When is a good time to do sadhana? Haven’t we heard that the morning is the best time? In that case, are we willing to get up at three a.m., when the sky is still dark, and take a seat on our meditation asana?

Haven’t we also heard that the most auspicious time for sadhana is in the period between the start of dawn and the moment the sun rises? Or else between the sunset and the purple-blue twilight that lingers afterward?

Haven’t we heard, as well, about the significance of twelve noon, when the sun is in the midheavens?

What, then, is the most propitious time? I can’t help but wonder. And how can we make the most of what little time we may have on any given day to do sadhana?

I have an idea. A brilliant one, if I do say so myself. I’m going to do what I always do when trying to glean the answer to a question or determine the best way forward. I’m going to take the support of Gurumayi’s teachings! So, in reference to this question of when to do sadhana, I am recalling—and perhaps you will as well—that Gurumayi has said that we may do sadhana at any time. Any time we choose to do sadhana will be the best time for us.

I take great comfort in this wisdom from Gurumayi. It also helps me to appreciate the eternal relevance of Siddha Yoga sadhana. We do not require an elaborate reason, an added impetus, to do the Siddha Yoga practices—at least not beyond our own curiosity and commitment to doing them. Nor do we need to wait for a certain date or for some appointed time. We do not have to sort out X, Y, or Z in our lives before we start chanting or meditating or practicing mantra japa. We can do sadhana now, whenever we decide that “now” is.

This being said, there are times that hold particular significance on the Siddha Yoga path. Times of historical import on our path, or that otherwise mark a holiday or special occasion. It’s not that these are necessarily “better” times to do sadhana, but they do give us an opportunity to hold a collective focus. And the combination of that shared focus and the occasion itself imbues the period with unique energy, with potency and verve.

The month of August 2026 is one such time. We will be celebrating three holidays this month. First is Bhagavan Nityananda’s Punyatithi, which we will observe according to both the lunar and solar calendars. Bade Baba’s solar punyatithi is on August 8, while the lunar punyatithi is the next day, on August 9. Just about a week later, on August 15, is Baba Muktananda’s Divya Diksha. Rounding out the month, on August 27, is Raksha Bandhan.

Each of these holidays has a distinct history and character. On Bhagavan Nityananda’s Punyatithi—the anniversary of the day Bade Baba left his physical body, when that final, corporeal barrier to supreme Consciousness was lifted—we recognize how his blessings remain everlasting. Baba Muktananda’s Divya Diksha commemorates the day on which Bhagavan Nityananda bestowed shaktipat initiation upon Baba, thus setting in motion Baba’s eventual establishment of the Siddha Yoga path. Our own respective journeys in sadhana are inextricably tied to this date.

Raksha Bandhan, meanwhile, is a holiday that is celebrated throughout India. Historically and even scripturally, there are numerous accounts of rakhis, bracelets made of thread, being exchanged between people (or even groups of people, or kingdoms) to signify mutual respect and a commitment to protect one another. In contemporary times, the popular custom in India has been for sisters to tie rakhis on their brothers’ wrists in acknowledgment of their shared bond. Of course, on the Siddha Yoga path, Raksha Bandhan has come to carry particularly special meaning. The bond we honor on this day is the one that exists between Guru and disciple.

These holidays are all worlds unto themselves, yet we can still find a throughline among them—a theme, or a focus, that we can stay with from the start to the end of August, and which we can explore in greater depth on each successive occasion. In my introduction to the month of July on the Siddha Yoga path website, I explained that one of the focal practices for that month was guru-dakshina. For this month of August, Gurumayi has asked me to share with you that our focus will be the practices of meditation and mantra japa.

This focus is, naturally, consistent with what we have come to associate with the month of August on the Siddha Yoga path. In August of 2000, Gurumayi initiated and gave guidance for the Muktananda Dhyana Saptah—an all-day meditation saptah that would be held in Siddha Yoga Ashrams and meditation centers around the world. In fact, the first-ever Muktananda Dhyana Saptah was held in Shree Muktananda Ashram on Baba’s Divya Diksha that very year, in 2000. The Dhyana Saptah, which has become a favorite teaching and learning event of Siddha Yogis, includes several sessions of meditation and chanting the mantra.

As the name and the history indicate, Gurumayi initiated the Muktananda Dhyana Saptah in honor of Baba’s Divya Diksha. Still, the energy of meditation, and of mantra japa, weaves through the entirety of August. In its own way, each of the month’s holidays is evocative of these practices.

Consider, for example, Bade Baba’s Punyatithi. I’ve always loved reading stories of Bade Baba—stories of his interactions with devotees, the teachings he would impart to them, the sonorous “hmmm” he would say in response to them, the recollections of his laughter and of his brisk movements in and around his dwelling place. There’s such a vibrancy to these descriptions, an aliveness, a coruscating energy that I connect to my own experiences of being in Bade Baba’s Temple in Shree Muktananda Ashram. And because the Temple is a place for worship and for Siddha Yoga practices like meditation, this energy has, for me, become just as synonymous with the energy of meditation as, say, a deep inner stillness or a permeating quietude.

The two other holidays in August, Baba’s Divya Diksha and Raksha Bandhan, also relate, in both subtle and overt ways, to meditation and mantra japa. For another example, we can look to the story of Baba’s Divya Diksha. Baba received shaktipat initiation when Bade Baba imparted to him the mantra Om Namah Shivaya. Baba would go on to describe mantra japa as “the very soul, the very prana of meditation,”¹ at once a conduit to meditation and what we experience in meditation. The mantra we repeat on the outside becomes audible within ourselves.

Clearly, there’s a lot for us to discover, both about these holidays and how we can approach them as opportunities to strengthen our Siddha Yoga practice. I have not even started on Raksha Bandhan yet! Fortunately, we have the whole month for our exploration. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing in more detail about meditation and mantra as they relate to our observance of Bhagavan Nityananda’s Punyatithi, Baba Muktananda’s Divya Diksha, and Raksha Bandhan.

As we hold this focus throughout the month, I invite you to make note of your insights and experiences—and, of course, to write up and submit your thoughts to the Siddha Yoga path website. All times can be good times on the Siddha Yoga path, and August looks to be an especially promising one. By bringing that extra bit of conscientiousness to our sadhana—that added awareness of ourselves and a willingness to share our learnings with others—we can, I believe, make the most of this advantageous time. We can hold the intention, and fulfill the intention, for this month to be the strongest yet of our Siddha Yoga sadhana in 2026.