Inspiration and counsel from the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda

Thanksgiving and praise open in your consciousness the way for spiritual growth and supply to come to you. Spirit pushes Itself out into visible manifestation as soon as a channel is opened through which It can flow. You should be thankful for everything at all times. Realize that all power to think, and speak, and act comes from God, and that He is with you now, guiding and inspiring you.

 

In his Whispers from Eternity, Paramahansaji wrote these lines as a prayer we can all use to increase our receptivity to divine blessings:

 

When the summer of good fortune warms my tree of life, it easily burgeons with fragrant blossoms of thankfulness.
 
During winter months of misfortune, O Lord, may my denuded branches changelessly waft toward Thee a secret scent of gratitude.

 

For your many blessings be thankful every day, not only when the calendar indicates Thanksgiving-time. The basis for your gratitude should not be material prosperity. Whether your worldly possessions be many or few, you are still rich in gifts from God. Love Him, not for the outward things He may give you but for His gift to you of Himself as your Father. 

   

Sri Mrinalini Mata, president and spiritual head of Self-Realization Fellowship, offers this helpful counsel born of her spiritual training with Paramahansaji:
 

Thanksgiving warms the heart with a heightened awareness of God's supporting love, and all of us in Gurudeva Paramahansa Yogananda's ashrams join you in offering our gratitude to our Divine Benefactor for the blessings, seen and unseen, that flow daily from His bountiful hands. In acknowledging those blessings, we especially think of our spiritual family and thank Him for the divine friendship we share with you. We deeply appreciate your dedication to Guruji's universal ideals and the many ways you reflect his spirit of caring, thus giving others cause to be thankful too.
 

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Inner Reflections has gained a reputation as one of the most stunning and beautiful inspirational engagement calendars available. Quotations from Paramahansa Yogananda are magically blended with fifty-three images from the world's top nature photographers.

 

The thoughts and images in these pages will bring you inspiration and encouragement throughout the year.

 

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SRF World Convocation
August 16 - 22, 2015 

 

Convocation will be held later than in previous years due to other large events being held in Los Angeles during the month of August. For this reason, we recommend you reserve your hotel room early, as there may be limited availability. Learn more.

 

For the third consecutive year, Self-Realization Fellowship participated in the Summer of Peace, a free online series of live talks by more than seventy leading international peace builders that attracts tens of thousands of global citizens seeking a more peaceful life and planet. The three-month-long program culminated on September 21, 2014, coinciding with the United Nation's International Day of Peace.

 

This year, Sister Draupadi, a member of Paramahansa Yogananda's monastic community for more than forty years, gave a talk on the meaning of inner peace and how to cultivate it. She also conducted a guided meditation and led listeners in a prayer for world peace.

 

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The theatrical release of AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda − beginning with theatrical premieres in New York and Los Angeles where the film played to sold-out audiences − is showing that Paramahansa Yogananda's universal message is as strong today as it was when he first spoke to rapt audiences nearly a century ago. A groundswell of enthusiasm from filmgoers, theatres, and the press continues to build from coast to coast.

    

 

On Monday, October 13, 2014, the Music Room of the SRF Books & Gifts store in Encinitas was dedicated to the memory of the legendary Indian musician, Pandit Ravi Shankar. In a ceremony attended by about fifty special guests, as well as monks and nuns of Self-Realization Fellowship, Ravi Shankar's wife, Srimati Sukanya Shankar, unveiled a display that will remain permanently on exhibit in the Music Room.

 

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"Because of God, everything else is. Because of Him, you exist. Because of Him, you have material abundance and conveniences, and all the satisfactions that go with them. So unto God your gratitude should be great."

− Paramahansa Yogananda

 

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