Tens of thousands of yogis and spiritual seekers from around the world will gather July 30 to August 5 for the annual Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) Convocation — a week-long online event of inspirational talks, meditations, kirtan, and spiritual fellowship, centered on the yoga teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the most beloved spiritual teachers of modern times.
Provided free of charge, the event features daily talks by SRF monastics, offering ancient wisdom for modern living and guidance from Yogananda’s “how-to-live” teachings. Topics range from unravelling the mystery of life and death to cultivating happiness through service to others.
“What [Yogananda] brought [to the West] really helped to introduce to the world most of the essential elements of the balanced or holistic lifestyle that is now being advocated as the scientific basis of human wellbeing,” says SRF President Brother Chidananda.
The annual SRF Convocation, established in 1950 by Yogananda, was created to provide his students with an immersive experience in his yoga meditation teachings so that they might more deeply focus on what he considered the ultimate purpose of life: “The yogi who has discovered the ever new joy in the soul by deep meditation is completely satisfied; he has found within a perfect happiness. He has achieved the purpose of life! fulfilled the duty for which he was born! In reuniting himself with God, he has automatically discharged all his obligations to creation.”
All are welcome to join daily inspirational talks and group meditations, as well as kirtan (devotional chanting), video screenings, opportunities to connect virtually with other attendees, and virtual tours of the sacred sites Yogananda established in southern California during his lifetime.
Requiring no special beliefs, Yoga asks instead that the participant draw their own conclusions, based on direct experience.
“[Yogananda] brought a worldview that reveals the divine purpose of life to a modern civilization increasingly bereft of moral and spiritual meaning,” says Brother Chidananda. “Yogananda took India’s ancient Sanatana Dharma, (“eternal principles of truth”) and restated it in terms that were understandable, believable, and most of all, relevant, to men and women in the modern age. In so doing, he introduced to the world a set of ideas and practices that have since taken root on the cutting edge of psychology, religion, medicine, education, and more and more, as time goes on, in the minds of the public at large.”
Yogananda’s teachings have inspired many through the years to cultivate their divine qualities and live with greater peace, joy, and purpose.
For more information and to register for the Self-Realization Fellowship 2023 World Convocation, please visit Convocation.Yogananda.org.
