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| Greetings! | |
The silent retreat in early September provided devotees with the opportunity to deepen their meditations and communications with God and Guru. Devotees from groups and Centers, from Victoria to Eugene, gathered over Labor Day weekend to participate in this fruitful weekend. Mark your calendars now for next year's retreat, scheduled for September 9 - 11, which is the week after Labor Day.
 Speaking of fruitful, Michael tell us that our vegetable garden behind the center is winding down after producing lots of juicy red ripe tomatoes, tasty crisp carrots, summer squash and more. The fall and winter items such as onions, green beans and kale should produce a nice harvest.
We hope you will enjoy reading the E-Newsletter and will be able to attend some of the programs and services this month and over the holiday season. It may be helpful to check your calendars now for the November 20th 6-hour meditation (10 am - 4 pm), the December 18th Christmas Meditation (9 am - 5 pm), and the December 31st New Year's Eve Meditation.
Jai guru,
Your E-Newsletter Committee
Portland Center of Self-Realization Fellowship |
Portland Center Newsletter
October 2010, Vol 1, Issue 4 |
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| Links to SRF and Nearby Groups | |
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| Community Service Committee Begins Holiday Food Drive |
The Community Service Committee provides a framework for us to serve our community. They have begun collecting food for distribution to the needy during the holidays, through the Oregon Food Bank. Contributions of non-perishable items are welcomed. Please leave them in the box outside the Bookroom.
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| The Reluctant Saint
Movie Night October 23, 6:30 pm |
 Joseph of Cupertino was a 17th Century Italian saint. He was said to be remarkably un-clever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstasies. On movie night, we will be watching the inspiring story of his life in a 1962 film called "The Reluctant Saint" starring Maximilian Schell as Joseph. If you came to "Padre Pio", you will remember the room being a bit too tight. Lowell and Rebecca have figured out how to make it more comfortable and hope to see you there on Saturday, October 23rd at 6:30 pm.
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| Lessons Review Thursday Evenings | |
The SRF Lessons Review Group is continuing to meet on Thursday evenings at 6:45 pm. All Lessons students are welcome to attend. If you would like to join us, bring Lesson #3 to the October 7th meeting, Lesson #4 to the October 14th meeting, etc..
If you are not currently a Lessons student, please ask one of the Greeters for an application form, pick up a form from the brochure rack outside the Bookroom, or visit Self-Realization Fellowship International, click on Learn to Meditate and follow the links to the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. |
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| Quarterly Calendar of Services |
Attached is a PDF copy of the Quarterly Calendar of Services, including weekly services and special commemorative events. Please click October-December Quarterly Calendar of Services to view the schedule for October through December, including the all day Christmas Meditation.
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| Portland Fall Silent Retreat |
 What devotees had to say about the Portland Fall Silent Retreat over Labor Day Weekend:
- "We took several hikes through the beautiful forest at Collins Retreat Center. I felt like I was enthroned on Divine Mother's lap."
- "My meditations are deeper now. I will never miss one of these retreats. I noticed that many people used our Center's traveling library. Participants were deep and serious."
- "I loved the segment on the last day where we focused on breaking bad habits. It has really made a difference in my life. It felt like Master was there."
 "I was impressed with how smoothly things were run and how well organized it was. It felt peaceful and that made it easier to meditate."
- One of the organizers of the retreat said that all pieces fit together seamlessly. It was smooth and harmonious.
- "Doing the Energization Exercises twice a day was very helpful to me."
- One thing that I really liked was that the chapel was open late at night because I am a night person. I also enjoyed it when the chef came out of the kitchen and talked about the menu. The food was amazing.
- Even though we were silent, I could feel the fellowship. We seem to be closer as a group now. Spending time in the chapel helped me with the sadness I am feeling over losing a family member recently.
- The chef handled the requests for gluten-free, soy free, and vegan very well. Those of us with food sensitivities didn't feel left out. Our food was appealing and delicious.
 Several devotees commented, "We attended the retreat last year and were worried we wouldn't get as much from this year's without a monastic leader. We were completely wrong! It was a very powerful experience. Of course if we have a choice, we would always choose to have someone from the SRF monastic order come. It's just that we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was such a strong spirit and presence of love even without them."
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| No Fragrance Request |
 Please abstain from wearing Perfume or Scented Lotion to Services and Events. Some of our members have allergies and have to leave the service if fragrances are present. Perfumes, colognes and scented lotions can also trigger asthma attacks.
For the fact seekers and statisticians, the following is an excerpt from an article by Mark Rosenberg, M.D., Institute for Healthy Aging: " It is estimated that between 15 and 30 percent of Americans are allergic to certain everyday chemicals. Among asthma sufferers, 72% report that perfumes and colognes trigger attacks. Many offices and schools have policies discouraging the use of perfumes and strong fragrances."
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| Blessings from a Visiting Monastic |
Not long after the group rented the space on 32nd and Broadway, one of the monastics came to Portland to lead a class series. After it was over on Sunday afternoon we asked if he'd like to be taken out for dinner and he agreed. In those days, there weren't many restaurants that served vegetarian or Indian food on Sunday evening, so we decided to walk from the Benson Hotel through Old Town to a pizza place.
Now, Old Town is a nice way to describe what back then was more usually called Skid Row, where people down on their luck or retirees with low, fixed incomes, or people with drug and alcohol or mental problems lived; some on the streets.
We headed off in a group with two male devotees in the lead. Soon, a sleepy sidewalk denizen leapt up and offered to be our tour guide through Old Town. We politely declined and continued on, needing to detour into the street to get around an escalating argument on the sidewalk.
We got to the pizza place. Brother didn't eat much, then said he was taking a cab back to the hotel.
We found out later he was carrying all the money from the tour in a cash belt and didn't enjoy being taken on a tour of Portland's skid row.
He also didn't care for pizza.
Before he left, however, he made time to dedicate our new chapel and the framed dedication hung on our foyer wall for many years. Everyone felt he blessed the new chapel by his peaceful presence and calm wisdom.
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| Daily Reminders |
 We strive to live more in God each day. Devotees have found various ways to do this. One of the nuns, at last year's retreat, said that every time she passes through a doorway, she asks God to open the door of her heart.
Another devotee suggests utilizing a recurring calendar item, with a reminder added, with an Outlook-type calendar. She labels this entry "For G&G" (God and Guru) and she dedicates actions during the day to them. She schedules the "reminder" feature, so it pops up each day. It has a link in the message which goes to an YSS site www.yssofindia.org/quote.php. There is an artistic rendition of our daily quote from the Spiritual Diary (sample below). It's nice to be able to click on it during the day. |
| Council Corner: Beauty from the Inside Out |
 It is always lovely to look at things that are well cared for and tended with love, even buildings. Our beautiful temple is solidly built but definitely showing signs of aging. At the general membership meeting in September, there was much discussion about building and maintenance needs and members voted to approve recommended expenditures. At that time, a Design Committee was also offered up for discussion. This committee would be responsible for tackling the long list of needs by prioritizing, researching and making recommendations about how and when each item is accomplished, with the overall esthetics of the building in mind. If you would like to be part of the ongoing effort of maintaining and beautifying our temple, we would love your participation on the Design Committee. Please see or email Kayci Cavenah at kayci_cavenah@msn.com. |
| Where to Find E-Newsletter Reminders |
 A reminder about deadlines for submitting articles for the E-Newsletter is posted on the Bulletin Board in the Information Room. We encourage devotees to submit reports, articles, stories and photographs for the monthly E-Newsletters to newsletter@srfportlandcenter.org.
The E-Newsletter Committee welcomes your articles and photographs at anytime, but to be considered for an upcoming month's issue, these articles and photographs need to be received prior to the last week of the month.
Sign-up to receive the E-Newsletter via the Portland Center website or the sign-up sheet in the Information Room.
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| Joking Around |
Doing this great deed
A fellow finds himself in front of the Pearly Gates. St. Peter explains that its not so easy to get in heaven. There are some criteria before entry is allowed.
For example, was the man religious in life? Attend church? No? St. Peter told him that's bad.
Was he generous? Give money to the poor? Charities? No? St. Peter told him that too was bad.
Did he do any good deeds? Help his neighbor? Anything? No? St. Peter was becoming concerned.
Exasperated, Peter says, "Look, everybody does something nice sometime. Work with me, I'm trying to help. Now think!"
The man says, "There was this old lady. I came out of a store and found her surrounded by a dozen Hell's Angels. They had taken her purse and were shoving her around, taunting and abusing her.
I got so mad I threw my bags down, fought through the crowd, and got her purse back. I then helped her to her feet. I then went up to the biggest, baddest biker and told him how despicable, cowardly and mean he was and then spat in his face".
"Wow", said Peter, "That's impressive. When did this happen"?
"Oh, about 10 minutes ago", replied the man.
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| How Are We Doing? | |
Our E-Newsletter host site is Constant Contact. In addition to sending the emails, storing our data, and offering technical assistance, they also provide utilization reports so that we may better serve our readers. We learned, through their tracking and reporting mechanism, that 100% or those who received the September E-Newsletter opened it. We also learned that there have been 68 Facebook shares, 28 Facebook-like shares, and 16 Twitter shares.
But your personal comments are valued even more. For example, we recently received the following email:
"My wife and I are delighted to read the "E-Newsletter" from your Center. It took us back to those moments when we were in the temple on 25 July 2010.... We are back in India, but we request you continue sending the ENewsletter. Our granddaughter in Portland has sent her form to Mother Center for enrolling her as an SRF member....With divine love, RKG and SG"
So please tell us what you think.
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| From Master | |
" The test of whether your life is lived for God alone is that you do not grieve over any frustrated personal desire, but only when you have displeased God. I take better care of others' things than my own. Because I perform all actions for God, I do them with more ambition and care than I would for myself. And if the results of those actions go wrong I don't suffer personally, because I acted only for Him. I did my best; and I will try again with greater joy and determination, but without attachment to my efforts and their outcome. If I were working for myself, I would be worrying all the time. But, since my object in working is only to serve God, the results are His, not mine. This is the way to transcend the law of karma."
Selections from the Wisdom Legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda on the yoga art of nonattachment and spiritual freedom, How-to-Live Skill #4: Performing All Duties to Please God, Self-Realization Magazine, Fall 2010, pg. 16
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| Spiritual Exercises | |
The Glendale Temple has given us permission to replicate their homework assignments. The following homework is from their February 2010 newsletter, and was written by Brother Satyananda.
 Spiritual Homework
Jesus said: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). Our Guru comments in the 26th discourse of The Second Coming of Christ: "By the perfect blending of pure discrimination and pure feeling, the penetrating eye of all-revealing intuition is opened, and the devotee gains the true perception of God as present in one's soul and omnipresent in all beings-the Divine Indweller whose nature is a harmonic blend of infinite wisdom and infinite love." (p441).
Cultivating purity or virtue within ourselves enables us to see virtue, or "God" in others. In a two-part Sunday series on developing noble character, Brother Satyananda encouraged everyone to discover a mature and living virtue within ourselves. Each one of us brings into this life at least one virtue that has been developed in past lives and manifests as a natural spiritual strength in this life. Brother called this a signature virtue. Recognizing such virtue within ourselves, we can then seek and more easily discover virtue in others. Homework AssignmentSo the spiritual homework for February is to discover a mature virtue within yourself and cultivate it by consciously demonstrating it in words and actions. For example, you may love truthfulness and naturally strive to always be truthful; or you have a native compassion for living things and love to nurture and protect life. As you concentrate upon a virtue present within you, it will grow. Then you can begin to seek virtue in others, discovering and appreciating God's presence in others. Jai Guru,
Brother Satyananda
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| November Newsletter | |
 Please submit articles and photographs by October 23rd for the November E-Newsletter. Remember that concerns or questions not related to the newsletter should be communicated to the Mother Center or to a Managing Council member.
In Divine Friendship, |
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Newsletter Committee
Portland Center of Self-Realization Fellowship
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