All-Day Christmas Meditation at SRF Locations Worldwide

 

Close your eyes, put your attention on the heart, and feel the greatest love that you ever felt for another person. Let that love saturate every cell of your body. Now expand the feeling of love, like an encircling sphere embracing your family, friends, all your loved ones. Feel your love ever increasing; include in that sphere all the people in your city, then all of your country. Now everything in the world is bathed in that love. The whole earth, the solar system, the far-flung galaxies and island universes − everything is floating in this vast sphere of love. Feel, meditate on, merge yourself in that love which permeates and upholds the infinitudes of manifestation − a demonstrable presence of God's heartbeat of bliss, setting the pace of cosmic harmony and unity, and known to the devotee as the All-in-all fulfillment.

 

The love felt in the heart at the beginning of this visualization is human love. And the love that expanded until it encompassed everything is the universal love of Christ, the infinite love of God.   

− Paramahansa Yogananda 

 

   

Loving greetings to you during this blessed season of light and joy, as we honor the Christ Consciousness that was born in the beloved Lord Jesus and is waiting to unfold anew in each soul. To make that blessed consciousness a reality in our own lives is to rejoice in a divine assurance, an inner anchorage of truth and security amidst the ever-changing conditions and values of this turbulent world. God's compassionate answer to all uncertainties of human existence comes through divine ones like Christ, who incarnate to remind us of the sustaining, immortalizing love of our eternal Protector and Benefactor. Read more.  
 

   

We want to let everyone know about a last-minute change regarding the Christmas Open House scheduled for the weekend of December 12−14 at the SRF Mother Center in Los Angeles.  In the process of obtaining our permits for this public gathering, unexpectedly an issue arose that will prevent our using the International Headquarters building for this event. We regret that the building, including Paramahansa Yogananda's shrine rooms on the third floor, will be closed during the Open House. Because the main chapel will be not be available, an outdoor meditation area will be set up in the fish pond area for individual meditation, and periods of kirtan will be added to the program. Please keep in mind that all the activities will take place outside on the grounds and dress appropriately for the weather on those days.
 

Because all the activities are outdoors, Open House will not be held on Friday night as in past years. Hollywood and Glendale Temple devotees (formerly scheduled for Friday night) are welcome to come Saturday or Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. 

 

   

Sri Mrinalini Mata shares powerfully inspiring words spoken by Paramahansaji during the 1936 Christmas meditation. The recording includes short periods of silence at appropriate points so that you may use this heartfelt talk to deepen your own meditation, especially during the Christmas season.
 

Previously released with Self-Realization magazine, Winter 2005
 

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The Winter 2014 issue is now available and includes timely and uplifting articles from Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Daya Mata, and Sri Mrinalini Mata. This edition features inspirational topics such as: 

• The Art of Right Action, by Paramahansa Yogananda
• A Life for God Alone, by Sri Daya Mata
• The Power of Prayer, by Sri Mrinalini Mata
• The Regenerative Benefits of Fasting

The audio CD included in this issue is Bringing God Into the Moments of Your Life, an inspiring talk given by SRF minister Brother Vishwananda at the 2014 Self-Realization Fellowship World Convocation, Los Angeles.

 

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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Now in its third month of theatrical screenings, with film runs at more than eighty theatres across the United States, the documentary AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda shows no sign of slowing down. 
 
Screenings of the film have now expanded beyond the U.S. to include runs at theaters in Canada. AWAKE has recently shown in Victoria, Calgary, and Toronto, with additional screenings scheduled for Toronto, London, Waterloo, Ottawa, Hamilton, Edmonton, and Vancouver. 

 

Plans are currently underway to make the film available in countries around the world in 2015. Read more.

 

 

The acclaimed spiritual-traditions journal Parabola features an interview with SRF monk Brother Priyananda in its Winter 2014−2015 edition, which focuses on the theme of "goodness." The magazine's introduction to the interview says: "Yogananda explains the meaning of goodness through his commentary on a passage in the ancient Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, which describes the sattvic or good soul qualities that make a person God-like, and how to conduct ourselves in terms of beliefs, thoughts, and actions to embody this goodness....Which of the sattvic qualities can we apply to our own modern challenges, to embody goodness in our day-to-day lives? Brother Priyananda − whose name denotes "bliss through love for the Divine" − here shares his insight into this fundamental spiritual question. Read more.

 

We are pleased to announce that the SRF website now features a German-language edition. Readers can view German content by using the drop-down menu located in the top right-hand corner of the website. Translations into other languages are in development, and we look forward to announcing them as they become available.

 

 

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new eCatalog, an online resource we hope you will find to be helpful in ordering Paramahansa Yogananda's books and recordings, and other material from SRF. Some features include:

• Accessibility at any time on your desktop or mobile device through the Self-Realization Fellowship website 
• Easy ordering − click on any item in the eCatalog to be taken directly to the SRF online bookstore.

View the eCatalog

    

We are very pleased to announce that in the coming year Self-Realization Fellowship will be introducing new programs for teens and children. These will be designed to provide a greater variety of options than SRF has been able to offer to date.

 

For the past few decades, our overnight camp programs held each summer have provided a richly inspiring experience of the SRF teachings to those children aged 10−16. Our goal now is to gradually expand our offerings in order to serve a larger age group of children and teens, and also to make the spiritual experience envisioned by Paramahansaji in his wishes for "How-to-Live" Schools available to more than the relatively few who can attend the overnight programs in southern California. Read more.

 

 

    

May you have a very merry Christmas, and may you receive the greatest gift that anyone can wish for you − the perception of the Christ spirit in your own heart....Open your hearts to receive the wonderful gift of Light. Meditate. Meditate until you get results. The answer is sure if you persist."  

− Paramahansa Yogananda

 

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