Cult Bible

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

On a previous page is general information about cults. In this collection are titbits from Self-Realization Fellowship, SRF. Its founder meant it to be a church for all religions, but somehow the freer spirit evaporated. Around 2001 about one third of the cult's monastics left the SRF premises, and decades earlier many of the first kriya initiators left also, after the founder, the Hindu monk Yogananda, died in 1952.

The idea behind parts of this collection is to have fun, just as the SRF founder teaches. It is just not good enough just to weep and whine and stab oneself to death for entering.


Q: What is Self-Realization Fellowship?

A: Most people who get in touch with Self-Realization Fellowship, SRF, do it through unfair Yogananda propaganda that SRF publishes. SRF is a New Age yoga cult. It was registered formally as a church in 1935. It is headquartered in Los Angeles, with centres and meditation groups in over 50 countries (2005). The Fellowship was founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) when he lived in Boston. Allegedly the fellowship and church unites teachings of Hinduism with teachings of Jesus. In reality, its Christianity is not according to central gospel teachings and do not square with Catholicism either, for that matter.

In 1920 a . . . Hindu missionary effort was launched in America when . . . Paramahansa Yogananda, was invited to speak at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, sponsored by the Unitarian Church. After the Congress, Yogananda lectured across the country, spellbinding audiences with his immense charm and powerful presence. In 1925 he established the headquarters for his Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in Los Angeles on the site of a former hotel atop Mount Washington. He was the first Eastern guru to take up permanent residence in the United States after creating a following here. - Elliot Miller

A: The guru who founded SRF (Self-Realization fellowship, was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh, before he became a Hindu swami (monk) Yogananda. His title was later changed into Paramhansa or Paramahansa. You may find both ways of spelling it. The spelling of the first one is correct enough, and how Yogananda himself wrote it. The spelling of the other, with an added a after 'param', is in part an unnecessary and unwelcome SRF change that includes signature forgery too. [MORE]

Yogananda writes that he was born in Gorakhpur in India on January 5, 1893. To fill in: Yogananda was born on a Thursday at 8:38 p.m. according to extraneous information.

At the behest of a Babaji, Yogananda went to the United States in 1920, where he taught and initiated people in secret yoga teachings (kriya yoga) for 30 years. The teachings include the gentle Hong Saw (Hamsa) contemplation method, which is not secret any more. And kriya yoga is not secret any longer either. It is made public by the Satyananda line of kriya yoga. [Cy; Kta] In 1925, aided by disciples with enough money, he succeeded in buying a hotel in Los Angeles. It was made into his headquarters. The guru remained in the U.S.A. till his mahasamadhi (death) in 1952, except for the times he was travelling outside of the States.


Q: What is kriya yoga?

A: Kriya yoga is essentially a breathing method. The basic kriya is virtually the same as the publicly known ujjayi pranayama as taught on this site.

Kriya (from 'do') is the name given a set of contemplation (meditation) methods. The basic kriya method is a pranayama ("vitality-control" method). The kriya system was made known to many from 1861 by Lahiri Mahasaya (Shyama Charan Lahiri), a householder yogi living in Banaras (Varanasi).

The kriya yoga set that SRF teaches, derives from Lahiri Mahasaya's system, but is in part simplified, in part changed. SRF teaches a selection of kriya methods. The kriya system uses a mixture of Hatha yoga, Bhakti (dispensable), Karma (in part doubtful), Mantra (indispensable), and Jnana Yoga (so-called).

Kriya yoga is a set of advanced techniques that are said to be popularized in the West by Paramahansa Yogananda. Slow and gentle breathing (of some ujjayi kind) goes into the "soul" (core methods) of it. The teachings are that some who practice it, are made more spiritually advanced. The focus is ambivalent, though. One the one hand you may read Yogananda saying that kriya is scientific, it works like mathematics. On the other hand he says devotion is needed too, when that "song" suits him. An old devotee once came up to him and said, "I have done kriya a million times, and am not enlightened anyhow." Yogananda, "But your attitude wasn't right!" As if attitudes are into mathematics -

'Scientific' and of 'mathematics' are good-looking word (catch-words), but they should have a proper content and not be misused, after all. Yogananda also said "Kriya and devotion" are needed. But in the genuine kriya teachings one object is to drop extraneousness and expectations. Devotion is not needed for progress in yoga. Afer all, the God Yogananda speaks of, is your Self. That is his pristine teaching. Hence, Yogananda could bring conflicting kriya teachings to others.

Third, initiation is needed. But there are different sorts of initiations. A deep problem with the SRF current practices is that they bind those who would learn kriya there, hand and foot by a severe pledge that Yogananda says may last into very many future lives:

There is only one guru uniquely the devotee's own. But if you turn away from the emissary of God, He silently asks: 'What is wrong with you, that you foolishly leave the one I have sent to help you learn the divine science of the soul? Now you shall have to wait long, and prove yourself, before I shall respond again.' He who cannot learn through the wisdom and love of his God-ordained guru will not find God in this life. Several incarnations at least must pass before he will have another such opportunity." - Paramahansa Yogananda, Spring 1974. SRF Magazine, p 6. From a talk at Mother Centre, 8/17/39.

As a help, here are two tips: Don't leave foolishly, but bring to the fore that Yogananda and his SRF teach that the material universe is illusory, and therefore the SRF kriya yoga pledge is as unreal as their universe. That is his teaching and one of its necessary deductions. Good luck with that.

At Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship and other places they continue to initiate into kriya yoga people who seem to want to become more spiritual. The carrot is self-knowledge in bliss, the stick is the alarming message of many lives "down the drain" at worst, and also that you are made to pledge things outside your reach or what you have control of (a too severe pledge). Forth, as mentioned, there are inconsistencies in Yogananda's (and SRF's teachings), and they may complicate living considerably unless you learn to "win the trick": "When in doubt, win the trick (Edmund Hoyle)."

Thus, when we speak of kriya, if you submit to a top-dog hierarchy to get it, you may not profit as much as if you did not do that, and your initial honour may be robbed unless you matter. Consider well to make your choice, as there are many other kriya teachers around today.


Q: What is the SRF Walrus Board?

A: "The Walrus" is a bulky discussion board that contains information and expressions by anonymous persons. Some on the board say they are former SRF monastics. The board is for Yogananda devotees who have become disgrunted, disappointed and dismayed with the current state of affairs in SRF. I have used or drawn of some of the information here, and rather carefully.

The fundamental attitude of many former monastics is not "I'm OK, you're OK" when it comes to relating to SRF. There has in fact been considerable fear of SRF and strange paranoia-like feelings on the board. An anonymous discussion board can hardly expect to accomplish much else than throwing light on dismal things and happenings, including suicides of SRF members.


Q: Who are Sir Alf and his QUAG?

A: I trust you will find out if you read on four and five pages. You can also find answers on this page: [LINK]

Literature  

Ak: Yogananda, Pa.: Man's Eternal Quest. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1982.

Ap: Mieder, Wolfgang (main editor), Stewart A. Kingsbury, and Kelsie E. Harder: A Dictionary of American Proverbs. (Paperback) New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Cy: Satyananda Saraswati, Swami. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 1981.

Kta: Satyananda Saraswati, Swami. Kundalini Tantra. 8th ed. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 2001.

Pa: Yogananda, Pa.: Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971. – ONLINE 1st edition

Say: Yogananda, Pa.: Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.



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