Listen to Swami Kriyananda describing this intensely moving experience from 1949:

“This day,” Paramhansa Yogananda thundered, punctuating every word, “marks the birth of a new era. My spoken words are registered in the ether, in the Spirit of God, and they shall move the West. . . . Self-Realization has come to unite all religions. . . . We must go on—not only those who are here, but thousands of youths must go North, South, East, and West to cover the earth with little colonies, demonstrating that simplicity of living plus high thinking lead to the greatest happiness!”

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World Brotherhood Colonies

From  The New Path: My Life With Paramhansa Yogananda, by Swami Kriyananda