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History & Essence of the
Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism
(continued)

SYMBOLOGY OF THE TEMPLE

   The spiritual ideals and mysticism of the ages are symbolized in the
  Golden Lotus Temple. Every detail of the Temple is a spiritual symbol.

   The three flights of five steps leading to the Temple signify the stages
of self-unfoldment, self-revelation, and self-realization. The shape of the
Temple, a keystone, signifies that religion is the keystone of life. The
predominating colors, gold, rose, and blue, used both without and within
the Temple, represent wisdom, love, and peace.

   The blue reflecting pool in front of the Temple is built in the shape of a
left foot. It represents the lasting imprint left by great souls.

   The reflection of the Temple in the pool also has symbolic significance.
Just as the entire temple is reflected in the pool, so must the entire life of the devotee reflect that he follows the path of God and the way of great souls with his whole life and his total being, body, mind, heart and soul.

After the rain!

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SYMBOLOGY OF THE ALTAR

Of all the symbols utilized over the ages by man for his spiritual understanding and enlightenment, the most simple, the most sublime, and the most universal is surely the cross. The cross bears meanings that are as infinite and miraculous as the universe itself. In fact, the whole cosmogony of this universe can be perceived as a cross in its three attributes.

The meaning of the cosmic cross is nature's union or Yoga, the divine union of the Creator and the created. As such it is both the ideal of nature's oneness with the transcendental reality and also the unfoldment or progressive means to attain it The vertical line suggests ascension and aspiration towards the heights of attainment. The horizontal line shows the level of attainment itself and the expansiveness of spirit as it links with the whole universe. When I behold the many objective expressions of the cross that I can see and touch in the universe around me I am filled with awe and inspiration at the manifestation of the perfection of God in law and harmony, order and beauty.

We finally arrive at the highest and most sublime significance of the divine symbol: the Mystic Cross—purely subjective and infinitely sublime in its power of revelation. Ancient rishis, scientists in the study and the discoveries of spiritual truths, utilizeing their subjective powers of light and energy, discovered that the cross actually evolves to a transcendental meaning within the consciousness of man. They found in the figure of the cross a revelation of the evolution of man's consciousness ascending in gradual stages. Their precise philosoply of gradual and progressive unfoldment of self-consciousness is preserved in the beautiful symbol depicted above. Its every detail has been corroborated by science and psychology without fault.

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Brahmachari Jotin, 1933

HISTORY

The Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism in the United States of America had its beginning in 1920. In that year Swami Yogananda Paramhansa came to Boston, Massachusetts, to represent India at the Congress of Religions. While in this country he formed numerous groups of followers. At Swami Yogananda's suggestion, some of his followers in Washington, D.C., later invited one of the students at his school in Ranchi, India, to be their leader.

The young man, known then as Brahmachari Jotin, came in 1928 to organize the church. He was in complete charge of its spiritual and administrative activities for fifty years.

As the membership grew, rented quarters became inadequate. On October 23, 1938 the group met for the first time in the chapel that Brahmachari Jotin had built for them at 4748 Western Avenue, N.W., in Washington. The chapel had been built without any appeal for funds from the members. When the Golden Lotus Temple was completed in 1952, the chapel became the Church of the Children.

As Brahmachari Jotin became better known, he received an increasing number of invitations to speak in synagogues, seminaries, and Christian churches of practically all denominations. He was also in great demand as a speaker for business and civic organizations such as the Lions and Rotary Clubs. In 1941, Brahmachari Jotin was consecrated as a Swami by his Guru, Swami Yogananda Paramhansa, the Guru-Preceptor of the Church. He took the name of Swami Premananda, which means Love of Supreme Wisdom.

On November 23, 1952, the Golden Lotus Temple, which was designed and built by Swami Premananda, was consecrated. The cornerstone of the temple had been laid on May 17, 1952, by Renah Camalier, Grand Master of Masons of the District of Columbia, assisted by the officers of the Grand Lodge and witnessed by many members of the Masonic Fraternity and members of the congregation. It was the first time that a Grand Master of Masons had officiated at such a rite for a church of which a Swami of India was the minister.

Swami Premananda was a Thirty-Third Degree Mason; Knight Commander of the Court of Honor; Shriner of the Almas Temple, Wise Master of the Evangelist Chapter of Knights Rose-Croix, (1948-49) and a proficient ritualist in higher Masonic degrees, a Knight Templar, member of the Royal Order of Scotland, and Chaplain of the Benjamin B. French Lodge No. 15 of Washington, D.C. He is the only Swami ever to receive such distinction from any Masonic body.

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