Born Rachel Faye Wright, (1914 – 2010) Daya Mata (Sanskrit for Mother of Compassion), was the president and sanghamata (mother of the society) for over 55 years of the only two organizations that Paramahansa Yogananda created to disseminate his teachings. Daya Mata first met Paramahansa Yogananda in 1931 at the age of 17 this was a turning point of her life. She heard Yogananda speak in her hometown of Salt Lake City in and she recognized immediately that he was a man who truly knew God. Sri Daya Mata joined Yogananda’s ashram that year and became one of his closest disciples.
After Sri Yogananda died, she succeeded the Rajarsi Janakananda as president of the society. As a spiritual successor, she supervised the training of disciples who resided in ashrams around the world and the administration of the society’s humanitarian services. She built a following that it is now a much more substantial national movement with a Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, California, and the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.
