What Goes Along with Kriya Bridle Oaths

"Do not swear at all." [Matthew 5:34-36]

On the previous page are several kriya oaths and several problems connected with them. And above there is a stark gospel saying to put such oath-binding into perspective. It seems to be needed as long as "Yoganandas" and the like come in the name of Jesus and bind you by an oath against his words, and still claim they are wholly in harmony with him.

On this page we will consider what comes along with some kriya bridle oaths, such as offering your wife to the guru.

There is much more to consider too, such as lifestyles out of step with the times.

We can study to prepare ourselves by a worst case scenario of being unlawfully bound by oaths against some Human Rights in contrast to living fairly well, and in the perspective of seeking to become so proficient that the worst does not happen. Maybe you can improve your lot by a few simple strategies. They may sound easy, but may not be easy to implement anyhow.

Nothing of this swearing and oath-making and great changes of lifestyle may be demanded for learning the kriya yoga system that is propagated in Satyananda kriya yoga lines of transmission. And it is not asked for from those who learn Transcendental Meditation, TM, which is found to be the best all-round meditation method in many comparative research studies. Compare:

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION IS FOUND TO BE SUPERIOR . . .

A scientific research paper recently published in the American Journal of Health Promotion (1999) showed Transcendental Meditation to be far superior to all other forms of meditation and relaxation techniques in the areas of:

1. anxiety reduction
2. blood pressure reduction
3. physiological relaxation
4. self-actualisation
5. decreased use of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs

The paper, entitled "All approaches to preventing and reversing the effects of stress are not the same", encompassed an overview of a total of 597 scientific studies involving an estimated 20,000 subjects. This was achieved using a statistical technique called meta-analysis which allows researchers to compare and draw conclusions on all the previous studies on TM conducted at universities and research institutions around the world during the past 28 years.

Here are the conclusions drawn from some of these studies;

1. The first meta-analysis on Transcendental Meditation appeared in 1981 by Dr. Philip Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson found that TM improved psychological health significantly more than Zen meditation or relaxation response techniques.

. . .

3. A 1991 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality showed TM to be far superior to other meditation and relaxation technique in increasing self-actualisation because it provides the experience of transcendental consciousness.

4. A 1994 paper in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly included three meta-analyses showing that TM is highly effective in reducing cigarette, alcohol, and drug abuse, indicating the power of the technique in normalizing physiological and psychological imbalances.

[A] clear conclusion is that TM is not only highly effective - it's one of the best investments . . . [◦Link] [◦More]

One thing is how a good meditation method works in itself. Another thing is how fairly and fitly it is propagated. A third thing is what comes along with it: It could be restrictions, oaths, and rather insubstantial clutches - that result in cultishness among other things, as results of lack of fairness.

Glimpses into Deals of Babaji

As for kriya yoga in the Babaji line of transmission, it is far less tested. Some research results are found, though. So it is not without effects, generally speaking. Now, in several lines of transmission, unsavoury oaths and demands go along with it, also when suspiciously and repetitiously propagated "in the name of Jesus", as Paramahana Yogananda's fellowship SRF does. Satyananda's line, which also spreads a kriya yoga, seems to be without such nasty restrictions and double-play, though [Cy].

To the degree that Jesus has changed his mind and goes against his gospel sayings on several matters and given up his own salvation concept and forewarnings against false Christs and having other masters, then Yogananda's and his fellowship's old trick of "having Jesus (and God) on his side," are not all untruthful. And if Jesus has not changed drastically that way, many statements of guru Yogananda as professed by his Americanised fellowship tend to backfire as untrue verbiage, or rubbish. Some are made to believe wholly in it, and that may be a rather serious problem.

Since so few denominations and cults say that Jesus goes for Hindu concepts of salvation today - not even tongue-talkers do - there seems to be no valid proof of Yogananda and his fellowship's suspected hoax claims of teaching in perfect harmony with Jesus and Krishna - who do not teach similar things about everything, for sure. After all, the scriptures the fellowship uses, teach differently. Still they demand a loyalty oath from gullible beginners, against gospel words of Jesus against swearing. If such horseplay is not bad, what is?

There are more sides to the SRF kriya oath and problems that it brings. Not a few who are ready to give up their freedom by oath-making that make them awkward underlings for the rest of their lives, really need to get mentally stronger and function more adequately. Stay away from decadent circles to protect yourself; that is fair counsel.

❖ Oath-making that undermines living well, is not without thorns.

Lahiri Mahasaya's Instructions for Kriya Initiation

Along with kriya yoga in a lot of transmission lines deriving from Babaji through Lahiri Mahasaya, there are guru regulations on how to live. Lahiri's full name and other data may be accessed on another page. The source of the instructions below is a Satyeswarananda (further down).

1. The person should not smoke or drink.
2. The person should read some portion of the Bhagavad Gita every day.
3. He should treat all women as his mother, except his wife, and she should treat all men as her father, except her husband.
4. The person should lose self-importance to destroy his or her ego.
5. The person should sit a little lower than his or her Gurudev's or Master's seat and offer everything [sic] to him.
6. 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

1. The person must be honest and not a liar.
2. The person should read the Bhagavad Gita every day.
3. He must offer everything, whatever he has, to his Gurudev including his wife.

NOTE. In the West, women are not treated as the property of men. And such an attitude toward women is not right in Buddhism either. So is such an instruction fit and fair enough? It is good not to mock your integrity and higher sense for learning kriya yoga in the Babaji-Lahiri line. And there are alternatives. Satyananda yoga, for one thing. Besides, you may learn core kriya yoga here, as it is public! And then there is TM, Transcendental Meditation, which I recommend.

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:

1. The person must be honest and not a liar.
2. The person should not smoke and drink.
3. The person should read some portion of the Bhagavad Gita every day.
4. The person should lose self-importance to destroy his or her ego.
5. He should treat all women as his mother, except his wife, and she should treat all men as her father, except her husband.
6. The person should sit a little lower than his or her Gurudev or Master's seat and offer everything to him.
7. The person should practice Kriyas every day in strict accordance with the instructions personally received from his or her Gurudev.

Interestingly, some tasks were dropped. They were:
"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. [◦Link]

It Boils Down To:

1. It should help to be realistic, fair and candid and read some good lines instead of Bhagavad Gita portions several thousand times too much over and over. The Gita is one book of many. Actually, it is a part of book 6 of the long Mahabharata poem.
2. Treat women as you find best, not always as your mother. You are not an automaton.
3. Do not seek to harm or destroy your ego, your I-ness, that is. It is macable to cripple yourself in that way or other ways.
4. Practice Kriya only as is fit, not exactly "every day strictly", for illness and pregnancy should be acknowledged in this, for example.
5. 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 this to accommodate to Babaji.
6. 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 the above is reasonable, why succumb to oaths in the first place? it is far from the Christianity of Jesus, for example:

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, "Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made . . ." But I tell you, do not swear at all . . . Simply let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No"; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. [Matthew 5:33-37]

Yogananda says he represents the original Christianity of Jesus totally, and in his much read autobiography he also claims Babaji and Jesus are in communion - But study the deeds above the words and how the salvation of Jesus by God coming to persons differs from the claimed salvation by self-effort (kriya yoga), which spells heresy to the Catholic professor "Father Mateo", among other things.

Gurus in sheep's clothing may be up to tricks. For example, there was no "original Christianity of Jesus", and what is more, it was only for Jews. "Christianity" came into being when all the apostles and the Holy Spirit resolved to do away with all the commands of Jesus and keep only four requirements for non-Jewish followers. This is the Apostolic Decree (found in Acts 15 and 21:25). Its regulations were sanctioned by the first Church counsil in Jerusalem, making it binding on the whole church.

Just be warned against unauthentic Christianity and "beastly croaking" without much worth: Mumbo jumbo Yogananda made people swear allegiance to him for even lifetimes on a decadent road it seems, and SRF (Self-Realization Fellowship) continues the practice. It appears to serves con purposes.

❖ It seldom pays to misplace one's trust.

Is all all or not all?

Is God the Doer of renunciation too?

Shyama Lahiri and others in his dynasty are rigorous in this: offer everything (etc.) to the guru to be initiated.

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? - Women are not property.

An unresolved question is whether 'everything' is to mean everything or less. Rightfully gained things may pose no problems; wheras illegally had things may. "Everything" has to be defined by the gurus in question first, before you swear. That is their job. But as someone who heeds Jesus of "original Christianity", don't swear at all, he says. [More]

Be aware that you might be called impolite and be little cherished, instead of called well-meaning and advanced, where you point out tricky subjects and deals in a setting that scarcely allows for it.

Too big words and awkward agreements at the onset could choke much and make future circumstances disharmonious.

As for your own inner convictions and beliefs, you may reach them through gains in sincerity. Alternatives to that may not get as handy:. Besides, what if gurus or masters mess with you on top of things mentioned here?

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":

1. Arjuna: "My intelligence is bewildered by your equivocal instructions." [Bg 3:2]
2. A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. [Bg 6:5]
3. For one who has taken his birth, death if certain . . . [Bg 2:27]
4. Only the ignorant speak of devotional service . . . as being different from the analytical study of the material world . . . [Bg 5:4]
5. Deluded by the three modes ["lightness, vigour and inertia"] the whole world . . . [Bg 7:13]
6. Arjuna's vision: "I see all people rushing with full speed . . ." [Bg 11:29]
7. Be free from all disturbance. [Bg 11:49]
8. 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]

Now it seems very easy. And yet, here is a good tip on making things up to a thousand times easier still:

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 says huge benefits are had by proper mantra yoga, where you recite the fit syllables you repeat, secretly and mentally so as to maximise benefits and minimise difficulties if you cannot avoid them all. And TM (see top of the page) is a form of silent mantra meditation. "By repeating God's name you become absorbed in Him and finally realize Him," says Ramakrishna [Rap 879]. Repeating only fit, well-chosen syllables and words is emphasised. And how long will it take? It differs. Still, the most important thing is that "once the apple has started to fall from the tree, it will most likely reach the ground." Apples from high up in the tree may take longer than apples from low branches -

Memorise hovering, general truths that may assist you in your life - with the aim of being on the safe side and reap benefits. This is the core of lojong training, which is advocated.

If by this method you gradually absorb the content of the Gita by heart and just refresh these teachings once in a while, you may learn it better. Also, you may find time for good meditation while you turn the specially prepared Gita tape on to run in the background along with soft music. Mantra meditation may still be far superior. Meditate without interference at regular sittings, is the standard counsel. We should not get sidetracked by getting all preoccupied with less than the most helpful yoga ways and methods.

Organisations, Masters and Disciples

Swami Satyeswarananda claims:

If these (special features) are not observed . . . Kriya and the practice are not according to Babaji and Lahiri Mahasay.

1. [In an] Original Kriya Tradition ... the disciple receives Kriya initiation personally from his or her Gurudev, the Master. ...
2. Original Kriya Tradition is free from an organisational way of teaching. It is free from organisations.
3. Kriya initiation is given in private and in strict confidence, personally and secretly, with closed door and not in public or in a group.
4. The initiate has to have his or her Kriya practice checked every six months personally by the Master (etc).
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. ... there is no necessary connection that one has to be renunciate to practice Kriya discipline (etc).

"Different strokes for different folks" seems to have been the "song" of Yogananda when he dropped every one of these regulations and accommodated to Westerners with a sham Christian facade, or was it decorum? Yogananda changed kriya methods too, and left out some difficult ones.

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 comment

Things that Satyeswarananda says go against SRF, the fellowship started by Paramahansa Yogananda, and some Americans have been startled by that. Some of this material is online from the Sanskrit Classics. For example, he writes ""The great master [Lahiri Mahasay] . . . steadfastly refused to permit his followers to build any organization around his teachings." Ah, but that seems to be just a half-truth on his part. He leaves out that Lahiri Mahasaya gave permission to spread the kriya yoga message by organisations to some followers, including Panchanan Bhattacharya (Devghar Baba) and Yukteswar, and this information is in Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi too.

The swami tells of the adult Yogananda's sleep problems. The late Yogananda seems to have grown out of them (but lacking sleep and suffering from high blood pressure). He also called himself an avatar -

Satyeswarananda also informs about Yogananda that his organisation "requires one to sign a "pledge" for absolute loyalty to Yogananda to join their organization. He demanded from his followers what he did not give his own guru, Yukteswar. Yogananda was not very loyal to his guru, affirms Satyeswarananda. A Yogananda biographer, Dasgupta, writes as an eyewitness of episodes that confirm this. [Psy] Some such episodes are also told of by Yogananda himself in his autobiography. Yogananda had loyalty issues and surely has passed on some by the SRF kriya oath.

Swami Satyeswarananda ends his page with a warning against the kriya propagation of SRF, Yogananda's organisation, implying it is laughable. I would say intolerable. [◦Compare]

Into Further Fields

Train yourself in progressing "scientific suspicion making" by learning the thinking and methods of basic science and heuristics. [Link] [Link]

Unless you are well prepared and still very careful, spending time in bramble thickets may not go well. There are better ways to progress than reducing yourself by some ensnaring oath - reducing yourself away from such as UN-favoured Human Rights.