Mrinalini Mata (born Merna Loy Brown, May 8, 1931 - August 3, 2017) was the fourth President of

Self-Realization Fellowship Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920 and legally incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in 1935, to serve as Yogananda's instrument for the preservation ...

Yogoda Satsanga Society of India Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) is a non-profit, nonsectarian spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917 and is a part of the Self-Realization Fellowship which was founded in 1920. The current president of t ...

, founded by

Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowsh ...

Biography

She was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

, USA. Mrinalini Mata parents were Vera and William Wesley Brown. She spent most of her youth in Southern California. From an early age, she showed an interest in religion, regularly attending church with her family. She was drawn to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda at the age of fourteen, after hearing him speak at the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) Temple in San Diego, California, which her sister and mother had begun attending. Mrinalini Mata came to live at the SRF Hermitage in Encinitas, California, on June 10, 1946, where she began receiving Yogananda’s guidance and at the same time she finished her final years of high school at the local high school. She entered the SRF monastic order in 1946, at the age of fifteen. Yogananda chose for her the monastic name “Mrinalini” which signifies the purity of the lotus flower, an ancient symbol of spiritual unfoldment. Her mother later also entered the ashram and took the monastic name Meera Mata. Following the passing of the former SRF/YSS president

Daya Mata Daya Mata (Sanskrit for ''Compassionate Mother''), born Rachel Faye Wright, (January 31, 1914November 30, 2010) was the third president and ''sanghamata'' (mother of the society) of the only organization that Paramahansa Yogananda created to diss ...

in 2011, she became president of the society until her death in 2017.

Books

References

External links

* YouTube Channel for Mrinalini Mat

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mata, Mrinalini 1931 births 2017 deaths American women writers American spiritual writers American yogis Devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda Kriya yogis People from Wichita, Kansas Women yogis Women mystics Writers from Los Angeles