The Second Female Star
Born Florina Alberta Dufour on November 8, 1903 at 608 D Street East in Iron Mountain, Michigan, her parents were French-Canadian and devout members of the Roman Catholic Church. Some of her childhood was spent in Canada, where she attended a French parochial school.
Her family moved several times, finally to Detroit, Michigan (picture of her home above) where she learned English at the age of 13. To help her family financially, she left school at the age of 15. When she was 19, she married Orta L. Darling. She first met Yogananda when he lectured in Detroit in 1927.
Intensely dedicated to these teachings, she joined a local group providing the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and by 1929, had decided to move to Los Angeles, to be closer to the headquarters.
Her spiritual light outshone that of most of her peers, and she was closer to Yogananda (in terms of attunement to his consciousness) than almost anyone else, as we can see from his letter to her below, sent from Bombay (Mumbai) and dated June 24, 1936:
“Among my men disciples
Mr. Lynn [Rajasi Janakananda]
has the first seat in Heaven
and in my heart
and among my lady disciples
you will have the first seat with Sister [Gyanamata]
in Heaven and in my consciousness.”
Physically Durga Mata was tiny, a little under five feet (1.50 m), whilst her spiritual stature was that of a giant.
