To commemorate the seventh United Nations International Day of Yoga, Self-Realization Fellowship presents “Yoga — Uniting Our World Family,” a special program of inspiration, guided meditation, and affirmation led by SRF nun Sister Draupadi.
Sister Draupadi begins with a brief talk about the importance and benefits of meditation, which Paramahansa Yogananda said was the essential spiritual practice at the heart of yoga, the “science of the soul.”
Then she conducts a 35-minute meditation, which includes application of Yogananda’s methods of preparing body and mind to meditate, practice of one of his spiritual affirmations on the theme of peace, and periods of silence. The meditation concludes with a period of prayer for healing of all those in need.
Paramahansa Yogananda was a key figure in the introduction of India’s science of yoga to Westerners. The last in a line of divinely illumined gurus, Yogananda was charged with making available worldwide the ancient and sacred science of Kriya Yoga, which includes certain techniques of meditation whose devoted practice leads to direct, personal experience of God. Yogananda wrote, “Had India no other gift for the world, Kriya Yoga alone would suffice as a kingly offering.”
