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'''Sri Daya Mata: Fifty-Two Years of Service''' |
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She thought she would be a nurse or a nun, because she had a strong desire to realize God, but who could help her reach her goal? |
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'''Faye Wright’s Love of God''' |
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During her teens, Faye Wright thought she would become a nurse or a nun. She knew early on that she did not want to pursue a conventional life; she had a strong yearning to find God, because even at a very early age she knew she loved God. She appreciated her own religion, she loved her family, but deep inside she felt that she had not met anyone who truly knew God, someone who could teach her to know and love God directly. |
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When Faye was eight years old, she learned about India in school. A strange intuition seemed to stir in her, and at home that night she said to her mother, “When I grow up, I will never marry. I will go to India.” The lessons about India had somehow aroused an intuition that India held the answer to her spiritual yearning. |
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At age fifteen, she received a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, and although she did not feel that she understood the scripture intellectually, she did realize that spiritual stirrings prompted her to believe that God could be known, that her divine yearnings could find fulfillment. |
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'''Meets Her Guru''' |
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Then at age seventeen, Faye Wright met Paramahansa Yogananda. |
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The year was 1931 and Swami Yogananda, as he was known then, was delivering a lecture in Salt Lake City, where the Wright family lived. Faye and her mother went to the lecture, and when the young Faye first glimpsed her guru, she knew she had found the one who loved God, who knew God, and who could teach her to know God. She explains, |
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When I saw him standing there on the platform, I became absolutely transfixed. He was speaking of the spiritual potential of will power, and of love for God. He spoke as I had never heard anyone speak of God. I was enthralled. Instantly recognizing him as one who knew God and who could show me the way to Him, I resolved, “Him, I shall follow.” |
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And follow him she did. Entering his ashram in Los Angeles, she felt as if she had finally come home. She served in the ashram in many capacities, ultimately serving the guru as a stenographer, recording his many lectures and speeches. From these speeches a series of written lessons were formulated, so that the teachings could be disseminated to the world. |
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'''Faye Wright Becomes Sri Daya Mata''' |
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When Faye took her final monastic vows, she became Daya Mata, “Mother of Compassion.” In 1955, she became the spiritual head of the great guru’s organization, Self-Realization Fellowship. She has served in that position for fifty-two years. The organization has grown from a handful of devotees located primarily in Los Angeles to a membership worldwide, with many temples, centers, and meditation groups, all devoted to studying and practicing the yoga methods that prepare the devotee to know God. |
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==References== |
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