“I want so much to enter your ashram and devote my life to seeking God.” The Guru looked at her penetratingly for a moment before replying: “And you shall.”

With these first words to her Guru, Faye Wright embarked on a spiritual adventure that would transform the shy 17-year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah, into Sri Daya Mata, whose example of radiant divine love born of personal communion with God and heartfelt compassion for all has inspired thousands around the world. She became one of Paramahansa Yogananda’s first monastic disciples after entering his Self-Realization Fellowship ashram atop Mt. Washington in Los Angeles, California, on November 19, 1931—75 years ago.

The name “Daya Mata” means “Mother of Compassion.” Paramahansa Yogananda wrote to Sri Daya Mata on her birthday in 1946: “May you be born in the Cosmic Mother, and inspire all with your spiritual motherliness only—only to bring others to God by the example of your life.” As president and sanghamata (spiritual head) since 1955 of the worldwide organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, she has devoted herself with singleminded devotion to fulfilling these words of her Guru.

This young seeker came to the Premavatar (divine incarnation of love) wanting one thing: perfect, unconditioned love. Daya Mata describes this earliest and steadfast longing:

“Every human being yearns for love. From childhood, that was the tremendous desire of my heart; to me, there is no meaning to life without love. But I had the notion that I could never be content with imperfect love. The love that would satisfy me was a love unconditional, a love that would never disappoint me. My reason told me that in seeking perfect love, I must go to the Source; I must go to the One who alone is capable of giving such love. Thus began my search for God.    “I was a girl of seventeen when, in 1931, my quest led to a meeting that forever changed my life. I had the good fortune to attend a series of lectures given in my hometown of Salt Lake City by a great man of God, Paramahansa Yogananda. In the years that followed, I learned from him the way to total fulfillment of the lifelong yearning of my heart: perfect love, divine love—the all-consuming love experienced in communion with the Eternal Beloved of our souls.”

Through her many years of discipleship as one of the closest personal assistants to Paramahansa Yogananda, and with the caring discipline of the Guru, Sri Daya Mata came to embody the spiritual depth and universal love required of the one who was chosen by Paramahansaji to lead his spiritual and humanitarian work. India’s former ambassador to the United States, Dr. Binay R. Sen, has observed:

"Nowhere does [Paramahansa Yogananda’s] legacy shine with more radiance than in his saintly disciple Sri Daya Mata, whom he prepared to carry on in his footsteps after he would be gone. Before his passing he told her, "When I am gone, only love can take my place." Those who, like myself, were privileged to have met Paramahansaji find reflected in Daya Mataji that same spirit of divine love and compassion that so impressed me on my first visit to the Self-Realization Center almost forty years ago.... It is my hope that the torch he left, which is now in the hands of Sri Daya Mata, will light the way for millions who are seeking direction for their lives."