The Well 2

• Meet Unprejudiced Ones Too
• Sex-Moanastics and Monastics
• Four Hindu Stages of Life
• Great Walnut Issues
• Resolving Stress from Conflicting Views and Plots Around
• Regretting Being a Lousy Christian

Meet Unprejudiced Ones Too

"Who little sows, little gets (Danish proverb)".

Find out what Yogananda says

A Deep Well

Sex-Monastics and Monastics

Give not way to misleading teachings that tempt you.

May I cling successfully to solitude. May pleasures of the world illusory not tempt me. May tranquillity of Meditation be increased. May I not lie steeped in Unconsciousness of Quietude; But may the Blossom of Superconsciousness bloom forth in me [Tm 193].
      Give not way to desires for distractions and vain frivolities — Talks of worldly things disturb my meditation [Tm 195, 224].
      I have never valued word-knowledge set down in books in conventionalized form — They who, knowing not, pose as guides for others, do injury both to themselves and others. [Tm 245, 253].
      True guidance and misleading temptations appear alike, but do not mistake the one for the other [Pray to know the difference] [cf Tm 299, 300].
      Carry the teachings into practice in your everyday life — Weed out all hypocrisies. [cf TM 270, 189]
      What gain is it to celebrate religious rites without attuning body, speech, and mind to the Doctrine? [cf 263]

In ancient times . . . the individual practiced self-discipline [and a wide-ranging education with martial arts too] up to the age of twenty-four; then, with character formed, he entered family life. Later, giving half of his worldly possessions to his children and the other half to his guru's hermitage, the man (often with his wife) retired to the guru's place in the forest. The fourth and final ashram or disciplinary state of life consisted of complete renunciation of all worldly ties; the man and his wife would become homeless ascetics, wandering over India to receive the veneration of all householders and to bestow their blessings of light on all receptive hearts.
      Such was the fourfold path of life pursued by the ordinary man of Vedic India. - Yogananda, Self-Realization Magazine, 1950.

Four Hindu Stages of Life

1. Childhold is for play and fun and a little well adapted teaching.
2. Adolescence is for studying thoughts to live by, gaining know-how of how to handle the needed things in a normal life, and so on.
3. Adulthood is for getting wed and for having children and support the rest, after all. The householder or breadwinner "carries them all on his back".
4. Retirement is for getting deeper and favouring one's dear ones and making the best out of what is left and right -

1. The lowest caste is the sudra caste of manual workers.
2. The next caste bargains, deals in trade, money-making, and gets richer day by day if things go well. It is mercantile, like the West is becoming.
3. The third caste is for statesmen. They stage strifes and wars and order and meritorious living.
4. The fourth caste is for the fully grown information-getters and -seekers and -finders, in other words the well-educated ones. They are supposed to be gates of higher outlooks, after all.

On SRF Monasticism

SOMEONE: You stated that those on the Walnut Board are biased. [. . .]

SS: "The real problem with ex-SRF monks is that they are writing to people who do not have an insider's perspective. [. . .] This is the bias. [. . .] After reading much of the material and considering it [. . .] I saw unconstructive gossip, bias, and spleen venting. [. .. ] I saw the same in Ananda literature, [. . .] most people involved in the discussion are not trained in [. . .] mathematics, philosophy, and the historical study of religion. They are simply people". (Sankara Saranam) [. . .].

They left for all the reasons that were written up in that series of articles that appeared in the New Times LA.
      The long answer: the exodus had been brewing under the surface. The Internet that came and changed everything in our lives, also made its pact felt in SRF. People were talking. News was coming out. There were leaks [and] stories.
      Ananda people were out spreading their gospel about the wrongdoings of SRF. They were working the internet boards, telling people about the SRF lawsuits over a decade. The changes to PY's teachings. The forgeries, signature changes, airbrushing of pictures and history, etc.
      Then the New Times articles dropped like a hundred atomic bombs. Until now NOBODY knew, not even most monastics, what had really been going on behind the ramparts of 3880 San Rafael [SRF international headquarters]. The mansions. The illegitimate children. The duplicity. The abuse. The dysfunction. The secrecy. The lawsuits. The high-powered million-dollar attorneys. The biggest secret of all: [The SRF Leader] Daya Mata hadn't lived in MW [Mount Washington] for over 30 years and nobody even knew, even the monastics!
      All this sent tidal waves throughout the membership and the ashrams. Copies of the New Times were smuggled into MW and the other ashrams. People were talking. At the temples. In the ashrams. In hushed tones. [To many] monastics the farce was too painful to keep up.
      In the end, the year 2000 was the beginning of the fall. Monastics were secretly plotting their escape. Many knew what the others were up to. For some it was a collusion. They planned their escape together. For others they could no longer stand to be in a place that

• was no longer conducive to spiritual advancement,
• no longer lived by the now held ideals and the ideals of its founder,
• was abusively and severely repressive and dysfunctional and and did not turn out to be the heaven they thought it would be.

It was a shakeup that was long overdue. [Extracts]

Great Walnut Issues

A few Things to Learn from the Walnut Board

THE BULKY Walnut is focused on SRF and SRF teachings. Some of its postings tell a bit. However, someone there said that at least parts of the Walnut Board look like a swamp.
      What we learn well we should accommodate to. Reduce the risk of failures: Take a look at the Walnut Board and observe things without preconceived notions. There is too much to look into. Yet it should be possible to learn something from the over-all fate of the Walnut Board in some ways, and implement things that help a more decent fare.

Q. "What more is there to talk about?"

*There is hardly any limit.
      The Hornet's Nest of troubles that Yogananda thought so many organisations would be (Autobiography) - and he created his own nest - should ideally nurture winning activity and cater to (some) higher truths.

Q. How can our integrity see more and better?

The ability to see and understand depends in no small part on plain willingness. Also, the ability to see (study, observe) can be trained or nurtured. And so can many of the ways of success.
      To nurture success is to assist character.
      Also, a boring life-style - if solid and well founded - may nurse many future leaders, including those who eventually become great teachers and gurus.
      This is in conformity with the old Vedic student ashrama (life stage) too.
      Walnut Board committee members and others of the Yogananda cult can get problems in the face of well-founded information. However, fair ones have to tackle decent critique to appear normal, and one is to deal with basic problems and information concerning Yogananda too - not only the institution he started. Most Yogananda's followers would say he still rides - as he wrote in his poems he would.

Foretold, but . . .

NOTE: This is the sort of information that could give avid old cult members stres and a need to explain away things too. Below is more that goes into that topic:

The Sharing of Responsibility

• He started it;
• He is still involved, according to fluent promises and quotes.

Resolving Stress from Conflicting Views and Plots Around

There are dangers in undiscussed, important topics for a society. Below is clarifying help; it is rooted in research.

Going for Gains . . .

1. The alarm reaction (fright, fight, or flight).
2. Adaptation.
3. Depletion - through protracted, stressful adaptation.
4. The energy for adaptations may stop [see Bai (op. cit.). p.100.]

1. Even minor stress may wear on us and wear us out if it goes on for long. Protracted stress of such as mild and medium intensity may wear on the organism and also cause (or co-cause) functional disorders.
2. Intense stress may cause hypertension, stomach ulcers and diabetes and many other common ailments. Medical experts today seem to agree that over 50% (estimates may range between 50 and 70%) of the common bodily diseases are caused or co-caused by stress.

In Murky Waters

Faith in Conformist Gains is a Wonder and Danger

Hints of Stress Levels Help

Illness Predictions Too

1. With a total score of less than 150, there is "merely" 37% chance of getting ill (from that past stress) in the next 2 years.
2. With a total score between 150 and 300 points, the chance of getting ill is 51% in the coming two years.
3. With a total score above 300 you may have 80% change of getting ill in the next two years.

Clear-Cut: Coping Knowledge and Stress Knowledge Increase our Odds of Survival and Success

1. Some individuals are naturally more able to withstand stress (more stress-resistant) than average, and the points about are average stipulates only.
        
2. Further, learning about stress and how to cope with it, increases the odds of maintaining health and of survival as well.

NOTE: Later studies focus somewhat differently, by the use of other concepts. But the Rahe-Holmes scale is there still, and the issues exposed above are hardly ever contradicted. - TK

Regretting Being a Lousy Christian

To be a Christian is to be sick. Being sick is regrettable, like being herded.

Jesus said, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick . . . go and learn what this means: "I desire . . . not sacrifice." . . . "I haven't come to call the righteous, but sinners." [Matt 9:12-13, excerpts]

Duckmite instead of seeing the doctor for the bump in the head.

1. A vocation helps against despair many a time.

2. Be bold enough to have it your way. And, secondly, be bold enough to recognize that you have been discouraged, for that may well be a fact that you don't want to confront. Confidence to believe what suits yourself and not cult leaders is basic, and time to see it through. Critically reexamine many ideas that you may have held for a long time.

3. A long series of small steps, even baby steps, may be needed, Set about doing something sensible about what bothers you. But as you do, try to look behind the surfaces too, to avoid the stumbles. Look sweet enough; that often helps, especially women.

4. Apply principles and skills of problem solving to identify and evaluate optional strategies toward one or more of your true goal in life. This phase may be assisted by common-sense oriented therapy. [LINK A] [LINK B]
      The Adlerian approach of social learning assumes that problems may be solved or modified by recognition of them or their areas, or both, and then regulated a bit or more. In step with this, solutions nearly always require a series of strategic small steps toward one or more long-range goals. And especially initial progress should regularly be monitored and solution strategies altered for the sake of more success.
      With regard to vocation one can re-examine the possible directions to take and review the career options open. One may deliberate very carefully.
      Get to know enough. One may take adult education courses, join clubs, join museums and attend museum social events, and other such activities.
      Make extra effort to contact extended family members and old friends, even though most of them will be busy with their careers and families. Making friends (male and female) will most likely come from getting involved in social activities that are likely to be frequented by single people.
      Don't try mind-emptying techniques of meditation if you are too introverted. Ample rest could do you well. If you don't expect all too much, you may simply enjoy nature, happenings, meetings, and things as is convenient till you find somebody with whom you "click."
      A monastic life is suitable only for the few that feel great with having no sexual contacts and outlets. They live "old peoples' stage of life", one may say. They are a step from death, is another way of putting it.

5. Choose a suitable, realistic course of action, and don't look down on tavern people: Don't feel snub. Some there try to be comrades too.
      Some need to have good feelings about themselves through opinions as facts, but rise above it.
      Good intentions include getting old as someone of sterling worth too. To age with grace is no unattainable ideal today either. Nonetheless stay flexible and accept help as you need it.