“Feel the love of God. Then in every person you will see the face of the Father, the light of Love which is in all. You will find a magic living relationship uniting the trees, the sky, the stars, all people, and all living things, and you will feel a oneness with them. This is the code of divine love. ”

Paramahansa Yogananda

Upcoming Dates to Remember

Sunday, 2/4 Video with Sister Preeti: "Spiritual Happiness: Tapping Into the Soul's Storehouse of Love, Peace, and Joy

Saturday, 2/24 Portland Center Day of Service

Sunday, 3/3 Video with Sister Draupadi: "The Guru: Speaking Voice of Silent God"

Thursday, 3/7 Paramahansa Yogananda Mahasamadhi Service

Saturday, 3/9 Swami Sri Yukteswar Mahasamadhi Service

Friday, 3/29 Good Friday

Sunday, 3/31 Easter Service, followed by a vegetarian potluck

A complete calendar of events and services is available on our website.



*****

Every March, devotees of Self-Realization Fellowship pay homage to our Guru Paramahansa Yogananda and to our Paramguru, Swami Sri Yukteswar as we observe the Mahasamadhi of these great masters.

Portland Center will offer special commemorative services from 8 to 9:00 pm on both these occasions, preceded by an optional meditation beginning at 7:00.

Please bring the traditional offerings of a flower (or flowers) symbolizing devotion to the Guru, and a monetary donation in a plain envelope, as an expression of loyalty and gratitude for this path.

Easter Services at Portland Center

Portland Center will be open on Good Friday, March 29, from noon to 2:00 pm for individual silent meditation.

Join us for Easter services on Sunday, March 31: kirtan led chanting and meditation from 8:00 to 10:45 am and the 11:00 inspirational service, followed by a pot luck luncheon at noon to celebrate the joy of Easter. Please bring a vegetarian dish to share, serving eight to ten people.

Day of Service,

Saturday February 24

We invite you to experience the benefits of serving together with like-minded souls during Portland Center's upcoming Day of Service, Saturday February 24. The day begins with an optional half-hour meditation at 9:30 am, and we'll roll up our sleeves and plunge into playful work starting at 10:00 pm.

There will be a variety of tasks in and out of doors (weather permitting), for all levels of capability. Equipment and supplies are provided, along with snacks and a vegetarian lunch. We will wrap up the day around 2:00, or whenever our 'to do' list has been accomplished.

Bring a friend! and join with fellow devotees,

as together we make our beautiful Center sparkling clean!

Holiday Highlights: Christmas and Master's Birthday

Portland Center was blessed with the presence of two monks, Brother Kalyanananda and Brother Keshavananda from the SRF Mother Center, who led services and conducted the All-Day Christmas meditation in our beautifully decorated chapel. We also enjoyed divine fellowship with the monks while on an outing to the Japanese Garden, and during our Christmas potluck following Sunday's service.

We joyously celebrated Paramahansa Yogananda's birthday on January 5 with a special service, followed by singing "Happy Birthday" to our Guru and sharing each other's company while enjoying carrot cake.

SRF Worldwide Convocation, July 14 - 20

Westin Bonaventure Hotel Towers

SRF is pleased to announce that the annual Worldwide Convocation will once again be held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. You are warmly invited to join the SRF international spiritual family for this 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 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.

SRF Youth Services is offering a new series of online How-to-Live classes for children and teens, January 27 to May 25, conducted via Zoom on two Saturdays each month. These online How-to-Live classes provide youth with support, life guidance, and encouragement based on the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda.

Registration is ongoing and will extend beyond the start date for the classes. To learn more and register, visit the SRF Youth Services website.



Sunday School at the Portland Center will be starting when we have one or more Kriyabans for the teacher positions and one or more SRF Lessons students for the teacher's aide positions. Being involved with Sunday School is a great service to the Guru's work, the SRF children, and to one's own spiritual sadhana. Parents or anyone who would like to be involved with young people are welcome to join the team.

Online training for Sunday School teachers and aides is offered through SRF Youth Services. Portland devotee Darden Bynum has taken those trainings, and is enthusiastic about reopening our in-person Sunday School:



"Master said he has a large spiritual family. If you’ve read this far, whether you know it or not, you also have a large spiritual family. You belong. Or at least you belong to the extent you choose to belong.

As toddlers my three children were all christened by SRF ministers. By school age, I wanted them to choose the SRF spiritual family too. So I became an SRF Sunday School teacher and was part of their early spiritual education.

Nowadays, none of my adult offspring are active in SRF. But since at some level they know they still belong, there is renewed SRF interest; and now they want my grandsons to have the choice of belonging too.

Do you share that goal? Do you want your school-age child or grandchild to learn of your spiritual family? To learn of Master’s teachings and the joy of meditation?"

For more information please contact the Portland Center at portlandcentersrf@gmail.com

Regional Retreats

Monastics from the Phoenix SRF Temple will host a regional retreat on the weekend of April 5 - 7 at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson. 

A flyer and registration form will be available for download from the Phoenix Temple website beginning March 1, when registration opens.

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Also, during the weekend of April 19 - 21 the SRF Bay Area Temple in Walnut Creek, California is offering a retreat at The Mount Madonna Center, located in the Santa Cruz hills. More information and an online registration form may be accessed here.

Greetings, Portland Center members and friends!

It sure felt good to get back to the Portland Center for the “last-Sunday-of-the-month Kirtan” on January 28. This, after the freezing icy weather that gripped Portland and made life itself challenging and potentially hazardous, causing us to cancel multiple services. The Portland Center building and property came through it all in fine shape. A loss of power for several hours caused concern but no major damage, as several devoted volunteers kept close watch and power was restored in time. In the days since, many devotees are back at work inside and out, inspecting the building or pulling weeds and trimming perennials in the front beds and backyard meditation garden. Thank you all. Jai Guru!

It is the harmonious, devoted service of many members of Yogananda’s family that helps to make the Portland Center a wonderful gathering place; and each person’s focus on their inner spiritual development makes our center a spiritual oasis.  

This aligns with our Guru’s mission. Yogananda said, “Self-Realization Fellowship has come into the world to draw souls to God through their own expanding Self-realization.”

Many people say they feel the spiritual energy here. After a recent visit to Portland Center, one of the monks commented, “The meditations in Portland were deep and still.”

Speaking of monastics’ visits, please make your calendars for the third such opportunity within the last twelve months. Brother Naradananda and Brahmachari Bhaskarananda will be here for a rare weekday stay on Tuesday, April 30 and Wednesday, May 1. Events and services are being finalized; please let us know what you would like to experience.

We hope to see you here soon. Please join us for a streamed monastics’ talk on the First Sunday, an after-service social on the third Sunday and a Kirtan on the last Sunday of each month. We aim to launch Sunday School soon with several members engaged in the new certification process, and there is room for more.

"By teaching the children of today to put God first in their lives,

Self-Realization Fellowship Sunday School teachers will be helping

to create a new and better world for tomorrow.”

—Sri Daya Mata

In divine friendship,

Kripa Raguram, Mike O'Brien, Paulette Fritsch,

Rebecca Field and 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!