On my holiday away this November, I took along one book - Autobiography of a Yogi. I simply couldn't find anything else I felt like reading and I have only read bits at a time when I felt prompted by will so there was still 1/2 a book unread.

On the first week away, I noticed another swami/yogi (that is how I see it anyway), yet again in plastic, formed from a bag I had put in the hotel bedside dresser (the other plastic swami I captured). At the time I did not notice the sync of the book being above the face and I only snapped one photo.





I have enhanced this and added irises, but the sloping pointed nose reminds me of Yogi's




After a few weeks of travelling, we ended up near Encinitas, CA. We took a leisurely drive along the coast when suddenly we came upon a structure, like a gateway with columns topped with a gold lotus. A realization began to grow like pieces of a puzzle whirling around in my mind with a few falling into place! OMGosh! This is his temple, I thought! I don't know how I knew exactly, other than I recalled possibly having seen the word Encinitas in the book, but it was indeed the Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda!





I was stunned and began to cry. It wasn't the last time I would cry either. Every time I approached the temple grounds or even on the beach below, I would sob. Pastlife? Yogi's energy? (I am reliving the surge of emotion even remembering it now).

We drove past it, but a few days later we went back and were able to enter the meditation gardens. It was so beautiful.




More Garden Photos Posted Here


The grounds are immaculately kept. I took some photos then we sat on one of the stone benches. I thought about Yogi and I wondered if I could have a sign of his presence. Just then a single Monarch butterfly landed on the ground by our feet.







(More to come)