News - Daya Mata passes away

by A Rishi

One of the first Western women to be widely revered as a true exemplar of India’s Sanatana Dharma, Sri Daya Mata served as president and sanghamata (spiritual leader) of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (SRF/YSS), the international non-profit religious organisation founded in 1920 by Indian yoga master Paramahansa Yogananda, the author of Autobiography of a Yogi.

Born Faye Wright, at the age of 17, Sri Daya Mata attended a public
Her Master's Voice: Sri Daya Mata lecture of Paramahansa Yogananda. She had long suffered from a severe blood disorder and her swollen and bandaged face attracted his attention.

She recalled, “My whole being was absorbed in the wisdom and divine love that were pouring into my soul and flooding my heart and mind.” He asked if she believed if God could heal her. When she said yes, he touched her between the eyebrows and said to her, “From this day forward you are healed. In one week the bandages will no longer be necessary. Your scars will be gone.” It happened exactly as he had predicted. With the support of her mother, Daya Mata moved to Los Angeles and joined the Self-Realization Fellowship Monastic Order on November 19, 1931.

Read more on Daya Mata on www.yogananda-srf.org