June 26, 2024
Convocation is coming soon. This year, it’s the third week in July. Of course, that means the opportunity to spend a week drinking one’s fill of light, love, fellowship, inspiration, and renewal.
As our revered president Brother Chidananda puts it, our annual SRF Convocation presents not only a “thorough overview” of Paramahansaji’s teachings, but is also “a living transmission of spiritual consciousness, and power, and blessings.”
If you’re attending Convocation in person in Los Angeles, you’ve likely already made your plans. However, if you’re looking to participate locally, here’s a guide to help you make the most of what’s available.
Consider Your Options Carefully
Of course, you could remain at home and participate solely online. There’s a lot to be said for live-streaming events as they happen. It gives us the unique feeling of being a part of Master’s world-wide family.
OR… You could join local and regional devotees at special Greenfield Convocation events being held this year at Laurel Ridge Community College in Middletown, a new-to-us venue just a short (about 15 minutes) drive from Front Royal.
We’ve made that change for a couple reasons: The venue is more spacious and will allow for some expanded offerings. And the college made us feel welcomed. The college’s mission includes a commitment to “strengthen the educational. economic, and cultural life of our community. To support this mission, the college offer its facilities to outside groups for nominal fees.”
Why would/should you consider joining with other local devotees to experience Convocation? In fact, we’ve already moved well beyond local. We have devotees from 10 states signed up to attend. (One intrepid soul is coming in from Arizona.)
If you’ve ever been to Convocation in Los Angeles, you remember the powerful, life-altering vibrations created when thousands of devotees meditate and chant together. Also, it’s wonderful to meet in person with devotees from around the world.
Here, we can look forward to a mini-version of that devotee-to-devotee in-person contact, a smaller gathering of Master’s family, benefiting each other with our collective outpouring of devotion to God and Guru.
What’s Different This Year?
As in previous years, Greenfield Retreat Center will offer a full week of selected live-streamed Convocation classes, kirtans, and meditations on a large screen.
But that’s not all. You can also look forward to:
- Monastic-led events. SRF nuns will open and close each day with energization exercises and a brief meditation, Over the course of the week, Brahmacharini Ann will be joined by Sister Vinita and Ms. Rita Conrad., who will be flying out from the Mother Center to participate. (Our other three Greenfield nuns will be serving in California.)
- Vegetarian, gluten-free daily lunch option. If you want to take advantage of this new offering, you’ll find details when you register.
- Picnic and restaurant option. If you prefer to bring your own food, there are picnic tables available on the grounds. In addition, there are several local restaurants in Middletown that have vegetarian dishes on their menus.
How to Secure Your Place in Convocation
First of all, remember to register. Please note that you must register separately for Convocation on the SRF website if you plan to watch livestreamed Convocation events in your home or on your mobile device, or view the online events at a later time.
Then, if you’re planning on coming to one or more days at Laurel Ridge Community College, you’ll need to register for those as well. You’ll find a link to registration and a full schedule of daily events at the top of our Greenfield home page.
It’s possible to register for Greenfield events right up to the morning of the events and even in person that same day. (You do need to register ahead of time to join us for lunches, however. Last day for lunch registrations is July 3.)
Finally, we need to note that this year’s Greenfield events being held at Laurel Ridge Community College are something of an experiment. We hope to continue this event in future years and will be taking a close look at attendance and also listening carefully to devotees’ wants and needs as we look to the future.
