Gratitude        Generosity        Joy       Stillness        Greetings, friends of the Portland Center!      The approaching season is perhaps the most festive and spiritually potent time of year. Come, be with us for deep meditations, devotional Commemorative Services, and fun-filled fellowship. We look forward to your spiritual companionship, now and in the new year.   In Divine Friendship,   Portland Center of Self-Realization Fellowship

Inspiration from Master "My heart is so thankful; it is overcome by His kindness. He has given me everything that I had wanted in this life; but, above all, He has given Himself. Such gratefulness I feel! Run to Him. The Most Beloved is waiting. His arms are open to receive you and spiritualize you and immortalize you." Paramahansa Yogananda

Upcoming Events at Portland Center Saturday November 2 - Six hour meditation with kirtan, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. — a perfect way to inwardly prepare for the coming holy season. Latecomers may arrive during the 1:00 break, or on the hour. Sunday November 3 - Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 a.m. Be sure to change your clocks before retiring on Saturday! Sunday November 24 - Thanksgiving vegetarian potluck  following the 11:00 a.m. Reading Service. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share! Thursday November 28 - Services canceled (Thanksgiving Day) Saturday December 14 - All Day Christmas Meditation Sunday December 15 - Christmas vegetarian potluck following the 11:00 a.m. Reading Service. As with our Thanksgiving potluck, bring a vegetarian dish to share. Please note that the 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. Meditation Services are canceled on this day . Tuesday December 31 - New Year's Eve meditation Sunday January 5 - Master's Birthday Commemorative Service Saturday January 11 - All Day Meditation in honor of Master's birthday Our   Calendar of Services and Events is available on our  website

All Day Christmas Meditation

Be with us as we join SRF members and friends throughout the world for our spiritual celebration of Christmas during the annual All Day Meditation, held Saturday December 14, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. , with a short break at 1:00 p.m. As an expression of your reverence and devotion, please bring an offering of a fruit and if financially able, a monetary donation in a plain white envelope. As with all long meditations, if you are only able to attend for part of the day we ask that you come for the morning session. And if you are ill or think you may be contagious, out of consideration for others please tune in while meditating at home. We also ask that you wear clothing and jewelry that do not make noise when you move, to avoid disturbing the profound meditative silence we are striving for during this special time. “Take this Christmas meditation seriously and through deep and sustained meditation invite the Christ to manifest himself to you.”  Paramahansa Yogananda

New Year's Eve Meditation Tuesday, December 31 A tradition started by Paramahansa Yogananda is the New Year's Eve Meditation. Our Guru said it is beneficial to use the transition from the old year to the new as a time to meditate and keep one's mind on God, while introspecting on the passing year and affirming our goals for the new. Our meditation service begins at 11:30 p.m. and ends at 12:30 a.m. "I wish for you the happiest kind of happy new year — every day spent with God."  Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda Birthday Commemorative Service

The anniversary of our Guru's birth will be observed in a special service on Sunday January 5, beginning at 8:00 p.m. This will be preceded by an optional meditation from 7:15-7:45 p.m. After the service, we will gather in the Sunday School room to celebrate, sharing tea and traditional birthday cake.

Paramahansa Yogananda Birthday All Day Meditation Our kirtan group will lead an all day meditation in honor of our Guru's birth, to be held on Saturday January 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a short break at 1:30 p.m. Be sure to arrive a little early so you will be settled and calm before the meditation begins. Please bring an offering of a fruit as an expression of your devotion to our Guru.  If you are unable to attend the entire meditation, plan to come for the morning half only.

"The spiritual soul contact between guru and disciple is one of eternal, unconditional divine love and friendship." Paramahansa Yogananda

Community Service: Winter Donation Drive

Join us in reaching out to our neighbors in need

"In helping others to succeed I shall find my own prosperity. In the welfare of others I shall find my own well-being." Paramahansa Yogananda For many of us, witnessing homeless camps near our Center last summer brought up a cry from the heart: "What can I do to help?" If you feel drawn to serve our fellow citizens in need, Portland Center will be collecting donations of warm outerwear and other essentials for individuals and families who are facing homelessness during the winter. Your contributions will be delivered to Transition Projects , a well-established organization serving the Portland metro area, including our Center's immediate neighborhood, Montavilla. Transition Projects has provided a list of suggested items to donate:

Due to space limitations at the Center, we request that none of the bulkier items from the above "camping" list be donated. For those items, please consider making a monetary donation instead, which will be forwarded to Transition Projects. Special collection boxes will be in the Information Room through Sunday December 1. Thank you for your generosity and loving-kindness

Web Designer wanted! The Portland Center needs to upgrade its website. If you are a professional web designer or can recommend someone, please contact council member Rebecca Field at  rjfield99@gmail.com  or leave a message on the Portland Center message line at 503-254-6773.

News from Self-Realization Fellowship

Brother Chidananda, SRF/YSS president and spiritual head, recently led an inaugural meditation for the newly launched SRF Online Meditation Center . You may view this event on SRF's blog , and if you are not familiar with the purpose and offerings of the Online Meditation Center, please visit their website .

Annual Fall Silent Retreat 2019

The Alton Collins Retreat facility was filled to capacity with SRF devotees from Oregon and Washington, who enjoyed a weekend of silence and inspiration led by the Eugene Meditation Group. Thank you to all those whose volunteer efforts assisted in creating this special opportunity for rest and renewal.

News from Managing Council

Greetings, members and friends of Portland Center! We are happy to report that the issue with people living in their cars by the parking lot has been resolved. Thank you for your prayers for these individuals and for our Center. In response to that situation and the neighborhood where Portland Center is located, we hope you will support our holiday donation drive for those less fortunate through Transition Projects: Homelessness to Housing . To enhance security for the Center, a camera for our front porch area has been purchased. The next step is installation. If it works well we plan to install a few more around the building, including the backyard. Also, the roof of our building received some much-needed loving care in September, including moss removal and gutter cleaning. We hope to get a few more years of life out of the roof. May the coming holy season bring us ever closer to the goal of Self-realization. In Master’s Love, Sarah, Nate, Rebecca, Shikha and Sumuki

Portland Center Book Room News Next time you're at the Center be sure to visit our Book Room, where you'll find many inspiring items, including the 2020 SRF engagement and wall calendars .

This beautiful engagement calendar features quotations from our Guru, paired with 53 images from the world’s top nature photographers.

The 2020 Special Edition Wall Calendar features twelve extra large photographs and twelve mini-portraits depicting locations closely associated with the life and work of Paramahansa Yogananda.

By purchasing directly from the Book Room, you save shipping costs, along with supporting our Center. Stop by any Sunday after the 11:00 a.m. service!

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. As mentioned above, 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 etc. Checks payable to "Self Realization Fellowship" are sent to SRF headquarters in Los Angeles, to support SRF's worldwide activities. 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. Your support is deeply appreciated!

May your Christmas meditations be deeply blessed, carrying you with inspiration into the coming year commemorating our Guru's arrival in America one hundred years ago.

"An Infinite Light shone on earth on that first Christmas Day, and each year at this holy time the ether is filled with that Light." Paramahansa Yogananda

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