The center encountered no obstacles during the county permitting process that began in 1996. "It may seem like we'll have a lot of people, but compared to the 100,000 people at Sears Point Raceway" on a single weekend, Berliner said, "it's not really so big." Sonoma County planners who reviewed the application for the complex expressed no major concerns over traffic for the two or three special events permitted each year. This summer, several thousand are expected to come to the center for a visit by Singh. weekend, more than 1,000 followers came to Petaluma. The center and its parking lots can accommodate up to 2,500 people, nearly twice the capacity of the Ruth Finley Auditorium at the Burbank Center for the Arts.Īt its first major gathering over the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. The centerpiece of the Petaluma compound is a cavernous 29,000-square-foot meeting hall – two thirds of a football field under one roof. Science of the Soul followers are vegetarians, abstain from alcohol, drugs and sex outside of marriage, believe in reincarnation and are required to meditate for more than two hours each day on an intense spiritual journey toward enlightenment. The current India-born guru is Gurinder Singh. The Petaluma site is one of four in the United States and Canada that serve 15,000 members of the religion. And they have put their time into finding spirituality in religion outside of the Western tradition. Like those Groups, the Science of the Soul center is a product of its time: Its founders built wealth in a business that was once out of the mainstream. There was Thomas Lake Harris' center at Fountaingrove at the end of the 1800s and, in the 1960s, Lou Gottliebs's Morningstar Ranch off Graton Road. Groups centered on a charismatic leader are nothing new in Wine Country. The center will be empty for most of the year except for small meetings Thursdays and Sundays that attract no more than 150 to 200 members, one reason why it generated virtually no opposition during the county approval process. They have just completed a complex valued at $3 million that will serve as a gathering place in winter, and again in spring, for thousands of seekers of enlightenment through daily meditation and a disciplined lifestyle. This is where people come to listen to lectures, to be inspired," Berliner said. Over the past five years, with the help of volunteer workers on the same spiritual path, gleaming silver barn-like structures including a mammoth hall, four linked buildings, two barns and two caretaker homes have risen from a flat parcel surrounded by rolling green hills dotted with cow, sheep and llama corrals.īehind a tree-dotted berm off Old Adobe Road, a religion and a complex unlike any other in Sonoma County has become a reality almost without notice. The Science of the Soul center was launched in 1996 after Andy Berliner, 56, president of Amy's Kitchen, a leader in the frozen natural foods industry, and Jim Rosen, 54, who founded Fantastic Foods, purchased 77 acres on the outskirts of Petaluma. Two Sonoma County vegetarian food entrepreneurs have created a church complex the size of a shopping center in east Petaluma for the Indian guru they have followed since the 1970s. Science of the Soul followers come for lectures, inspiration (The Sunday Press Democrat, USA, March 3, 2002) – In a search for enlightenment, two natural-food entrepreneurs develop a sprawling meditation center for their leader, Gurinder Singh. | Print Guru's followers build vast Petaluma complex Our booklist continues to grow with new publications added periodically.īOOKS FROM THIS WEBSITE CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO INDIAįor book orders within India please visit “ RSSB Online Book Store for India”.Ĭlick here if shipping books to someone else.Ĭlick for information on Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB).Guru's followers build vast Petaluma complex - RSSB Newspaper Articles The Society undertakes the dissemination of these principles through the distribution and sale of books. The Society's aim is to help eradicate bias, prejudice, and ill-will by revealing humanity’s common spiritual heritage. Its main objective is to promote a sense of brotherhood and communal harmony by conducting research into the world’s spiritual literature. Science of the Soul Study Center is a registered charitable Society.
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