Kriya Study 4
 3  3  4  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Kriya Swearing
 |
| "Do not swear the kriya oath to save yourself!" What does it mean? [See a larger section and NOTE 1] |
Different kriya oaths are presented below. Much material on this page is moved here from a page on Babaji, and other parts from pages that deal with the teachings of the guru Paramahansa Yogananda. Many teachers of kriya yoga relate to Babaji, but their oaths are different. And some do not relate to Babaji.
Being afterwise is not always helpful. So before you commit yourself and "swear in", consider the consequences, for example of giving up essential parts of human freedom and being subjected to gurus that may be drummed up as if by whim (the Yogananda problem). Or consider how unlikely it is that you stay true to your word after swearing the SRF kriya pledge - Let us talk of some of the pledges that are around.
Some points - warming up
According to SRf guru teachings, in your inner self recedes what is needed to live on well. It is interesting, to say the least. Then, on the other hand, there are some who think they could need a helping hand. And how does it feel to be fooled by it?Glimpses into an Interesting Pledge
"I accept sat-guru Kriya Babaji as my ideal (...)
|
NOTE: To pledge through figurative terms is stupid. You have to get the clear meanings of "be a balm", "be drink and food", "be a bed for those who need a bed". How many beds or how big a bed is that? In sum: the pledge may fit "door-mats of guilt". It seems likely that one may be "a fellow creature" and get a better deal of living than what the pledge above allows room for as you surrender completely to be used a lot. Consider that.
Self-Realization Fellowship pledge
The Yogananda-founded Self-Realization Fellowship operates through another pledge. There you pledge unconditional loyalty, love and devotion to the six gurus of the SRF deal. One of them is Babaji; another is Jesus who warned against other Masters than himself. Jesus says the soul can be destroyed, Yogananda and Shyama Lahiri teach differently. Uluckily for Jesus? And the kriya gurus teach differently than Krishna too, in important respects. Krishna says the world is real and those who teach differently are demoniac, whereas three of the kriya gurus say explicitly that the material world is illusory.How can you be loyal to teachings at odds with one another without a split mind or marked stupidity?
The SRF kriya pledge is not kind to you. It is oath that ties a follower hand and foot [LINK].
In the wide kriya tradition and in Hinduism in general as well, there may be changes of minor gurus. The disciple is moved from one to another. It happens, can be fair, and is seldom thought to be odious. In this respect, teachings of Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship differ. They fix a binding relationship to six unmet or hardly met gurus. There is a whole lot of conformity involved. Conformity may work for good, bad, or in between. It can be hard to say which effects will weigh heaviest in a life, for persons are individual, that is, there is a seed of uniqueness involved in some as they evolve throughout life. [LINK]
It is quite impossible to know beforehand or dictate yourself what and how you will feel through the years to come. Think of if: One day you pledge unconditional devotion - which is getting bound to feel in much the same way for the rest of your life, no matter what. Can you do it? Do you have that foresight and control over your happenings? Then you would be divine and in no need of help, presumably. We cannot resist reproducing a part of Yogananda's kriya oath from 1921, when he had been in the United States for half a year. At that time there was not any demand that you should love six gurus. Yogananda dictated the following on 10 January 1921.
I promise and swear to act according to the following rules.
|
There could have been other versions at that time. Now spreading the cause in every way is an alarming demand. There is no limit to it; a guru is given all power. If the guru Yogananda says "Dance naked in the streets of Boston to attract attention to this cause" to one of his first initiates, a dentist's wife, she would be obliged to dance naked on the streets of Boston. Because she had been made to swear "in every way". Dancing naked or with veils in front of the guru is absolutely not outside it . . . Poor gurus.
The said, extreme misery of not sticking to the oath involves several incarnations of torture and sufferings, Yogananda divulges in a talk. Now his yoga fellowship has another oath, where the guru fixes your feelings claims your total loyalty to him and maybe five unmet others too. All may not turn bad for you when you fail to keep the astounding pledge if you drop the guru after being sworn in, but are you willing to take the chances? Why put your head on the block in the first place? Why swear a stupid oath? You might be better off without it, as you are likely to get outsmarted if you relinquish useful and savoury freedom degrees.
Someone: "I have problems with that pledge!"
"I accept Sathguru Kriya Babaji as my ideal and will contemplate on these and dedicate
myself in similar fashion.
|
BEFORE you sign a contract and enter a deal, a pact, consider it carefully, and ponder the
long-range consequences too. It is wise to do that. It helps against overstretching in any severe way. The effects may last a lifetime.
Why promise more than you have control over (and can manage) yourself? Promising this and
that over your head may not work out well in the long run. And to pledge oneself by way of
metaphors is a blunder.There are many metaphors above, where one pledges to give up oneself indefinitely - Babaji has given up himself too, it is stated elsewhere, and "you have given your word, you are tied by it."
Have you become interested in knowing where the gain is? Is it in getting your way paved or being a pavement for others? Is it in being served or being a servant? It depends. Sagacity of living comes into these matters. There is not any deep need to support those who live only for momentary pleasures, or support skating on very thin ice without considering consequences. Jesus taught it is greater to serve - but not foolish skaters and seekers of momentary pleasures alone: It matters to know it - and that you cannot say Jesus is absolutely right here either. Or let us say you find it fit to bring food to a drowning man against better judgement - If so you have been too trusting. Do not hold dumb service to be of great value. There are better things to do, such as being educated and learn a profession well. You can then support some others, even some monastics if you feel for it and if they are not unworthy of your decency.
Have you considered who determines the metaphors at any time and their most valid meanings? Is it yourself? You should know it beforehand. Thus: Included in the promise to be a bed, does the promise-giver insist on becoming a mattress too? Not necessarily, but what's a bed without a good mattress? It is something, not someone.
You want to be punished; you seek warmth from the moon. You seek to be punished, then you treat your body and mind rougher. You may even make yourself "thingish" in your own mind, by making up your mind about it. Punished by the dwindling "dear me", by not showing gentle concern for yourself and your needs may topple your future and make you less jolly and more cramped. Is that how far your guilt wants to get rid of you?
One day you might stop, think and wonder if it is better to maintain a laundry instead, and get your own refrigerator. Some are not prepared for it.
Good beginner questions
Back to the "riverbed pledge" above: "Why not also "I will be a river bed for those who need a river bed"?"Beginner questions are often great. Will you
- Be greatly served towards getting your goals or meeting with your end - asking sincerely for such as "the Real Thing" and great success, or
- Become the incredibly self-effacing servant who is in for so-called extinction or not so-called extinction?
- Or none of these set-up alternatives?
- Can more be added here - now or later, maybe?
Now, what is left if you surrender yourself wholly? And what is gaining the end? And if you surrender just apparently, why use such a word? How difficult must it be to progress after you have surrendered free will, autonomy and the right to remonstrate? [You do not know, is the bet.]
And what about some vivacity and esprit here - I mean: is not good and child-natured frivolity all right in the greatest freedom?"
Beginner questions are often great. Become like children, asked Jesus. They are true beginners in lots of areas. He also told us to be clever - that is taken to be brilliant as well.
On our guard like good Scotland Yard and CIA agents?
What is set up appears to run like this:"Although you have some freedom - a good fare and sound autonomy - surrender it for a long-range goal, a goal that encompasses those sort of things (called moksha) anyhow."
There is sound freedom and not sound freedom. If you are up to it, you know how to deal with the freedom degrees that are yours too. Ask too, how far is it the freedom that Jesus gave his own as friends of his - or a freedom to be had once and for all, all along? Might it be the freedom of caught fish? "I will make you fishers of men," Jesus told Peter and others of his disciples.
We could be on our guard and learn to ask: "Is there room for solid evidence or fair play here? Is there enough concern for me or my own hard-won liberty in these schemes? Could it be that we should try to get along through own efforts?"
Complicated
But he also told his disciples,I have spoken openly to the world," [said Jesus to the high priest]. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. [John 18:19-21]
Here we find that Jesus communicated two different things where just one would be truth-telling. Repeat: In his replies in Sanhedrin he said he had taught openly. In Matthew 13 he took to insider instructions. No man can reconcile these two pieces of the bible. In some other passages too he seems to venture "out on a limb".
Various quotes are found in different contexts. Our quotes go into central teachings. How to reconcile various bud-looking Babaji-messages with teachings of other gurus and Jesus? Jesus advocates fairness on top of solid inspection in some contexts. For the lack of it you may be taken in and deceived. It can be quite hard to learn to consider much in advance.
Let us be fair and note the melodies, the dissonances with genuine all-round Christianity as laid bare by the New Testament.
Old
Must I become a mere mask to be reckoned with here?Look to the fruits and berries, that is, the consequences. They had better serve your freedom and artistic fairness, frivolous mirth and growing self-sufficiency. That may be of the best compound tips so far.
In order to gain the Real Thing?To make my life a success
there was a need to be me -
just myself in my own right.
And what about your innermost or divine authority? Will it be taken care of full well?
Can old and new gurus play like children or better? There are some men around that would rather die than that, it seems. They tend to be over-estimated. They may not have enough personal liberty and so on. As a matter of fact, there are certain vital things that need to be guarded thoroughly.
Non-violence
It pays to be fully informed of vital things beforehand. What about this?:A Babaji-found emissary to the West, kriya-guru Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) taught non-violence, or non-harm, ahimsa. It is a first step in the yoga he stood for, and some modifications are allowed. When World War 2 broke out, Yogananda sent followers to fight in the war. So his non-violence was not any absolute principle. In the SRF Lessons from thirty-odd years ago, that did not stand out well, to the effect that a reader got puzzled and dropped many social advantages too, advantages gained by attacking problems and studies, and just sticking to that afterwards.
Contrary to the yogic ahimsa (non-harm), attacking oneself is not good. It seems very unfriendly. A dreary and confusing thing was that the Babaji emissary who taught non-violence also wanted followers to attack and kill the ego. What sort of morbid non-violence is that? The ego in psychoanalytic thinking is a dear, irreplaceable personality instance, namely " in psychoanalytic theory, that portion of the human personality which is experienced as the "self" or "I" and is in contact with the external world through perception. It is the part which remembers, evaluates, plans, and in other ways is responsive to and acts in the surrounding physical and social world." Ego "comprises, in Freud's term, the executive functions of personality; it is the integrator between the outer and inner worlds . . . The ego gives continuity and consistency to behaviour by providing a personal point of reference, which relates the events of the past (retained in memory) and actions of the present and of the future (represented in anticipation and imagination) . . .
Since the concept and structure of the ego were defined by Freud and explored by Jung, other theorists have developed somewhat different conceptualisations of the ego . . . In physical maturity, persons differ considerably in the forms and effectiveness of ego functioning . . . The person of strong ego . . . is objective . . . he can follow resolves, and choose decisively among alternatives; . . . he can resist immediate environmental and social pressure while contemplating and choosing a self-selected course."
On the other hand, the ego-weak person "is impulsive . . . perception of reality and self is distorted; he is less capable of productive work because his energy is drained into the protection of warped and unrealistic self-concepts; he may be burdened by neurotic symptoms."[Ebu "ego"].
"Unrealistic" and "burdened" - how many followers have developed into that as a result of ego-killer teachings? Some could slowly get more than confused by inconsistent guru guidance. The guru who infuses trust in others, when he or his fellowship change what has been maintained earlier, people may get problems and feel lost. And some could have got problems from the guidelines earlier too, depending on how bad they were in the first place. For example, in Yogananda's early aims and ideals for the fellowship he set up, he advocated nuts instead of meat. Now there are many who are allergic to nuts. Nuts can kill some. And nuts are not included in the SRF aims and ideals any longer . . . Hence, try to defend what is good for you. There are many central topics in a life. Many are taught to turn inwards to know them. Just how to do it may form part of standard methods too.
Besides, the intellect is from the higher mind too, and should not be looked down on. The Samkhya philosophy, advocated by Sri Yukteswar, shows some relationships involved. For it is precious, advances cultural understanding and values, appreciates excellence and learns to judge swindles. Some followers do look down on the divinely-descended intellect too, however, to their own shame.
"Each sect magnifies its own view," says Ramakrishna. When you are told to "kill the ego" - SRF gurus do repeatedly - you are getting misled and need an intellect and a healthy ego to combat the dangers. Killing and maiming central personality instances is not ahimsa: killing the ego is very violent. Go as gently as is good for yourself, then. [Rap 489] [LINK]
They include long-range consequenses too.
To learn kriya yoga you have to get initiated. To get initiated you have to swear things, an swearing is hardly good for you. "Do not swear," says the alleged Guru Jesus Christ.
We have taken a long, hard look at some kriya pledges, and know some of the kriya teachings too.
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) tells that kriya yoga is a "fire rite", a sacrifice where tbackbones are stripped [Ay ch 26; Ha 244] Are you sure you want it that way?
Kriya yoga ordinarily requires initiation. Successful outcome can help you deepen your mind and broaden your perspectives.
Knowledge about kriya yoga, its promises and dangers and pledges, even though it be second-hand knowledge, can be utterly valuable in that it saves you embarrassment to come. for those who commit to the fish traps that are set up for those who would love to learn it, are barbarian, but the surface may look endearingly all right all the same.
Kriya yoga initiation and practice work to your loss if you get deranged from them.
Not Deranged through Many Followers
If one man annoys neighbours long and hard enough, he may be sent to a funny farm. "We are all crazy," says the kriya guru Yogananda [Ak 425] "A little bit crazy, and we do not know it," says today's president of Yogananda's fellowship, Daya Mata, Merciful Mother. [On, "Qualities of a Devotee"]But the woman found it best to live away from the other nuns and monks who thought fondly of her till the truth came out: For long years she shunned the residents at the SRF headquarters and lived incognito in a villa. It was a shock to the fellowship when the news about how remote she was, came out through an Los Angeles Times article.
Do we seem baffled by guru statements against looking at woman, "at any cost" and having a woman president? She sought to live in better seclusion than a monastery would give, she chose a villa. She sought seclusion from others who sought seclusion together - and were wrong about her whereabouts. Mind how some conflicts can be helped, and how renunciation of living among renunciates helps - and may be looked on as proper.
In SRF they teach that the "purpose of life is the evolution, through self-effort of man's limited mortal consciousness into God Consciousness (SRF Aims and Ideals, 2nd paragraph; it is on-line)." Kriya yoga is presented as the method. And "killing the ego" is talked highly of. Another problem is that if you remove your ego, that fine facet of yourself, as Yoganananda repeatedly goes for, how can you develop?
Kill the ego in San Diego first, and rest content with that.
You may be insulted openly or covertly. How many miles are you willing to walk with pebbles in your shoes and eating humble pie? That is the question. Norse Thor with his Hammer does not like to to manipulate human feelings so that folks are turned into happy givers only to wake up years too late to matter any longer. What about such persons, the "religious slaves"? Not all of them sit sheltered behind cloister walls with German shephards to guard their premises. One must adapt to America to survive in America, remember. Some have problems there. The United States has a lot of prisoners and lawyers.
Babaji is reported to say, "Who is the Doer of all actions? ... the Lord [Pa 344]." Shyama Lahiri and Yogananda teaches the same, but also that the material universe is a dream, an illusion. and Yukteswar, another SRF guru, is cited by Yogananda to advice us not to believe an illness is real.
At times their teaching boils down to: "A hardened criminal pops up and shoots the guru in his face, God is the doer and the victim; all is good Hollywood play. Passers-by may not realise it. And they may think differently.
Jesus says the soul can get lost and Yogananda teaches the soul is indestructible. Let us hope that, but look up: [Matthew 10:28].
Is no teachings of guru belonging garbage through men falter, doctor or no doctor? Are all great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible? [Matthew 24:24-5]
Did Jesus speak openly to the world, saying nothing in secret, while telling his disciples the secrets of heaven? [John 18:19-21; [Matthew 13:11-17, passim])? "I have transmitted the Cosmic Vision to a number of Kriya Yogis in the East and West." - Yogananda. [Pa 153n]. Modern science has not reached his level. Someone:
I have a real problem swearing allegiance."Do not swear". The SRF guru "ever in communion with Christ", should he have ignored that imperative of Jesus? We think no. We also think you should consider checking it with your local minister before you admiringly get yourself a harem. Why waste your resources on it when you can live up to Yogananda counsels against having a good sex life?
What were you told? Another SRF secret let out of the closet? Remembering the hint is quite a boon for some who do not always trust the Kali worshipper who says "We are all a little bit crazy".
Can you find a way? Seek to do better -
Security force C
THERE are lots to consider. It should help to be candid and not overly modest. Below are conditions for being taught kriya. They are severe, even for your wife. She is offered to the guru.Shyama Lahiri's Instructions for Kriya Initiation
- The person should not smoke or drink.
- The person should read some portion of the Bhagavad Gita every day.
- He should treat all women as his mother, except his wife, and she should treat all men as her father, except her husband.
- The person should lose self-importance to destroy his or her ego.
- The person should sit a little lower than his or her Gurudev's or Master's seat and offer everything [sic] to him.
- The person should practice Kriyas every day strictly according to the instructions personally received from his or her Gurudev.
Babaji's instructions for Kriya initiation
- The person must be honest and not a liar.
- The person should read the Bhagavad Gita every day.
- He must offer everything, whatever he has, to his Gurudev including his wife.
Mentions by swami Satyeswarananda
What rules are
there to follow if you will not be free and strive to make it on your own? Let us see how swami Satyeswarananda reconciles the two sets of
instructions above. He says:
- The person must be honest and not a liar.
- The person should not smoke and drink.
- The person should read some portion of the Bhagavad Gita every day.
- The person should lose self-importance to destroy his or her ego.
- He should treat all women as his mother, except his wife, and she should treat all men as her father, except her husband.
- The person should sit a little lower than his or her Gurudev or Master's seat and offer everything to him.
- The person should practice Kriyas every day in strict accordance with the instructions personally received from his or her Gurudev.
"The person should read the Bhagavad Gita every day (Babaji)." Reading some portion of it may be interpreted by some as reading all of it, but a whole is not one of its parts. If things are not specified, try to be on the safe side.
You may think that you do not have to offer your wife (on Babaji's command above) to your guru either, but no, if you offer everything, the wife you own is offered too, and your children. That could grow into a problem. However, so could each of them.
It Boils Down To:
- It should help to be realistic, fair and candid and read some good lines instead of Bhagavad Gita portions over and over. The Gita is one book of many. Actually, it is a part of book 6 of the long Mahabharata poem.
- Treat women as you find best, not always as your mother. You are not an automaton.
- Do not seek to harm or destroy your ego.
- Practice Kriya only as is fit, not exactly "every day strictly", for illness and pregnancy should be acknowledged in this, for example.
- In the West, at least, do not offer your wife or children to anybody else. You don't own her, not them either. You could get in serious trouble if you ignore that.
- Accept real help as genuine and truthful as can be, and consider the long-range consequences too, to avoid unforeseen calamities and redress former, stupid errors in living, if possible.
If you think that is reasonable, why seek to undermine yourself or your mate by saying yes to unsensible oaths?Is all all or not all?
Is God the Doer of renunciation too?
You might be called impolite instead of well-meaning and advanced if your straight honesty and maturity looks threatening to gurus who want you beneath themselves for some reasons. Now Shyama Lahiri and others in his dynasty are
rigorous in this: offer everything (etc.) to the guru to be initiated.
It is easier said than done.A question is what can be left out if everything means everything you own and have. Are your corns on the foot and old bad, mean conduct and Life Games (life scripts) parts of everything or not? - Now, dispossessing one's wife is not legal in the West. You do not own her here, rather, you have her to cherish and help onwards - maybe so. Note the cultural difference of attitudes. The alarming question at the back is one of adaptations.
There are inherent dangers in the unnecessary items. What if you gave your father a finely wrapped parcel of lipstick? Would he say: "Divine! (All are divine) God gave them to me (God is the doer)!" and so on? Maybe so, but do not count on it. Try to be careful, guarded on your own and geared to what counts so as to avoid rude surprises. It fairly often pays.
An unresolved question is whether 'everything' is to mean everything or less. Rightfully gained things may pose no problems. Illegally had things may, and so on. And so may things you give without owning them - and so on. "Everything" has to be defined by the gurus in question first. That is their job.
We can go "higher up": What if you as a vegetarian give your vegetarianism to the guru? Or if a renouncer gives his renunciation away? In the first case you could have to be a meat eater or no-eater afterwards - or would you? It may be discussed. In the second case you may study the Avadhut Gita 4:21, where it says: "Renounce, renounce the world, and also renounce renunciation, and even give up the absence of renunciation." Alas, you might be called impolite instead of well-meaning and advanced and little cherished if you point it out in a setting where someone takes offence at good questions. Perhaps there is a little risk of threatening the "first commandment" too: that of offering everything - including the prospect of having a guru? - to your gurudev. Well, strange things happen.
Serious extremists
It is somehow funny how guru tenets that seem tall and hovering, do not work in the case of extremists. And to be a success in serious yoga and as a devotee, you are supposed to go far - and those who go far matter - and are extremists of some kind too. Babaji's disciple Shyama Lahiri, for example, excelled in what comes close to neglect of his body and wife needs. Now, perhaps things were put on hold in favour of the central issue, serving inner attainments.Lahiri Mahasaya's habitual physiological state exhibited . . . breathlessness, sleeplessness, cessation of pulse and heartbeat, calm eyes unblinking for hours. [LINK]His wife tells:
The master gave me the technique of kriya yoga.You may study what happens if you give the guru your heartfelt conviction: "You are expendable". What then? In the case of disagreements, the guru wins so long as you struck a deal with him at the onset, a compact where all power between you two is in his hands, you see.
"From that night on, Lahiri Mahasaya never slept in my room again. Nor did he ever sleep after that. He remained in the front room downstairs, in the company of his disciples both by day and by night." [LINK]
Hoping for a new and glorious life, is not that too to be given to the guru? What will be left to you, then? Hope: something better, maybe not bigger. Think of it:
Too big words at the onset could choke much and make future circumstances little delicious.
From the depths of others
The depths of others have plentiful supplies. Where old wells are tapped, the
water may contain plenty of dangerous beliefs and much inner wisdom.As for your own inner convictions and beliefs, you may reach them through solid sincerity. To gain distinct confidence in your inner wisdom, have confidence in your nightly dreams first and learn to tackle them in the finest ways possible.
Alternatives to that may not get as handy:
- You feel confidence in the advice if what is said by the other (guru), is what has been tapped from inside you, and from levels you are not ordinarily aware of. The inner wisdom you seek could have been tapped from deep inside yourself, from outside your normal range of awareness. By way of example, Yogananda fairly often lectured in this way, in response to unspoken thoughts of listeners, his publishers say in a long note in Man's Eternal Quest [Ak note ix, xi]
- You are sincere, but what if the one you are devoted to, uses that to no good end? What if your devotion and sincerity is made use of to support not a two-way system, but a one-way system that is not ideal?
Bhagavad Gita truisms that fit in far and wide
Do not like unsavoury or wrong assertions concerning the Hindu scripture
Bhagavad Gita. Be truthful, gurus assert. But what if you look on the Gita as a
growth of centuries long gone - and it is that - and not in the more guru-conventional way
of, say, Yogananda? Maybe the portion you should read every day "should be":- Arjuna: "My intelligence is bewildered by your equivocal instructions." [Bg 3:2]
- A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. [Bg 6:5]
- For one who has taken his birth, death if certain . . . [Bg 2:27]
- Only the ignorant speak of devotional service . . . as being different from the analytical study of the material world . . . [Bg 5:4]
- Deluded by the three modes ["lightness, vigour and inertia"] the whole world . . . [Bg 7:13]
- Arjuna's vision: "I see all people rushing with full speed . . ." [Bg 11:29]
- Be free from all disturbance. [Bg 11:49]
- He who discards [truly sane and helpful] scriptural injunctions and acts [much contrary to it] according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination [whatever that may be!]. [Bg 16:23]
An offering, consisting of muttered prayers, is ten times more efficacious than a sacrifice performed according to the rules (of the Veda); a (prayer) which is inaudible (to others) surpasses it a hundred times, and the mental (recitation of sacred texts) a thousand times. [Manu Samhita, 2:85, Mux]The Manu quotation indicates one of the best counsels fit for mantra yoga. Recite the syllables you repeat, secretly and mentally so as to maximise benefits and minimise difficulties if you cannot avoid them all. "By repeating God's name you become absorbed in Him and finally realize Him," says Ramakrishna [Rap 879]. Repeating only fit syllables and words is emphasised.
Memorise hovering, general truths that may assist you in your life - with the aim of being on the safe side and reap benefits. So if you learn these portions of the Gita by heart and just remind yourself of one of them - or a few of them - according to Manu it could be (up to) a thousand times better than reading in the Gita. So do not get sidetracked by getting all preoccupied with less than adequate yoga ways and methods. Now on to the next topic:
Organisations, Masters and Disciples
The swami Satyeswarananda claims:If these (special features) are not observed ... Kriya and the practice are not according to Babaji and Lahiri Mahasay.
- [In an] Original Kriya Tradition ... the disciple receives Kriya initiation personally from his or her Gurudev, the Master. ...
- Original Kriya Tradition is free from an organisational way of teaching. It is free from organisations.
- Kriya initiation is given in private and in strict confidence, personally and secretly, with closed door and not in public or in a group.
- The initiate has to have his or her Kriya practice checked every six months personally by the Master (etc).
- Lahiri Mahasay initiated his disciples personally on a one to one basis. [If one of two initiated] spouses required additional Kriya which the other did not, then he initiated that Kriya separately.
- Original Kriya is practised in strict secrecy. Occasional [group] practice among the close Kriyanwitas, the followers of Kriya, is the exception. The group Kriya practice and practice in public are prohibited.
- ... there is no necessary connection that one has to be renunciate to practice Kriya discipline (etc).
It is wonderfully easy to start a spiritual organization and run it like a commercial enterprise (with collected donations) to provide livelihood for the followers and devotees in the name of God's work, while at the same time, indulging oneself in self-aggrandizement. - Swami Satyeswarananda's commentThings that Satyeaswarananda says undermine much of the work of SRF, the fellowship started by Paramahansa Yogananda.
Into Further Fields
Train yourself in progressing "scientific suspicion making" by learning the thinking and methods of basic science and heuristics. [LINK] [LINK]Onword
There is much handly knowledge of meditation techniques that you may learn without having to swear oaths. Go for these first. For there should be better ways to progress than byreducing yourself by some oath - humbling yourself a good bit downwards from normal Human Rights.The next page is for remembering these salient points and some more points as well.
|
 |
 |
 |
| Literature | SECTION | First Page |
Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Theosophical, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.
Pa: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971.
NOTE 1 - on some things the detail of a large painting is generally taken to "mean": The American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-56) explored sheer handling of paint assumedly without ulterior motives. Pollock had been captured by Surrealism, but soon learnt to put his canvas on the floor and dripped, poured or threw his paint on it to form many a tangle of lines and drops like the one shown. By surrendering to childing impulses the extreme form of painting called "Action painting" and Abstract Expressionism was a fact. It was influenced by Chinese art and Zen mysticism.
CLICK on 'Literature' for the references of about 2000
works.
ANNOTATIONS: Code letters (acronyms and initial words) in square brackets in the text refer to works. Click on 'Literature' to see examples. Page references are put right after code
letters. And the abbreviation cf. means "compare". [MORE].
SITE SEARCH: The 'Search' link gives access to dictionaries and more.
REFER: Prefer the standard 'location address' on top of the page(s).
PILOTING: Note the clickable text links on top of the page. [MORE]
DISCLAIMER: Two disclaimers intertwine: [A] [B]
© 1998–2006, Tormod Kinnes. All rights reserved — October 2006.