A Place of Pilgrimage

Yogananda once wrote of the “great value in visiting places where saints have lived.” He wrote, “Such places are forever permeated with the vibrations left there by the divine souls who walked those grounds. Their vibrations will remain until this earth is dissolved. Where souls have communed with God, there you will find greater communion and response from God. Often such pilgrimages completely change one’s life for the better.”

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) is considered one of the preeminent spiritual figures of modern times and is now widely recognized as the Father of Yoga in the West. As the author of the best-selling Autobiography of a Yogi, this beloved world teacher has introduced millions of readers to the perennial wisdom of the East. He founded Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920, which continues to carry on his legacy. Paramahansa Yogananda has profoundly impacted the lives of millions with his comprehensive teachings on the science of Kriya Yoga meditation, the underlying unity of all true religions, and the art of balanced health and well-being in body, mind, and soul.

The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine is a sanctuary founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1950, situated at the western end of Los Angeles, a very short distance from the Pacific Ocean. Paramahansa Yogananda foresaw the important role that Lake Shrine would play in his world mission—as a place of pilgrimage for all faiths—a living shrine to harmony among the peoples of the world. Here he sought to provide a glimpse of God’s beauty, peace, joy, and harmony. Yogananda meditated, slept, and walked on the grounds at Lake Shrine, permeating this environment with his vibration of peace and leaving a beautiful spiritual oasis where all may come to escape the frenetic pace of daily living.