Not for Gentile Followers
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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 were in perfect harmony [Pa 499]. They are not. They are not complementary in all respects, nor do they let Krishna sit on top of Jesus (!) In fact, there are differences that count.But in Yogananda 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, its fruits can be nasty and marring. Guru-feigning and false teachings may seem easy too. Yogananda used to say seclusion is the price for greatness. Seclusion from great cheating like the above, assumedly? In sifting evidence, choose central, fit and first-class items if you can. That should make the end results far better.
Cheating and misleading is not kind. Yogananda says: "Speak kind words and you will hear kind answers." But what if honeyed words and phrases swindle and lead astray? That is quite a problem. In Yogananda's Hindu church many handed-over parts of Christianity are absent, if it matters. The omitted matter includes Holy Communion, speaking in tongues and various sacraments, in that they are not regulated features of Yogananda's SRF Church (of All Religions) [Ap 346].
Normal
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.
Menial through Faulty Pride
China's sage Chuang-tzu (Zhuangzi): " A man who has wisdom enough to fill one office effectively, good conduct enough to impress one community . . . talent enough to be called into service, can have the self-pride that marks little creatures." [Co 31]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. To obey Jesus also suggests freedom and might to dispense with sayings of his; the legitimation is 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 first: Circumcision is to be everlasting according to the Old Pact, Not for Gentle Followers; you do not have to maim yourself to call yourself Christian [Rom 2:26; Acts 15; 21:25]. 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.
Now, no to lying and stealing, robbing, and other violations are not even mentioned in those passages. To the contrary. Jesus talks for robbery of the strong man after binding him first [Matthew 12:29]. Robbery is violent theft.
His sectarian followers claimed to be above the law, as did Paul in many place, 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]."
And even more important to some should be: You do not have to get slaughtered anyway [cf. John 14:12; 2 Corinthians 4;1-9].
Do not be mistaken and taken in by conflicting tenets: Lift yourself. Buddha does not endorse "Christian freedom" that violates good moral and decency: Stay moral if 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, as Rudolf Steiner asks you to contemplate: The whole plant is seen in 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 no good gardener, to say the least. He was not good at getting rid of weeds either. That is for sure.You do not have to trust Jesus if you see his teachings are incorrect.
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 would have eliminated the need for Jesus, is the Bible message.
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 - does not that idea stink? 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.
And so on. Paul accepts slavery in Titus and Philemon. Buddha does not endorse it at all.
Not everyone notes how eating blood food is put side by side with committing adultery in Acts 15 - that central passage. Hence, followers sin as much as adulterers by eating black pudding - if you believe in what the Bible says. Brat and Wurst and so on - and yet imagine that adultery is different.
Bottom line: Today's Christianity is markedly different from the "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ" - it allows personal property, and one day the Holy Spirit through Peter allowed eating pork too, not only mutton [cf. Acts 11:1-10].
Times change. Adjust correspondingly, to your real profit.
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, hoping that "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved [Mark 16:16]", unlike Ananias and Sapphira, two Christian Jews.The social standing of today's Christian relies on role assignments and status for most part. It helps to have a good tradition to stand on. And tendentious sayings that no longer fit in, are not to be given first rank.
Look at Abraham's marriage to his half-sister: others that came later, were to be killed for such a relationship. Christianity has evolved for nearly two thousand years and has changed a lot.
We do well not to lose an adequate, significant perspective. A rigidly overlooked point is that the Holy Spirit and the apostles changed much rather quickly, perhaps after having killed off a few Jews [cf. Matthew 5:17-20, Acts 15; 21,25].
We may judge some trees by their fruits, other by their foliage and other features. Old ways of gardening have been superceded. See how smartness helps. And knowledge of gardening is quite a boon. Also, the Second Vatican Counsil vouches for there is even divine wisdom in other religions. [Omo]
He could let it be
Lieh Tzu had learnt to be blown like a leaf in the wind. Some time after it was known, the Chinese emperor asked whether Lao Tzu could fly in the air, he too. The one that was asked said:"I think he could, and could also let it be."
The right uses of gurus are not waived, not forbidden.
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. |
"Be practical and don't tempt others." [Yogananda, in Say 22]
Yogananda also teaches that "Our best friends are the ones that criticise us the most, who never condone our faults." However, a nagging mate is in part like that.
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. Let this example speak volumes.
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 holiness - 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, saying one thing and doing quite another [Matthew 5;17-20].
Millions of followers were executed, against John 14:12.
Now, "in the name of" original Jesus-Christianity "Do not give false witness. Sell everything you have and give to the poor. Then come, follow me." [cf. Luke 18;20-22].
Yogananda's fellowship, SRF, is world-wide. However, it is far from a monomaniac pauper flock.
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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