Throughout the perfectly manicured grounds at this time of the year, azaleas, camellias, primroses, orange clivia, cyclamens and brilliant blue Senetti are in full bloom, as are the tulip magnolia trees. The first thing you notices as you enter the Court of Religion are the colorful and fragrant flowers surrounding this lakeside paradise. The 10-acre natural amphitheater serves as a “meditation garden.” We arrived shortly thereafter, and after receiving Covid guidelines from one of the docents and being advised that a gong would sound on the hour for prayers, which we could participate in if so were so inclined, he shared a prayer card: “Peace unto my Family, Peace unto my City, Peace unto my Country, Peace unto my World.” It was now time to take the 1/4 mile stroll around the lake. A few years later Knight would become California’s 31st governor.Ī limited amount of people are allowed daily into the Lake Shrine, which opens at noon. The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine opened to the public in August 1950 with 1,500 people in attendance, including the California Lt. “Can we meet tomorrow afternoon?” (photo from internet) After Yogananda paid a visit to the lake the following day, thanks to donations by numerous benefactors, he purchased the property from Gross. “The letter will come tomorrow morning,” Yogananda told him. “But you haven’t received my letter,” Gross replied. “You have some property for sale, don’t you? When can I see it?” Yogananda began speaking even before Gross could introduce himself. The website goes on to say, “Later the next day, Gross telephoned the Self-Realization Fellowship Church of All Religions in Hollywood, and the call was given to Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian monk, yogi and guru who helped introduce Americans, along with thousands of others worldwide, to the teachings of meditation and yoga.

In the wee hours of the morning, he looked up “Church Of All Religions” in the telephone book, and, as the website states, “composed a letter to be mailed the next morning, offering to sell his property, before going back to bed.” That vision was drastically altered one night when Gross had a recurring dream that the property should be made into a “Church Of All Religions.” He had never heard of such a thing, but that dream kept coming to him. Gross envisioned a resort that included a 150-room hotel surrounding Lake Santa Ynez. In 1948 they sold the property to oil executive Joseph Gross. The houseboat eventually was rented out to movie stars and film industry people, while the McElroys lived in the mill house. His vision included “terraced gardens surrounding the lake with rustic bridges and waterfalls creating a private coastal paradise.” He and his wife transported a double-deck, “Mississippi-styled houseboat” from Lake Meade and constructed a “quaint mill house with water-wheel (now a gift shop and museum), and erected an authentic model of a Dutch windmill.” Everett McElroy, the assistant superintendent of construction for 20th Century Fox, purchased the property. The land remained undeveloped until 1940 when H. In 1927, the land was hydraulically graded to make room for a future development project that never came to fruition because the earthmoving activities had to be stopped due to the “ large basin quickly filling up with water from the many springs in the area, forming Lake Santa Ynez.” The story how this area eventually became an “open-air shrine of all religions” is “literally a dream-come-true.” In the early 1920s this area in Santa Ynez Canyon was used as a locale for silent movies. So, when I found out the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine was open for visitors, Tracy and I made online reservations, and on a gorgeous, sunny Friday morning, we traveled to this serene spot. Yet, until recently, I had never heard of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, situated in the hills of Pacific Palisades located just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean.Īlthough I’ve lived in Southern California for my entire life, it still offers up surprises for me. There are even some of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes interred here. Memorial services for both George Harrison and Tom Petty were held here.

Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine – Pacific PalisadesĮlvis Presley became enamored of this little piece of paradise on his visits to Southern California.

Serenity memorial garden