In honor of the United Nations International Day of Peace (September 21), this month's inspiration from Paramahansa Yogananda is on the topic of inner peace. Established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, this annual event is devoted to commemorating and strengthening "our personal and planetary progress toward peace."   

Paramahansa Yogananda often said that the greatest way to world peace is the personal cultivation of inner peace by individuals in all lands. As taught in the science of yoga, daily meditation on the Divine Source of peace is the most effective way of achieving this. Please join us in observing this worldwide peace event in your own meditation practice that day, by reflecting on the following words of spiritual guidance and by sending prayerful thoughts and vibrations of peace to the whole world. 
The more you feel peace in meditation, the closer you are to God. He moves nearer and nearer to you the deeper you enter into meditation. The peace of meditation is the language and embracing comfort of God. Therefore, God is present right on the throne of peace within you....When you know God as peace within, then you will realize Him as peace existing in the universal harmony of all things without.
Change yourself and you have done your part in changing the world. Every individual must change his own life if he wants to live in a peaceful world. The world cannot become peaceful unless and until you yourself begin to work toward peace.
Meditate often and hold on to the peaceful aftereffects. We must send out thoughts of love, goodwill, harmony. In the temple of meditation, with the light of intuition burning on the altar, there is no restlessness, no nervous striving or searching. Man is truly home at last, in a sanctuary not made with hands, but with God-peace.
I believe that if every citizen in the world is taught to commune with God (not merely to know Him intellectually), then peace can reign; not before. When by persistence in meditation you realize God through communion with Him, your heart is prepared to embrace all humanity.
Toward realization of the world's highest ideal − peace through brotherhood − may yoga, the science of personal communion with the Divine, spread in time to all men in all lands.

We also invite you to experience our guided meditation on Peace.

A powerful prayer-practice for world peace and healing is used by the SRF Worldwide Prayer Circle, described here.

Discover more inspiration on this topic in Paramahansa Yogananda's book Inner Peace − How to Be Calmly Active and Actively Calm.

  

	AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda DVD Self-Realization Fellowship's DVD edition of the critically acclaimed documentary film AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda will be released on September 21st and is now available for preorder. This special edition of the DVD includes subtitles in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Dutch, and Japanese. Preorder your copy today.
Also available:
Companion Book	Original Soundtrack CD
Order Now	Order Now
Large-format book based on the film, featuring the complete script and more than 400 photos, including many of Paramahansa Yogananda previously unpublished. Learn more.	Music from the soundtrack (available in CD and MP3 download). Learn more.

  

We are happy to announce that on September 19, 2015, there will be a  Self-Realization Fellowship Youth Day for Children and Teens on the East Coast. This event is for girls 7 to 12 years of age, and teen girls 13 to 18 years old. It will be held at the SRF Bethlehem Meditation Circle facility in Northampton, PA − within driving distance from New York City and other SRF centers on the East Coast. Information regarding a Boys Youth Day will be announced in the near future. Learn more.

SRF Summer Day Program for Youth, June-July 2015

In a step toward manifesting Paramahansa Yogananda's vision for the proper education of youth, a newly structured SRF Summer Day Program for children and teens was inaugurated in Encinitas, California, in June and July.

• Highlights from the 2015 Summer Day Program

• New Photo Album: 2015 Summer Day Program for Youth

  

Public Lecture Tours
Sept. 25 - 27	Austin, TX (public lecture and Kriya Yoga Initiation)
Oct. 1 - 4	Innsbruck, Austria (public lecture and Kriya Yoga Initiation)
Oct. 8 - 11	Aschaffenburg, Germany (public lecture and Kriya Yoga Initiation)
Oct. 16 - 18	Seattle, WA (public lecture and Kriya Yoga Initiation)
	See more dates and locations. Learn about the lecture tours.
How-to-Live Retreat Programs
Sept. 18 - 20	Front Royal, VA (general retreat)
Oct. 2 - 4	South Bend, IN (regional retreat)
Oct. 9 - 11	Atlanta, GA (regional retreat)
Oct. 16 - 18	Toronto, Canada (regional retreat)
Nov. 6 - 8	Maui, HI (regional retreat)
	See more dates and locations. Learn about the How-to-Live Retreat programs.