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"O thou blue sky, under blue cover, hast thou hidden my beloved Lord?" from Paramahansa Yogananda's Cosmic Chants As rain clouds recede, blue sky is a welcome sight here in the Pacific Northwest! We welcome you to be with us this summer for meditations and inspirational services. And after completing several work sessions in the chapel, we will be celebrating our new carpet and chairs! Details below....

From Master "With flowers, with bright skies, with the divine manna of joy in happy minds, with souls full of wisdom, with songs of the birds, with divine melodies in the hearts of men, my Beloved is calling me to retrace my footsteps to His home of peace within." Paramahansa Yogananda

Upcoming Events Sunday June 3 through Thursday June 14 - All services cancelled , in preparation for installation of new carpet and chairs. See following article. June 23 Day of Service is also cancelled. Sunday School - Summer break during June, July and August. Classes will resume in September. Please see Managing Council News below for information about a summer family potluck ! Sunday June 17 - Join us on Father's Day, the target date for resuming our regularly scheduled meditations and inspirational services after installation of the new carpet and chairs. Although this is the third Sunday of the month, we will not resume regularly scheduled Socials until July. Wednesday July 25 - Mahavatar Babaji Commemorative service. More details follow in this newsletter. Sunday August 19 - Mark your calendar for our summer pot luck following the 11:00 a.m. service. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share, and join in the warm fellowship! Our complete monthly schedule may be found in our Quarterly Calendar of Services, available in the Portland Center foyer or on our website . 

Update on the carpet and chairs project

During the first weekend of June, a cadre of volunteers will be packing up everything and moving furniture out of the way to prepare for carpet installation the following week, beginning June 4. If all goes as planned (prayers appreciated!) volunteers will again pitch in on Friday June 15 and Saturday June 16, placing the new chairs and doing a final clean-up. Our goal is to complete the project in time for Father's Day, June 17, when we can benefit from the new seating during morning services. Please note that all services will be cancelled June 3 through 14. Updates will be posted on our website. We greatly appreciate your contributions by cash or check (made out to Portland Center) for this important project. When donating, be sure to indicate that the donation is for the carpet and chairs. Your offering may be mailed to Portland Center, or placed in the special box located in the Information Room.

“Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji,” Lahiri Mahasaya said, “that devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing.” Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi 

Mahavatar Babaji Commemorative Service Wednesday July 25 Join us as we venerate the great avatar in a special service from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., preceded by an optional meditation at 7:15 p.m. Please bring the traditional offering of a flower or flowers, symbolizing devotion to the guru. 

Easter at Portland Center: Photo gallery

The annual children's egg hunt was a source of delight

Delicious pot luck fare was enjoyed by all

Tip-toeing through the wildflowers

Fall Silent Retreat The Eugene Group of SRF warmly invites you to the annual fall Silent Retreat, scheduled for the weekend of October 5 - 7 2018 at the Alton Collins Retreat Center, located 40 miles from Portland in an old growth forest setting.  The theme for this year's retreat is " Practicing the Divine Presence. " An informative flyer is available here: Fall Silent Retreat 2018

"Harmony with nature will bring you a happiness known to few city dwellers. In the company of other truth seekers it will be easier for you to meditate and think of God." Paramahansa Yogananda

Chapel altar at the retreat

Registration forms will be available on the Eugene group's website in early July, with registration beginning July 9. Please mark your calendars and plan on attending this uplifting event. 

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.    Convocation 2018 will again be held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, August 5-11. Registration for Convocation and hotel information are now available on SRF's website . Simultaneous Spanish translation will be offered during most events this year.

Slideshow of Convocation Highlights

If you regularly attend Portland Center and are also going to Convocation, you may want to consider participating in the 2018 Center Representatives Conference, to be held on Thursday, August 9 from 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. More information is found in this letter of invitation sent by SRF Center Department. Devotees who are unable to travel to Convocation can benefit spiritually by tuning in with the spiritual vibrations in the ether during this special week, as thousands of souls worldwide unite in meditation with the blessings of the SRF Gurus. 

Managing Council News

Dear Friends, The Managing Council is happy to announce that we will have the pleasure of hosting Brother Devananda and another monastic for the weekend of September 15th and 16th, 2018. More details about that weekend will follow as they become available.  The Portland Center is undergoing some large changes. Starting on Monday June 4th, new carpet will be installed throughout the building – with the exception of the Sunday School rooms, which we also plan to recarpet at a future date. New meditation chairs are to follow shortly if the manufacturer comes through as promised! The chairs should be here by June 14th.   Services will be cancelled Sunday June 3rd through Thursday June 14th. There will be Sunday Service on June 17th ONLY if the new chairs have arrived on time. If not, please expect an email and check our website for scheduling updates.   Sunday School has also been cancelled for June, July, and August. Usually, there are no classes in July and August due to summer vacations and teacher availability. However, with all the work in June at the Center it made sense to cancel all classes. However, there will be a Parent and Family Potluck at the home of Sarah and Max Floyd this summer. Please email Sarah at [email protected] for details!   Lastly, the Managing Council would like to thank ALL the many volunteers who have stepped up to help our Center thrive, through your hard work as well as monetary donations. We are greatly appreciative of your help with the chairs, carpet, and various other tasks that are required to keep our beautiful meditation center going; and your generous financial contributions have been most welcome.   Jai Guru! The Managing Council Sarah, Rebecca, Shikha, Nate, and Sharon

How to Make a Financial Contribution  Portland Center of SRF is supported solely by financial contributions from members and friends, and by volunteers who donate their time. Proceeds from our Book Room sales also benefit the Center.    If you write a check to the group, please know that checks payable to "Portland Center" will be deposited locally and used to support our Center's activities, pay utility bills and so on. Checks payable to "Self Realization Fellowship" are sent to SRF headquarters in Los Angeles, where they are used to support SRF's work. It is customary when writing checks during special services such as commemoratives to make the check payable to SRF.    Some members choose to make regular donations to our Center. One convenient option is to set up automatic bill pay through your bank.      Thank you for your support!

Other Activities  Sunday School will be suspended during June, July and August for summer vacation. Resuming in September, classes will be offered every Sunday from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon for boys and girls ages 3-13 in the Sunday School Room. Parents may enroll their children at any time. We encourage all children 3-13 to attend Sunday School. Sunday Socials are held on the third Sunday of each month in the Sunday School Room following the 11:00 Reading Service. Light refreshments are provided. Please note that no Social will be held during the month of June.  Kirtan Meditations with devotional chanting accompanied by traditional Indian instruments, are generally held on the last Sunday of the month, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Kirtan Services start with group practice of the Energization Exercises at 8:00 a.m., followed by periods of devotional chanting and meditation. During the 10:00 a.m. service, there will be chanting instead of an opening prayer and a reading. Master strongly encouraged chanting as a way to deepen one's meditations and devotion. If you are unable to stay for the full kirtan period, you may enter or leave the chapel during the chanting at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. 

Looking for other SRF groups in the Pacific NW or throughout the world? Click here:

SRF Temples, Centers and Groups

Radha, Govinda Jai!

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