August 14, 2026

“Lord, Thou hast given this monk a large family.” — Paramahansa Yogananda

No doubt about it. Self-Realization Fellowship’s annual convocation has become a world-wide family celebration.

Thousands of devotees from around the world gathered in Los Angeles for this year’s convocation (Aug. 3-8). Together with those who tuned in online, that made for some 46,000 attendees. And that’s not even counting the many who will visit and revisit convocation events online in coming months.

And locally? What did convocation look like this year?

Greenfield’s Chapel Shines

In recent years, before chapel construction was complete, devotees gathered for convocation at nearby Laurel Ridge Community College for convocation events.

This year, for the very first time, convocation was held at Greenfield’s beautiful, new, recently dedicated chapel. Some 70 devotees registered, many of them from Virginia, of course. But many also came from other states, as far away as California (including GA, MD, PA, NY, PA, OH, FL, NC, TX, and Washington DC.)

For many, this was their very first visit to Greenfield. For others who have been here before, this was their first experience meditating and chanting in the new chapel.

Each day attendees participated in meditations and classes beamed in from Los Angeles—some of the events live-streamed and some recorded from the night before. A large screen at the front of the chapel made it feel very much like being a part of the audience in California.

Nuns who reside at the Greenfield Ashram were in attendance as well, as was Sister Pranati from Mother Center, greeting newcomers, conducting meditations and energization exercises, interacting with devotees, giving counsel and answering many questions.

Our Guru’s Family,  Celebrating Together

What is a family gathering without food and conversation?

Each day Greenfield nuns and volunteers prepared and served a simple, healthy vegetarian lunch. These gatherings provided a great opportunity to get to know each other and to discover that, yes, we really are a family. One of the delights of convocation meals is sitting down at a table with devotees you don’t know—yet! You say something like, “Where are you from?’’ or “Is this your first visit to Greenfield?” Instant familiarity generally follows.

You could find yourself talking to a dairy farmer from upstate New York, or a couple who live on a small island off the coast of Georgia, or a physician who grew up in Nepal, or someone who first visited Greenfield back in the 1980s and has stories to tell about the early days.

Truly, one of the delights of convocation is spending time with our revered Guru Paramahansa Yoganandaji’s ever growing family. It is family. Meditating together, sharing our light and love with each other and sending it out into the world is both powerful and transformative. Jai Guru!

July 15, 2026

Recently, on April  25, our revered SRF President Brother Chidanandaji dedicated Greenfield Retreat Center’s new chapel.

The event, attended by devotees who have long served (some of them for decades), supported, and attended events at Greenfield, was a joy-filled, sacred celebration.

Devotees showered Brotherji with rose petals as he made his way into the chapel. Sister Brahmani delivered a brief overview of the history of Greenfield, highlighting the early involvement of past presidents Sri Daya Mata and Sri Mrinalini Mata.

Invoking the Divine

During the sacred dedication ceremony, Brother Chidananda scattered rose petals on the altar. He urged all in attendance to “invoke, with the help of our great lineage of Gurus, the presence of God—to infuse this physical building with divine Spirit.”

He urged that we strive to make this spiritual center a living link with the spiritual network of SRF/YSS temples and ashrams around the world, a true portal of divine communion for all who will come here in the years ahead.

The ensuing moments of silent invocation were powerful, indeed.

At the close of the ceremony, Brotherji distributed prasad, greeting each devotee in attendance individually.

Over the last two plus years, Greenfield has been on an extraordinary journey—intense, pivotal, transformational. In a real way this light- and joy-filled dedication ceremony represented both a culmination and a new beginning.

It has taken a lot of work (guru seva) and serious dedication through many years to build a new Meditation Hall on the Greenfield grounds. Now we’re seeing lots of new faces. And already the beautiful chapel is sometimes filled to capacity for services. With all this new light added to what was already here, one can’t help but wonder: What’s next?

Greenfield is clearly growing and looking to serve our revered Guru Paramahansa Yogananda’s family on into the future.

May 28, 2026

Greenfield’s brand new chapel just celebrated yet another first. On the weekend of May 9, devotees from 12 states—from as far away as Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, and Massachusetts—gathered for the very first full retreat. They were joined, of course, by many local devotees.

In total, some 76 devotees attended on May 9. And on Sunday, May 10, even more came. After all, that day featured a special service commemorating our beloved Swami Sri Yukteswar’s birthday. Every seat in the chapel was taken, and then some. (Video screens in nearby rooms accommodate the overflow.) But everyone got to approach the altar individually and in person. We chanted for some 45 minutes as each devotee pronamed before the altar.

Classes, Meditation, and Fellowship

Brother Muktananda and Brahmachari Jordon conducted the retreat, which featured instruction on basic meditation techniques, as well as opportunities to practice silent meditation with other dedicated members of Paramahansa Yogananda’s family. Meditating in a sacred space with other seriously committed devotees is just one of the many blessings that come with attending a retreat.

Greenfield nuns and devotee volunteers prepared and served delicious vegetarian meals for retreatants who had requested meals when they registered.

Bringing in the Light

It was also Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 10. The Greenfield grounds and gardens are especially beautiful in spring, and the weather was perfect. During breaks in the schedule many devotees took advantage of multiple benches scattered along the paths and in quiet garden nooks for solitary meditation.

Greenfield Meditation Center is a sacred refuge, a place where we can come together on retreat and benefit from mediating and learning together with other dedicated members of our ever-growing spiritual family. Here’s a short video of the peaceful grounds surrounding Greenfield Retreat Center.

You are welcome to enjoy the grounds at Greenfield after services on Sunday or to visit during the week, on your own or with friends. Greenfield grounds are open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 to 5. Enjoy the gardens. Find a bench, meditate, absorb the sacred vibrations, spend time in prayer for loved ones and for world peace.

April 29, 2026

Spring at Greenfield is always beautiful. Year after year, you can count on it. This year, however, is an exception.

This year spring is not just beautiful. It’s spectacularly beautiful—filled not just with colorful blossoms, birds, and butterflies, but with way more appreciative devotees.

This is, after all, the very first spring for our new Greenfield Chapel. More devotees walk the grounds, fill (often to the brim) chapel seats each week. And they pray, chant, mediate, continually adding to what was already sacred space.

Spring Awakens New Life

After a particularly rough winter (snow, ice and below freezing temperatures that lasted for weeks), spring finally arrived.

We’ve come to love the gardens’ annual displays—crocuses, followed by yellow daffodils and forsythias, followed by multi-colored tulips. Then redbud trees burst into bloom seemingly overnight; all the while lawns and then the surrounding forest blushes green and ever greener.

As the sun comes up earlier, ever earlier, the birds get in on the act, ratcheting up their morning chorus.  What’s not to love?

Awakening New Light

Decades of dedicated love and work have gone into creating Greenfield Retreat. Monastics and devotees alike have labored here to make this already sacred place what it is today. It is yours to enjoy. And also yours to support with your love and your prayerful presence. Visitors are welcome. Bring a friend.

Here is a video of early spring around the Greenfield grounds.

February 13, 2026

What is winter like at Greenfield? Dazzling. Drab. Daunting. Delightful.

All of the above. Really, it just depends on the day…or the week.

Once the golden leaves of autumn hit the ground and lawns lose their green, the landscape is painted in shades of brown. Even on cloudy days Greenfield’s sacred silence prevails.

Snow and Freezing Rain

We never quite know when the first big snow will arrive, but when it does, it transforms everything. Who doesn’t like sunlight on snow? It’s beautiful. But it also means that driving in through the entrance lane and finding a parking spot can be daunting, or even impossible.

This year, the first big snow fall didn’t put in an appearance until late January. And it was an especially challenging one. About a foot of snow hit the ground. That’s problematic enough; but this particular snow fall was followed by freezing rain, layering a coat of ice on top of all those snow drifts. Then, over the next 2-plus weeks temperatures stayed well below freezing. Alas, that meant that services in our new chapel had to be cancelled.

Services and Seva

After a good deal of hard physical labor clearing lanes, pathways, and parking spaces…and the temperature finally rising above freezing…Greenfield Retreat Center resumed its routine.

We were all grateful to get back to meditating together in the physical presence of other members of Master’s family, and also to enjoying Greenfield’s grounds, which take on an ethereal beauty at this time of year—deer wandering through winter-bare trees; sunlight glimmering on snow; sweet, sacred silence.

Here is a video of the beauty of Greenfield in the snow.