Sunday Service
Schedule for Sunday Service in Bothell:
9:00a Fire Ceremony & Purification
9:15 am: Silent group meditation
10 am: Sunday Service
10:10am: Circle of Joy (Sunday School)
Sundays at Ananda Meditation Temple are the highlight of the week and are an excellent occasion for your first visit. Sunday Service is drawn from the ancient meditation tradition of the East and the mystical traditions of Christ, with scriptural readings from both the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita. Service includes music, chanting, a brief period of meditation, inspirational talk, and a beautiful ceremony called A Festival of Light.
Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi and guru-preceptor for the work of Ananda, encouraged respect for all religions and all forms of sincere worship, service, and meditation. His own line of guru-preceptors include Jesus Christ, Babaji (formerly Krishna), Lahiri Mahasaya, and Swami Sri Yukteswar. Therefore we show particular respect and reverence to Yogananda and these illumined souls who sent him to the West. But our devotion is essentially and always, as he taught us, to God alone, and to the manifest divinity in those whom God sends to earth in human form to teach and uplift others.
At Ananda, each person who comes and participates does so with his or her own, inner realization and recognition. No one form of reverence, belief, or personal relationship to God or the gurus is expected or assumed. All are welcome to the weekly services and meditations. The only suggestion we make is to come with an open heart and an open mind.
Families with children are welcome to come to regular Sunday Service at 10am. Shortly after the service starts, at around 10:10am, children will be invited to attend Circle of Joy (Sunday School) in the downstairs classroom. Circle of Joy is appropriate for children ages 4-10. One Sunday a month, parents are also invited to attend a parent support meeting. Read about Ananda’s full children’s offerings here.
Past Recordings
Palm Sunday with Nayaswamis Padma and Hriman
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By contrast, do you ever think of yourself as a child of God? Have you contemplated that your soul is already free, free from any karma, eternal, changeless and free of the consequences of all actions good or bad? Who is this ego character? A rascal to be sure, though perhaps sincere and well intentioned.
Here's an experiment to try: take one full day and try on a new identity: picture yourself as an angel or a saint. The result may surprise you!
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Lahiri Mahashaya, the param guru of Yogananda, taught something more radical: solve all your problems through meditation” he said. And he asked each of to “Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance; the Divine voice has the answer to every dilemma of life”.
This teaching is not only for the spiritual seeker; but it is the law of success in even in our outward lives: whether in a boardroom, in a relationship, or to deal with a crisis. The stillness of deep meditation awakens our intuition, we not only think better, but we perceive the essence of what is trying to happen.
Success, whether material or spiritual, is begins not with a sharper argument but with a quieter mind.
Join Murali and Rick this Sunday for a deeper exploration of this important topic.
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Join me in a discussion of faith versus skepticism, and how we can live according to a provable truth.
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In the end, even though we need inspiration and encouragement from one another, the relationship between the soul and God is unique for each person. Each of us must individually find our own way of relating to God as deeply as possible.
Without our participation, the Guru can return again and again, but if we do not listen, pay attention, and follow, then nothing changes. Our participation in the relationship with the Guru and the Avatar is extremely important. We must understand the responsibility we have.
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In Essence of Self-Realization, Swamiji quotes his guru, Paramhansa Yogananda: “Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God, that you do not have to pray that it come to you, that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence, and that all you need to do is increase your knowing”.
So we’re already there, but just don’t know it? Well, not quite.
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How do we reconcile these two versions of ourselves?
It all depends on what we identify with. By identifying with form (the body), we are subject to the limitations of that form. When we identify with the Spirit behind the form, we are able to rise above all limitations. Paramhansa Yogananda said that Creation itself is simply a thought in the mind of God. By training our mind to attain deeper and deeper levels of calmness, we learn to perceive the Divine Consciousness that underlies our strengths, limitations, quirks and differences. In this realm of Divine stillness, lifetimes of negative habits can just fall away.
And so emerges the startling answer to the question of “how to create positive change?” By longer and deeper meditation every day.
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At the heart of all these pursuits lies humanity’s fundamental drive: all to avoid pain and limitation, and to lasting find happiness. But this very impulse arises from the soul memory of our true nature: That we are the children of the Light, and ever new Joy is our inheritance. Thus, our resolve to be better in the New Year is a stirring of divine awareness within us.
The beautiful Christmas image of baby Jesus laid in a humble manger, smiling up at the shining faces of Mary and Joseph; and adored by shepherds, angels, animals, the wise men: Swami Kriyananda said that this image is deeply symbolic of the birth of divine awareness within us. The first stirrings of this awareness should be treated with loving care and protection, as though it had the fragility of an infant.
Thus, whether we resolve to run faster, eat better, be more disciplined or be less angry, let us resolve to do it with God; to feel His calmness guide us and His power give us endurance. Outward acts of betterment, when done with the consciousness of God, are a way to protect and nurture the stirrings of Divine awakening. They find their ultimate fulfillment in the inner act of Divine surrender – indeed, it is this self-offering that is the key to all success.
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Does belief in reincarnation just buy us plenty of time as per Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman's motto: "What me worry?"
How do we find the incentive and the energy to make the right spiritual effort here and now?
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