Sri Mrinalini Mata, one of those personally trained and chosen by Paramahansa Yogananda to carry on the mission of his society, was president and spiritual head of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India from 2011 until her passing in 2017. Born in Kansas in 1931, she met the Guru in 1945, at the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple in San Diego. Just a few months later, with her parents' permission, she entered Sri Yogananda's ashram in Encinitas, California, as a nun of the Self-Realization Order. Through daily association during the years that followed (up until the time of the Guru's passing in 1952), Paramahansaji personally trained her to prepare his writings and talks for publication after his passing. She served as editor-in-chief of SRF publications from 1971 to 2017. She made six extended trips to India to serve the Guru's work there, and served as vice-president of SRF from 1966 until 2011.