The group was founded in Los Angeles in the 1960s and was an early example of the counterculture surge that would cap the decade. It was led by a man named Father Yod, a native son of Ohio who moved to California to become a Hollywood stuntman sometime after World War II. He was influenced by Sikh spirituality and yogic principles and merged those concepts with the Beat counterculture movement.
The Source culture was a mish-mash of sun worship, western mysticism, yoga exercises, hedonism, musical expression, natural living, and of course, fierce loyalty to Father Yod.