Statement of Faith
Divine Grace Yoga Ashram is founded and guided on the principle that all are essentially Divine, and that the highest purpose of our lives is spiritual, not physical; to fully realize and embody this essential Truth in ourselves and in the world around us. We see one glorious and Divine Reality underlying all of the diversity in this universe; one Truth appearing as many, which is of the nature of Silence, Wisdom, Peace and Love, which is the real homeland of all beings. This One shining forth in all of the names and forms is called as Truth, or God, Lord, Allah, Father, Mother, Grandfather, Brahman, Christ, Krishna, Buddha-nature, Zoroaster, Great Spirit, Yahweh, etc. We see Religion, therefore, as the search for self-knowledge, for this One divine inside and out, and the re-uniting with it.
Further we ascribe to the ancient and timeless universal teaching called Sanatana Dharma in the Sanskrit language, and also many other names such as Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Baha’i, etc., and all of the true faith systems, many of which are nameless. We do not ascribe to sectarianism, we choose instead to see the one Truth at the head of all of the sects. We look for the common ground instead of the division; our mission is to unite, not to divide. This faith system does not just describe Truth, but it points out and illumines the various paths to its attainment and it encourages us to attain to our purpose here.
We have faith that each person, according to their own personal path and regardless of their situation in life, has the potential to rise up above their lower nature, above the division and separation which are seen, and take their rightful place in their own highest nature - God nature - of Acceptance, Love, Compassion, Wisdom, Peace and the Eternal Life of Spirit. Thus we see paths of transformation, where the individual moves upward from selfish interest and behavior, exhibited by greed, anger, hatred and competition, to self-lessness, where the life begins to achieve its full potential in compassion-in-action, as a peace-maker through cooperation and service.
Finally, we recognize that suffering born of duality, or separation from God and from our own True nature, is not easy for us to end, but that with enough motivation, supported with teachings, tools, a beneficial environment and one’s own self-effort each individual can find their way out of the state of suffering, coming to know themselves as “in the world, but not of the world”, and to shine as a flawless gem in the qualities of their essential Truth.
Our Mission, then, comes from this Statement of Faith - “Divine Grace Yoga Ashram exists solely as a service to the Divine in all, providing environment, tools and support that we may blossom into our full potential.”