Interview with Premajyoti Devi

For me, it’s been a beautiful journey. Technically, it started when I was in the first grade in Catholic school. During catechism, we had to study and memorize answers to questions before we could take First Holy Communion. To this day, I remember the second question which has always been beneficial and still is, “Where is God?” The answer was, “God is everywhere”. God is literally everywhere. Since then, that answer has informed my life.

I went to a public high school, and almost all of my best friends were Jewish. I often thought about the fact that Jesus was Jewish. This understanding also was part of my eventual spiritual journey leading to Integral Yoga. And then, for some reason, God used my mother. On Christmas, she always gave us a dress and a book so we knew what we were going to be wearing on Christmas Day, whether we liked it or not! I'll never forget the day that she gave me a book on world religions. She never gave any of my other siblings a book like that. I was originally locked into Christianity and Judaism but when I read that book, I also liked what it had to say about Buddhism. 

When I was in high school, I used to have a game with myself where I would listen to my inner voice. It was like God was trying to train me, but He had to start in small ways. And so it was a game where the inner voice would say, go right, go left. I trusted it completely. I don’t know why, but I did, and then I would find myself seeing someone, or seeing an event or seeing something of some consequence. Then God said, all right, enough with the directions and parking spots, it’s time to get this girl a little bit deeper than that! 

I suffered from a medical condition that prevented me from having a period, so I could not have children. I'm one of 13 children so I was not interested in having children right away, anyway. But then after a while, I felt differently and I tried various holistic things. I thought massage/acupressure might help and the person I went to turned me on to the Course of Miracles, and she also told me about Margabandhu, the director of the New Jersey IYI. Margabandhu is also the director of the Well Being Center in Verona, NJ, a holistic center specializing in all aspects of health and healing. My husband started to see Margabandhu for health reasons but I started seeing Margabandu for spiritual support.  

It was Margabandhu who told me about Gurudev coming to Fairleigh Dickinson in New Jersey to give a talk. I went and I watched people. Actually, I loved the talk. I can't tell you whether I got any AHA experiences but I knew I was locked in. After the talk I was watching people bow at his feet and the feminist in me had some doubts about it but it didn't turn me away. It just made me curious! 

Some time after first seeing Gurudev, I decided to take my first Hatha class. And that’s when I saw the Integral Yoga Yantra with all the different faiths around it and I said, “I'm home”.  After all my searching, I knew I would find God here. Little by little I started attending satsangs with Margabandhu and also with Reverend Jaganath. I heard them speak with words that any faith could appreciate, and this was exactly what I wanted. This was all happening between 1988 and 1998.  In1999, I took Basic teacher training. I first read the Bhagavad Gita and the Sutras of Patanjali and then I studied more about the different faiths. I created a series of hatha classes for the New Jersey Institute that included teachings on the different faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Sufism and Buddhism). I had also become friends with Rabbi Gelberman, a dear friend of Swami Satchidananda, and was able to study under him as well as to see him privately. Because of this relationship, I was blessed to be at his bedside when he was dying.

It's actually very different than it had been for most of my Integral Yoga years. I am blessed with being able to serve here at the Institute, and I know that I wouldn't be the person I am if it wasn't for this place. My sadhana first and foremost is to show up. Yes, I do some pranayama, I do some asanas, I do some formal meditation, but that's not nearly as important right now. That's just how I show up. I always teach the importance of asanas and pranayama and meditation, because in my experience, that's the backbone. Then you start looking at what your mind is doing the other 23 hours of the day. I'm far from perfect, but I'm the happiest I've ever been.

The Ashtavakra Gita or Samhita is what I listen to on most mornings when I'm walking and that's what inspires me every day. Ashtavakra was someone who was born with defects. He grew spiritually, and he became a teacher to King Janaka. The words are spoken from the perspective of an enlightened being. It's not like other books that bring you towards enlightenment, and point the way. Even though no words can ever fully explain it, this book is the closest thing to expressing the highest wisdom. 

I still love to teach the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, because I get engaged with it. I also do a weekly half hour study group on the Bhagavad Gita with some friends at nine o'clock at night. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita by Gurudev still nourish my soul.

I'll start at the beginning when I was homeschooling my children, but still had time to hang out here at the Institute. I began to volunteer and eventually that volunteering became more and more. When the person who was the Coordinator of the institute got married, they looked around to see who's there, and it was me, so I took over his position. It really grew naturally.
Margabandhu was asked to be part of the IY Teachers Council and after a while, he felt the need to have me sitting nearby so I could help him when he volunteered to do something. Eventually, Swami Vidyananda asked me to do more. So I kind of morphed into the Teachers Council. Now I'm the Chair of the Teachers Council. The Teachers Council is under the Spiritual Life Board, and is responsible for all things related to Teaching Integral Yoga. Most recently we sent out an Updated Criteria for becoming Hatha I Teacher Trainers.

That you are always guided, and when the mind is calm, you can pick up that guidance and learn to trust it. Everyone is being drawn back to the source - even if some of us are taking a very circuitous route. You are made of Love. If you have ever been loved by someone, they did not take the love from themselves and push it into you. We feel love within us, because it is always there. When we are not feeling Love it’s because our minds are filled with egoistic desires of having and not having

Gratitude

I don’t have anything “in a bucket list” of wanting to learn. I just want to show up gracefully and gratefully to what I am called to do in the present moment, and to experience the Peace and Joy of our True Self always, no matter what is “happening” in the world.

For a very long time before finding Integral Yoga, I was interested in learning about other religions. I had believed since the 60’s Catholic Ecumenical Movement, that if I could enter a Christian church (not only Catholic) why couldn’t I enter another faith’s place of worship. If God is everywhere, as the Catholics believe, then God can reveal Him/Her/Itself in any way that any culture could resonate with. So, I enjoyed seeing how Catholic teachings dovetail with the teaching of other faiths and how other faiths’ teachings helped me understand the Catholic teachings on a deeper level.

Within Integral Yoga, I love all the branches of yoga. However, during the pandemic when I became more involved in Jnana Yoga, I must have been ready for it, because it fed my soul in such a way that it improved my Karma Yoga service and my Bhakti orientation. It also helped me see how often Gurudev and Patanjali mention Jnana teachings in the Yoga Sutras.

I found my fulfillment in the teachings of Integral Yoga and Gurudev. I have been greatly affected by the Mandukya Upanishad, which Gurudev has mentioned in a talk, and the Astavakra Gita. Now, the Astavakra Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and the Bhagavad Gita are all I need.