SRF Study and Sayings
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SRF Followers and Members
A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure. - Buddha
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| Watch out - a cult pollutes the minds and makes infirm. "We are all crazy," says Yogananda [Ak 425]. |
"OUR BEST friends are those who criticize us the most . . . who never condone our faults," said Paramahansa Yogananda, originator of what is now told of as the Self-Realization Fellowship cult (SRF).
If you think that his followers act as he tells, trying to be his best friends, you could be mistaken. For they are a crazy lot - A drive to venerate one's boss (guru) seems to get in the way of such fit Yogananda friendship . . . That is both "monkey" or monky nature for you, or rather, boss-servile authoritarianism, if you seek longer words for it.
No Goat Ritually Hailed in SRF, but Jesus
All of us, as Paramahansaji used to say, are a little bit crazy, and we do not know it. - Sri Daya Mata [On; "Qualities of a Devotee"]
However, Yogananda said "We are all a little bit crazy": he included himself. This spells that the guru and his followers are crazy, and some do not know it. You can also believe that "he (she) is not the most crazy who knows (s)he is crazy." But there is more to it than that.
On this site you find brought together material on sides of it: inappropriate guru words are considered infallible, and the slaughter of a goat yearly and driving another to the wilderness, is not held in honour, even though it is written in the Bible that such an indelicate practice is to be: "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you." [Leviticus 16].
SRF tells in their Aims and Ideals that they stand for original Christianity one hundred percent. This means they stick to the teachings of Jesus, who told his words were for Jews only, who told followers to pluck out the eye (etc) if it offends somehow, to sell all to follow him, and who told in Matthew 5:18-19 that the Law was to be valid. "Till heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law till everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, (etc)." And that Law ordains such as execution for Saturday work, ostracism for eaters of blood food, and keeping the Canaanite slave forever.
They keep monks and nuns in SRF, but do they keep Canaanite slaves, or do they stick to cud-chewing of Yogananda's demagoguery as if they are drunk with his words and call it wisdom? Compare a more detailed study of the guru's bluff in the matter, one which SRF perpetrates: [The Christianity of SRF]
Thus we have come to see that it is written in the Law that SRF finds it fit to say they take to, to sacrifice a goat yearly for the amassed sins of the chosen people that year, and take the other goat into the wilderness and leave it there - as a lasting ordinance. [Leviticus 16]. In the light of that, there should not be any good reason to have Jesus executed for the sins of those with no foreskins at the time (He said he came for Jews and his words were for Jews). Thus, SRF crazy guys are and are not on biblical and Christian ground by feigning and maladaptations and misplaced honouring -
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Note That value of a goat. |
I did not say I am for sacrificing of innocent animals. I did not say I am a follower of Jesus. I have only pointed out that there are many inconsistencies around, and conform and ridiculous feigning and hypocricy in some circles, and SRF is no exception. Nitwits band together and seem to decide that things they agree on are fit, just because they have agreed among themselves. And that seems to explain why Christianity changes too, away from what was presented as God-given rules to follow - in the New Testament too. Moreover, In SRF there has been a notable drift from essential yoga to church-followerism over some decades. There are good sides to it, and many other sides too.
♦ Judged from the Bible premises [see Leviticus 16], two goats yearly could have saved the Israelites better than Jesus did (his given mission for Jews only surely failed).
"Infallibility . . . is not my problem"
Followers and lay devotees may not appreciate this site at all. But what can be expected of those who love to call themselves "devotees" while qualifying poorly by a certain "gangism"? To honour a guru's incorrect infallibility with one's lips without letting actions follow suit, is not straight, for one thing, but rather a side to narcissism. But that is not my problem. I have left the guru, his teachings, and the servile gangism he instituted and SRF has kept up, if not increased, far behind me, I hope. I am a former SRF member, then, one of the initiates in all the kriyas, and so on.
In SRF, total and even life-after-life commitment -also called binding - is required of members. And newcomers in SRF get drenched in Yogananda waffling, where proven facts can be rare finds. Further, those who aspire to enjoy the supposed benefits of becoming an SRF members, must be willing to subordinate personal desires to the guru's directives. Getting second thoughts and misgivings may bring on lots of "bad karma", it seems: You do not know how bad, but Yogananda speaks of miseries for life after life for SRF members who leave him. That is the long-time result, according to him - fastening the scaring reins.
You may learn kriya yoga elsewhere - there is a book on it
Do you feel a need to burn yourself somehow?
Through the documented information on this site you may find out of the lay of the land. As for yoga - kriya yoga too - this site is considered one of the best sites world-wide by some. It hardly undermines you. Mind as well that if you are eager to learn kriya yoga, it works best to keep your freedom intact. There is a course by Swami Satyananda Saraswati that presents kriya yoga in detail without that gruesome, incredible Yogananda binding. Thus, study alternatives and preserve your dear freedom, and consider that kriya yoga is a yagna, a sacrifice: Consider there are sides to yourself that could be sacrificed in SRF. It is no joke. I wish it were. Yogananda writes in his online autobiography that
Kriya yoga is the real "fire rite" often extolled in the Bhagavad Gita. . . . The yogi offers his . . . human longings to a monotheistic bonfire . . . This is indeed the true yogic fire ceremony . . . The ultimate flame receives the sacrifice . . . His bones stripped of all desirous flesh, his karmic skeleton bleached . . . he is clean at last. [Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 26.]
With a bleached skeleton you are probably dead too. At any rate, you are told not to have sex very much, even if you are married - for example once a month. That spells "quite dead to normal sex" most of the time for many. It should also be told that certain parts of Yogananda's sex teachings on the reasons for conserving "vital fluids" are passé.
Who are demons?
Not everything is a science that is called science, and Yogananda puts his own spin on Bhagavad Gita, in part by the use of selections, and also by outright ignoring the obvious: that he is a demon, according to the Gita. For the Gita says those who say the world is not real, are demons, and Yogananda and some more SRF gurus say the world is unreal. The Gita says: "Those who are demoniac . . . Neither . . . proper behaviour nor truth is found in them. They say that this world is unreal, that there is no foundation . . . (Bhagavad Gita 16:7-8).".
Yogananda claims that the world is unreal, an illusion. Where does that take him?
There is no material universe; its warp and woof is . . . illusion. [Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 30.]
There you have it. It serves to illustrate another side to split-mind teachings of Yogananda: Claim the Gita authority and overlook significant parts of it. He does the same with Bible teachings. Thus, watch out for decorum hailing in these waters. It might save you from embarrassment and being caged in. Further, it is wise not to believe blindly, but adhere to well documented facts, in that we get less fooled or less often fooled that way. Against it, the "art of dogmatism" is long.
Shankara Wisdom
The right approach does not exclude the good parts of the old yogic tradition, where rational inquiry is told of as fit and rites are not. That is what Adi Shankara tells in the prologue of his Crest-Jewel of Wisdom (Crj, v. 40-77):
Rites cannot lead to Freedom. Therefore let the wise one strive after Freedom, approaching the good, great Teacher (the Higher Self), with soul intent on the object of the teaching . . . Setting all rites aside, let the wise, learned ones who approach the study of the Self strive for Freedom . . .
Rites are to purify the thoughts, but not to gain the reality. The real is gained by Wisdom, not by a myriad of rites. . . . Knowledge is gained by discernment, by examining . . . Success demands first ripeness . . . Let the seeker after self-knowledge find the Teacher (the Higher Self), full of kindness and knowledge of the Eternal. [Crj, p. 9-10, abstracted]
Yogananda - a Hindu monk in the Shankara tradition - talks for kriya yoga as the rite, whereas Shankara talks against rites. It is good to note such things at the very start of one's quest, so as not to be taken in by foolish devotionalists at every turn. Much in a life could eventually go down the drains by that (see next page). [MORE]
About one third of the world-wide SRF's monastics left its premises six or seven years ago
There is much valuable in yoga, and many valuable sayings by Yogananda too. However, there is also a need to expose decadent, foolish and harmful yoga and to hinder many deeply unrewarding, unproductive efforts and attitudes - the waste of years and assets a cult can bring. In short: Yogananda and most of his gurus repeatedly teach the world is unreal. But if those teachings be true, there would not be any visible gurus and Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) teachings either. SRF is world-wide.
Is it obvious that Yogananda, his teachings, and his cult are illusory? What is there to say if all is illusory?
You get many good stories along with the pinpointing
The focus in the following is: Watch out for teachings that serve to make you sheepish. The obvious thing to do is to stay completely away from Yogananda and his fellowship and remain on the safe side. The next best use of one's time could be to investigate things seriously and thereby avoid getting enrolled in a cult of followers. Some evidence has surfaced on the Internet lately, especially since the year 2001 or so, when about one third of his monastic followers left the SRF premises for several reasons.
In the section that speaks against cultish teachings and practices, you can also come across good stories, a lot of verbatim Yogananda quotations, and artistic illustrations. The hundreds of book references are correct and may be checked.
On the next page already there are nudges that could wake up followers. But if they do, they are not free to adjust their course, for they are more or less dictated by Yogananda, who set himself up on top of them. For example, there is a cult pledge that serves to binds followers, opposed to normal Human Rights, and a serious saying by him - quoted verbatim on the next page - that those who leave him are in for colossal sufferings for many future lives. That forms part of the world picture he laid on the souls and hearts of followers.
The Case of Geoffrey D. Falk
Belief in a deceitful person, a failing business, or a false doctrine seems to be a sheer wastage of man's good energy. - Yogananda [Jse 304]
A Canadian, Geoffrey D. Falk, decided to write about his negative SRF experiences too. He went to southern California to spend time as a resident volunteer at the Hidden Valley SRF ashram outside Escondido, near San Diego, after he had been a member of SRF for over ten years. He came to the conclusion that most monks were there for "the power trip" to regard later-arrivers as "less spiritually advanced" and that those who questioned their leadership were "resisting the will of God as manifested through them." Falk writes among other things,
Each one of the SRF line of leaders/gurus—their "popes"—from Daya Mata back to Krishna, are regarded by obedient SRF devotees as being infallible . . . I, too, once foolishly viewed them thusly. [Falk, chapter 26]
Falk writes he experienced nine months of psychological abuse at the place. You can say he did not like it there. Then he went back to Canada. There he wrote the on-line e-book called "Stripping the Gurus: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment". It has been called "gripping and disturbing". The author writes: "Be prepared. Be informed. Find out what reportedly goes on behind the scenes." He surely gives a lot of detail as to hearsay that circulates in SRF circles, and tells of wrong prophesies by Yogananda too.
Cult evidence is not lacking on these pages
God is a dictator because He created us against our will. But He is surely trying to rectify that by being a spiritual dictator. - Yogananda [Jse 219]
On this page you get cult evidence and a whole lot of verbatim Yogananda quotations on how good dictatorship looked to him, for example. "The average man cannot think clearly . . . He needs the master mind of a Dictator in order to think right and do right." - [Yogananda. "Interview". East-West Magazine, Vol. 6.] Frankly, many are not happy about that - either. And we may say SRF has de-emphasised that point too.
Entering a sect could be to your ruin. Those who have entered and then read such material as is gathered here, may get shocked or stunned. But they may not all recover to a normal love life and adequate communication either. Some disgruntled or disoriented ones, including former SRF monastics, have sought to discuss their plights on discussion boards, and may be overly watchful against outsiders and afraid of SRF. The discussion board called SRF Walrus gives the evidence. It was set up by one or more former SRF monastics.
These pages have kindled some Yogananda devotees. Some are helped by the SRF methods, others tell they have not been helped by them. Some ask me what to do. That is not easy to answer. Generally speaking,
LOOK TO PLANTS
In spring new plant life pushes upward through the crust - upward.
Plants remain adaptible, yet constant in their inherent designs,
pushing upwards to manifest themselves. Thus some may prosper.
So remain sincere to your inwardness. Tank up to nurture your inner sides well. Listening to your own conscience, you probably have to push aside impediments to full growth as you maintain correct mindfulness, and that could be fit self-assertiveness. Get more proficient too. All this could lead you to weigh and consider things carefully as you go toward the lofty Spirit.
Sound prevention is better than futile attempts at cure.
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Literature
Ak: Yogananda, Pa.: Man's Eternal Quest. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1975.
Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Philosophical Library, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
Crj: Shankara. The Crest-Jewel of Wisdom and other writings of Shankaracharya. Tr. Charles Johnston. Covina: Theosophical University Press, 1946.
Falk: Falk, Geoffrey D. Stripping the Gurus: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment. 2008. On-line.
[www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/yogananda.asp]
Jse: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Journey to Self-realization: Discovering the Gift of the Soul. New ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1997.
Nai: Guba, Egon and Lincoln, Yvonne: Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park: Sage Publications,1985.
On: Mata, Daya. "Only Love". Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1976.
Pa: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971.
Say: Yogananda, Pa.: Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.
Si: Shastri, J. ed. Siva Purana, Vols 1-4. Delhi: Banarsidass, 1969.
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