The Self Realization Fellowship was founded by Paramahansa Yogananda and later dedicated the Lake Shrine to him. Thousands now visit the 10-acre sanctuary, which includes a Court of Religions honoring the five main world religions, a memorial for Mahatma Gandhi carrying some of his ashes, a museum of Yogananda's work, and areas for meditation, worship services, and exploring monuments representing different faiths in order to unite people of all beliefs.

1. Unified Sanctuary:
Self Realization Fellowship and
Lake Shrine
Elena Babakhanyan
Anthropology 121
Professor Wolfe
October 22, 2010

2. The Lake
The Self Realization Fellowship was founded by Paramahansa
Yogananda. Later Lake Shrine was dedicated to him. Thousands of
visitors come to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the sanctuary. The
10-acre site has a variety of plants, flowers and animals, such as
ducks and swans. It has a Court of Religions honoring the five main
religions of the world, the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial,
which carries some of Gandhi's ashes, a museum of Yogananda’s
work, a bookstore, and a gift shop with arts and crafts from India.

3. Worship Services
Inside the temple, where the service took place, there was pictures of
leaders and teachers of the most common religions of the world. For
example, there was a picture of Jesus and of Krishna. This room had
a circular roof with simple yet beautiful design and decoration.
Before people entered the room, they were given a pamphlet about
the place, Yogananda, meditation, etc. During the service, a yogi , lead
prayer and meditation. One type of meditation they did was closing
their eyes and repeating “om”. Everyone was also given a book of
chants which they all said together. They also had silent meditation.

4. Christianity at the
Lake
Before or after the services, visitors could also walk around the lake in the
garden, which has monuments and statues of different religious symbols and
people. For example, in the picture above the women is standing next to a
monument of the Virgin Mary and her son. This allows Christian visitors to
feel connected to their religion and use meditation and yoga to further
enhance their faith and spirituality. For example, people (mostly women)
prayed in front of the monument.

5. Krishna
This picture shows a statue of Krishna. Underneath the statue is a
quote from that religion. The quote says “He who perceives me
everywhere, and holds everything in me, never loses sight of me, nor
do I ever lose sight of him”. Even though the monument is of
Krishna, the quote can relate to all religions, because it is important to
always be with God and trust in God in all religions. And the intention
of the temple seems to be to unite people of all religions peacefully.

6. Buddhism
There is also a monument of Buddha. This can
help a Buddhist to grew closer to his or her
religion. This monument can also remind non-
Buddhists about the teachings of Buddha. This
unification of the religions can help a person
understand that even though all the religions
have different practices, they all have the same
general rules. Around this monument, there was
people sitting and mediating in the same lotus
position as Buddha.

7. Courtship of
Religions
This is perhaps the most symbolic part of the site. It has the five main
religions, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism, all
on the same kind of rock and in the same setting. Christianity has the
cross, Judaism has the star of David, the “om” symbol for Hinduism,
the crescent moon and star for Islam, and the Buddhist wheel of life.

8. Mahatma Gandhi
World Peace
Memorial
There was also a Gandhi monument dedicated to World Peace. This
one seemed to be the most surrounded the entire time. A yogi there
told me that this was probably because Gandhi wanted peace
between all people not just people of the same race or religion. And
since Shrine Lake visitors come from all around the world and
meditate and pray together, this monument was in a way also
dedicated to them for keeping peace.

9. There was a lot of designated meditation areas around the lake. Around every monument of the different religions there
was a bench like the one above that people would sit on to mediate. Most people sat with their hands on their knees,
palms pointing upward. Just like the rest of the garden the bench also had a lot of color on it. The yogi said that this
array of colors provides color therapy and can be very relaxing and uplifting.
Places toMeditation Areas

10. Bookstore
The site also had a book store for visitors. There was books about Jesus,
Buddha, Krishna, yoga, meditating etc. For example, I bought a book titled
“The Yoga of Jesus” . It was written by Paramahansa Yogananda and the
cover also said “Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels”. I was
very intrigued by this because most churches and priest just want you to
memorize the Bible and take every word literally without reading between the
lines. The worker at the bookstore said that this book has been selling really
well, probably because church and the narrow religious beliefs do not satisfy
peoples’ yearnings for spiritual fulfillment.

11. Gift Shop
The site also had a gift shop with Indian arts and crafts, clothes, incense sticks, etc. I
bought incense sticks which said on them “Peace emanates from the soul, and is the
sacred inner environment in which true happiness unfolds”. I think that even though
this seems like a minor thing, that this writing is great service. People can buy these
incense stick from a lot of other places in plain boxes, but this box had very
meaningful words. No matter how much material things you have you can not have
true inner happiness without faith in God. Sometimes small things like this are what
give a person a push to start leading a spiritual life. These incense sticks can also
clean negatives auras in the house and provide aromatherapy.