the right path — the path you follow, that you have believed in, can give you so much peace, and flourish life in a different way — you can show that to others with conviction. You convince others that this can be possible, this is possible. And when that comes in, gets grounded in you, you can encourage, you can show the path to others.
It’s more like — be vocal, be the guide, and also spread the same thing that you have received from your gurus and from the divine, that it is possible. And that is our instrument, kind of royal instrument. Kriya Yoga is, as Guruji and Gurudev always say, you know, a kind of instrument that takes over other instruments. It gives you that speed which others can’t give you. So with that instrument, what else do you need?
You can be the living example for others. People see how you live. People see how you behave, how you act, how you react. So you become the living example for what you say.
So if you can do that, there’s not much more to say. So people feel, people would see, and people will follow. Like Guruji is an example, like a living example in front of us. So what is the example that I can say — you know, we have seen Gurudev, we have seen Guruji, two blessed Paramahamsas in our life.
What other examples can we have? There are many in history, but these are the living ones. We know who guides us — they’re the light, they’re the ones who can guide us on our onward journey, upward journey, in our day-to-day journey. So for the Living in Joy podcast, for the podcast, I would just say that when people listen to us, they also should feel that what you are saying is true, you have lived that life, and what you are kind of explaining or projecting —
So unless you lead that life, you can’t project that life to others. So it’s more of a sincerity. Sincerity, love, and your surrenderedness to your gurus with love.
Marydale Ma
What a wonderful, wonderful message to all of us. It’s a perfect place for us to close with reflection. Devjani Ma, thank you — not only for being here today, but for openly sharing your wisdom, your tenderness, humility, and your devotion with all of us.
It’s been our joy. Your journey reminds us that the sincere seeker is always being guided, even through uncertainty, movement, responsibility, and longing. And when the soul is truly ready, grace does appear, doesn’t it? We bow to you, Ma. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Jai Guru.
Devjani Ma
God bless you. God bless all of you.
Marydale Ma
Thank you. Thank you. And you as well. I’d like to close with a beautiful reflection from our beloved Guruji that fits from our conversation today.
It’s a powerful reminder, if you will. He has written: meditation is the journey from movement to stillness, from sound to silence, from limited identity to infinite presence. So may we all continue that sacred journey inward.
And with that, our beautiful listeners around the world, we thank you for joining us for another sacred conversation. And we invite you to please join us again and again as we continue celebrating the voices and the journeys of women walking the path of Kriya Yoga. Remember that you can find us on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, and we warmly invite you to subscribe, share, and help these offerings reach hearts everywhere. Until we meet again, may God and Gurus bless you, may Divine Mother guide you, and may you live in joy.
Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Amen. Jai Guru, everyone. Much, much love to you.
