By Richard Wright, secretary of Paramhansa Yogananda
Inner Culture, March, 1937

Swami Yogananda, through the inspiration of God and the Masters, is planning to create a model Yogoda World-City in Bengal, India, where he wants to combine really necessary industries and scientific training of Yoga. Here people of all races schooled in Yoga will be admitted. This city will be guided by the highest spiritual principles and the laws of universal brotherhood.

In this World-City, dairies, fruit orchards and agricultural developments, along with carpentry and weaving, will be carried on. Both married and unmarried harmonious, intelligent, laborious, cooperating people will be received. Each citizen in this Yogoda World-City will be expected to live as a perfect citizen of the coming United States of the world, with God and Truth as the guiding President-King.

The cooperation of able-bodied young men and women, Rajahs and Maharajahs, and of unselfish, philanthropic people of the world is invited. They may give their suggestions or physical or financial or whatever kind of help they can offer, to make this Yogoda World-City a success.

The idea in creating the proposed Yogoda World-City is to offer to the war-torn, industrially-selfish, politically hide-bound nations of the earth a glimpse of a perfect divine city, which can be an inspiring model pattern after which all nations of the earth would like to build their cities.

Swami Yogananda, with the help of a few exalted souls, is going to make a supreme effort to do something practical in establishing such a city. It has hitherto remained only an imaginary idea with most people. He is not looking for absolute success or failure in the creation of a perfect World-City. He would be satisfied in making a supreme effort to create one such, as near-perfect as possible, avoiding the mistakes of all one-sided nations and taking in the best methods of all of them.

Swami Yogananda believes that the greatest enemy of man is ignorance and selfishness—not wars nor variety of religions nor customs nor races nor colors nor creeds. If ignorance and selfishness were driven from the hearts of men and they were taught to cooperate for mutual good, regarding themselves as brothers born of the one Father God, then that would pave the way for a World Nation.

The Yogoda World-City—its Aims

1. To follow the religion of actually knowing and therefore loving God.

2. To speak one universal language besides one’s own native language.

3. To follow the best universal laws of hygiene and diet. Creation of health and meditation centers all over India and the world, to allay the physical and spiritual suffering accruing from wrong diet, wrong living through individual, social and political selfishness.

4. To use industry for mutual benefit and not selfish ends.

5. To consider God as the Ultimate Harmonizer of all our difficulties, paradoxes and unintelligible problems of life. To recognize those of all races and colors as children of the one God. To teach the good and evil of patriotism. To introduce the study of international brotherhood in the schools of the world to save children from world-hatred which leads to world-wars.

6. To give self-supporting, soul-uplifting, ever-new joy-producing education.

7. To make everybody an athlete—a Sandow in body, mind and soul.

8. To teach one religion of Self-Realization. Federation of all temples, churches and creeds of the world.

9. To advance moral consciousness and spiritual utilitarianism.

10. To establish a temple of all religions in the four quarters of the globe. Three already established in Los Angeles, and Encinitas in California, and at Ranchi in India.

11. To teach universal brotherhood—celebration of good-will congress for all nations—teaching to love all nations and to correct them by love and example and not by hatred or wars or evil politics.

12. To adopt universal standard customs governing body, mind and soul, taken from all nations, which would perfect body, mind and soul, and make each man an ideal world-citizen.

If this model City is fairly successful then similar ones can be established in the principal cities of the world.