Portland Center

of Self-Realization Fellowship

“Awakened souls shine with the light of God; they make the invisible light

of His goodness visible in their hearts and actions. Their enlightenment declares the presence of God and serves as a spiritual beacon

to guide others out of the paths of darkness.” 

Paramahansa Yogananda

in The Second Coming of Christ:

The Resurrection of the Christ Within You

Greetings, members and friends of the Portland Center!

April and May bring showers and flowers – along with a visit from two Self-Realization Fellowship monks, Brother Naradananda and Brahmachari Bhaskarananda on April 30 – May 1. We welcome you to join us for these and other events, including a commemorative service honoring the birth of our Paramguru, Swami Sri Yukteswar on May 10.

Upcoming Dates to Remember

Sunday, 4/7 11:00 a.m. - noon Video with Brother Saralananda: "How to Perceive God's Presence in the Stillness of Meditation"

Tuesday, 4/30 and Wednesday, 5/1 Portland Center welcomes two Self-Realization Fellowship Monastics (more information follows below)

Sunday, 5/5 11:00 a.m. - noon Video with Brother Ishtananda:

"Finding God in Family Life"

Friday, 5/10 Birthday of Swami Sri Yukteswar (see details below)

We invite you to visit our website for

a complete schedule of all our activities.

Monastic Visit, April 30 and May 1

Portland Center is delighted to host two monks of the Self-Realization Fellowship order, Brother Naradananda and Brahmachari Bhaskarananda, for a mid-week visit.

Tuesday, April 30:

5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Meditation and Technique Review

You may also enter during chanting at 5:40 or 6:15. This class is open to SRF members/students of the SRF Lessons only. Bring your member or Kriyaban card or a paper copy of an SRF Lesson, or show your activated Lessons app to verify your member/student status.

7:15 - 8:15 p.m. Satsanga

The monks will respond to questions concerning the SRF path. Please submit your questions by April 15, via email at portlandcentersrf@gmail.com or by placing them in the box in the Information Room at the Center.

8:15 - 8:45 p.m. Fellowship and refreshments

Wednesday, May 1:

10:30 a.m. Outing with the monks to Leach Botanical Garden. Meet at Portland Center to car pool; arrive at the garden by 10:45. Bring your own sack lunch, and enjoy the one mile walking trail through the garden. Picnic lunch followed by chanting from noon to 1:00 p.m., in an outdoor tent reserved for our group. Leave by 1:30, arrive back to Portland Center before 2:00.

7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Lecture: "The Power of Affirmation: Using Vibrations to Change and Heal Your Life."

8:00 - 8:45 p.m. Fellowship with refreshments

Swami Sri Yukteswar

Birthday Commemorative Service

"Forget the past. Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now."

Swami Sri Yukteswar, quoted in Autobiography of a Yogi

On Friday May 10, we will commemorate the birthday of Swami Sri Yukteswar, the great Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda.

7:00 - 7:45 p.m. Optional meditation (Late arrivals will be seated up to 7:15)  

8:00 - 9:00 p.m. Commemorative service.

Please bring a flower or flowers as a symbol of your devotion, and a monetary offering in an envelope as a gesture of loyalty and gratitude. Traditionally, the devotee does not smell the flowers, as the fragrance is considered part of the gift offered to the Guru being venerated.

Volunteer Highlights: Landscape Committee

As a picture frame highlights the picture, so does our landscape frame our Center. The Landscape Committee works to maintain and augment our gardens so that the Center is framed with appeal for one and all.

Committee members talk about how they cherish sharing the heartwarming joys of service, fellowship and nature while weeding, pruning, planting and watering. One volunteer recently said, "It just makes me happy to be here."

Would you like to join us in serving God and gurus in this way? We garden together on a flexible schedule depending on devotees’ changing commitments, with opportunities weekly, depending on the weather. Usually we work for two to three hours, but any time contribution is welcome, even monthly. Currently we garden at the Center on weekdays, with occasional Saturdays on Days of Service.

Tools and gloves are provided, although you can bring your own favorites if desired. Interested but don’t know much about gardening? Please join us and learn!

Contact Kaya Stasch, Volunteer Coordinator or Lisa Buchholz, Landscape Committee chair to learn more and discuss possibilities, including scheduling.

Monthly Events at Portland Center

First Sunday (except July and August): Sunday School for children ages three to twelve, held from 11:00 a.m. to noon. Note that children must have independent toileting skills to attend. More information is available on our website.

Third Sunday: Friendship Tea – an opportunity to meet informally with spiritual friends immediately following the 11:00 service, while sharing light refreshments.

Last Sunday: Meditation Service led by Portland Center's kirtan group, beginning with group practice of the SRF Energization Exercises at 8:00 a.m. This is followed by periods of meditation and chanting accompanied by traditional Indian instruments. If you are unable to stay for the full kirtan period, you may enter or leave the chapel during the chanting at 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.

SRF World Convocation: July 14 - 20

"Those who go deeper discover that Convocation has a whole other dimension. It is a living transmission of spiritual consciousness, power, and blessings."

Brother Chidananda, President and Spiritual Head

of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India,

in his message of welcome from a previous Convocation

Whether you've never attended Self-Realization Fellowship's annual World Convocation or have participated every year, you are warmly invited to join the SRF international spiritual family for a week of monastic led classes and talks, powerful group meditations, and pilgrimages to places made sacred by the presence of our Guru. More information is available here on SRF's website.

The event is held in person at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, and will also be available online for those unable to attend in person. Additionally, Portland Center will once again host livestreamed monastic talks during Convocation week for viewing as a group. A complete schedule will be available in the coming months.

Seabeck Regional Retreat

Hosted by the Seattle SRF Center and conducted by Self-Realization Fellowship monastics, this popular yearly retreat will again be held at the Seabeck Conference Center on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, June 9 - 11.

Updates and registration information will be posted on the Seattle Center's website.

News from Portland Center Managing Council

We are riding a growing wave of devotional energy at the Portland Center. Participation in services is increasing and more than eighty persons celebrated Easter and the reopening of Sunday School. We are all smiling from the presence of the children again! Thank you to all who serve and meditate with us.

More powerful times are ahead. When Brother Naradananda and Brahmachari Bhaskarananda visit us April 30 - May 1, we will celebrate the one-hundred year anniversary of an important event in Guruji’s teachings.

It was in 1924, during a series of lectures in Portland, Oregon, that Paramahansa Yogananda presented for the first time to the public his teachings on the science of affirmation and divine healing. According to the 2023 Annual Issue of Self-Realization Magazine, “From that time on, prayer affirmations – along with fascinating explanation of the scientific and spiritual principles that made them effective – became a feature of many of his lectures and class series…which were attended by capacity audiences in major cities all over the United States....” 

An article in the Washington Post, January 17, 1927, described an event in Washington DC, where a full house of more than five thousand persons practiced chanting, led by Guruji: “…The slow incantation ended with several prolonged repetitions of ‘I am whole, for Thou art in me,’ the word ‘whole’ toward the last, prolonged for more than a minute.”

We hope you will join us on Wednesday May 1, when we will be guided to practice “The Power of Affirmation: Using Vibrations to Change and Heal Your Life,” with the visiting monastics.

Until then, we advise consulting Scientific Healing Affirmations and the 2023 Annual Issue of Self-Realization Magazine, to enjoy previously unpublished insights into the science of harmonizing your life with spiritual vibrations.

Jai Guru!

In divine friendship,

Bruce Mosias, Linda Clark-Traeger,

Mike O'Brien, Paulette Fritsch, Shikha Misra

How to Make a Financial Contribution

We deeply appreciate your contributions of time and resources to help us meet the recurring expenses that sustain our Center, as we are supported solely by financial contributions from our members and friends, and by volunteers who donate their skills.

For those who would like to contribute online, you can

send funds through Zelle to the following email address:

portlandcenterdonations@gmail.com

If you prefer to write a check, please know that checks payable to "Portland Center" will be deposited locally and used to support our Center's activities, pay utility bills, etc. Checks payable to "Self-Realization Fellowship" are sent to SRF headquarters in Los Angeles, to support SRF's worldwide activities.

Checks may be mailed to 356 NE 80th Avenue, Portland 97213.

Thank you for your support!

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