Self-Realization FellowshipFounded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda

SRI MRINALINI MATA, PRESIDENT

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: 3880 SAN RAFAEL AVENUE, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90065-3219

TEL: (323) 225-2471 • FAX: (323) 225-5088 • www.yogananda-srf.org

IN INDIA: YOGODA SATSANGA SOCIETY OF INDIA

V O L U N T A R Y L E A G U E A P P E A LFall 2011

Dear Friend,

In one of his talks, which is published in Journey to Self-Realization, Paramahansa Yoga-nanda said this about how the one Infinite Spirit continuously works to uplift this world through divine incarnations and saintly lives:

“Two kinds of prophets come into the world. There are qualitative proph-ets, who mold their faithful disciples into great souls. And there are quan-titative prophets, who influence the masses, so that vast multitudes are inspired and receive some light from the presence of such a master. Some masters do both.…”

From the lives of millions who have been touched by the light of Paramahansaji’s own life, and from the ever increasing number whose consciousness is being transformed on the deepest level through their wholehearted commitment to his teachings, we see that our Guru was one of those rare beings who played both a quantitative and qualitative role at God’s behest. How often we hear testimonies such as the following:

“More precious than any material possession, comfort, fame, and human relationship is the peace I find by practice of Paramahansaji’s Lessons. As a scientist I am not inclined to take anyone’s word as truth without conduct-ing the experiment for myself. By diligent practice of the SRF Lessons I have confirmed the outcome of Paramahansaji’s experiments on the most rarefied science known to man: Self-realization.”

The “quantitative” impact of Paramahansaji’s mission is evidenced by the ongoing growth of his worldwide mission. For example, in this issue of the Voluntary League Appeal we offer a report on the inspiring response to the new SRF website (launched in April last year) and the latest new features. Just this month we initiated a program to allow you to receive certain mailings digitally by email rather than in paper format by traditional mail. (Please see our enclosed newsletter for more details and information on how to participate.)

In the months ahead we hope to make other membership-related services more “technology-friendly” and easier for you, including allowing you to register for Convoca-tion online. In addition to increased convenience for our worldwide spiritual family, these initiatives will help us to realize significant savings for our Guru’s spiritual work. We look forward to sharing more with you about this soon.

Also in our newsletter, we update you on new translations of Autobiography of a Yogi and repair work on buildings that figure prominently in Paramahansaji’s mission.

In all this progress, your generosity has been essential. Your support also helps us meet the myriad day-to-day operating expenses that are part of reaching out to the world to bring Paramahansaji’s spirit and teachings to those thirsting for truth. For example:

• Caring for the sacred buildings and grounds where our Guru lived, wrote, and meditated.

• Providing for the basic expenses (food, living quarters, medical and dental care, etc.) for Self-Realization Fellowship’s monastic order; and providing for the facilities, equipment, and maintenance essential for the service to the work of God and Guru to which the monastics have dedicated their lives.

• Offering guidance and support for more than 500 meditation centers, groups, and circles around the globe and personal counseling on the SRF teachings to individuals worldwide.

• Operating SRF retreats — in our Guru’s words, “dynamos of silence” that provide the opportunity to mentally and physically relax and to renew and deepen one’s spiritual efforts in a supportive environment.

Our Guru once said:

“To do duty to God first and then with His consciousness help the world is divine. And this is what the Self-Realization Fellowship teachings stand for: to gain fellowship with God through realization of the Self; and, hav-ing that divine fellowship, help others to attain it.”

Your loyal and loving support — be it through a monetary gift, your prayers, or your commitment to live according to the divine ideals espoused by our God-attuned Guru — show that you have made his words your own.

Whether or not you can lend your financial support now, please receive our gratitude for your dedication to Paramahansaji’s spiritual work of Self-Realization Fellowship. May your life overflow with blessings from God and the Great Ones.

In divine friendship,

SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP Mother Center

P.S.: Please visit our website and consider signing up for our new digital mailings program, which will enable us to serve you more efficiently while reducing costs for printing and postage. (More information appears in the enclosed newsletter.)

Self-­Realization­FellowshipV O L U N T A R Y L E A G U E ƒ Newsletter

A R e p o r t o n O u r R e c e n t A c t i v i t i e s

F a l l 2 0 1 1

Thanks in part to your gifts to the Voluntary League Appeal, Self-Realization Fellowship’s new website was launched in April 2010, with the hope that it would become an online global ambassador of our Guru’s teach-ings. A year and a half later, we have had ample opportunity to see how it is touching souls around the world, as evidenced by these excerpts from mes-sages we have received:

“Thank you for your wonder-ful web site! I bought a second hand laptop when I read about it, because I knew I would be inspired by the con-tact with SRF. The nearest meditation group is miles away and poor health has kept me close to home for many years.… The meditations, satsangs, and chanting on our web site have been an enormous help.”

—J.M., United Kingdom

“I have done the guided meditations on the website and I am finding them really ef-fective. They seem to bring me to a place of peace and love, deeply and quickly. Thank you all who spend their time and effort to continue the SRF.”

—J.S.C., Ireland“Just a quick note

to express my gratitude for our beautiful new website that I have been enjoying. What I love most about it is that it has become my ‘goodnight call’ before preparing for bedtime. Wishing to end my day on a truly positive note, if I have already meditated earlier, I like

to turn to the SRF website and listen for a few min-utes perhaps to a kirtan, or to Brother Bhaktananda’s advice, or some familiar re-assuring monastic voice or Guruji’s voice. It is so easy and quick to do this now, through the new website. Please convey my thanks to those techno-wizards who created this opportunity for us all!”

—L.K., CaliforniaSince the launch of the

new website, visits have in-creased almost 600% over our old site. One reason

the website has been so well received is that it is a treasure-trove of our Guru’s wisdom, helping visitors to deepen their spiritual practice. The “How-to-Live Wisdom” section is filled with practical advice on topics ranging from “Knowing God” to “Happiness,” while the “Learn to Meditate,” (left) SRF Lessons information, and “Guided Meditations” pages have introduced thousands to our beloved path.

The new website offers a rich array of videos — featuring talks by senior SRF monastics on the teachings of Paramahansaji, as well as guided medi-tations, kirtan chanting, satsangas, and links to our SRF channel on YouTube where viewers can experience the deeply inspiring memorial service of our late beloved president, Sri Daya Mata.

SRF WEBSITE: CONNECTING PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA ’S WORLDWIDE FAMILY

The SRF home page

The “Kriya Yoga Path of Medita-tion” pages (above) are a recent addi-tion and coincide with this year’s 150th

anniversary of the revival of the sacred technique. These pages are already some of the most frequently visited on the en-tire site—recalling our Guru’s inspiring words: “The blessed role of Kriya Yoga in East and West has hardly more than just begun. May all men come to know that there exists a definite, scientific tech-nique of Self-realization for the overcom-ing of all human misery!”

Another measure of the success of

the SRF website is how fre-quently it is shared with oth-ers. Thousands of friends and members have for-warded links to the website (or specific web pages) to friends or family, which in turn has resulted in more visits to our website. One devotee wrote to us that the website “has been a great tool to share SRF with friends and co-workers eager to ‘check out SRF’ by ‘reading on the internet’…Looking forward to sharing my new favorite website on Facebook, Twitter, and GoogleChat, and hav-

ing more people check out SRF if they are inclined. I am so excited, and glad to see that there is an SRF portal in cyberspace where we can connect, be inspired, and share Gu-ruji’s teachings with others.”

We now have visitors coming from Facebook, Twitter, Stumble-Upon, and other major social media forums; so telling just one person about the new website has a ripple effect that draws many others.

Our free eNewsletter also has been well received, with subscrip-

tions increasing every month. (Past is-sues are also available on our website.) Each issue of the eNewsletter also has increased traffic to the website after its publication, and has been shared on popular social networks, drawing more visitors.

Paramahansaji’s closing words in his autobiography were: “Lord, Thou hast given this monk a large family!” Our deepest appreciation to all of you for supporting these 21st-century means of reaching out to that worldwide spiri-tual family — and helping to create this online oasis of peace.

SRF introduces DIGITAL MAILINGSIn an effort to serve you more efficiently and economically, we are happy to offer you

the opportunity to receive selected SRF mailings digitally by email rather than in paper format by traditional mail. By signing up now and indicating your preferences, you will as-sist us in developing our program. We hope to be able to significantly reduce our printing and mailing costs so that more funds will be available to support the various other services we provide to our worldwide membership.

In order to participate and let us know which mailings you would like to receive by email, please visit our website at: www.yogananda-srf.org and click on the eNews link.

Additionally, in 2012 we will not be printing and mailing our regular Convocation brochure, but will mail a smaller paper packet containing the key information about Con-vocation to all those who haven’t signed up to receive information electronically. The SRF website will be the main source for complete information about Convocation, and we will have a portal allowing you to register online if you wish.

We thank you for your participation and will keep you apprised of new digital offerings as they become available.

SRF channel on YouTube, featuring the inspiring memorial service of our late beloved president, Sri Daya Mata.

Windmill Chapel at SRF Lake Shrine

In spring this year, we asked your help for repairs to the Windmill Chapel at the Lake Shrine.

The Windmill Chapel has a colorful history. An execu-tive at 20th Century Fox movie studios, who owned the Lake Shrine property at the time, commissioned the construction. His fancy was to repro-duce a 16th-century Dutch windmill.

When Parama-hansaji acquired the property in 1949, he made this build-ing into a chapel, where he held vari-ous events between 1950 and 1952. Perhaps the most poignant of mo-ments in the Wind-mill Chapel was when the Guru had his “last supper” with a group of monks on March 6, 1952 (the day before he left his body). On that occasion he played the organ and chanted Light the Lamp of Thy Love for more than an hour (see photos above).

The Windmill Chapel was enlarged in the 1950s to accom-modate the growing number of visitors to the Lake Shrine.

Thanks to your response to our appeal last spring, we were able to hire architectural and engineering firms to carry out a historical documentation and structural assessment of the building, which revealed the need for extensive work to pro-tect this landmark shrine so closely associated with our Guru’s life. Their meticulous measurements, photographs, and obser-vations, and the architect’s detailed drawings, will allow pres-ervation not only of the appearance, but of the original con-struction materials that date from our Guru’s time, wherever possible.

We were very happy to learn from the engineer that the foundation, which had been a concern, has not been com-promised. However, we need to strengthen the walls so they

can better with-stand earthquakes; and to replace the windmill paddles, which have been damaged by the elements and ter-mites (SRF monks skilled in carpentry will build new ones identical to the originals). We will share additional de-tails once we have prioritized repairs, but we still wanted to offer our pro-found gratitude for your past support.

New Translations

With financial assistance from generous SRF members, three new translations of Autobiography of a Yogi have recently been published: Greek, Thai, and Swedish. Our Guru’s life story is now published in more than two dozen languages! SRF also recently released a first-time translation of Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda in French, and other translations are in process.

All of these books are being published with digital “print on demand” technology (which reduces production costs), and are available internationally from SRF’s online bookstore and other bookstores worldwide.

A touching story about the Thai version: Two SRF devotees in Thailand are sponsoring the printing of 5,000 copies of the book to make it available at a lower price. One thousand of these cop-ies are being donated to schools, libraries, univer-sities, and other public institutions in Thailand.

Progress Reports: Updates on initiatives mentioned in previous issues, made possible through your generous support.

Today the Windmill Chapel is open to visitors for meditation.

Help for Monks’ Postulant Ashram in EncinitasIn our Spring 2011 Voluntary League Appeal, we asked for

help in replacing the plumbing system at the monks’ Postulant Ashram in Encinitas. Since then we have discovered that, while the antiquated plumbing system does need replacement, sag-ging floors on the second storey are actually the primary cause of the leaks and need bracing for structural purposes. We will brace the floors in conjunction with the replacement of the plumbing, and hope to start the work soon.

The Postulant Ashram building is the oldest on the Encinitas Ashram grounds, and was originally con-structed as the Sea Cliff Villa Hotel, which opened in 1925. (See photo above) The building was acquired in 1939

by Paramahansaji and made a part of his newly founded Encini-tas Ashram Center.

Prior to its pur-chase, Paramahansaji inspected the building and found, inside the foyer, a large stained

glass dome. He told the realtor that he would only purchase the building if the dome were included. Receiving a positive response, he then turned to the monks who had accompanied him and said, “A temple is going under this dome.” Today it sits atop the entryway of the SRF Hollywood Temple. (See photo below left)

The building saw service as an SRF retreat from the mid-1940s until 1967, when it became the postulant ashram for the fast-growing family of SRF monks.

We thank you for helping to keep this cherished home for the spiritual training of our young monks in good repair. With funds provided by your contributions to our Spring 2011 Voluntary League Appeal and this current Fall Voluntary League Appeal, we hope to complete this work within the next several months.

Contributions in response to this appeal will be used to meet the general operating ex-penses of SRF and to further the projects described in this newsletter. Contributions may be used for other purposes in the event of one or more of the projects being modified or canceled. Donations received later than approximately twelve months after the mailingdate will be credited to the most recent Voluntary League Appeal. Under federal law, Self-Realization Fellowship is deemed a public charity and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of

the Internal Revenue Code and a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation under the California Revenue Taxation Code. Accordingly, contributions to Self-Realization Fellowship are deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law for income tax purposes. Deduct-ible donations can be made through outright gifts in the form of cash, appreciated securi-ties, mutual fund shares, real or personal property, and other types of assets, and deferred gifts in the form of charitable trusts. Bequests to Self-Realization Fellowship can be made through a will or trust and are eligible for a charitable estate tax deduction.

SELF-RE ALIZ ATION FELLOWSHIP • 3880 San R afael Avenue • Los Ang eles, California 90065-3219 U.S.A . • www.yog ananda-srf .org

Copyright © 2011 Self-Realization Fellowship. All rights reserved.Printed on recycled paper c 10264-J2205

The Guru’s Spirit of GratitudeThose who knew Paramahansa Yogananda observed that

he always expressed the sweetest appreciation and gratitude for even the smallest kindness. In the same spirit, we thank you for all that you have done to help spread the liberating teachings of our beloved Guru, and for your steadfast efforts to follow the path he left for us — one that brings us back to our divine home.

During her 2011 Convocation address (printed in the Fall 2011 issue of Self-Realization magazine and coming soon on DVD), Sri Mrinalini Mata quoted Paramahansaji’s words to his spiritual family: “We must work hard and be the messengers of

light, spreading divine love and brotherhood around the world. It is our task as the children of God to strive to preach and to live broth-erhood and to spread that spirit of love.”

We once again thank you for your prayers and support, and for all you do to spread that light and love wherever God has placed you.

The monks’ Postulant Ashram as it appears today.