• Word Distribution
  • Master Is the Top Card
  • Possible Significance
  • Seeking and Arriving Well
  • Yogananda's Exhortation "Seek God" Is to Mean "Wake up in Selfhood"
  • Seeking Mother God - All Right?
  • Yoga Teachings of Lahiri Mahasaya
  • Lahiri Mahasaya, Book Writer
  • Yogananda's Favourite Mother: Kali
  • Submissiveness Plots
  • Word Distribution Recap
  • Market Concerns
  • Religiousness May Lead to Spirituality
  • Meditation Monopolies

Word Distributions

The column to the left below shows how often words are encountered (their frequencies) throughout the whole book when footnotes are kept out of it. The column to the right shows words and word parts.

Word distribution tends to reveal patterns - and "break the code" too. There are some comments on the word count below the table.

Master Is the Top Card (Word)

Frequency   -   Words

463       Master, Masters (3)

419       guru* (including 8 'gurudev'*)

372       yoga* and yogi*

316       God'*

265       sri (holy)

241       divine

213       great*

199       saint*, saintly (15)

189       -ji (suffix)

167       mind, minds

157       swami* (Hindu 'monk')

123       sir

115       Kriya (handy gasping and further)

112       meditat* (can mean contemplate, contemplative, contemplation)

96       Lord

72       consciousness

64       wisdom

61       develop* (30), evolut* (24), evolv* (9)

55       West

43       sacred, sacredness (0)

43       dear

42       holy, holiness (2)

40       Christ

34       universe, universes (3)

32         sage, sages (3)

31         bliss

31         ego* (most often negatively charged)

29         monk

27         East

27         lips

24         modern

23         art, arts (5)

21       Krishna

19       intellect*

17       Christian, Christians (3)

15       divinity

13       monast*

13       wise

11       Christlike

11       fish, fishes (1)

10       silk

9       follower*

7       blossom

6       Blessed, blessedness (1)

5       South

4       clever

4       pond

4       philosopher

4       artist, artists (3)

3       Christs

3       tenaci*

3       gay

2       cramped

2       fool

2       cherry, cherries

2       couch

2       rational

1       humor

1       little children

1       consisten*

1       shepherd

1       Kung Fu (earlier: Confucius)

1       polar bears

1       artist

1       artistic

1       frivol*

1       make love, have sex (with variants in present and past tense), "live together as man and wife only once a year, for the purpose of having children." (1)

0       holy cow

0       disc jockey

0       Tao*

0       fishing

0       North

0       handiness

0       penis (incl. 'linga', 'lingam')

0       Hawaii

0       infamous

0       homosexual*

The asterix (*) marks a group of letters that may be found in various words. Thus, Tao* above is found as Tao itself, in Taoism, Taoist and Taoistic. There are no mentions of any of them in Yogananda's Autobiography.

❋ Terms most often found, can reflect deep attitudes of the author -

Possible Significance, or "What all this could mean"

Heuristics has many outlets. Here are my rather tentative considerations:

Master versus Christ - the proportion is about 11:1 in the book.

To be spiritual is to be attuned to Spirit, and being authentic ("The one you were to begin with without reading a book") may begin it.

For studying the word-frequency table, some hints may come in handy: (a) On top of the table are words that could serve personal submissiveness (near to giving up oneself). (b) In some loosely understood median range we find words used 100-200 times. Such words reflect in part things Americans once hoped to get into. (c) Toward the bottom there could be words that intimate solutions against bossism (authoritarianism) and servility.

The words that are used more than, say, thirty times, show marked preferences in presenting things. Interestingly, the author speaks over twenty times more of "gurus" and "masters" than "Christ(s)". For what you listen to or read most often, may settle in the memory by the force of amassed repetitions of impressions. In other words, impressions build up.

In a book that talks for egohood development into godhood by shortcut method like kriya yoga, we might expect much and sound further presentation aligned to that sort of development, god-making. Far from it. [Link]

As for the table above and its discreet uses, we cannot be completely sure of what everything means or signifies from mere raw data. When it comes to interpreting them, we are on the outlook for meanings that might lie hidden - more or less hidden - in the gathered material. It could become easier to understand what Yogananda is up to if you consider in this way:

"Well, if the text spans almost 500 pages, footnotes included, then it signals that a blend of some of these terms can be met with on almost every page throughout: Master, guru, yogi/yoga, God, sri (holy), divine, great, saint, swami (Hindu monk), kriya, Lord - and so on. (See the table).

That is what you get on the level of words, in addition to such as the twenty most frequent words in English conversation: a/an, after, again, all, almost, also, always, and, because, before, big, but, can, come, either/or, find, first, for, friend, from . . . Frequent wordings apart from the common brief words in a language, may indicate the profile of the work, and perhaps also some predominant or foremost themes or topics in it, such as "cosmic consciousness".

❋ "Cosmic consciousness" is a tricky term, as the wise goal is beyond concepts of grandeur also.

Seeking and Arriving Well

Many words seldom help all, except for countermeasures, perhaps.

Seeking and arriving well are two different things.

Yogananda talks and essays are published by SRF

Yogananda gave many sermons and lectures before and aside from his autobiography, which was published with the help of Yogananda secretaries and the SRF main editor. Some Yogananda talks have been singled out for a trilogy published by Self-Realization Fellowship. As a rule, the sermons and talks are not complicated, and parts are impromptu, the publishers tells in the first book of the collected talks and essays, Man's Eternal Quest (1982).

Yogananda's autobiography on search, seek and travel

In the first edition of his autobiography, the footnotes included, seek* figures 68 times, and search* 26 times, travel* is used 64 times and journey* 14 times. His book is about a "seeking, searching traveller" not wholly unlike John Bunyan's traveller in the allegorical The Pilgrim's Progress in some respects. The protagonist gets onto the "straight and narrow" King's Highway - in Yogananda's case it is "he learns kriya yoga", gets greetings of peace, and meets with some sorrows too on his travels toward the other side. [Wikipedia, s.v. "The Pilgrim's Progress"]

Yogananda's book Journey to Self-realization on search, seek and travel

Many other "seek and search" examples can be found in books of assembled guru talks, for example by those who seek a lot - A word count in Yogananda's Journey to Self-realization (1997), footnotes included, but not end matters, reveals the use of journey* (words starting with journey) 14 times, travel* 23 times, seek* 167 times and search* 22 times. There is a lot of talk of seeking and a bit on travelling, then, spread throughout the 413 pages of text, introductory matter, and page notes, and this is not an autobiography; it is more about what he tells others is good. (Yogananda 1997, etc.]

❋ Impromptu speeches may be good for folks where the events took place. How good transfer value such speeches have later and in other places, under other conditions, is hard to generalise about.

Yogananda's Exhortation "Seek God" Is to Mean "Wake up in Selfhood"

Could there be anything wrong with exhortations like "seek God"? It depends on how the Yogananda exhortation is understood, and how it is done. Buddha says Nirvana is reached by much fit methods and means and not in other ways, for example. Teaching adequate means and ways matters.

If we seek God outside of ourselves, it may be a long, long way, for the universe expands fast. Seeking God like seeking another does not always work, and is quite antagonistic to deep meditation: in deepening meditation we glide past many concepts and also categories toward Self-Realization. Hence, being ourselves functions as a gate to being ourselves better - with probably nicer goings than seeking some dualistic concept, like "You, Mother".

In short, preconceived notions and fancies may be dropped in deepening meditation. In Advaita, the Self is told to be yourself deep inside. One may not find more than incomplete concepts about it, for the Self is beyond concepts, including "seek" and "Self" - yet can be experienced in one's heart and vision, says many Upanishads. Examples:

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the Heart. - Mundaka Upanishad

Of everything he is the inmost Self. He is the truth; he is the Self supreme. - Chandogya Upanishad

More subtile that the subtile, greater than the great, the Self is hidden in the heart. - Katha Upanishad, chap. 2.

Devotional movements are later-comers in yoga

The bhakti ("devotional") movements in Hinduism are later-comers as compared to yoga - which includes physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India, from centuries or more before the common era (BCE). "The Bhakti movement refers to the theistic devotional trend that emerged in medieval Hinduism (Wikipedia, sv. "Bhakti movement"; "Yoga")"

This suggests that there were enlightened yogis before devotional movements grew up - such as Yajnavalkya and lots of others.

Hence, devotional surrender to outer forms may be heeded less than Yogananda's Autobiography words:

Referring to yoga's sure and methodical efficacy, Lord Krishna praises the technological yogi in the following words: "The yogi is greater than body-disciplining ascetics, greater even than the followers of the path of wisdom (Jnana Yoga), or of the path of action (Karma Yoga); be thou, O disciple Arjuna, a yogi!" (Autobiography of a Yogi, Ch. 26, its last passage; cf. Bhagavad Gita 6:46)

Skills matter much, also in being pious

A skilled yogi turns his awareness inwards. Against this solid accomplishment of good yogis, human passions taken outwards may lead to search-clowning, or devotional fervour taken outwards, among other things. Now, searching for the Self outside oneself seems like "a long and winding road". However, ancient yoga has enlightened many without such outward-turned bhakti, devotionalism, which may frustrate and make ill of mind, and may be dropped. [More of Yogananda's "Cry for Mom and She will come" schemes]

Devotionalism may mar, and it can lead up to cults. However, there is a right sort of devotion, piousness, and other-directed devotion (dualism-rooted devotion), which may lead to cult-forming. The process can be recognised by observing what takes place. Throughout history, many cults have a dualistic basis. Advaita has not. Adi Shankara made it clear what is the core of these matters. He says in the ancient work Crest-Jewel of Discrimination [or Wisdom] (Shankara 1946; cf. Prabhavananda and Isherwood 1978) that

Piousness suggests intentness of the soul on its own nature.* (p. 10-12)

Piousness may also be called intentness on the reality of the Self (cf. above).* (p. 12)".

Thus, a well-founded, strong and polite self-regard is not to be given up, since it can lead into that yogi piousness. On the other hand, external devotion mars too often. And devotion directed to someone else as a part of dualism, may be halting inwards at long last, or it misses the gem hidden deep in one's chest, so to speak, one's own deep Self and Advaita. It is better to put determination to work - not on searching outside oneself - but disclosing what is in the deeps of oneself, beyond the waking state.

Yogananda talked on for many years

If we look closer into themes of Yogananda, many "ugly skulls" may be seen. Not only did he forsake the original teachings surrounding kriya, he changed the original kriya yoga too. He took to talk and sermonising talk for many years, and often contradicted himself on vital issues like ego and ego handling, and more. He told that unmarried followers were to abstain from sex wholly, as if they were farm animals of a non-breeding sort also. That too can be seen, along with how he changed his kriya hype to make its prospects many, many times better-looking without good evidence. [More]

❋ Mere talks will not save you from words unless you fall asleep from listening or something.

Seeking Mother God - All Right?

All in all, there is a knack to it. So which Mother figure appeals the most to you?

Yogananda: "There are two kinds of seekers: those who are like the baby monkey and those who are like the kitten (Yogananda 1997, 258)." Better be yourself well, and a finder, by fit meditation work.

Here is a sign of meditation success: "The paramahansa is like a five year old child," said Ramakrishna (1974:2007). Preserve your Inner Child (A TM term), that side to your nature. As it matures, you should get skilled too.

The teachings of Hinduism are very many. Here is one: There is one mother (motherhood) in or behind human mothers. In tantra it is taught that the One Mother (Shakti) has many outlets (goddesses, if you like). You should like your mothers - through a correspondence with your inborn nature. If you are a pitiless, cruel type, maybe Kali is your favourite goddess. Yogananda preferred Kali. Is that telling? Yes. Is cruel Kali OK to you?

Yoga Teachings of Lahiri Mahasaya

The original kriya yoga teachings of Lahiri Mahasaya often imply, "Don't degrade yourself to be a dwarfed seeker."

The highest attainment is Selfhood. - Lahiri Mahasaya (Satyeswarananda 1992a, 15)

One who practices kriya sincerely, has to transcend [go beyond] the expectations of results from doing kriya. - Lahiri Mahasaya [cf. Satyeswarananda 1992b, 12].

Seeker, nothing is apart from the ultimate Self. - Lahiri Mahasaya. [cf. Satyeswarananda 1992b, 17].

He surely says, "Seeker, don't seek." There is a knack to it (below).

Yogananda deviated from "dont seek" terribly when he told others to "cry for Divine Mother like crazy, and then she would come, he said. Let us hope she is not out to spank cruelly, for what will you do if that should happen? Resist?

Buddha teaches that results of meditative efforts derive from the method that is used, and not from expecting or not expecting results. [Bhumija Sutta] We can at times combine counsels from a variety of sources: Before we choose a meditation method or system of methods, we can do ourselves a good turn by seeing which methods come out on top among the researched methods, and thus be informed about which method we may expect help from, based on averages that research findings generally are based on. Further, in between meditations we may measure up changes in our lives, say, every month or two or so. Then, based on changes or trends we get aware of we may tentatively or halfway expect further beneficial results too - provisonally. And then, during meditation sessions we focus on doing our well chosen methods to our ability at any time. We can seek to do that - Seeking is not forbidden. During such sessions, vagrant thoughts and expectations may calmly be replaced by resuming the method as often as we find we have drifted off from the wholehearted practice, and that his how to do it during simple, elegant ◦TM, Transcendental Meditation, the test winner far and wide, according to research findings, that is. Thus, through a fit training perspective, we reach higher ground, clearer outlooks, a synthesis in step with Buddha and TM practice, and without necessarily discounting Lahiri's belittling of expectations if it is understood to apply for seeking outside of yourself (your Self) during kriya-yoga sessions only. In sum, it may not be unfit to expect results from meditation when not meditating, but during meditation it is good to keep at "suitable methods, giving them one's attention" and to such an end try not to let expectations or other thoughts disturb or override the serene mind that meditation could bring (in time, if not yesterday).

Great-looking but unfounded sayings signal great disillusionments in store

Frankly, a devotional Yogananda promoted ways of guru submission more than crazy-looking seeking. Still, he often spoke of "seeking God", and exhortations of that sort may work against the higher, finer points of yoga meditation if it is not made clear that the search is going inwards by stages, and that God is the Self. What do you think?

It may as well be better to say, Do not seek unwisely, for your own good. And that is how inner progress comes about, according to Lahiri Mahasaya, one of the gurus in the Yogananda line, we are told. Lahiri's counsel is to try to lessen desires by calm breathing [cf. Gt v. 62-64].

❋ Mere talks will not save you from words unless you fall asleep from listening or something.

Lahiri, Book Writer

Something else that may be said here: Yogananda writes that Lahiri Mahasaya did not write books. "Lahiri Mahasaya himself wrote no books," he writes in the "Autobiography". Here is a better researched mention of it. Quotation:

After retirement in 1885, Lahiri Mahasay engaged himself in writing interpretations of the scriptures. First, he started with the Bhagavad Gita. . . . Lahiri Mahasay published his Gita interpretations in 1888 through Panchanan Bhattacharya . . . Bhattacharya would distribute them only to initiated Kriya disciples. [Then] Priyanath [Yukteswar] began to tell his disciples publicly, "Gurudev [Lahiri Mahasaya] has not written any books . . ." . . . knowing full well that his Guru, Lahiri Mahasay, had given charge to publish and distribute his books to Panchanan Bhattacharya.

This led among the disciples of Priyanath, like Yogananda, to believe that Lahiri Mahasay did not write any books. [◦Swami Satyeswarananda]

The swami served as a professor of law and has published many works by Lahiri Mahasaya, also in English translation.

One of Yogananda's problems in his days was that other kriya yogas in India did not entrust him with very much stuff by Lahiri Mahasaya when he tried to gather such information when he visited India in 1935-36. But the Sanskrit Classics in San Diego has published much translated material. May it be added that "Yogananda's teaching is deviations, experimental, unproven, and a modified mess," Satyeswarananda also informs (Ibid.)

Much material is made public by Satyeswarananda to document that Lahiri Mahasaya did in fact write books, contrary to what Yogananda and his guru Yukteswar said about that. [◦Lahiri Mahasaya Books]

❋ Yogananda did not succeed markedly in fact-checking about Lahiri Mahasaya, the writer.

Yogananda's Favourite Mother: Kali

It may be good to know that the favourite Divine Mother of Yogananda, Kali, is garlanded with human skulls. Yogananda "was devoted to Mother Kali as his Divine Supreme Goddess," writes the Yogananda biographer Dasgupta (2006:26)." She may have a tender side too, as expressed through one of her four hands, even if her dress consists of human limbs. Not everybody takes a liking to Kali according to one's inborn mentality. "A word to the wise, like spice"?

If you say, "I don't feel comfortable with a women like that by my side or in my bed - or under it," it could well be a wise reserve: In good yoga, people find and cherish a side to the Divinity they are attracted to and care about a whole lot and most of all. This quote is from Dasgupta's Yogananda biography: "Apparently, in yet another life he [Yogananda] had been a vicious and murderous desert marauder." (2006:112)