Melbourne Meditation Group of SRF
Serving Together
“Let God work through you; that is the best part of devotion.”
Paramahansa Yogananda
Every Sunday and Thursday, before anyone arrives, someone quietly sets out the chairs and dims the lights. Someone buys the flowers. Someone stands at the door to welcome those coming in. Someone sits at the reader’s table and leads us in prayer.
Most devotees never see this happening, which is exactly as it should be. But the door to it is open, and we would like you to know that.
Why we serve
Paramahansaji taught that a devotee’s life should be a balanced one — meditation together with constructive, God-reminding activity. Meditation turns us inward; service carries what we find there out into the world. He put it simply: life should be chiefly service.
Something particular happens when devotees work side by side for God rather than for themselves. Ordinary things — a tablecloth, a vase of flowers, a door held open — become something else entirely. Many who serve find their meditations deepen rather than suffer, and that the friendships formed while working together become among the dearest they have.
Guruji also asked that the responsibility of maintaining a group be shared, and that duties be rotated so that everyone willing has an opportunity to serve. No one person should carry all or most of the duties. Inviting others in is not an administrative matter — it is part of the practice.
Ways you might help
Arranged by the time they ask of you, rather than by importance. Every one of them matters, and the smallest are not the least.
About ten minutes
On a Sunday you are already attending
- Service Usher
- Welcome devotees at the door and help them settle in — from 9.00 to 9.05 am, and again from 10.55 to 11.00 am. You meditate with everyone else for the rest of the service.
About fifteen minutes
Arriving twenty minutes early, or staying a little after
- Foyer table
- Set out the President’s photographs, the free literature, the visitors’ book, and the books and magazines available for purchase.
- Room set-up
- Set out the congregation chairs, adjust the air conditioning, dim the lights.
- Altar table
- Prepare the altar — tablecloth, pictures, lights, candle, flowers.
- Reader’s table
- Prepare the reader’s table, and assist the service reader during the service.
- Pack-down
- Return items to the cupboard and stack the chairs after the service closes.
Occasionally, a few times a year
When you are free, with no ongoing commitment
- Flowers
- Bring flowers for the altar. A modest supermarket arrangement is perfect, and the cost is reimbursed.
- Special services
- Help prepare our commemorative services, which need a larger arrangement, the portrait setting and a fuller altar. These take about an hour, and several of us prepare them together.
- Retreats and socials
- Help at our weekend retreats and fellowship gatherings — registrations, welcoming those attending for the first time, refreshments, and the practical running of the day.
Ongoing, in your own time
Suited to those who would rather serve from home
- Newsletter
- Help prepare the monthly newsletter.
- Website
- Keep these pages current.
- Book table and library
- Order SRF publications and care for our collection of donated books.
- Prayer circle
- Receive and circulate prayer requests.
- Newcomer enquiries
- Answer questions from those new to the teachings, in person or by email.
Serving as a service reader
The service reader leads the congregation through the prayers, the chants and the readings from Paramahansaji’s writings. It is not a performance, and it asks nothing of you as a speaker. The words are Guruji’s; your part is to offer them sincerely.
If you have assumed you are not eligible, please read this.
Many devotees believe Kriya Yoga initiation is required to serve as a service reader. In an SRF Meditation Group — which is what we are — that is not so. Kriya is preferred, but it is not a requirement.
Any sincere SRF Lessons student may serve as a service reader, subject to approval by the SRF Center Department, having generally received at least one year of the Lessons.
If you are receiving the Lessons and attend regularly, you may well be eligible. Please ask us rather than assume otherwise.
Nobody is ever asked to begin by conducting a service. You would be welcome first simply to sit beside the reader and watch; then, if you wished, to have a quiet practice run in the empty room with the iPad and the chants list, with no congregation present. A pronunciation guide for the Sanskrit is provided, and the service format is prepared for you. Almost everyone who has hesitated has found the hesitation dissolve after a single rehearsal.
Service readers are elected each year at our Annual General Meeting and confirmed by the SRF Center Department. Our next Annual General Meeting is on Thursday 19 November. If you think you might be willing, we would be glad to hear from you well before then.
Where help is most needed just now
- Service readers — particularly for our Sunday services.
- Ushers — Sunday mornings, ten minutes.
- Set-up — any of the four tasks above, on a Sunday or Thursday.
We mention this plainly because Guruji asked that duties be shared, not because anyone should feel obliged. If this is not your season to serve, you remain every bit as welcome among us, and your presence in the meditation is itself a contribution to the group.
What you can rely on
You will not be alone
Your first few turns are always shared with someone experienced.
You choose how often
Most volunteers serve about one service a month.
Nothing is forever
Duties are rotated by design, and you may step back at any time.
Most roles need nothing
Ushering, set-up, flowers and pack-down carry no eligibility requirement at all.
Saying no is fine
Registering interest commits you to nothing, and we will never press you.
Ask before deciding
You are welcome to watch, ask questions, and think about it for as long as you like.
Let us know you are interested
There is no need to decide anything. If something here has caught your attention — even faintly, even with uncertainty — we would be glad to hear from you.
Write to usOr speak with any member of the Managing Committee after a service, or complete a volunteer form on the information table in the foyer.
“Sincere workers are needed for carrying on our work.”
Paramahansa YoganandaThis site is developed and maintained by devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda within the Melbourne Meditation Group, and is not an official site of Self-Realization Fellowship.