About Us

“Come regularly. I know that those who do so have changed; I can see it in their eyes and faces. In that regularity and steadiness you shall find God realization.” - Paramahansa Yogananda

Welcome To Self-Realization Fellowship Los Gatos Center

The Los Gatos Center is a branch of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), founded in 1920 by our Guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, to disseminate the universal teachings of Kriya Yoga, a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India. The international headquarters for SRF is located in Los Angeles, CA. In India and surrounding countries, Paramahansa Yogananda’s work is known as Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), which has more than 100 centers, retreats, and ashrams. The Los Gatos Center serves families and friends throughout Silicon Valley, including Santa Clara County and the neighboring counties of Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Alameda. The Center is open to the public during our services which are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday morning.

Services

The Los Gatos Center holds regular meditation and reading services on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on Sunday morning. We offer Sunday school on Sunday mornings for children ages 3 and up. Everyone is invited to attend our services and special events, and children are encouraged to participate in the Sunday school program. Click here to view our calendar and schedule of services..

Our philosophy

The Los Gatos Center is a branch of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship. Yogananda’s teachings embody a complete “how to live” philosophy which centers on scientific techniques of concentration and meditation that lead to the direct personal experience of God. Weekly lessons are available to those who would like to study the SRF teachings more deeply. Two lessons are mailed every other week from the SRF international headquarters in Los Angeles, California. This comprehensteive home-study series gives instruction in all the meditation techniques of the Kriya Yoga science, as well as in the many other aspects of balanced spiritual living taught by Yogananda.

To know more

To learn more about Paramahansa Yogananda and Self-Realization Fellowship, we suggest that you visit the main SRF website at: https://www.yogananda.org. We also recommend reading Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. Copies of this spiritual classic are available via the SRF bookstore online, at most bookstores and libraries, and in our Center’s Book Room which is open most Sundays after the Sunday Service.

Where are we?

The Los Gatos Center is located at:

303 East Main St
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Click here for directions.
It is near historic downtown Los Gatos at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Direction From Oakland, Hayward, Fremont, Milpitas & San Jose:
Take I-880 South toward San Jose to the junction of I-280. At this intersection, I-880 becomes CA-17. Continue to the East Los Gatos off-ramp where you will exit onto Los Gatos Saratoga Road. In two blocks, the road will end at Los Gatos Blvd. where you will turn right. Continue to the second stop sign, which will be Pleasant St. (and at this point Los Gatos Blvd. changes its name to Main Street). Turn right at this intersection.

You will pass the Center on your right but to find parking please continue one more block and the parking lot will be on your left.

Via US-101 or I-280 from San Francisco, Palo Alto & Mountain View: Take US-101 or I-280 South to the junction with CA-85. Continue on CA-85 South to the junction with CA-17. Proceed south on CA-17 South to the East Los Gatos exit and then proceed according to the directions given above.

Via Hwy. 17 from Santa Cruz and Monterey: From Monterey, take CA-1 North to Santa Cruz and the junction with CA-17. Turn right onto CA-17 North and proceed through the coastal mountains to Los Gatos. The second exit will be Los Gatos Saratoga Rd. Take the off-ramp to your right toward East Los Gatos. Proceed two blocks to Los Gatos Blvd. where you will turn right. Continue to the second stop sign which will be Pleasant St. (and at this point Los Gatos Blvd. changes its name to Main Street). Turn Right at this intersection.

You will pass the Center on your right but to find parking please continue one more block and the parking lot will be on your left.

About Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in Gorakhpur, India, into a devout and well-to-do Bengali family. In the hundred years since the birth of Paramahansa Yogananda, this beloved world teacher has come to be recognized as one of the greatest emissaries to the West of India’s ancient wisdom. His life and teachings continue to be a source of light and inspiration to people of all races, cultures and creeds.

It was in 1910, at the age of 17, that he met and became a disciple of the revered Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. After Yogananda graduated from Calcutta University in 1915, he took formal vows as a monk of India’s venerable monastic Swami Order. It was this time he received the name Yogananda (signifying bliss, ananda, through divine union, yoga). His ardent desire to consecrate his life to the love and service of God thus found fulfillment.

In 1920, Yogananda was invited to serve as India’s delegate to an international congress of religious leaders convening in Boston. His address to the congress, on “The Science of Religion” was enthusiastically received. That same year he founded Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India’s ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation.

Yogananda emphasized the underlying unity of the world’s great religions, and taught universally applicable methods for attaining direct personal experience of God. To serious students of his teachings he introduced the soul-awakening techniques of Kriya Yoga. Kriya Yoga is a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India. Kriya Yoga was lost in the Dark Ages and revived in modern times by his lineage of enlightened masters.

In 1935 his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, bestowed on him India’s highest spiritual title, Paramahansa. Literally supreme swan (a symbol of spiritual discrimination), the title signifies one who manifests the supreme state of unbroken communion with God.

On March 7, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda entered mahasamadhi, a God-illumined master’s conscious exit from the body at the time of physical death.

Autobiography of a Yogi

Yogananda’s life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, was published in 1946 and expanded by him in subsequent editions. A perennial best seller, the book has been in continuous publication since it first appeared and has been translated into 50 languages. It is widely regarded as a modern spiritual classic.

Additional Works

Paramahansa Yogananda has provided translation and commentary on the original teachings of Bhagavan Krishna called “God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita”. He also provided revelatory commentary on the original teachings of Jesus Christ entitled “The Second Coming of Christ – The Resurrection of the Christ Within You.”.

For more information

Please feel free to come visit us at our center! Click here to view our calendar and schedule of services.. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us via email.