Self-Realization Fellowship Blog

The year 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda’s founding of the International Headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship atop Mount Washington in Los Angeles. Here he lived, taught, and communed with God for more than 25 years, and from this ashram center his lectures, writings, and recorded talks are published and made available worldwide. 

How did a young swami from India acquire this 12-acre property near the heart of Los Angeles? The story begins many years earlier, in India. While visiting Kashmir as a youth, Paramahansa Yogananda had a superconscious experience upon gazing at the ancient Shankara Temple. He saw the hilltop temple metamorphose into the mansion atop Mt. Washington where he would later establish his headquarters, which he would lovingly refer to as the Mother Center. The remarkable vision was so vivid, Paramahansaji later recalled, that he had seen details like the inside stairway of the stately building.  

In December of 1924, after spending several years teaching in Boston and other East Coast cities, Paramahansa Yogananda arrived in Los Angeles at the end of a cross-continental lecture tour. His message immediately attracted favorable response in the vibrant West Coast city, and thousands attended his lectures at the Philharmonic Auditorium downtown. One day he said to some of his students who were helping him: “Let us look for a place here in Los Angeles, the City of Angels, where we can establish a center. I find a very wonderful spiritual vibration here.” 

He and a small group of his students had driven up to the sylvan area of Mt. Washington to look at a small property, and eventually passed a large building that was once the fashionable Mt. Washington Hotel. 

Paramahansa Yogananda was intrigued, and had them go back to look at the property. As he got out of the car and stood along the front drive looking up at the vacant but grand building, he said, “This place feels like ours!”  

With the help of his generous students, and two mortgages shouldered by the Guru, in 1925 the Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters was born. Having a permanent base for his spiritual work enabled Paramahansa Yogananda to reach more and more truth seekers.

Under Paramahansaji’s direction, the site became a haven of tranquility featuring park-like grounds, majestic trees, and meditation gardens — a sanctuary of peace and harmony in bustling Los Angeles. His living quarters at the Mother Center are to this day preserved as a shrine, and there are exhibits of some of his personal effects in the library and reception hall. The chapel where he conducted services throughout the years is open daily for prayer and meditation; and a lovely outdoor “Temple of Leaves,” where he often gave classes, also invites quiet contemplation.

Because of the powerful vibrations of Paramahansaji’s divine consciousness that permeate the grounds of the SRF Headquarters, those who have visited with a receptive heart have attested to its transforming influence on their lives.

As you may be aware, in March of 2024 we submitted plans to the City of Los Angeles for a major SRF International Headquarters retrofit and rehabilitation, a project which is poised to take Paramahansaji’s beloved Mother Center into the next 100 years and beyond. In addition to vital seismic and life-safety upgrades to the International Headquarters Building, the project will include the addition of a small Garden Shrine in tribute to Paramahansa Yogananda. We are continuing to work with the City as part of the approval process and look forward to sharing updates about the project with you in the coming months.

We invite you to take a virtual pilgrimage to the SRF Mother Center, so dear to Paramahansaji’s heart and so central to his mission to bring the universal science of yoga within reach of all.