The Plumber 1
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• Introduction
• Infallible Guru Hogwash
• OCEAN Understanding
• The Advanced Hug (Poem)
| Supporting reservations are presupposed throughout: |
Introduction
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| Self is a worthy experience. Alas for some other experiences. |
This site provides commentary to teachings of the guru Paramahansa Yogananda and his famous Autobiography of a Yogi, which we bring on-line. Some claim the mystic was able to make people hallucinate. For example, miss Laurie Pratt, who became his editor for many years, saw Yogananda in the mirror one day she was alone in a room, but it is regarded in SRF as a good experience, a worthy gift:
The "man" in the story, Laurie Pratt, slowly grew to become quite firm in Yogananda's cause, and as his editor did not steer him outside of writing articles that praised fascism, dictatorship, and Benito Mussolini in the early thirties, when Yogananda was about forty.Into [the] dark night of his soul came the light . . . After attending a few of the public [Yogananda] lectures, and before taking the class lessons, this man felt the heavy weight of despair lifting from his heart . . . An impulse urged him to look into a mirror in his room, that he might see the new man. There he saw, not his one face, but the face of the Hindu teacher whose lecture he had attended that evening. [F1]
Kriya Ideology
Part of the present ideology of the SRF is that the guru Yogananda is a direct representative of God, his guidelines are infallible, and his wisdom flawless, even though he talks against himself here and there. It is obvious he is an unreliable guide for more reasons than these. One is that he changed his catchwords about kriya as a means of speeding up human evolution. In the early days his parole was that about half a minute's kriya (a round) equalled a month's natural development. Later he pepped up his doctrine: then he taught it equalled a year's natural, diseaseless development. In so doing he greatly changed the doctrine of his own guru, the Hindu swami Sri Yukteswar. He too taught "one kriya equals one month's development". Yogananda changed this, and he changed important parts of the basic kriya techniques too. Could that explain the "leap" from one month to one year? Could Yogananda have made the handed-over kriya twelve times more effective?Also, Yogananda changed some of the dogmatic teachings he carried with him, to suit the spreading of kriya to the Western public en masse. A former disciple of his, Marshall Govindam, explains it:
After five years of effort in America, beginning in 1925 . . . Yogananda began to modify and adapt his teachings to the West . . . to overcome the . . . resistance of Christians who were suspicious of the foreign teachings of a Hindu swami. As a result, Yogananda began to enjoy remarkable popularity. . . . However, in his attempts to attract Westerners to the path of Yoga, he tended to focus on the miraculous, and most readers of his "Autobiography" come away with many romantic notions of the path. They are left with many unrealistic expectations. [Marshall Govindam]After popularity had been won by dispensing with the original teachings and taking to very wrong, inconsistent concepts of such as the Christian Trinity to become accepted among Christians, he could establish his headquarters on top of Mount Washington in Los Angeles in 1925, by begging money from at least one follower, a lady. In Hinduism begging is more deeply ingrained in the culture than in the West. It is expected that Hindu monks beg. In Buddhism they don't beg.
Former SRF Monastics and Control Issues
INGRAINED in how the present SRF management functions are subtler forms of begging - First they ask very politely, religiously, for donations to the cause, then claim them - that is, the trend is in a direction like that. Bossiness is said to take over, and wealth for "the cause" is a "good thing" in such circles, which may be close to SRF centres or its headquarters. It is perhaps easier far from there, just as in "Far from court, far from care." But we won't bet on it. Not a few disgruntled SRF members come to think that dwarfing giving is to be shunned, and many former monastics in SRF have quite recently stopped being affiliated with SRF. In recent years about one third of the SRF monastics left the premises and tried to "move on" in life. It was quite a landslide.Others who once were heavily involved with SRF and served as lay persons there, have got second thoughts, and a few of them have come to think blackly about cosy meditation techniques too, for example that many of Yogananda's techniques deprive us of things because they are designed to bring us marked and peaceful revitalization:
Find more gist from Yogananda's book, The Science of Religion on-site [LINK], or see or chapter 26 in the guru's famous Autobiography of a Yogi.We ought not to fear to practice conscious death, i.e., give rest to the internal organs. Death will then be under our control. [Yogananda, Scp 78]
In SRF, which is not really a fast-death cult - they teach an old meditation method called Hamsa (variously spelled). It is used to calm down, and then some may get burnt inside too, an ancient text tells. Good and bad is burnt there, it says.
Now there is no valid evidence that the guru's methods for beginners are maddening or dangerous, but a "fool with a tool" can manage to damage himself and others in surprising ways at times. For example, some years ago a young woman came close to killing herself by boring a pencil into her wrist artery. As they say, "Children and fools shouldn't play with sharp tools. [Ap 606]" "A bad workman always blames his tools. [Dp 207]" Accordingly, the near-suicide should not be blamed on the pencil. Likewise with neat meditation methods; at least they should not be declared guilty until it is proven.
Variegated
SO, AMONG those who are not affiliated with the Self-Realization Fellowship organization, opinions differ. Therefore it is quite necessary to be allied with fit research first and foremost, for research that does not err, aims above personal opinions or idiosyncratic, dogmatic buster-work. It seems that the contemplation of Yellowbeard was no great success, but then again, it is a poor workman who finds faults only with his tools when he himself or his diving (contemplation) could be the one to inspect. At least that is how Yogananda answered some of those who complained about the methods, as presented in Sayings of Yogananda [Say]Maturing and becoming are too uncommon human endeavours where dogmatism takes over, both on official sites and discussion boards aiming at them like "twin fools": the one says "yes" in faith, the other rejects in faith. One should learn to inspect. And to study the Yogananda-related, SRF-related and kriya-related boards, a quick glance at the "kriya family" is seldom enough. It is variegated.
These and related topics are handled here. There are very many cults in the West. In fact, the large society has cultish features too. Let there be no doubt about that, and that mammon is the end for most of those heavily labouring under the golden calf of mercantilism - or something like that. Self-Realization Fellowship was the first Kriya Yoga cult to be started in the West. The following is information and discussions written in part from perspectives found in cult studies. Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) works to publish books related to Yogananda, and a bottom purpose of that is to attract followers that become members that pay for things and donate property. This is much as Christian churches do it. It is the same non-frivolous mentality, it seems. But basic, favourable yoga is not for misfits. It has nothing to with oxygen deprivation or trance induction or getting plump in itself (per se), or rising from the grave in three versions of oneself.
Infallible Guru Hogwash
SOME WHO have investigated and found inconsistencies in the guru's and fellowship's teachings, may be ostrachised for their findings. The Yogananda "universe" is not even remotely ideal for independent thinkers, foremost men and women of science, those persons Sri Yukteswar's heart ached to teach liberating methods.Many disgruntled members or ex members "shoot the guru's messenger", SRF, and waggle their tails for the guru.It is better to be fair and maintain that SRF implements things Yogananda said, set in motion, and saw through. A big part of the criticism has to be aimed at Yogananda directly if fairness means anything.
- The problem of trick teachings is the foremost deep problem.
Yogananda - and Babaji - teaches the universe is unreal. "The world is nothing more than a
cosmic dream — this life is a dream," said Paramahansa Yogananda [Ak
237, 240]. Hence, that teaching is unreal too, and Yogananda and Babaji. They don't exist,
according to that basic teaching. Yet they stand up and make others submit, assuming they
take responsibility for others - while also teaching the Lord (God) is the sole doer. How
schizoid or faking or bullying can you get in life and teachings? Let that be a
question. [MORE]
- Yogananda himself is the major source of the false Christianity
of the fellowship. He just makes it a "prolonged Hindu thing", essentially, with sayings of
the Bible as decor or strangely out of place, to say the least. A Catholic professor goes into a few facets of it too, and
calls it heretic teachings. It is good to know this where the alternative is to be taken in.
[MORE]
- It stands out that Yogananda himself changed many key concepts
in SRF. For example, he slid from speaking for "selfishness" to speaking for
"unselfishness", as evidenced in his own magazine. The guru sowed confusion
by speaking of development by kriya, but desiring to "kill the ego" - By saying kriya works
all right in itself (like maths), but that devotion is necessary - the right attitude. Yes,
the guru found confusing tidings. [MORE]
- The SRF muffled earlier writings of Yogananda (at 40) saying bravo to
dictatorship. He said the common man needs a dictator. Yogananda is a source
of teachings that hail dictatorship: The guru supported Mussolini in the early half of the
1930s, he also spoke for dictatorship. [MORE]
- Yogannada misuses bogus about Jesus teaching in Tibet during
unaccounted-for years. Yogananda renders a hoax book by a Notovitch, he "buys" it
wholesale, even. That is foolish, for at his time experts had debunked the book. [MORE]
- Yogananda misrepresents a work by Omar Khayyam to say some things he believes is a "spiritual commentary" to it. It can be doubted. Yogananda's approach to the poem is not fair, among other things because many of the "key symbols" that Yogananda "finds" and uses, are absent in any original. What do we have then? An invented commentary. "Spiritualizing" non-existing keys denotes a masquerade. Two American publishers have elaborated on Yogananda in this quite recently. [MORE]
OCEAN Understanding
Recovery and self-understanding should walk hand in hand in such circles as ours.On the other board many postings are devoted to self-understanding. The project is laudable. One of the means that have been developed for it, is the MBTI - it is a type inventory. It has been very much used and very much tested. However, in recent years a more formidable help has appeared and is at present on its way. It is the OCEAN, also called The Big Five. And there is reason to assert that OCEAN findings can help more than MBTI assessments.
The Big Five
How valid is the MBTI typology? The more recently developed OCEAN (also called the Big Five) has emerged and is considered the most reliable today, maybe because it is rooted in statistical findinds (and it is rooted in Gordon Allport thinking from as early as the 1930s).MBTI is much used and also misused in several sorts of business tests. But OCEAN is said to be qualitatively better.
The big difference: MBTI operates with four main dimensions, OCEAN has five dimensions, and they were crystallised from "cluster statistics". What is missing in MBTI is a neurosis dimension - [. . .]
The quote:
The Big Five is currently the most reliable and well-validated system of trait description. Feel free to think, "The Big 5 - fit for times of peace, more unfit for war", because openness and agreeableness may hinder combating, and extroversion too may not fit secrecy making and desorientation (lying) that often goes along with warfare. Compare the traits below.The "Big Five" (each trait exists on a high/low scale) is the most used current psychometric measurement perspective in personality psychology. The five dimensions are:
- Openness - also: Culture, Originality, or Intellect
- Conscientiousness - or Consolidation, or Will to Achieve
- Extroversion - or Surgency
- Agreeableness - or Accommodation
- Neuroticism - including: Need for Stability, Negative Emotionality
Caveat (Words of Warning)
MBTI fails in presenting individual things and concerns.You can test yourself - find out a bit about your personality - by using the Big Five Personality Test. You can get a free personality test thereby. Here is the page: www.outofservice.com/bigfive/
Comments
I'm a promoter of using tools, and we tend to need a variety of tools.Few on the Walnut Board have grasped what kind of tool the Keirsey Temperament Sorter is.
I've read about the OCEAN and tested myself on it loosely. Perhaps I should apply it on American key persons on an SRF related discussion board for example Yellowbeard.
Punk Yogi: "Sometime after I was born, I joined a cult -- one of the nicest cults you could ever hope to be damaged by. . . . Lacking a purpose, I've found a new one in criticizing my cult.""If people moved on from all their life experiences, we wouldn't have all the wonderful books filled with lessons from history. If we know of pitfalls within SRF, shouldn't we speak out? If we don't, we're allowing many to fall so we can "move on" onto *important* things like watching TV [Entheogenesis]
The Advanced Hug (Poem)
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| Others will respect you for what you are able to maintain too. |
Old Massa Hug
THE FIRST TIME I lay eyes on a person, I can tell if his hug is working -Then I can determine exactly how he has been programmed.
From then on I start moving his hug, slowly, pushing it -
And I watch every move that hug makes.
I know everything it is going to do -
I push it. I stay with that (embarrassment!) -
I keep pushing and pushing.
I don't let him get around it with the lies he's been told. -
When the hug snaps it's like turning on the light -
I switch the hug from unconsciousness to consciousness and it snaps -
It's like seeing a person change from a werewolf -
- Based on a queer, immodest-looking prose text by Ted Patrick, cult
buster. More: www.rickross.com/
Hug is Norwegian for mind, by the way. Try reading it it that light: [LINK]
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Adjoined
Ak: Yogananda, Pa.: 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]
Dp: Fergusson, Rosalind. The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.
Pa: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971.
Say: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.
Scp: Yogananda, Pa. The Science of Religion. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1953.
[F1] Tara Mata (Laurie Pratt). "Forerunner of a New Race". Self-Realization Magazine [www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/7587/NewRace.htm]
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