Kriya Yoga Issues

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Deep Cult Information
A Stake Through a Book? These Nuns -
Kriya Yoga Issues and Other Techniques

Deep Cult Information

First they capture you and enslave you, then they ride and ridicule you and give you a bad name too, after the good things you've done in their service - I do not talk only of donkeys here -

Philip Zimbardo, a specialist on cults, thinks that the large society might be easier if it were more caring, and in some ways more cultlike. Yet there are more possible benefits in being cult-free than cult-ridden, I would say. It is also a matter of personality and cult profile - how well they match, and how many benefits the cult holds. But when a cult says one thing but does not live up to it, the table may be set for heart-tearing conflicts.

A Stake Through a Book? These Nuns -

Having "the highest kriyas" is one issue below. Another one is 'modifications', and a third might be 'misleading people'.

If a monastic in Self-Realization Fellowship advises others to to drive a stake through a book, for example Kriya, the True Path by Swami Satyeswarananda, it may not help. But the advice could reflect competition. And as with other kinds of competitions, much may seem at stake. Interestingly, Satyeswarananda makes little of SRF, and hardly thinks the way SRF spreads kriya yoga is OK.
Satyaswarananda has pointed out that Yogananda altered the Kriya system substantially, especially in regard to the more advanced kriya methods. He changed things, left out formerly essential parts with their bindings and injunctions, and had his way. What is more, SRF members experience loyalty conflicts when it comes to reading Yogananda-critical literature.
It is also a part of the picture that some people who have met Satyeswarananda, or spoken to him by telephone, describe him as being extremely rude and agressive. For all that, many find there is "good stuff" in his books. I have been in contact with the swami.
His personality may not be of so much interest to one who seeks to know the Self (Atma). His teachings often speak disparagingly of Yogananda's methods. There are disparaging comments - with appeals to Vedic Tradition and Vedic people - that conservatives would laugh out loud about SRF methods of meditation, including kriya and how it is taught in SRF in the footsteps of Yogananda.
So, according to him, Vedic, the tradition, being concervative in it, Babaji, and Self is good, but those who start meditating in the SRF way, are held up to stubborn ridicule. Here are details:

Those who cannot make proper postures and cannot abandon the expectation of the results of the practice, should not try Yoga discipline. Those who recommend liberally to practice otherwise, for example, sitting on a chair, spine erect, resting the feet set on the floor [an SRF way], are not practicing yoga or Kriya at all [Don't forget to ask: "Says who, without furnishing valid evidence? On what grounds? Promoting what?"] . . .
If you ask any Vedic person whether one can practice Yoga or meditate through the Yoga discipline sitting on a chair resting the feet on the floor the person would LAUGH . . . [How well founded is that laughter, in case? It could be a fool's laugh, for what you know.]
To conservative people, it will appear RIDICULOUS if they hear that Yoga is taught in a group for the masses. [A clear reference to the SRF way. However, old teachings and conservative Hindus may be just bigoted, without knowing anything of present value - and that is a counter-hypothesis.] . . .
If Vedic people hear about practicing Kriya yoga in the West sitting on chairs in churches who claim the practice is Pure Kriya, they will say, "Practicing Kriya Pranayam sitting on a chair and claiming the practice Pure Kriya! Those Westerners are really crazy. Let them fool themselves for this incarnation. [I do not think it is fit to attack others and their practices solely because of being obsessed with old Hindu ways of thinking and doing, however.] [www.sanskritclassics.com/yogananda.htm. Accessed 1 Nov 08]

Till Owlglass, famous German prankster from the 1300s. Gross ridicule, going too far, and making others laugh and snigger - it is all in his famous stories.

Going far in debasement looks like the swami's deal. "Being laughed at" forms part of his argument. The question is, however, whether such laughing is justified. Further, the swami's presentation looks like mocking, and lacking a lot in love and justification too. Say "no, thank you" to stiff-necked scoffing rooted in traditional conformism, for it leaves out key issues of validity, proof, and relevance. There is no good proof that neither has the perfect view in the matter. Nor is there proof that modified, simplified kriya is less valuable - or better - than the kriya it takes off from. The traditionalist Satyeswarananda claims much against modified kriya, but he lacks clear and basic proof, no matter how often he "bellows". [www.sanskritclassics.com/mod5.htm. Accessed 1 Nov 08]
The swami further supplies notions of some possible dangers on the SRF path, after Yogananda gradually turned less conservative Hindu in America: He talked down on creativity in a caste-fixed perspective in early years, and later glorified creativity in talks and sermons. Yogananda changed his mind, or rather, grace and light blew in, so to speak. In the long run he found some innovations helpful.
Satyeswarananda equals devoted SRF devotees with crazy fools, but do they "fool themselves" in such matters, as he says? No, others have fooled them, to the degree they are fooled. To be misled is a danger in cult country.

Yogananda - a Cause of Crazy Guys?

Yogananda stated in the 1929 teachings of Kriya that twelve Kriyas were the same as a year of natural spiritual evolution. Then later in his Autobiography he said that one Kriya was the equivalent of one year of natural evolution - twelve times more than what he originally stated.
Later on Satyeshwarananda started writing books that Sri Yukteswar did not have the higher Kriyas, so Yogananda did not have them. That would need to be substantiated better, for the Autobiography of a Yogi [Ay] says Yogananda had many kriya teachers, not just Sri Yukteswar. He was taught by his father, "Bhagabati Christ", and his Sanskrit tutor too, to name a few of them. And yes, Yogananda includes his railroad adminstrator of a father among those who were allegedly raised to christlike status by Shyama Lahiri,

Sri Yukteswar chose the following morning to grant me his Kriya Yoga initiation. The technique I had already received from two disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya - Father and my tutor, Swami Kebalananda. But Master possessed a transforming power; at his touch a great light broke upon my being, like the glory of countless suns blazing together. - Yogananda, Ha 105; [LINK]

The Swami also holds that SRF has disobeyed the injunction of Shyama Lahiri and Babaji prohibiting anyone from forming an organization around Kriya Yoga, and that Yogananda commercialised kriya yoga after reaching the masses with his message. He also removed "Khecharimudra [tongue-lifting] - which is a precondition for practicing the Thokar, Omkar Kriyas and Brahmayonimudra - [and thereby] completely changed the Kriya practice and reduced it to something else which would be an unproven, new approach with uncertain or crazy fatal results." [www.sanskritclassics.com/yogananda.htm - accessed 1 Nov 2008]
Now, modifications of kriya by SRF and others are derided on Satyeshwarananda's Sanskrit Classics site at "Kriya Modifications" there. What is true is that Yogananda changed Kriya and his mind too, in the course of his "career".
It has also been mentioned that he trash the Yogananda-hailed guru Yukteswar on his website, calling him a cheap astrologer. I would not call him cheap, though.
Satyeswarananda claims that the SRF kriya initiation dupes and dooms initiates from day one: "The question doesn't arise to be initiated by a long gone dead person!" He claims the right way to practice kriya is to abandon the expectation of results and continue the practice that is received personally from the living lips of a guru, as he says. A lot agains this handed-over view, Yogananda excels in glorified vistas about results. Cosmic Consciousness, become a Christ, Infinity, and so on, gain a million years development, are solid parts of his marketing. [www.sanskritclassics.com/ Accessed 1 Nov. 2008]
Satyeswarananda and Yoganiketan both publish Lahiri works and works of others. Satyeswarananda books teem with interpolations.

In the Light of Satyeshwarananda

Learn something from the chamois of the Alps.

It has been mentioned on the SRF Walrus that Swami Satyeshwarananda wants to be left alone. Many wild animals strive for the same thing, and they manage so without being being "extremely rude and agressive" to men who get near them; they just jump away. Maybe uncivic yogi manners, even out of the blue, is an effective means to be left alone too? However, it is inferior to the decent ways of so many animals.
And for his fine work of presenting original kriya so that many may get a wider, more nuanced picture of what goes on in SRF and of things Yogananda did, I wish him luck too. Alternative perspectives can be helpful. But our attitudes to them matter too.

Some Kriya Yoga Issues and Other Techniques

Training -

We are told from SRF sources that Yogananda often floated in the lake at Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades for an hour at a time, sometimes with is back up and other times otherwise.
One of the SRF Sisters there used to check if he was OK when floating for long. Well, he did not die from drowning, but a heart attack, doctors tell. It is a benign way to get out of here, really - fast and rather painfree. [Sob]
Yogananda classifies kriya yoga under Raja Yoga He could have said Tantra yoga and kundalini yoga too [Cy; Kta]. Kriya yoga is a set of methods, which Yogananda made changes of his day. The basic level method is a form of pranayama (control of the life energy, also called vitality, or prana). Learn it here for free, if you will: [LINK]
In the yoga system of Patanjali the third step is asana, or posture for meditation, often used in hatha-yoga. Asanas can help steady the mind and promote health. Mudras and some yoga postures form part of kriya yoga.
The fourth step is pranayama, breath control for fixing the mind in deep concentration. Kriya yoga contains a pranayama technique with many variants.
The fifth step is pratyahara, interiorization of the mind. Many guru followers may have problems with attaining this "switching".
The sixth step is dharana, handy focusing through upliftment of mind.
The seventh step is dhyana, deep meditation, Zen, when the mind is deep-going or undisturbed.
The eighth and final step is samadhi, unification. This is the result of reaching.

Steps of Patanjali can be quite misleading: One should learn to dive inside by a good method, get interiorised by it, and go on to the pleasant stages of meditation. Yes, methods of the "sixth stage" tend to the interiorisation ("fifth stage"), and go further. Many do not learn this, or do not put reasonable weight on this stage of the meditation process, and hence "put the cart before the horse" somewhat. They go on breathing and meditating without getting amply interiorised in meditation, and some have floundered for years in this way.
To practice yoga through desires, for example to merge with God, does not lead to the highest level of self-realization, says gurus like Shyama Lahiri and others in his tradition. Yogananda, full of devotion, is an exception. He teaches both kriya and devotion with problematic mix-ups in his explanations too. One should focus on methodical, accurate practice first and foremost. Then progress may shine through after some time.
There is mantrayana, the mantra way, where you mentally repeat a chosen sound that works well for you. Milarepa recommends it. "Devote yourself to Mantrayanic study and practice," sums up the message. [Milarepa, cf. Tm 234]
Guru Dev, Shankaracharya Brahmananda, tells things about how to choose the sounds to meditate on. The TM [Transcendental Meditation] movement has incorporated his thoughts in the practices. Mantra-yoga is one of the oldest forms of yoga and mind enlightenment. By repeating one's well-chosen mantra the mind can be purified and start developing, is the teaching. Go for it.

Other Techniques

Q: How about the other SRF techniques of contemplation, the Hong Sau and Om techniques?

A: Nissen: "Read about the methods and try to peel off marketing tricks before you start practising. You do not have to subscribe to anything or anyone to learn and practice Hong-So along with the inflowing and outflowing breath. It is free, and online. [LINK]
In TM, Transcendental Meditation, one also repeats a mantra (sound) mentally, but not aligned to the breath, and the mantra is given from among several more or less congenital ones. There is much research on TM. [LINK]
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi spread TM throughout the world and thereby:

offered many who experimented with drugs an alternative. A US Congress report shows a dramatic decline of drug abuse for TM practitioners, and not only that: the use of stimulants decrease too.
helping masses to get involved in healthy spiritual exercise.
became indirectly and directly responsible for the enormous amount of data that now gives scientific support to claims of yoga's many healthy benefits.

Today there are more than 600 scientific studies of the various benefits of Transcendental Meditation, independently conducted at 200 universities and institutions in 33 countries. These studies, published in over 100 scientific magazines, report of improvements, such as increases in memory and concentration, stabilization of the autonomic nervous system, reduction of drug abuse, and a decrease in prison violence and health problems.
Make use of the best methods. They take the mind inwards quite effortlessly.
Much depends on individual efforts.
When people say "God did it", it may be wise to suspect ulterior motives.
Confusing the organization with the teachings and techniques of kriya proper is not fit.

The SRF Walrus Board is just full of individual's stories and opinions and every experience may not be the same. [Someone]

"The walrus world is cold, cold, and merciless, I say!"

Some Walrus content seem to cover the experiences of many. Also, in qualitative research, individual stories are treasured and not treated as irrelevant problems. Instead they are considered (possible) resources (a reservoir or data bank) to tackle and make good of by proper methods. Varied material can be looked on as a benefit, according to good methodology. What we come up with depends in part on the processing of information at hand.

Literature
Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Theosophical Library, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
Cy: Satyananda Saraswati, Swami. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 1981.
Ha: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 12th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1981.
Kta: Satyananda Saraswati, Swami. Kundalini Tantra. 8th ed. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 2001.
Sob: Self-Realization Fellowship. Paramahansa Yogananda in Memoriam. Los Angeles: SRF, 1958.
Tm: Evans-Wentz, Walter Yeeling, ed. Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1969.

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