Yukteswar Teachings 8
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"I'm . . . enjoying immensely!!" -
BBA good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and
rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure. -
Buddha
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Yukteswar's Eden Teachings
Previously
On the previous page there is a survey of Hindu teachings. Most of them do not originate with Yukteswar; they are common yoga teachings, some of them. Yukteswar introduces the Hindu trinity concept of Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Being-Consciousness-Joy, which is one of the terms for God. "I am happy!" is akin to it. There are other God-concepts too, but this one is explained at some length on the previous page.How man and women are generated from inside is laid bare through an old philosophy (Samkhya), and yoga teachings about the bodies (layers, sheaths) of man (and woman. He says the Way is to reverse the out-going action and speed toward the core. That could be good for you, if you do it well enough and use methods that serve you.
On this page the guru's teachings about the Fall are found to be at fault, so read on if you can tackle all the stiff bible stuff.
Greatly Hailed Guides that Do Not Tell the Truth Violate Believers
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| Jan Gossaert. Adam and Eve in Paradise. Ca. 1525 (section) |
The guru of Self-Realization Fellowship certainly claims much on behalf of his guru. Bosses who over-claim may make the minds of adherents overstretch or over-bend - all of which may bring unpleasant fruits. Try to have freedom of mind to think your own thoughts; it could help very much in the long run, but may also endanger good development of mind as time goes by. It depends on what sort of thoughts you think and how conform they are, among other things ...
Hence, there are verily dangers in blind believing - which Yukteswar spoke against in his day.
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YOUR INNER wisdom sees to that you're centred in truth and other things that matter as
well. Those who look to old men with grey beards for some help, may find themselves
disappointed too. The more disappointment, the more trust was perhaps put into Old Fogey or
Greybeard. The influence of an old man may travel far through ardent proselytising and foreign titles and words like sri this, sri that. Sri means holy, and is normally a free-wheeling sort of term. But Yukteswar chose it as part of his monk's name. Yes, truth can break through! What is called spiritual guidance, had better be centred in truth, for "God is a Spirit, and those who worship him, have to worship in spirit and truth," says Jesus. He also called a bad king a fox, and false Christs wolves. Those who are willing to see a new thing, may or may not do so. Willingness to see better truths than before depends on willingness and ability to see - to the follower of Jesus insight is a gift. Many who think highly of gurus and their wisdom, may get disappointed when they see how close they come to guru idolatry, Hare Krishna idolatry, and false gods and guides that are not genuine, but bad behind the curtains.
So let us have a look at Yukteswar and his stiff opinions
as to how Eden and the Fall are to be understood. To help the genuine search, the central
Bible material is included first. |
You may have seen that Yukteswar held and spread old yogi opinions about how man and woman are, imposing them on the first three chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The following is abbreviated to document main points about what the Bible says about man and woman there. We have based our selection on the New International Version (NIV), which is clearly one of the best, if not the best:
Genesis 1
God created man in his own image ... male and female. [27]God blessed them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." [28]
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good - the sixth day. [29]
Genesis 2
When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens - [4] no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, ... the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. [5-7]The Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. [8]
And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. [9]
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. [15]
And the Lord God commanded, "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when [the same day [TEV], in the day [most English translations], etc.] you eat of it you will surely die." [17] [Adam lived on for hundreds of years after that.]
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." [18] [Adam lived on for hundreds of years after that too -]
The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs [9] and closed up the place with flesh - the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. [21-22]
The man said, "This is ...called "woman," for she was taken out of man." [23]
For this reason a man will ... be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. [24]
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. [25]
Genesis 3
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| Titian: Adam and Eve (section) |
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?" [1]
The woman said to the serpent, "God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" [3]
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. [4]
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." [5]
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [6]
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. [7]
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. [8]
But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" [9]
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." [10]
And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" [11]
The man said, "The woman ... gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." [12]
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." [13]
So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. (etc) [14]
To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." [16]
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat of it," "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. [17]
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. [18]
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food till you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." [19]
Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. [20]
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. [21]
And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." [22]
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. [23]
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. [24]
Unsavoury Yukteswar interpretations
The yogi assertions are found towards the end of chapter 16 of Yogananda's Autobiography, which is here: [LINK]There is good reason to try and sort out significant happenings in these chapters. A go:
A - Bible evidence
GOD SAW all that he had made, was very good. [Gen 1:29] However, things took a nasty turn after that.In consequence The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. [Gen 3:21] after saying:
"The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." [Gen 3:22]
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. [Gen 3:23] - After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. [Gen 3:24]
Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. [Gen 2:8] ¤
Alas. The Lord God had also commanded the man, "You're free to eat from any tree in the garden; [Gen 2:16] but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." [Gen 2:17] [Adam lived on for quite a long time after that and reached a rather remarkable age - 850 years, it is written. Thus, "some day" might be added to "When you eat of it you will surely die" in the light of it.] [T+, 1.2]
1 - Yukteswar's lore
THE HUMAN body was ... not solely a result of evolution from
beasts, but was produced by an act of special creation by God. The animal forms were too
crude to express full divinity; the human being was uniquely given a tremendous mental
capacity—the 'thousand-petalled lotus' of the brain—as well as acutely awakened occult
centres in the spine.INFRA DIG according to the Bible: Man and woman were not "a result of evolution from beasts, but ... produced by an act of special creation".God, or the divine consciousness [mind] present within the first created pair, counselled them to enjoy all human sensibilities, but not to put their concentration on touch sensations. [18] These were banned in order to avoid the development of the sex organs, which would enmesh humanity in the inferior animal method of propagation. The warning not to revive subconsciously-present bestial memories was not heeded. Resuming the way of brute procreation, Adam and Eve fell from the state of heavenly joy natural to the original perfect man.
INFRA DIG AGAIN: Touch sensations were "banned in order to avoid the development of the sex organs". The Bible takes you into this: having sex was not denied them, it was a certain knowledge of good and evil that was denied them then. And that is different.
REASON and feeling remain in a heaven of cooperative joy so long as the human mind is not tricked by the serpentine energy of animal propensities.
God created the human species by materialising the bodies of man and woman through the force of his will; He endowed the new species with the power to create children in a similar 'immaculate' or divine manner. [16] Because his manifestation in the individualised soul had hitherto been limited to animals, instinct-bound and lacking the potentialities of full reason, God made the first human bodies, symbolically called Adam and Eve. The personal responsibility of every human being is to restore his 'parents' or dual nature to a unified harmony or Eden."
INFRA DIG, POSSIBLY: "Materialising the bodies of man and woman through the force of his will" - immaculate manner - dual Eden harmony. The Bible says in one of its two back-up stories that man was first, alone and lonely too, but in Eden.The 'serpent' represents the coiled-up spinal energy which stimulates the sex nerves. 'Adam' is reason, and 'Eve' is feeling. When the emotion or Eve-consciousness in any human being is overpowered by the sex impulse, his reason or Adam also succumbs. ¤
IMPOSING TAMING MATTERS: The Bible does not tell "The 'serpent' represents the coiled-up spinal energy which stimulates the sex nerves." That is another story imposed on what Genesis tells about the birth of man and woman.
2 - Some more points to this
How to increase in number: Humans were banished from Eden because God did not want them to live for ever, the Bible says.The Bible says God told man and woman to increase in number, just as he had told animals earlier. The animals have sex for it. Men and women increase in number by sex too. That God asked Adam and Eve to have sex earlier than the fall, could be evidenced here: ""I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing [Gen 3:16]". If they did not have had sex before, increase would be a wrong word.
Thus, Yukteswar's rallying is founded on something else than Bible evidence. (1) Man and woman disobeyed a direct order (2) and got knowledge. (3) And God did not want them to get immortal on top of that. That is what the Bible tells you.
The Bible teaches: "animated dust, not heightened animal": Yukteswar asserts that man and woman came from animals as a special creation. The Bible speaks of animated dust (consisting of elements), not of animals in such a context. [Genesis 2:5-7]
Thus, Yukteswar reads things into the Bible which are not told there.
Divine consciousness, is that all?: God is spoken of by Yukteswar as divine consciousness inside the first pair. And the Bible tells:
"The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord ... But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you? [Genesis 3:8-9]"
God was walking, talking, sowing clothes of skin, [v 21] and later, when Abraham lived, he ate veal as well.
The guru is indeed stretching the ancient imagery to conform to hoary godhead teachings. The question is just how fair that is, all in all.
- but touch was not banned in the Bible: Touch sensations were not banned, contrary to the guru's claims.
- Adam was to work Eden and take care of it. [Gen 2:15]
- There was no shame in being naked. [Gen 2:15]
- Adam and Eve were to be one flesh and increase in number (through childbirths), it seems fair to say. [Cf. Gen 3:16]
- Most important, the Bible tells Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden because they disobeyed orders, got forbidden knowledge etc, not because they had sex. The guru seems to be tampering with evidence here too.
From beasts - materialised -: Yukteswar seems to be sitting on two chairs: On the one hand he says man and woman did not come solely from beasts [see above]. On the other he holds, "God created the human species by materialising the bodies of man and woman through the force of his will [see above]. It seems he says two things in the matter. Can he have it both ways?
To read things into a faith is far from lovely and responsible if it is tendentious far and wide.
Tantra outlooks introduced: The serpent and the sex: The guru has kundalini yoga outlooks. They are transposed onto Bible matters. The snake force he has in mind, is called kundalini in Tantra yoga. Professor John Woodroffe has written many books on the subject. [Tåg; Kuo;]
If balancing work is needed, go deeper: The outlook on balancing reason and feeling is far-fetched. There is reason to say that if deep feelings are snatched away, reason dwindles and dies, because reason is like the surface of inner apperceptions, through which inner perceptions (including attitudes, will forces and feelings) talk. This outlook links up to psychoanalytic findings.
And the need, then, is to plunge to a level of no pretence, not of doing surfacing balance work. In the common adaptations between husband and wife, coitus helps such plunging, deep, inner feelings at times, and forms the reasons for many things and outlets later. Otherwise, people do not have much of a choice in the long run; lots of emotions cannot be talked to deep or hard enough by reasoning. One gets jaded from much reasoning. One may reach flurries through lots of showed emotions. The jaded and the flurried do not seem to have much of a platform to build further on, and divorces increase these days.
We are ready for another round.
B - Bible evidence
God said, "Let the land produce vegetation" ... and there was morning—the third day. [Gen 1:11-13]When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up ... the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. [Gen 2:1-5]
That should be before any beasts formed on the fifth day ... but the two versions appear to contradict each other as to plants and men and their order. It hardly matters in our context:
"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground," said God. [Gen 1:26]
According to this version animals were created first.
Adam named his wife Eve [Eve probably means "living"], because she would become the mother of all the living. [Gen 3:20]
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. [Gen 2:25]
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." [Gen 1:28]
Gross disobedience put a stop to the good times, the Bible says:
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat of it," "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. [Gen 3:17] - It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. [Gen 3:18] - By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food till you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." [Gen 3:19]
This took place after the Lord God had made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. [Gen 2:9] ¤
After tasting the fruit of knowledge, man had to leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two of them would become one flesh. [See Gen 2:24]
You may ask why.
THE WOMAN was the first human who saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [Gen 3:6] - Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. [Gen 3:7] - Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God ... and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. [Gen 3:8]
The Lord God had taken the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. [Gen 2:15] after the Lord God had formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. [Gen 2:7]
Basic family business appears:
The Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" [Gen 3:9] - He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." [Gen 3:10] - And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" [Gen 3:11] - The man said, "The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." [Gen 3:12] - Then the ... woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." [Gen 3:13] ¤
God, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." [Gen 3:16]
THE SERPENT was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?" [Gen 3:1] - "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. [Gen 3:4] - "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." [Gen 3:5] [T+, 2.1]
1 - Yukteswar's findings
"ITS 'TREE of life' is the human body. The spinal cord is like an upturned tree, with man's hair as its roots, and afferent and efferent nerves as branches.TO THESE (bodies), for advantageous upward evolution, He transferred the souls or divine essence of two animals. In Adam or man, reason predominated; in Eve or woman, feeling was ascendant. Thus was expressed the duality or polarity which underlies the phenomenal worlds.
Yogananda: "I glanced with new respect at the pages of Genesis. "Dear Master,' I said, "for the first time I feel a proper filial obligation toward Adam and Eve!"
2 - To this
Upside down: The guru points out that the nervous system in man looks like a tree upside down, and that two animal souls were allowed to climb it (upward evolution) and continue to express polarities. And how are these two animal souls doing now? Are all in human bodies growing apes? That is reductionist thinking. Let us be fair: The Bible evidence is different, much different. See above.- Getting naked into the garden of life;
- Growing up into knowledge of good and evil;
- Becoming one flesh;
- Learning to sew and hopefully already knowing how to take care of one's own plot of land before things get serious;
- Childbearing - opening the door to later children - progeny;
- Etc.
Have no obligations from wrong interpretations:
Yukteswar's disciple Yogananda next claims a proper filial obligation, due to
the discourse that runs over and around good Bible findings. You have to ask yourself how
good that is, just as with taking bribes.
C - Bible evidence
The Lord God said,"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."—Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. [Gen 2:18, 21]
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. [Gen 2:22]
The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called "woman," for she was taken out of man." [Eve: "living"] [Gen 2:23]
¤¤¤
So the Lord God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. [Gen 3:14] - And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (5) [Gen 3:15] [T+, 3.1]
2 - Clearing up
God created man in his own image ... male and female he created them. [Gen 1:27]The Story of Creation contains nothing at all about a fall due to having sex. Yukteswar goes against many salient points and the substantial content of the Bible tale, e.g.:
"The tree of the nervous system bears many enjoyable fruits, or sensations of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. In these, man may rightfully indulge; but he was forbidden the experience of sex, the 'apple' at the centre of the bodily garden." - Yukteswar.But the Bible presents man as made in the image of God, as a physical being that is not due to falls, but Creator pleasures far and wide. God took pleasure in designing human life fit for sex and gardening, the Bible shows.
Jesus: "Truth shall make you free. [Matt 12:50]" It may pay to back up something better than misleading, too tendentious misrepresentations and ballyhoo.
One more swami outlook:
"Genesis ... cannot be grasped by a literal interpretation". - Yukteswar.
Two problems accrue:
- If you do not stick to the text and base yourself on it, you get tendentious and may lead astray -
- If you free yourself from the text that is present (Bible chapters given), you remove yourself from substantiation of your outlooks. A call for more or less wild faith may be next, unfortunately.
Mangalam (Onword)
If you seek influence (input), seek the best influence you can get. Bear in mind your own part in quering: "How call out in the mountain pass, will termine your echo." In other words, make sure to consult proficient people in the areas you seek information. Maybe you need a second opinion. Buddha tells in the famous Kalama Sutta how to proceed in such matters.It seems that neither Yukteswar nor Yogananda were sex addicts. But know that yoga has room for such activities too (tantra). The art of loving in various ways is not neglected.
One should have a platform to stand on. If not, build one. It helps against futile faith, that is, indoctrination.
On the next page there are a few Gedanken Experiments. It is a method that suits some at times, but not everybody all the time. The enemy in Yogananda's universe should not be sound investigations that can assist naive, gullible minds before they get wholly subject to false views and maladaptations.
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| Literature | SECTION | First Page |
Link
Sailendra Das Gupta:
Kriya Yoga and Sri Yukteswar Books
Ak: Yogananda, Pa.: Man's Eternal Quest. SRF. Los Angeles, 1975.Alk: Beck, Thomas: Astrologisk leksikon. Teknologisk forlag. Oslo, 1993.
Aso: Asimov, Isaak: Om tall. Dreyer. Oslo, 1980.
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.
Ha: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). Los Angeles, 1981.
Hom: Berne, Eric: What Do You Say After You Say Hello? The Psychology of Human Destiny. Bantam. New York, 1973.
Hos: Yukteswar, sw: The Holy Science. 7th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), Los Angeles, 1972.
Mas: SRF: Self-Realization Fellowship: Golden Anniversary. SRF. Los Angeles, 1970.
Maso: Mayo, Jeff: Astrology. Rev ed. Hodder and Stoughton. Sevenoaks, 1979.
Mux: Bühler, G. tr: The Laws of Manu. Banarsidass (Reprint from Oxford University's 1886-edition). Delhi, 1984.
Pa: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). Los Angeles, 1971. – ONLINE 1st edition
Say: Yogananda, Pa.: Sayings of Yogananda. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1958.
Scf: Yogananda, Pa.: Scientific Healing Affirmations. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1958.
Scp: Yogananda, Pa.: The Science of Religion. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1953.
Sob: Self-Realization Fellowship: Paramahansa Yogananda in Memoriam. SRF. Los Angeles, 1958.
Viom: Jolly, Julius tr: The Institutes of Vishnu. Banarsidass. Delhi, 1965.
Whip: Yogananda, Pa.: How You Can Talk with God. SRF. Los Angeles, 1969.
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