It is time to officially announce this year's Feast Of Tabernacles, symbolizing the coming of the Lord (the time of year when God's Spirit is Greatest on earth)! As the Feast of Tabernacles approaches, and we keep the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement leading up to it, we should start preparing physically, mentally, and spiritually for this event. This can include focusing more on spiritual practices, reading and contemplating the Scriptures, eating more Satvic food, etc. It might also be helpful to re-read the section in THOTH about Feasts and Holy Days of the Lord.

This year's Feast will begin at sunset on Tuesday October 7, 2014 (Maya 15, 011997 MC), and finish the evening of Wednesday October 15, 2014 (Maya 22, 011997 MC).

As explained in Maitreya's 'Nough Said article in the 2012 Sept/Oct Newsbrief, Mission members have a responsibility to take Mission duties and practices into their own hands; therefore, the schedule of events provided online from the Mission Center will be fairly simple this year. Indeed, it should always be that individual Mission members and communities celebrate the Feast and other Holy Days to the utmost in their own areas and internally, and not rely on the Mission Center for programs and services. If this is your religion, then it is your duty to keep the Feast holy, with or without our help!

With that said, however, we do strongly recommend at this time (based on the Mission's current size, number of communities, etc.) that everyone join us online for the events we do hold, rather than celebrate the Feast completely alone in your individual areas.

In fact, this year we will have several members physically joining us at the Center to celebrate the Feast, so if you are a Mission member and this is something you have been considering, this year could be a good time to do so! (See the Feast Announcement page for details on coming to the Center to celebrate.)

The schedule of what we will offer is now posted, and can be accessed from the top of the Feast Announcement page ("2014 Daily Schedule"). There are still a few final details to add, and some of the events may still be switched around (which events will occur on which days) but the schedule is otherwise set and can be relied upon. Of course, if anyone would like to prepare an additional program for our schedule, organize an event, etc. we are open to it, so please contact us. The schedule will be completely finalized by the Feast Welcome Day, so be sure to check it again at that point to see any changes made between then and now.

One thing that is still needed for the schedule is volunteers to read in the mornings, give the Welcome Message and facilitate the testimonials afterwards, and moderate the "Mission's Got Talent" event on the evening of Day 7 (volunteers are needed for every spot on the schedule that is highlighted in yellow). If you are interested in volunteering to do any of these, please email the Mission and let us know.

An important event to note is that Maitreya will be available on Paltalk for two sessions to answer questions (on Day 2 and Day 5). This is the only time of the year Maitreya is available to the public for Satsang and answering questions live, so these sessions are a very rare and great privilege. The policy for these sessions is as follows (as of the 2012 Feast):

In this spirit of you becoming more engaged in teaching and spreading the Mission, there will be a new policy for the Question and Answer Sessions at the Feast Of Tabernacles. You will have to send your questions to the Mission in advance in order for them to be answered. The questions have to be unique (have never been asked before). They have to be sent, at least, one day before the session. The idea is that you will search for answers to your questions and will ask only if you cannot find them in the website.

If no questions are sent to the Mission, we will assume that there are no questions left out there and therefore my presence in the session is not needed. Instead, the attendees can pose questions they might have to each other and brainstorm the correct answers.

Therefore, if you have a new and unique question for Maitreya, please email it to us at least one day before the Question and Answer Session (and preferably before the Feast begins). We will notify you if Maitreya has decided to answer your question. During each session, Maitreya will answer those questions that have been sent in, and any follow-ups; however, He will not take any new questions from the room. If no questions are sent in for a session, it will take a different format without Maitreya's presence, as Maitreya explains above.

Let us prepare ourselves to put aside our egos, come together into communities (in person and online), and celebrate this most Holy Feast of God!