Yukteswar Teachings
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A Few Yukteswar Stories
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Teachings are by words and deeds and what is accepted too.
And then there are revealing stories - narratives.
People can learn a whole lot essential matter from stories, as seen from fables, anecdotes, and many other kinds of stories. The psychologist Jerome Bruner informs that narrative thinking may go deeply into people and their plights on the one hand, and is a structure for organizing knowledge, and also is a vehicle in science education, and essential to life in a culture as a perspective-giver and the like. [Coe 39-40, 113, 119, 130, etc.] [LINK]
How people live tend to reveal things about them, but allow for some leeway. For one's lot in life is not always fair, and one's reputation can be undeserved - easier lost than won, some say. And lives contain stories. When told of, those stories may be more or less edged and biased.
There are some stories of Yukteswar in Yogananda's Autobiography, and some others here and there, from other sources in the main kriya tradition. Below are a few of them.
Under the Bed
Yukteswar recounts the days before he was initiated by Shyama Charan Lahiri in Varanasi (Banaras),
"Earlier in my life, even though I enjoyed hearing about wandering monks and so on, when I would hear very unusual stories about them, rascal ideas would come to my head, and however I could I would use many different methods to prove those stories false.
"I often heard of a well-known yogi from his devotees and disciples; every night he would sit still in a crosslegged pose (yogasana) in mid-air (levitating). When the devotees began to spread the word of that feat even more, one evening I silently lay down under the bed of the yogi, being extremely careful. Then the yogi entered the room, closed the door, and lay down.
"Time passed on. I remained completely quiet under the bed till I got restless. Then I lost my patience and said, "What? You didn't float up in the air?"
"The yogi hurriedly got up and said, "Oh, you are under the bed, you punk! No wonder my samadhi wasn't good tonight!"" [Retold]
Yukteswar hurried to learn to sit cross-legged in kriya yoga
WHEN YUKTESWAR was known as Priya Nath Karar, he knew a man called Goswami. Every day Goswami would lock himself away in a room. Priya got very curious over it and asked the man,
"What are you doing in that room?"
"Something I learned from a yogi in Varanasi (Banaras)," said the other.
A curious thing happened. Priya became desperate to get to Varanasi, but the other refused to tell the name of the yogi who had initiated him. Despite it, Priya went by train to Varanasi as quickly as he could without knowing the name or address of the yogi. He made many enquiries. Eventually he was directed to the house of the Lahiris there. He entered the house and went to a room where a yogi was seated cross-legged and wholly silent, absorbed within and surrounded by a small circle of disciples. The scene stirred Priya.
Eventually the room was empty. Then Priya got nearer to the yogi and said, "You are my guru of many lifetimes."
Shyama Lahiri smiled kindly, face beaming with inner happiness. He told Priya to take a bath and return in silk. After that he was initiated. - [Retold]
A Thick Fog
ONCE ON A TIME:
Yukteswar had many disciples in an area of West Bengal called Midnapore. The guru told that the people in Midnapore were country people and not highly 'shooled'. Instead they were greatly advanced spiritually and in kriya.
He liked to visit these great men and women from time to time. To get there it was necessary to use a boat across a river. During one such trip it was dusk when he and some followers boarded the boat and began to row across.
Night fell on. A thick fog began to settle over the river. Then Priya spontaneously began to slip into lost outer consciousness. The followers did not know what to do and the fog was so thick and dark. A follower recalled: What happened was spooky and eerie. Priya was lost to the world when one of the followers called out,
"Where is Midnapore?"
Then Priya spoke out from his samadhi (trance state) in a distant, strained voice:
""Midnapore - is - not - of - this - world -".
Then he sank back again.
After recounting the stories we might sit in silence for a while and contemplate on any significance.
Gedanken Experiments and Yukteswar
Yukteswar Naked below Zero
IMAGINE Yukteswar or someone else dangling naked in the bitter cold near the North
Pole, 50 centigrades below zero. A thousand pounds of lead are tied to his tongue with an octopus grip, thousands of pounds are hanging underneath him there.Let us guess he cannot raise his tongue to become a success at tongue-lifter panting, that is, at kriya yoga in such a plight. Now an ice-bear comes up to him where he hangs, and grunts, "According to Yogananda, here is what Yukteswar teaches: "Forget the past . . . The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.—Those who are too good for this world are adorning some other." [LINK] [Ha 116, 118]
Comment
The picture of the hanged man who cannot lift his tongue, serves to illustrate the universal value of Yukteswar's utterances. Now for the teachings:- If you forget your past totally, you forget your identity and cannot even go to bed tonight. Amnesia is tough to handle. Learn from the past so as to improve your lot in life and build good future effects.
- All men are not alike. Some men are good.
- Human conduct is not always unreliable, many function and work quite reliably.
- The Eden interpretations of Yukteswar show how reliable he himself was when was anchored as Yogananda tells.
- The idea that everything in the future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now, needs to be appraised by realism. Everything in future will hardly improve if you are making a correct spiritual effort now, but hopefully some things will, due to your influence. Try and build safeguards to let it happen if you can, to the degree you can. "Man should try to build himself a lot of good karma" - [Buddha]. Buddha's karma teachings explain these matters better. [LINK]
- Let others try to adorn the world; you go about your business.
Bombastic utterances may cause faith that is without any foundation and without evidence either. Pretty often persons believe what their hearts have strong needs to believe, no matter what. These persons may have health problems.
More Thought Experiments
One more Gedanken experiment. The disciple's tiny grandson is caught by the mob and is equipped with cement shoes. They find a river and throw him in, while they shoot six bullets in his back, saying the murderous:"Everything - every murder - in the future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now. That is faith." The chances are the grandson is done away with, despite his possible faith, "Everything in future will improve for me if only I can gasp well * now." Should we think every bruise and cement shoe he has got, and every thistle, will improve? Improve - what is it, really?
* An allusion to kriya yoga or deep breathing.Find a nice way to get self-assured yourself, and refrain as much as you can from parroting SRF slogan rides. In Sayings of Yogananda [Say], Yogannanda thinks the Yukteswar quotation about forgetting the past and making a spiritual effort now" is the most inspiring passage in the Autobiography of a Yogi to the average reader. [Say 45] Regrettably. For he also says, "I can bet that ninety-nine percent of the people do not know in what lies their own good. [Dr 87]". And, "Very few people know in what lies their own good. By this one criterion you can judge anyone. Ninety-nine percent of all people fail under this test. [Ak 321]"
When these words of Yogananda are combined well, it stands out: "Don't get Yogananda-inspired to your loss." "What most people get inspired by, is not for their own good." In other words:
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| Is the extracted wisdom tooth improving as you gaze on it while Yogananda disciples make spiritual efforts in California? |
- Neither repress nor forget the depraved past; live on top of that. Trees do. Learn from it instead. It is most often fair. You need a certain amount of stubborness or obstinacy to live along.
- Everything (for everyone) in the future will hardly improve at once if you do kriya yoga right now, but every little helps. Thus, stick to your effective spiritual self-help practice to improve a lot and your future lot. Maybe the fruits of your well-directed efforts come later. Do not worry about that, and be neither humbled nor outsmarted by what Yogananda claims. Guess: "Everything may not improve, such as my extracted teeth, but I will do what I can anyway".
5. India Has Much to Say
"India has much to learn," said Babaji to Yukteswar
We learn from the Autobiography of a Yogi that Sri Yukteswar one day strolled about and reflected. He was told by the secretive guru Babaji,"For the faults of the many, judge not the whole. Everything on earth [why not EGOHOOD too?] is of mixed character ... Many (Indian) sadhus ... wander in delusion"
Sri Yukteswar: "I have been thinking of the leading scientific men of the West, greater by far in intelligence than most people congregated here ... They are the men who could benefit greatly by meetings with India's masters. But . . ."
"I saw that you are interested in the West" ... Babaji's face beamed with approval. "I summoned you here.
"India has much to learn ..." [Best source: Autobiography of a Yogi, ch 36] [Ha 332-3]
"The Hindu Scriptures Declare" borders on Demagoguery
There are many Hindu scriptures, and they do not all teach alike. And Yogananda had much else to learn than not overdoing things. For example, it shows up that what he stated was "our greatest enemy" were different things, not just one thing. In one place Yogananda says ignorance is mankind's worst enemy, just like the American proverb, "Your ignorance is your worst enemy." But Yogananda also says "The greatest enemy of happiness in this country is the bills"; not the devil on Yogananda's chest - [LINK].Can you manage sober language? Being being factual instead of trying to be impressive? Being thoroughly sachlich (factual, realistic, matter-of-fact, objective) is very good.
"The Hindu scriptures declare that those who habitually speak the truth develop the power of materialising their words. What commands they utter from the heart come to pass. (Yoga Sutras II:36.) [Pa 239n]
Yukteswar also said to the young Yogananda, "I shall give you my hermitages and all I possess." [Pa 94] It does not sound nice in the light of this: Yogananda did not get it. Yukteswar's flesh-and-blood family inherited and took over of his real estate in Yogananda's life-time.
"Yukteswar achieved identity with the Ruler of time and space," wrote Yogananda. [Pa 121]
Yukteswar: "a master in every way". [Ak 99] "My master, Sri Yukteswarji, ... had control over all natural forces". (Yogananda). [Say 39]. In more than one place he talks of that every word a master utters, has to come true, and yet it did not happen. Babaji is into a near-identical teaching when he meets Yukteswar for the first time, and Yukteswar's disciple Yogananda came to the conclusion that the word of Yukteswar obliged the cosmos.
"On earth my standards were uncomfortably high". - Sri Yuktewar [LINK].
Now what can we learn? That it furthered Yukteswar's and Yogananda's reputation that Yogananda crossed the great ocean and perseveringly duped many Americans, formed a fellowship, SRF, and got its monks and nuns to work for him and publish his talks and books "over there"? One third of the SRF monastics left the SRF premises around 2002, in part as a result of weeping and lamenting. Some struggled to put words on their experiences and grievous disappointments on the SRF Walnus discussion board, which is online. Such monastics realised their main efforts over years had been futile, and hence faulty. They should not have been Yogananda-inspired the way they were, in other words. It stands out
♦ "Sailor men 'ave their faults,' said the nightwatchman frankly. 'I'm not denying it. I used to 'ave myself when I was at sea." [W. W. Jacobs, in Tq 464]
Big words don't fatten the cabbage
This page is devoted to the problem of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, that is, what Tweededum allegedly said, according to Tweedledee. I have gone a long way to show that Tweedledee is far from reliable in all his teachings, even though his fellowship really claims so. It is laughable.What if half a million Americans believe Yogananda's Yukteswar is always right and thereby have a shared problem, in part quite as Yogananda says - that 99 percent are wrong? Are the basic alternatives to adequate study, sound inspection and reaching fair judgement really worthwhile? It is unbecoming to trust tall-looking figures through the force of authority and stupefying authority alone. Good evidence is to be sought before judging; that approach is often needed. [Cf. LINK 1, LINK 2]
Then remember to ask for evidence. Recounts are graded as poor evidence in science. Things and plans may work out well if assisted or supplanted by sensible realism and proper efforts, and so on. If the guru decrees one thing and the cosmos shows another, trust the world evidence. Besides, the intelligent should take care and favour their health, Lahiri Babasays [Iv 179, 181, 184, 187, 194, passim].
If "fairest gems lie deepest," as a proverb suggests, the worth that the public thinks highly of, may not count much. Or maybe it does. The evidence is that Yukteswar was not quite up to his word on at least a few occasions - but ironically, that again rests on the value of Yogananda as a truthful witness (Skr Sakshi).
Authenticity matters much, and to be deep as well.
With a little light, avatary
In his commentary to the Amritabindu Upanishad Shyama Lahiri says that putting the attention of the mind away from the ultimate Self is the defect, dosa. But regular, correct focusing (riveting) of the attention on the area between the eyebrows helps overcome some defects of mind. And a few months of kriya practice makes one like the gods of mysterious powers he says too. In the marvellous state of Mind after doing kriya right and long enough, a liberated one (Jivamukta) "acts and yet he does not act, he speaks yet he is silent" [Ut 47, 60, 64-65].Who is crank? It is for you to find out.
Realized yogis may for example seem absent-minded in extremes too. One one occasion Lahiri Baba had a need to bandage his foot, bleeding after getting hit by a stone. Then he bandaged the wrong foot. [MORE]
Buddha justly warns against company with fools, but who are they in the light of "It is a proverb, "It is a fool who cannot hide his wisdom." [MORE]
No to being hoodwinked
Fit things to do to include going for righteous vibrations. Some of them can bring good knowledge about Self and much else. [Iv 89-90]. One should try not to succumb to, but get out of nasty conditions and their deep influence or conditioning. Impressive looks and words that get hurt in the face by truthful documentation, are less worthwhile than seeking within to get more worthy too.Out of conditioning: study matters
We are generally allowed to be circumspect with teachers or gurus; it is part of the Indian "tradition of guru-handling" at any rate. Rise above animalistic dogmatic levels and stand tall. Individual assets tie in with the uniqueness within. So the wise saying could indeed hold water: "Where they think (and act) the same, they should learn to do it better". However, there are forms and variants of conformity that do good.If you cannot trust yourself ...
Do not give away your assets as a beginner. Most people cannot really trust themselves in all respects either, according to Yogananda (above). You can overtax your welcomes and goodwill. To show sane and sensible moderation, is a part of Buddha's splendid middle way of avoiding extremes and plod on, so to speak. In science and Buddha's teachings belief needs to be tackled as a working hypothesis or a bundle of such items. You should not go much into what somebody else believes, but what he or she can document and assess with courteous accuracy and plausibility. That is fair counsel.Still better: "Don't ask what you can do for reincarnation theory [gurus, teachers, and so on], but what it can do for you." (Compare John Kennedy's sayings about what to do for you and America)
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Literature
Ak: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Man's Eternal Quest. New ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1986.
Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Philosophical Library, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
Bhg: Sri Yukteswar, Swami. Bhagavad Gita. Portland, Mn: Yoganiketan, 2002. On-line at www.yoganiketan.net
Coe: Bruner, Jerome. The Culture of Education. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Dr: Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Divine Romance. New ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1993.
Ha: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). Los Angeles, 1981.
Hos: Yukteswar, sw: The Holy Science. 7th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), Los Angeles, 1972.
Iv: Satyeswarananda, swami, tr. Inner Victory: With Lahiri Mahasay's Commentaries. San Diego: The Sanskrit Classics, 1987.
Ky: Dasgupta, Sailendra B. Kriya Yoga and Sri Yukteshvar. Np: Yoganiketan, 1998. On-line: [yoganiketan.net/kriyayoga/index.htm].
Pa: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). Los Angeles, 1971. – ONLINE 1st edition
Say: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.
Tq: Cohen, M. J., ed. The Penguin Thesaurus of Quotations. London: Penguin Books, 1999.
Ut: Satyeswarananda, swami, tr. Complete Works of Lahiri Mahasay Vol. III: The Upanisads: The Vedic Bibles. San Diego: The Sanskrit Classics, 1992.
Ym: Satyananda, Swami. Swami Sri Yukteshvar Giri Maharaj. A Biography. Portland, Mn: Yoganiketan, 2004. On-line at www.yoganiketan.net
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