January 19, 2025

Last week we had our Managing Council elections, and we are happy to announce the following people will serve on our Council this year:

            Coordinator – Mike Sarin

            Secretary – Raghu Saripalli

            Treasurer – Sather Flynn

            Members-at-Large – Alan Markovitz and Tim Kleiner

Thank you to all of them for being willing to serve.  And thank you to all who served on our Managing Council in 2024.

Our Sunday-evening meditation will be with kirtan from 6 to 9.

The Thursday six-hour meditation begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m., with a half-hour break at 11.

And on Friday we have a meditation from 7 to 9 p.m.

The next monthly Day of Service will be on Saturday, January 18, starting at 9 a.m., with a break for meditation at noon, and a vegetarian lunch at 12:30.

Next Sunday, January 19, the evening meditation will be with kirtan.

And on Saturday, January 25, there will be a 3-hour meditation with kirtan from 8 to 11 a.m.

REGARDING THE FIRES…

Self-Realization Fellowship has posted updates on its website blog (https://yogananda.org/blog/los-angeles-wildfires-and-self-realization-fellowship) about the situation at SRF Lake Shrine, due to the wildfire in Pacific Palisades. Bro. Chidananda also addressed this in a livestreamed talk, which can be viewed at https://yogananda.org/blog/special-message-from-brother-chidananda-about-the-srf-lake-shrine-and-los-angeles-fires. He reported that all the legacy buildings around the perimeter of the lake, along with the temple and retreat buildings, were saved, due to heroic firefighting efforts and divine blessings. 

But the surrounding neighborhoods were devastated, and many people lost their homes in the Palisades and other fires. Brother suggested one way that SRF members can help is through a food drive managed by each of the southern California SRF temples – Encinitas, San Diego, Glendale, Fullerton, and Hollywood.   

The San Diego and Encinitas Temples are holding their food drive this weekend, with donation drop offs today, before and after the Sunday-morning services. The temples have posted on their websites a list of preferred items. This list also is posted on the bulletin board in our hallway.  

Keep in mind that people in temporary housing may not be able to cook, so only ready-to-eat items are requested at this time. All items collected at the temples will be delivered to Los Angeles.

These weekly announcements also can be found on the back bulletin board .     

The topic this morning is How to be Stronger than Life’s Trials and Tests.