-Good morning!
It's a Sunday morning, and we're meeting Martin today.
And he is part of the Self-Realization Fellowship.
I will let you know everything that I know
about the Self-Realization Fellowship right now.
Welp, that pretty much sums it up.
So, let's go learn about it!
How's it going?
-How are you doing? -We're gonna hug it.
Nice to meet you! -Nice to meet you, too.
-Where are we right now?
-Well, right now we're on the grounds
of Self-Realization Fellowship's
Hollywood Temple, but we're in India Hall.
-So, I know nothing about Self-Realization Fellowship.
-Okay. -You want to educate me some?
'Cause I desperately need it.
-All right, I'll tell you a little bit about what I know.
-Cool, man. Well, I can't wait.
How long have you been in L.A.?
-I've been in L.A. since '99.
-14, 15 years. -Yeah, yeah.
-Were you SRF before you came here?
-I was.
I happened to grow up
in an SRF family,
where my dad was really into that
around the time I was born.
He was into the Eastern things and started doing -- you know,
researching yoga and meditation and stuff like that.
-So, your whole family was SRF growing up?
-Well, on my mom's side of the family,
there was a pretty devout Catholic faith.
-How did that work? -It was interesting,
but both my parents were really open
and supportive of each other and trying to create a space
for me to not feel
like I had to do one thing or the other,
just whatever I preferred, I could do.
-Did people in school know that you were SRF
and that you meditated, or did they have any clue
what that was?
-No, they didn't.
We hadn't hit that big yoga boom
that we have nowadays back then,
so talking about yoga or meditation
was pretty foreign to folks.
I was a vegetarian, too,
and even that was pretty weird for anyone that I met.
All my friends thought I was
a little strange in that manner, so...
-I know nothing about SRF.
Am I even allowed to call it SRF?
Like, are we on that familiar of a turf?
-Right. -What is the foundation
of Self-Realization Fellowship as a faith?
-You know, Self-Realization Fellowship
was founded in the '20s
by Paramahansa Yogananda.
So, most of everything that we do here
is based on his teachings.
He came here from India in the '20s
and found quite a bit of popularity
in terms of speaking on the similarities
between Eastern and Western religions and philosophies.
-Yogananda? Is that where "yoga"
comes from -- like, all of yoga?
-Some people credit Yogananda
with bringing yoga to the West, yes,
but yoga's been around for a really, really long time.
So, no, he's not the founder of that.
-He's just sort of one of the pioneers
of bringing it to the West.
-Definitely, yeah. -And is he the gentleman
that's in all of the pictures?
-You'll see his face quite a few places around here today.
-What is the philosophy
that drives Self-Realization Fellowship?
-The thing that drives it is realization of yourself.
So, getting to know yourself,
what your purpose is, you know,
how you relate to the world that you live in,
and to do it through various techniques --
meditation techniques.
-I want to tell you a little bit about the service
before we go in there just so you know what the format is.
-Sure, awesome. -First, we're gonna go
into the temple, which has been here
since the time that Yogananda was actually here in 1942.
He used to give services in there.
So, that's really nice. It's this really cool space
that's been here for a really long time
with people coming to meditate and come to lecture services.
And just so you know, we start every service
with a brief period of meditation.
-If you're new to Self-Realization Fellowship
and you don't have the meditation techniques, then
during the short period of silence, follow the chant.
Just talk to God in the language
of your heart and soul
as his child, which you are.
[ Organ playing ]
Door of my heart
Open wide, I keep for thee
-What is the main goal of meditation?
-To get centered and in myself
and what I'm about and to reconnect with that.
It's sort of like maybe I went to sleep
and forgot about it a little bit.
And as I wake up,
it's just to take that extra time
to really focus my mind and my body
on how I want to be that day.
-And how do you want to be?
Like, what's a day that you felt,
"I really hit the mark today for who I want to be"?
-For me, a big one is keeping my calm.
You know, a lot of people say, "Oh,
you have a nice, calm voice.
You know, you're very relaxing."
And I recognize that in myself that that's just an energy
that I like to have with me.
-I have the opposite.
You are so chill,
and I'm just like, "Hey!"
How would you calm me down?
How do we fix this?
-Well, I don't know.
I mean, is it a bad thing?
-Now that I'm looking at you, yeah.
-If you're really wanting to try and find that calm
and that peace, I think meditation can help.
-Is there a point where life can become a meditation,
and you just sort of are in that place all the time?
-I say that's really what the goal is.
And for me, it definitely is what the goal is.
And when I see the advantage
of doing that routine of morning and night,
it's to get you to that place.
Night and day, Night and day
I look for thee night and day
-There's a stage, and that's where
the monastic's gonna be speaking from.
-What is a monastic?
-A monastic is --
within Self-Realization Fellowship --
Is someone who's taken vows
to be dedicated to it
24-7 in service of the organization
and promotes Yogananda's teachings.
That's a big commitment. -It's a lecture
and not a sermon, right?
What is there a lecture on?
-Every Sunday, they pick
a different topic usually having to do
with something going on in life --
you know,
relationships,
how to find more peace in your life, you know,
various topics they pick.
And I think they call it -- It's a lecture service
because they're kind of giving their perspective
on Yogananda's teachings
and how they can apply to that subject matter,
and they also reference all sorts of other teachings
and how it all relates to that subject matter.
-Brother was wondering about SoulPancake,
and, you know, what does that mean?
I watched a lot of Zach's videos during the week,
and it was really, really heartwarming,
all these different religions.
And there was the same basic human goodness in everyone,
and we're all just trying to do the best we can.
-There's an altar, and on the altar,
Paramahansa Yogananda
comes from a line of gurus,
which is, like, their teachers.
So, he has -- We have a picture of Yogananda up there
and we have a picture of his teacher, his guru.
Right in the center,
one of Yogananda's focal points
when he came here was to point out the similarities
between Eastern and Western philosophies --
Christianity and Hinduism, mainly, so you have a picture
of Jesus Christ there in the center
and a picture of Bhagavan Krishna,
who I was talking about earlier,
to represent both those two --
the union of the East and the West.
-You can be any religion and come to SRF, right?
-You can, yeah.
I kind of think of SRF
as an umbrella of all faiths.
You can have a Yogananda
and have him be inspiring.
You can have a Jesus Christ and have him be inspiring.
You can have a Bhagavan Krishna an have him be inspiring.
You can have a Buddha and have him be inspiring.
All these folks are just examples for us to see
of what we might be able to become ourselves.
And we have people from all different faiths
that come here.
-Heavenly Father...
-...Mother... -...Mother...
-...Friend... -...Friend...
-...Beloved God... -...Beloved God...
-...Jesus Christ... -...Jesus Christ...
-...Bhagavan Krishna... -...Bhagavan Krishna...
-...Swami Sri Yukteswar... -...Swami Sri Yukteswar...
-...our guru... -...our guru...
-...Paramahansa Yogananda... -...Paramahansa Yogananda...
-...saints of all religions... -...saints of all religions...
-...we bow to you all. -...we bow to you all.
-Om. -Om.
-Peace. -Peace.
-Amen. -Amen.
-So, I found this shady spot under a tree
because I, myself, have realized that it is hot outside today.
And I've also realized
that this is a really cool place,
and it's a beautiful blend
of different world religions
that you don't really think
would necessarily mix, but they do
because the teachings are very similar.
And I've realized that I have a lot of work
to do before I can actually meditate.
I'm just gonna sit here and see
if I can be quiet for more than...five seconds.
No! Not yet.
But soon. Soon.
It's my first day. What do you expect?