Not for Sectarian Robbery
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Normal, or -?
The Hindu monk Yogananda's (1893-1952):One night while I was engaged in silent prayer, my sitting room in the Encinitas hermitage became filled with an opalblue light. I beheld the radiant form of the blessed Lord Jesus. A young man, he seemed, of about twenty-five, with a sparse beard and moustache; his long black hair, parted in the middle, was haloed by a shimmering gold.This is what you are up against: Someone who at once understands eye expressions and feels the power that upholds the worlds - according to himself. He uses many strong, emotive expressions, like "fervently", "implored", "opal blue", "blessed Lord Jesus", "shimmering gold", "eternally wondrous eyes", "intuitively", "glorious gaze", "power that upholds the myriad worlds", "Holy Grail", "uttered beautiful words" "them in my heart".
His eyes were eternally wondrous; as I gazed, they were infinitely changing. With each divine transition in their expression, I intuitively understood the wisdom conveyed. In his glorious gaze I felt the power that upholds the myriad worlds. A Holy Grail appeared at his mouth; it came down to my lips and then returned to Jesus. After a few moments he uttered beautiful words, so personal in their nature that I keep them in my heart. [Ha 469]
"I've got the POWER!" - and fervently and infinitely changing expressions.
There is room for surreal artistry.
Surreal
A Portuguese sculptor, upon his death bed, had a crucifix placed before his eyes by
a confessor, who said, "Behold that God whom you have so much offended. Do you recollect him now?" "Alas. Yes, Father," replied the dying man, "it was I who made him."
Hare Christ-na - How Normal Is That?
Yogananda's and his fellowship's concoction "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ" is at the heart of this slender study. Yogananda taught that the teachings of Sri Krishna and Jesus are in perfect harmony [Pa 499]. Far from it. They are not complementary in all respects, nor do they let Krishna sit on top of Jesus (!). There are differences that count.But in Yogananda's cult circles they parrot his teachings that Jesus is behind or involved, even though the gospels teach straight against that possibility by "one shepherd, one master, one teacher, no false Christs (wolves)", and so on. Jesus claims to be the sole shepherd of his sheep, and warn against the tricks of wolves in sheep's clothing.
Hence, feigning is quite easy.
If you treasure good proof or evidence, choose central, fit and first-class items and drop hearsay-makers to your ability. That could make your future less bleak.
To mislead on purpose is not kind. Honeyed words and phrases that swindle and lead astray are not kind. Yogananda's Hindu church has omitted Holy Communion, speaking in tongues and various sacraments: They are not regulated features of Yogananda's SRF Church (of All Religions) [Ap 346].
Judged by the evidence it should be doable to decide to what extent Yogananda's church of Self-Realization is Christian. You can make a list of central criteria and mark off on a a scale from one through six for each item, and see what it adds up to. You are free to do the same with other churches too.
A brainwashing cult does not become Christian by just calling itself so, after having torn out main content of the Bible.Is feigning normal enough?
Judy Blume (1938 -), alive American writer of realistic
stories for and about young teenagers, was once accosted by a woman who had been so upset by two pages about wet dreams in Ms. Blume's novel Then Again Maybe I Won't that she had torn them out of her son's copy."What if they had been about a girl's menstruation?" asked the author. "Would you still have torn the pages out?"
"Oh, no, that is normal," said the mother.
Employed
The Duke of Newcastle, when Prime Minister, once told the author of "Tristram
Shandy," that men of wit were not fit to be employed, being incapable of business."They are not incapable of business, my Lord, but above it," replied Sterne. "A sprightly generous horse is able to carry a pack-saddle as well as an ass, but he is too good to be put to the drudgery."
Theft is okayed in Christianity, but not in yoga training - did you know that?
The apostles and the Holy Spirit chose to waive many of the restrictions that counted as valid in the time of Jesus, and dispense with very many commands or sayings of Jesus [Acts 15; 21:25]. That to obey Jesus also suggests freedom and might to dispense with sayings of his; seems legitimised in John 14:12. The apostles did so, and the Holy Spirit. What is left of commands for non-Jews are: "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality." [Acts 15,22-29; 21,25].Look to the bright side of it if you can: Circumcision wass to be everlasting according to the Old Pact, but God has not been good at all his "everlastings", frankly. The services connected with the goatskin telt fell asunder too, despite they were ordained to be "everlasting". Gentle Followers do not have to maim themselves to call themselves followers of Jesus, even though he commands plucking out eyes and other dangerous acts of self-molestation "without end", so to speak. Be happy about that - that it is not necessary to do as Jesus tells, no matter what. [Rom 2:26; Acts 15; 21:25]. The superior reason, however, is that he himself says that the healthy, moral guys do not need him.
So you see: You don't have to take part in the swindle where fellows say they follow Jesus without following him, treated his commands as rattling, empty barrels. The same holds good for Sabbath ceremonialism from friday evening to Saturday evening: it was dispensed with. And similar for many other rules and commands, such as those that institute execution for those who eat blood food.
But why waste time on such a charade? Won't you get healthier? No to lying and stealing, robbing, and other violations are not even mentioned in those passages either [Acs 15; 21:25]. To the contrary. Jesus talks for robbery of the strong man after binding him first [Matthew 12:29]. Robbery is violent theft.
Sectarian followers claim to be above the law, as did Paul in many places, such as "We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code [Rom 7:6]." In other places he teaches differently, though: "I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets [Acts 24:14];" "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law [Rom 3:31]."
Yak, yak, in other words. Such contradictory, unsolved drivel is not good for little children to cram by dictate. And even more important to some should be: Avoid getting slaughtered in the name of Jesus at all times. Be free to avoid that. Jesus says the healthy ones do not need him. Won't you get well? [cf. John 14:12; 2 Corinthians 4;1-9]
Do not be riveted, mistaken and taken in by conflicting tenets. Lift yourself and stay as truly moral and fit as you can.
In one place they teach this, in another place that, and opposed to it, and so on. The powers to structure and organise is correspondingly poor and inadequate. Help yourself by any decent means you can.Do not be fooled
Jesus said a seed has to die for new plants to grow. It is not like that, either. It is, rather like this: The whole plant is seen through all of its phases - seed, sprout, maturing plant with flowers, fruits, and decay. To be more precise: A seed does not die, it sprouts. What is left rotting after a while, is the food for sprouting. From this we learn that Jesus was a freak gardener. He was not good at treating weeds either, but decided to let evil choke good.
You do not have to trust and turn to Jesus at all if you go for health and proficiency along the Noble Middle Way.Is Slavery acceptable to you?
Jesus said to Simon, "Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep [cf. John 21:15-17]. Christians are likened to sheep. But "How much more worth is a man than a sheep!" says Jesus.Jehovah did not think victimising scapegoating to be bad; yet it is cruelty to animals, violency to innocents, and corrupt according to recent standards. By the way, one scapegoat sacrificed yearly and another driven out into the wild would have eliminated the need for Jesus, is an overlooked Bible message. However, sane ones do not need him anyway, he teaches.
The Christian is taught that God himself appeared as Jesus somehow, after having formed man and woman in his own image. Jesus had to be subjected to Jewish ritual and circumcision to be accepted - The main signs of belonging to God in the Old Pact - sticking to Sabbath rest and circumcision - along with slaughtering innocent animals and birds and allowing slavery and concubines, had a hard time coming after Acts 15.
Nailed on the cross Jesus cried God had left him. God left God! And so on. Paul accepts slavery in Titus and Philemon. Buddha does not endorse it.
Not everyone notes how eating blood food is put side by side with committing adultery in Acts 15 - but the chapter is of little or no value if you work steadily to get healthy and not need to be a sheepish one either. Under some circumstances meat like Brat and Wurst is acceptable in Buddhism and Hinduism, and is not put en par with adultery.
You can have personal property and get rich too - it is allowed and encouraged in Buddhism and Hinduism as one of the worthy life goals. It is different with the Christian who is "told" by Jesus to sell all and give it to the poor [cf. Luke 18;20-22] - and then ignored by the Holy Ghost and all the disciples in Acts 15.
Instead of falling victim to incoherent salvation bandits, just turn away from them and embrace good company and sanity-helping, much better teachings.
Adjust to your real profit as a developing, decent human being.Seeking only a pension - beware
In Acts, chapter 5, old Ananias and his wife Sapphira tried to save a sort of "pension" for their old age, but were taken to task by Peter and dropped dead in front of him. The topic is interesting. Two old followers kept some of their money.Today's followers of Jesus do too, but most avoid spectacular deaths. A rigidly overlooked point is that the Holy Spirit and the apostles changed much rather quickly, perhaps after having killed off a few Jews like Ananias and his wife in the process. [cf. Matthew 5:17-20, Acts 15; 21,25].
We may judge some trees by their fruits, other trees by their foliage and other features. Old ways of gardening are superceded. Jesus was no smart gardener and put 99% of his sheep at risk once - that is not what a truly good shepherd would do. The Second Vatican Counsil thinks there is divine wisdom in other religions. [Omo]
Have you considered that the Holy Spirit may kill off arbitrarily?Samson, Another Man of God
Samson, strong as an ox, went berserk when the spirit of God came over him, says the Bible. Others took to dancing.
"Be practical"
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| Yogananda teaches the world is unreal, but not his guidelines. |
In the last analysis, Yogananda and his soap opera teachings rose into esteem given him by hundreds of thousands of Americans. Note where the "bed of esteem was" then.
No to Perverted Pleasures
Let us talk of compensations. Unsound individual take up lifestyles that reek compensations. For example, if you feel unholy and of little worth inside, you had better seek genuine worth at once, or you could be diverted to a pretence of holiness as your life style - or a show of godliness, holiness, saintliness and such fine-looking things in ritual ways, ceremonies, and yet with much lacking, including savoury mirth. So have fun enough.What is recommended is not the perverted pleasures of being unfair, harmful, foolish and the like.
To associate with hypocrites can ruin the day, perhaps your life fare too. Hypocrites were condemned by Jesus; he accused and condemned religious people for some of the things he did himself. [Matthew 5;17-20].
And millions of followers were executed, clearly against John 14:12.
If only they had known to go for sanity to have rewarding lives instead.
Literature
Ak: Yogananda, Pa.: Man's Eternal Quest. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1975.
Ap: Mieder, Wolfgang (main editor), Stewart A. Kingsbury, and Kelsie E. Harder: A Dictionary of American Proverbs. (Paperback) Oxford University, New York, 1996.
Co: Watson, Burton, tr. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press, 1968.
Ha: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1981.
Omo: Det 2. Vatikankonsils erklæringer. Om kirkens forhold til de ikke-kristne religioner og Om religionsfriheten. Oslo: St Olavs, 1967.
Pa: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1971. – ONLINE 1st edition
Say: Yogananda, Pa.: Sayings of Yogananda. Self-Realization Fellowship. Los Angeles, 1958.
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