Besides

• Broken Deals
• Some Have the Experience  ☥

Broken Deals

Rusty lock: "What could mere observers gain from watching a rusty lock on a door with plenty of gold inside it?"

Syd of Disoppointent said,

"Had Self-Realization Fellowship listened to my gentle counsel, I might have stayed. SRF gives a glorified picture of the many-faceted guru and his output - lectures and sermons and writings.

Lud the reporter said,

"What could an observer learn?"

Syd, pensively:

"We should learn there was a drift in the guru's teachings, which paved the way for later, strict control by monks and nuns, who are strictly controlled beings too, I consider. It shows up that Yogananda changed the kriya methods, even considerably, leaving out formerly "essential parts" of it, says his biographer Dasgupta and others. [Psy 108-10]. Knowledge of that should not be suppressed either, but shown fairly."

Some Have the Experience

Two parrots (Aratinga sostitialis)

Buddha teaches you should not give to undeserving ones. But he also teachesthat for the sake of the few that benefit from advice for health, healing, and knowledge of proper conduct in life (Dharma), help can be dispensed to all. Appropriate teachings can be found to be rather lacking in cults, or mixed with inferior things, as the case may be. I found that to be the case in SRF, and left. I was extremely disappointed.

The Hindu teaching poem Bhagavad Gita says that very few seek Krishna, and fewer still arive: Less than one in a million find Krishna, it suggests. People should progress toward it anyhow, is the teaching. But don't expect very much of people, then, to the degree that the Gita's scenario holds some water.

In Zen Buddhism, on the other hand, there are teachers, roshis, who say upliftingly: "Out of ten disciples, ten should be enlightened." I think one out of two is fine too. Here are the Gita's words:

Out of many thousands among men, one may strive for perfection, and of those who have won perfection, hardly one knows me in truth [or in essence]. [Bhagavad Gita 7:3].

If so, less than one in a million get all the way. But will you trust an old scripture blindly and not even try to check whether its proportion - 1 : 1 000 000 - appears to be accurate?

After telling the chance is "less than one in a million" to get all the way, some get awfully wealthy from speaking of short-cuts, like kriya yoga. But you may increase your odds and your favours by taking up what are documented, first-class methods that are taught in fair ways - SRF ways oath-bind you severely to Yogananda for lifetimes, no matter how he might ill-behave later, if he should take up ways from some of his former lives, for example as a vicious, murderous desert mauraider. [Psy 112]

Adjust your expectations and exercising for present gains too, and do not be stupefied by things told. Go for evidence!

Now, how can all those who learn the alleged "Kriya of Krishna" expect to get cosmic after, say, 1 000 000 rounds, give or take? I would not count on that, after studying Yogananda.

May you have the sense to see through concoctions and find the very best methods available for free use, and see that TM, Transcendental Meditation, is by far best among the researched meditation methods.

I do not say this to debase Yogananda and his cult. But since I once have "been there and done that", I find it highly needed to pour some cold water on the glowing guys that are fed with the yogi's self-contraditions, trickery and deceit or whatever.

Let us face it, if the Gita is true, it cannot be true that one million kriyas well done will suffice for Great Enlighenment, even though Yogananda says so. Out of a million kriya yogis who manage to do a million kriyas each, only one finds God, says the Bhagavad Gita. But Yogananda teaches that all will get there, doesn't he? (Not all kriya yogis find his statement to be true.) But you cannot have it both ways - cannot claim the authority of the Gita and disregard the key sayings in it. This is not the only case where it is done by Yogananda and his fellowship, SRF.

Revised Complaints

I have revised a series of complaints on an SRF-related discussion board from someone who quit SRF and became a Christian. Compare, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners [Mark 2:17]." Jesus says the Christian is sick, and it is far better to be healthy or go for health, and not need him. Few have absorbed the full impact of that, it seems.

Yes, Jesus also compare his followers to sheep in many places, and also tells, "How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!" [Matthew 12:12] There you have it again. It is better to be a healthy, morally OK human than a depraved sheep. To go for favourable Buddhist teachings - some of them should fit many - would be better, accordingly. But life orientations and their manifold decisions belong to the private sphere of life.

      Below are some key points gleaned from a former SRF member's postings on the SRF Walrus board. I have put some of my own past SRF experience into the essay too, and in many places it is not easy to know who I refer to.That is on purpose. I do hope the woman will not fail in her faith one more time. Then again, it may not be so much just what we believe, as how we live, that matters. Still, right views mean a whole lot along the Gentle Middle Way, says Buddha, and advocates it. So as to help the beginners not to put their trust in anything that is written, I add comments.

One may enjoy Yogananda's teachings although they fail - but it is better to enjoy, focus on, and thank for what really helps, and is without self-contradictions and other inconsistencies

A. Why aren't Yogananda's teachings blazing when they failed me?

The cult SRF has never really swerved from Hinduism. Get a modern, decent Bible to quote from instead of the half-antique they use in SRF and other conservative churches.

I was one of those who were hooked into SRF over 30 years ago and got really bored. The first time the discrepancies between SRF's teachings and how I fared popped up, I should have quit. But I was lenient and waited for them to remedy errors I pointed out!

The membership became increasingly cramping. I wrote to the cult headquarters about by increasing problems, and did not like full well the replies I got. [Link].

Yogananda cautioned against finding faults with the tools - the kriya methods he simplified to accommodate to Westerners- But Mumu told otherwise: "The teachings failed me. So did the SRF institution." She goes even further when she writes: "There is NO way anyone can do everything the lessons tell you to do and be "normal". [4 Feb]. But normality is such a loose and uncertain concept.

Back in Los Angeles in the very early 70s, we were informed by monastics that "if you do just one tenth of what is in the SRF Lessons, you will be saved." Saved from doing all in them? That is it! I understood that focusing on the best, most rewarding parts of the Lessons should pay off best [Link]. To be true, I did more than finding the ten percents: in great disgust I burnt all the SRF Lessons and all the Service Readings in a red, warming bonfire in the garden one day. Maybe I got even more saved than by sticking to the ten percents? If so, well done -

B. You want to be another Christ? It's easy

If you want to be a Christ, go and change your name and get spared of some suspicions . . .

Mumu and I seek peace in a simpler lifestyle, such as Yogananda advocates by the catchy "plain living and high thinking". It could be interpreted to mean you should live on a plain, but no, not necessarily . . . Plain living may come with age anyhow. High thinking depends in part on getting to lots of savoury tales, according to Waldorf Education. I agree, and have put over thirteen hundred stories on-line by now. That is something, but there are many other interesting tales!

After leaving the cult, Mumu says she found "life in the word" of the Bible. That is her business.

Now, where Mumu says she did not commit to a church of any religion after the cult experience, I started my own, recognising the many benefits, but mostly for the fun of it. Yogananda too did that. He registered the Self-Realization Fellowship as a church in California in 1935. The papers state it was for the purpose of getting property - which he did. Tax benefits mattered too, I think. Open to benefits, that is what we should be, and churches are in part for that - for the owners. Do not just envy church owners; get one yourself. At least you can have one formally. The Internet lets you become an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church; there are free online ordinations. The church says it has ordained over 20 million ministers in 49 years. Now, the point is, you are free to become a minister and start your own society to reap economic benefits.

But do not let others hail you as a Christ unless that is your real name and you are sure things work well with it. A Norwegian-American saw to it that his new first name was Christ - he was a real Christ, then. The letters of Christ, The letters of Christ Gundersen give us a tantalizingly brief glimpse of what life was like for a Norwegian-American in Brooklyn during the first half of this century, tells Solveig Zempel (Io 185).

Did things go well for the "Christ" of the gospels? His plans were broken and he was executed as a blasphemer.

Mumu seems sure: "If SRF has an alignment to Jesus, how can SRF hold themselves above His teachings?". Alas, the alignment is a fake, if you "ask" the gospels and somewhat bible-educated ministers about it.

Where Mumu finds in retrospect that "SRF's teachings drove me into mental illness - and [not] be entirely well!" I myself in the late 70s, experienced how my expressed misgivings were pushed away by SRF to the smell of sectarianism. As for discussion board postings, stay away from those that smell of fascism or submission or authoritarian directives.

Mumu: "When I'm on my death bed, I want to say, "I have lived" - But it sounds better if you add: "- but not as a complete fool."

The daughter is also a spiritual demand somehow

C. Mother Guilt: "Now I have a pretty well-rounded daughter and feel guilt about her"

I, however, may never tell, "Now I have a pretty well-rounded daughter and feel guilt about her."

D. I enjoyed my spiritual bully-monks and photo demands till I grew up

Mumu wishes she could take back the humiliation her daughter suffered because her family were "devil worshipers" [SRF members] - Some kids were not allowed to come to their house because of the Yogananda pictures they had in view. [7 Feb] This does not means that the SRF pictures flared up and shooed them, or that Mumu shooed them. What probably happened was that parents of other children forbid the visits. I interpret her that way, and may add, "been there, done that, stopped that."

Not all who call Jesus "Lord, Lord," do as he says. He, in turn, won't have anything to do with them on the day of reckoning, he says in the Bible. It sounds so gruff that many just ignore it, and I think they can! For the whole of Acts 15 (confirmed in Acts 21:25) tells there are only four requirements for Gentile (non-Jewish) followers. They are no to blood food (blood pudding, blood sausage, etc.) and three more requirements. But the teachings of Jesus were for Jews only, and were discarded, as you can see if you read that chapter 15.

So now good Christians keep their property, they do not share it or embrace poverty as Jesus asked for. They keep their eyes and limbs even though Jesus says "pluck them out" under certain conditions, and so on. They call him "Lord, lord," without doing what he says, and put high hopes in entering heaven anyway, for Gentile followers should "just" refrain from eating blood food . . . and three more. They have not reach top consistency yet, those "sheep" (conformists). To call a follower a sheep, is from the gospels. Jesus at times takes up such a metaphor from the Old Testament.

To complicate things further, many who think adultery is gross and nasty, eat blood sausage and think they are safe, without even considering Acts 15 either.

So much for them. And Mumu also says she is always amazed with the ways that SRF (and their followers) try to convince themselves that Jesus Christ is in accordance with the teachings of Krishna. He is not, not in all respects. For example, the Bhagavad Gita says the soul is eternal. "The embodied Self . . . is eternal, indestructible and immeasurable. [2:18]" The guru Yogananda too says in several places it cannot die. But Jesus says it can: "Be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [Matthew 10:28]" The "yes" and "no" about one and the same vital thing seem so different outside the SRF pale! In matters of your soul, play safe.

Mumu recounts an artist who lived on the backside of SRF Mother Centre (the SRF headquarters, not called "Hornet's Nest", for Yogananda reserves such a term for organisations, in his Autobiography). After Yogananda died, a bunch of monks demanded all the photos she had taken of Yogananda, she writes. This indicates that in SRF they are fond of guru photos, but more than that too.

Then Mumu claims she read the autobiography about a 100 times in the past 30 years, memorized it, and eventually was able to listen to it on tape when in the car. So much wasted time! For Mumu left SRF after 25 years, and Yogananda too in time. It is so much better to learn cosy study methods and study all right textbooks, and learn from them. They can inform you for your benefit for up to a complete life-time.

The SRF leader Yogananda hobnobbed (associated familiarly), says Mumu. Sweet life, la dulce vita, does not have to be a wrong and all too brief way of living, if done with tact and finesse. Fascism-linked soap living, on the other hand, is a thing to go against. Yogananda sympathized with Mussolini in the first half of the 1930s and praised dictatorship, that poor man.

The senior SRF monk

E. A senior SRF monk is just an SRF-er, and a juvenile just a juvenile

The gist of books

"I was a devotee for 30 years, a Kriyaban for 29 and in the inner circle; served [as a helper in SRF formalities] etc. / In the end: NO. In the end, after "I've read all the teachings up to 2000, many, many times", she found something else to do. Again, such a waste of precious time and precious moments!

COMMENT SO FAR

The basics are: The number of years spent on a thing hardly matter as much as the skill of performance. How many times a book is read matters less than how well it is appropriated through study.

Kriyabans have been initiated in kriya yoga. The core kriya yoga consists of gentle breathing techniques. Pranayama involves special breathing. As for going into books and letters and other written texts, the main point is learning the gist. Some words - freely adapted from maxims by the Buddha can put things better into perspective:

• It is not the number of books in your library that matters the most.
• It is not the number of books you have read that matters the most.
• It is not how many times you have read the books that matter the most.
• It is what you have made your own from reading the books that matter the most (in this context).

To make the main content of texts our own, we normally use sound study methods or such techniques. Besides, our main efforts should be in applying the very best yoga instructions and feel good about it. Besides, proper application takes time and effort. Time enough has to be reserved for it for further aspects of learning and assimilation to blossom [Link].

Focus on key points with undisturbed interest or calmness, and memorize expertly to bring material into the long term memory (LTM)] suitably. The authors of many books indicate that perhaps five or eight repetitions carefully spaced out over time could do. Yet it depends on the sort of material, the amount, and the circumstances. [Ltr]

In the light of this too, reading the Autobiography a hundred times simply means wasted time and effort. Add the grave risk of Yogananda "overload" to it, as the proverb indicates, "Too much of a good thing is a bad thing". Satiety is a sign of bad eating. Reading over-much without know-how and without being sensible, could jeopardise the relationship with the guru too, due to strains of reading like a fool, which may foster antipathy in the long run. Reading the same book a hundred times indicates an astounding lack of appropriation. Tips on learning and studying: Link]

Implemented things show the dominant attitudes

Further excerpts: "I guess I got tired of my prayers not being answered . . . Yogananda's teachings . . . doesn't work, that's why . . . Like, stop having sexual relations with your wife or husband after a certain age. PLEASE." [Mumu, 4 Feb]

COMMENT: Now, Yogananda teaches to lauch prayers into the Aum sound, which may be heard through meditation methods. SRF teaches one or two that works toward it. In Tibetan Buddhism, as exposed by the somewhat scandalised Christopher Hansard, the way is to visualise the thing you are after, preferably deep in your heart. The last point is the most important. Why in your heart? It is where Self reside, it is the Reality side of yourself, the teachings go. Thus, heart matters are normally very significant matters. Here are three Hansard books I have looked into:

1. The Tibetan Art of Living (2001), The enjoyable book contains many self help meditations. [Tl]
2. The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking (2003). Readers say there is helpful knowledge in it, worthwhile advice and practical exercises.
3. The Tibetan Art of Serenity (2006). The book contains standard meditation and relaxation techniques.

And yes, I know Christopher's credentials are under suspicion lately, to say the least. Yet parts of his teachings stem from the Tibetan Kum Nye, and some forms of Kum Nye belong to a body of knowledge which describes Tibetan practices used to promote health and healing. Many practitioners approve Kum Nye as a well balanced workout for the body enhancing suppleness and strength. Kum Nye has been popularised in the West through publications by Tarthang Tulku. Kum Nye is related to the Nyingma and Bön traditions. [Wikipedia, sv "Kum Nye"]

Christopher is accused of misrepresenting and exploiting the genuine Tibetan Bon tradition. His "Eden Medical Center" is closed after troubling exposure and concerns. And then, are we we throw out the baby with the dirty water? Do we discard helpful methods and points even though one of those who have published them (Hansard), has been a lot scandalised? I leave that to you to decide. Things are not always easy. Clarifications may be too costy, and wrong directions may give you long-lasting troubles. Consider that too.

Mumu says Yogananda's teachings don't work. Others say contrarywise. Mumu takes to overgeneralisation. Some parts of the teachings work; many say that. I don't see why it could be different, considering how much he lectured about and dictated. For example five percent of Yogananda's output and ten percent of his methods could be wise to learn by heart. But which five and ten percents? I have tried to offer the criteria for it. [Link]. I could also have listed up the "top hundred less useful things" Yogananda decree, but have not made a tight list of it so far. Most of his dictated and lectured sayings may be too soapish to bother about learning thoroughly. They are not of formidable, general stand-up worth, that is. As an example, see his near-incredible "commentary on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam". His "commentary" has little to do with Omar. Still he has good points here and there! [Link]

What is considered inappropriate varies too. Yesternight I chatted with a Norwegian who told about how he had been on a bar and suddenly been tongue-kissed by a woman.

"Did she look good?" I asked him.

"No, she was gross," he said.

"I guess that made the total kissing experience less," I mused. He agreed, and we stopped there. Three stories about ups and downs and backsides to things are here: [Link].

By this one may detect a problem for the delicate yogi - Is it just a matter of "thinking makes it so" (Shakespeare)?

Yogi words may not be all unsuitable

"Aligning SRF with Christ is speaking out of the side of one's mouth . . . [Mumu, 1 Feb] Jesus made it pretty clear what you have to do to be a Christian, and there's nothing about going through a yogi from India. [Mumu, 4 Feb]

COMMENT: Agreed to the first part of the tirade. As for the second part, Acts 15 (etc) may open up for it if you don't eat blood sausage and the like, but then you don't have "original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ" as SRF holds they stand for - which is a fata morgana anyway. [More] [And more]

Guts (courageous resolution, or brave readiness to strive even against odds) is a means to better life

"SRF put a spin on the Christian Bible, not unlike the Mormons. [Mumu, 29 May 03]

COMMENT: Agreed. But there is Christian freedom. It is an important part of something -

One's main circumstances do suggest things about significant, hovering influences

"SRF failed me when it was ultimately tested. [Mumu, 4 Feb] - The SRF way of life is no life. It's not living . . . I wish I had those hours back that I spent meditating while my child was in the other room watching TV. [Mumu, 7 Feb]

COMMENT: This sad story calls for a few pertinent comments: Things also depend on how or how well SRF was tested, under what circumstances, and how long. Those who leave SRF in their 30s or 40s, a rather typical age for most ex-cultists, may consider all that has been lost before they do: Golden moments, golden opportunities, steering into a far better course when there was ample time and also non-barren women to spend time with.

The time spent on regret over many years, may be added, but it hardly helps to brood too long over it.

What is editor made, and what was Yogananda made of what he allegedly wrote?

"Writings of Yogananda have his unique voice. [Mumu, 6 Feb] - When you really need the "blessing," it isn't going to come . . . With SRF I worried all the time. [Mumu, 4 Feb]

COMMENT: These topics are debatable. Yogananda used to dictate hint-wise to editors, according to such as Kriyananda (James Donald Walters, who started Ananda Sangha).

F. In some who think they were ruined by SRF's Yogananda teachings and other wrong teachings, there may be a need to go witch-hunting

Statements

"The teachings of Jesus have nothing at all to do with the teachings of SRF. [Mumu, 1 Feb]

COMMENT: Over-statements are unproductive. The fact is that isolated segments may be look-alikes. However, the over-all atmosphere of look-alike statements for different cultures may be very different, and Yogananda-SRF's main teachings are of Hinduism.

About some allegedly SRF ruined people

"I've seen people utterly ruined from SRF's "karma" belief system. [Mumu, 4 Feb]

COMMENT: Separate, single cases do not count much as evidence in the realm of science and research. Such cases are classified as "anecdotal evidence". Some tales may instruct and entertain us. The question is how typical they are.

You who can move mountains, should perhaps consider yourself saved

"The body of work that Paramahansa Yoganada produced is phenomenal [Not really] [Mumu, 6 Feb]. The core of Christianity is Jesus died for our sins . . . [But he did not know you; you were not even born then. And two goats could have accomplished the same thing that year, according to Leviticus 16]. If we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior then we are saved . . . [But he said he came only for Jews, and martyrs in the millions were mislead about the impending end of the world.] [Mumu, 2 Feb]

COMMENT: The basic teachings are greatly different on very basic issues. Millions of martyrs said similar things as the one I call Mumu throughout here. Something that is notoriously overlooked, is the stunning miracles that true Jesus-followers are said to do, and not just in fantasy. If you have that Faith, you can move mountains and so on, and do better than Jesus himself [John 14:12]. Few, alas, show such signs of being of the right sort. I think it is more helpful for anyone to aim for health, and prosperity too, to be on the safe side. Then you should not need Jesus, says Jesus, but take the upper road, away from faith madness etc. [Mark 2:17; Matthew 12:12].

Summary

1. Learn to select what is fit and works well for you. One may enjoy Yogananda's teachings although they fail - but it is better to enjoy and thank for what really helps more and better - perhaps ten percent of his output could be OK in such a light.
2. The daughter is also a spiritual demand somehow, and not just a demand for money. And by the way, allegations of sexual abuse of children have been made against a variety of religious groups, not only Roman Catholic priests, monks, and nuns.
3. The senior SRF monk has fought to get to a top-dog position. Now fight for yours where it counts -

Select pictures or picture parts you enjoy and thrive with. New methods have surfaced for taking and editing pictures has made it a lot easier. Some could enjoy nice pictures of their daughter and some SRF monk. And some tales are too bad to tell.

And lo

One may have to fight in a troubles-beset area to get important anti-sect information out of previous sect members. It should be far, far better to keep away from sects and sectarians in the first place. Fanaticism may flare up among such guys, for one thing, and neuroses or worse.

Literature  

Ak: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Man's Eternal Quest. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1975.

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

Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Theosophical, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]

Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.

Io: Zempel, Solveig, ed., translation and introduction. In Their Own Words: Letters from Norwegian Immigrants. Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.

Ltr: Schunk, Dale. Learning Theories. An Educational Perspective. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2008.

Op: Simpson, John, and Jennifer Speake. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Pa: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971.

Psy: Dasgupta, Sailendra. Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences. Portland: Yoga Niketan. 2006. Online pdf. www.yoganiketan.net

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

Tl: Hansard, Christopher. Tibetansk livskunst (The Tibetan Art of Living. 2001). Oslo: Hilt og Hansteen, 2004.

Tlv: Hansard, Christopher. Tibetansk legekunst og livsvisdom (The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking. 2003)Oslo: Hilt og Hansteen, 2003.

Tvs: Hansard, Christopher. Tibetanske veier til sinnsro (The Tibetan Art of Serenity. 2006). Oslo: Hilt og Hansteen, 2006.



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