Dear Divine Atman,
Our warm wishes and greetings to you on the 105th anniversary of the founding of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India by our beloved Gurudeva Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda. His spirit continues to live through all of you who exemplify his ideal of divine love.
We are deeply touched by the love and support we have received from all of you, devoted members of our beloved Gurudeva’s divine spiritual family, during a year that may go down in history as one of the most challenging times the world has passed through in recent decades. Your vital contributions have enabled us to further the work of Gurudeva — reaching out to numerous truth-seekers with his life-transforming Kriya Yoga teachings and conducting several humanitarian activities for those affected by the pandemic.
Blessings of Meditating Together Online
On January 31, 2021, our beloved President Sri Sri Swami Chidananda Giri inaugurated the YSS Online Dhyana Kendra, providing a blessed opportunity for devotees and friends to join together in group meditations with others from across India and the world. Over the last year, the activities of the Online Dhyana Kendra have grown manifold — including Sangams, retreats, discourses on the Bhagavad Gita, group study of Autobiography of a Yogi, and much more — bringing a tremendous response and outpouring of appreciation and love from thousands of participants logging in every week for the various offerings in English, Hindi, and other Indian languages.
Online Healing Services conducted daily by YSS sannyasis during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic proved to be a spiritual lifeline — a constant source of comfort, support, and healing — to many devotees struggling during that difficult period.
All these offerings have been made possible with the coordinated help of hundreds of volunteer devotees.
What We Accomplished Together in the Last Year
Your generous help has facilitated digitization of several YSS books and audio recordings, making them accessible to far more people online. Many devotees worked tirelessly under the guidance of monastics to not only update the existing YSS website but also translate and create Indian language versions of the entire website. At present, the YSS website is translated in Hindi and Tamil, and work is underway on additional languages.
Your heartwarming and kind response to our appeals made it possible for YSS to undertake Covid-relief activities across the country. You helped save many lives and comforted thousands during this calamity. Our special gratitude to those volunteers who have courageously helped to distribute Covid-relief material to the poor and needy. Due to such selfless seva, YSS was recognized by local Government authorities in many cities and towns. Thank you!
One of the activities that has been a key focus of YSS over the last year is the translation of the new edition of the Lessons into Indian languages. Several teams of monastics and devotees have been engaged in this task in four major languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali.
Looking Ahead
Recently, YSS ashrams and kendras have reopened to visitors for individual meditations and soon, group meditations, and other events will begin as well. We also plan to resume monastic tour programmes across the country.
May we find divine hope and security in our beloved Gurudeva’s words: “If you live with the Lord, you will be healed of the delusions of life and death, health and sickness. Be in the Lord. Feel His love. Fear nothing. Only in the castle of God can we find protection. There is no safer haven of joy than in His presence. When you are with Him, nothing can touch you.”
We treasure all that you do for our Gurudeva’s blessed work. May you feel the enveloping love of God and Gurudeva every day as you strive to follow in Their footsteps.
In divine friendship,
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
