Sanatana Dharma Satsang, Inc, is a 501(c)3 religious corporation, #95-4851661.

To donate, please send tax-deductible contributions in the form of checks or money orders, made out to Sanatana Dharma Satsang. The address is:

     Sanatana Dharma Satsang
     3300 NW 185th Avenue, #92
     Portland, OR 97229-3406

You can also make an online donation using PayPal. You may use your regular credit/debit card at PayPal. Click on the donation button below.

Fridays at 7:00 PM

Meditation and Arati

We have Meditation and Arati every Friday, led by different people.

When Namadeva is in town, he will teach the Gayatri nyasas/disciplines, teaching how to do the mantra touching the fingers, eyes, head, shoulders for protection. We will sing bajans to begin, then Gayatri Meditation and Arati - one hour and a half.

Gayatri Mandir/Temple. See directions listed below.
RSVP for this event by email.
For regular notices of events at the temple,
please join the online Gayatri Temple:
www.meetup.com/GayatriTemple-Beaverton-OR/

Monthly events at 2:00 PM on Sunday.

Most of the year, we perform pujas, but June, July, August
and September, we do fire ceremonies/yajnas outside.

For our monthly event schedule, please go to:
www.meetup.com/GayatriTemple-Beaverton-OR/

   

Gayatri Mandir/Temple

    12020 SW 1st Street **
    Beaverton, OR 97005
    Contact: 503-627-0215 (message only), or email Satyabhama.
    RSVP for any events by email or online at the Gayatri Temple Meetup group.

    ** The Gayatri Temple is located on the corner of 1st & Lombard, 1 block south of Farmington (10), and just west of the 217. Parking lot entrance is on 1st, just west of the front door. Max stop is Beaverton Transit Center, walk south on Lombard to 1st St. (Lombard stops at Canyon and picks up again 1 block south.)

    The temple schedule includes pujas, yagnas, workshops, mantra classes, spiritual movies (Tukaram, Ramayana, etc..) and we have books, CDs, DVDs by Namadeva to share.

Our Vision

Sanatana Dharma Satsang, Inc., is the religious organization sponsoring the Gayatri Temple in Beaverton.

The name Sanatana Dharma Satsang is a Sanskrit phrase that, loosely translated, means the ancient law/right path gathering of people together to learn and share spiritual teachings.

More specifically, Sanatana Dharma Satsang is a nonprofit organization that teaches and promotes:

  • The practice of ancient wisdom techniques, including especially mantras, pujas/yajnas (religious rituals), and meditative disciplines from the Vedic and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. The goals of such practice include enlightenment, prosperity, and healing on all levels of the body, mind and spirit. Another important goal is the ability to help other people to also experience such benefits.
      
  • Respect and understanding for all the world's great spiritual traditions, in the sure faith that although their specific doctrines may differ, their deepest essence comes from the same divine well of inspiration. In the words of Sadguru Sant Keshavadas, "Truth is One, many are the names."
    •   
  • Sanatana Dharma Satsang is currently certifying Mantra Instructors, Pujaris and Priests, after they complete specified course work and pass a written and oral exam.
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Leadership

Sanatana Dharma Satsang's founder and president is Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Namadeva Acharya,) one of the Western world's foremost authorities on the application of Sanskrit Mantra to life's problems. In December 2008 and again at the Gayatri Temple, Satguru Rama Mata gave Namadeva Acharya empowerments (diksha) to be a guru in her lineage, founded by her and Sadguru Sant Keshavadas of Bangalore, India. His wife, Satyabhama is also a priest in the lineage.

Since 1968, Mr. Ashley-Farrand has been studying and intensively practicing spiritual techniques of the East. In 1972, he received Kriya initiation from the Self Realization Fellowship. Namadeva Acharya began practicing extensive mantra-based spiritual disciplines in 1973. From 1973-1984, he was the priest for the Temple of Cosmic Religion (Sanatana Vishwa Dharma), founded by Sagurus Sant Keshavadas and Rama Mata, in Washington, D.C., first as priest-in-residence where he performed ancient Sanskrit ceremonies (pujas) twice daily, and later as traveling priest based in Southern California. In 1974, he received initiation from Sadguru Sant Keshavadas (d. 1997) into the universal mantra for spiritual illumination, the Gayatri Mantra, and other mystical formulas. He also studied with Christian mystic Dr. Leon Wright of Howard University. In 1975, he received Tibetan spiritual empowerments from the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa.

Namadeva Acharya journeyed to India with Sant Keshavadas in 1978, where he met a wide variety of spiritual teachers both famous and unknown. There, he astonished swamis, pundits, shastris and others with his intonation and pronunciation of complex Sanskrit mantras, shlokas and spiritual formulas. A highlight of his trip there came as he was blessed by two of the most prominent spiritual personages in all of India, each having spiritual authority over more than 150 million people, H. H. Pejor Math Swami, and Sri Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati Maha Swamigal. He and Satyabhama have traveled to Kanchi several times since 2005 and met with Sri Sri Shankaracharyas Jayendra and Vijayendra and participated there in pujas with Sri Sri Vijayendra.

From 1982-2006, in California, Namadeva Acharya conducted meditations and ceremonies monthly in Pasadena and also in people's homes, local colleges and for various religious organizations. He and his wife, Satyabhama (a chela of Sadguru Sant Keshavadas and SatGuru Rama Mata,) received empowerments from Kalu Rimpoche, the Dalai Lama and Sakya Jetsun Chiney Luding (Jetsun Ma), an eminent woman Lama from Tibet. They moved to Oregon in early 2006. SatGuru Rama Mata gave programs and blessed the temple the first weekend in June 2009 and gave Namadeva Acharya a second empowerment to be a guru. She will be giving programs again in June 2010.

Namadeva Acharya and Satyabhama were in India again in May 2005, May 2007, December 2008, and May 2009, where they were blessed by Sri Sri Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati Maha Swamigal and his successor, Sri SriShankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati Maha Swamigal, as well as by their own living guru, SatGuru Rama Mata of Vishwa Shanti Ashram near Bangalore. In 2007 and 2009 they Pilgrimage Tour included the Ashta (8) Vinayaka/Ganesha Temples, five yajnas/fire ceremonies at Auli, in the Himalayas, and the blessings of visiting a number of other temples in Pandarpur, Pune/Poona, Delhi and Yogananda's Babaji's Cave. There is a new Pilgrimage Tour with a slightly different itinerary including Goddess Temples planned for May 2011.

Temple Project

The Gayatri Temple is located at 12020 SW First Street, Beaverton, OR 97005. Gayatri Temple Meetup Page Telephone: 503/627-0215. Email: Satyabhama

The temple schedule includes pujas, workshops, mantra classes, spiritual movies (Tukaram, Ramayana, etc.), and we have books, CDs, DVDs by Thomas Ashley-Farrand/Namadeva to share.

Next, we plan to obtain 15-25 acres in the Willamette Valley on which to build a Gayatri Temple, with altars to other deities. The land will have dome homes and dormitory facilities for workshop attendees. We plan to grow herbs, vegetables and fruits, and use as much renewable energy as possible. Part of the space would be used to host several different types of healers.

 

How You Can Help

  • The sages have often said that seva, or selfless service, is the most powerful practice for spiritual advancement. If you wish to take advantage of this opportunity for service, you can assist the Temple Project in any of the following ways:
      
  • Join Sanatana Dharma Satsang as a contributing member at $50/year (about $4 per month).
      
  • Send tax-deductible contributions in the form of checks or money orders, made out to Sanatana Dharma Satsang. The address is: 

Sanatana Dharma Satsang
3300 NW 185th Avenue, #92
Portland, OR 97229-3406

  • Make an online donation using PayPal. You may use your regular credit/debit card at PayPal. Click on the donation button below.

Mantra Teacher Training Program

We are now offering certification as a minister through Sanatana Dharma Satsang, which will show your level of expertise and provide a shelter for spiritual counseling. This certification as a Mantra Instructor will be awarded after learning the materials and being tested by a written test and an oral test in person. The materials and a full explanation of the course can be found on our Sanskrit Mantras and Spiritual Power website.

Pujari Training Program

We are training and ordaining pujaris in the practice of Puja and Yajna (Fire Ceremony). Baby blessings, weddings, funerals (obsequis) and other standard activities will be part of the training. The training consists of the student's learning to perform the pujas and yajnas, including certain memorized material, then being tested on the ability to pronounce the Sanskrit and perform the ceremony properly.

Priest Training Program

Those who become certified as both Mantra Instructors and Pujaris, will be ordained as Priests.

Acharya Training Program

(by or before 2020)

Only certified Priests will be eligible for Acharya Training.

The training that is envisioned will be rigorous, in line with the principles of higher education. A combination program of mail or Internet lessons together with on-site learning and residency requirements is being considered. An acharya is a Master Teacher, thus the program will provide an education in teaching workshops similar to the ones which Namadeva Acharya has researched and currently teaches.

For Further Information

For further information about publications and programs lead by Thomas Ashley-Farrand, refer to the Sanskrit Mantras and Spiritual Power website.

© 2008 Sanatana Dharma Satsang