Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide religious organization founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda, the Indian guru who authored Autobiography of a Yogi.

Before his return visit to India in 1935, he legally incorporated SRF in the United States, designating it as the only organization to carry on his work – to care for and disseminate his teachings.

[12] American yoga scholar Linda Johnsen wrote that Daya Mata was an example of a new wave of women who acquired leadership positions in Hindu spirituality.

[19] SRF's monks and nuns coordinate the organization's retreats, youth programs, temple services, and publishing and translation efforts.

[24] Yogananda first introduced his teachings to the West during an international congress of religious leaders held in Boston, MA in 1920 while giving a talk called The Science of Religion.

[7][28] According to author Lola Williamson in her book, Transcendent in America: Hindu-inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion, "He (Yogananda) made it clear that his teachings were to be shared through Self-Realization Fellowship and not through rogue organizations that taught in his name.

"[6]: 227 Yogananda's autobiography contains a list of aims and ideals for SRF, and the first of these is to disseminate "scientific techniques for attaining direct personal experience of God".

SRF presents Eastern and Western religious teachings as essentially one and the same by including passages from both the Bhagavad Gita and the New Testament in their services.

[5][30][7]: 187 SRF funded the 2014 documentary Awake: The Life of Yogananda, which was co-directed by Paola Di Florio and Lisa Leeman.

[7]: 183  Through deep and regular practice, the technique is supposed to withdraw one's energy and attention from distracting thoughts, emotions, and stimuli, so that one may experience peace and attunement with God in the resulting stillness.

[18] After his return from India in 1936, Yogananda took up residence at the SRF hermitage in Encinitas, California, which was a surprise gift from his disciple Rajarsi Janakananda.

[39] It was while at this hermitage that Yogananda wrote Autobiography of a Yogi[40] and other writings, creating a permanent foundation for the humanitarian and spiritual work of SRF/YSS.

According to Phil Goldberg, Yogananda dedicated it to "the ideal of human brotherhood and the definite realization of God as the One Father of all mankind.

[44] Yogananda spent most of the last four years of his life in seclusion at his desert ashram in Twentynine Palms, California, with some of his closest disciples.

[51][8][1] According to Straight Arrow Press, in the United States the "proceeds from the January 14, 2002, reissue of George Harrison's 1970 song My Sweet Lord will go to the Self-Realization Fellowship".

According to Louis Sahagun of the LA Times, Brother Paramananda, "who left a promising acting career to devote his life to the fellowship", claimed Elvis had once said to him: "Man, you made the right choice.

According to Louis Sahagún of the Los Angeles Times, SRF wanted "to secure exclusive rights to Yogananda's teachings, name, likeness, voice and use of the term 'self-realization'."

According to the Los Angeles Times, the permit allowed, over a 30-year period, the construction of a "museum, additional office space, classrooms, counseling facilities, underground parking and more living quarters for cloistered monks and nuns…"[57] and a site to reinter Yogananda's remains, which would have been removed from Forest Lawn Memorial-Park.

[6]: 73  According to the Los Angeles Times, church spokesman Brother Brahmananda said "We hope that this is a catalyst to promote greater harmony within the community.