This Path

Welcome to The Cross and The Lotus web site.  We are dedicated to the Realization of the Universal Vision of God and to the propagation of published works that point us to that goal.

The Reverend Mother Yogacharya Hamilton first met her Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, in the year 1925. Mother described her first meeting with Master (Paramhansa Yogananda), "He took my hand, looked into my eyes and I felt an electric shock go from my toes to the top of my head. From that moment to this I was his!"     

With that fateful meeting in Seattle, Washington, Mother began her ascent from the human to the Divine, following her Guru with loyalty, faith and a pure heart. He later ordained Mother as a minister in 1951 and gave her the title Yogacharya, one of six in the world organization and the only woman. He asked Mother to initiate others into Kriya Yoga, rare permission from the great Master. Mother continued to teach and carry on the sacred Guru-disciple relationship as requested by her Guru. She attained Mahasamadhi (conscious exit from the body) on January 31, 1991.

The symbol of The Cross and The Lotus was designed by Mother Hamilton and is now used for the distribution of her publications.

This web site also contains the works of Swami Ramdas for whom we feel such great reverence. Swami Ramdas helped Mother gain her complete Realization of God after Master's (Paramhansa Yogananda) Mahasamadhi.

As Master had asked Mother to initiate others into Kriya Yoga and to carry on his work, so do we strive to do today. With an unbroken lineage of Guru-disciple relationships, we feel, and ask for, the blessings and grace of Jesus Christ, Krishna, Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar, Paramhansa Yogananda and Mother Hamilton.

Reverend Yogacharya David R. Hickenbottom continues the Kriya Yoga lineage. He first met his beloved Guru in March of 1974 and was initiated into Kriya Yoga in June of that year. Mother ordained David as a minister in 1984 and later gave him the title Yogacharya, meaning Teacher or Master of Yoga. Mother passed on her spiritual mantle to David and asked him to continue to serve all sincere souls.

We are a non-sectarian, non-affiliated group of souls who are sincerely working to manifest the will of these great Masters of Yoga: Union with God. May you find inspiration in your own God-ward path at this site.