Elvis and Self-Realization Elvis had always believed in God and was a devout Christian. He read the Bible daily and quoted from it to almost everyone he knew. The book of Genesis and the Psalms were his favorite readings. He had strong religious beliefs. He attended the Assembly of God Church as a child with his parents where he sang in the choir. After he became famous he could never attend Sunday church services again for fear of the masses and the publicity hounds. His beloved Aunt Nashval was an Assembly of God Minister for whom Elvis bought a church on five acres of land. He could never attend mass. He never forgot his religious roots, God, or the Bible. However, there was a time in his life when he began to question the realm of religion, and soonafter curiosity began to take hold of him and he began to read various aspects of the spiritual paths toward God and divinity. Elvis was living out in Hollywood in the sixties, during his film tenure, when he became facinated, through his hairdresser and friend, Larry Geller, by a new religious order, one in particular, the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), founded by the late Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda who died in 1952. Never losing his faith in God, Elvis often studied literature or spoke with people from these various religions, including the SRF. His perception of the role of a Yogi , or a spiritual master, was to "lessen the sorrows of mankind by providing spiritual and intellectual counseling..." Elvis saw how Yogananda practiced day-long meditations to honor Jesus Christ and was much pleased by this. He practiced meditating out in the meditation garden when he was in Memphis, and while in California would sometimes go up to a hill to meditate. Yogananda's secretary became President of the SRF in 1955 and remained on into the seventies, becoming a mother-like figure to Elvis. He became very close to Daya Mata and remained so up until his death. There will be more to this chapter shortly. Research is being done on the lengthy information of Elvis' interest and studies in Self-Realization techniques, including a later interest in ARE, Association of Research and Enlightenment, founded by the "sleeping prophet," Edgar Cayce. Elvis was first introduced to the works of Edgar Cayce and his foundation by Larry Geller. The foundation is worth looking into and here is the link: http://www.edgarcayce.org/ <<Back