• Some Dangers in Cult Country
• Spin-off from a Big Walrus Study ☥
• Much May Worsen in Time through Dogmatic Beliefs

Some Dangers in Cult Country

"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

"Several incarnations" from the mouth of someone who said he had been the ruthless killer William the Conqueror in a past life, and a vicious and murderous desert marauder in another life [Psy 112], both of them long after he was enlightened by Krishna as Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita's chap. 11, could be a foolish fad teaching for what you know, unless you have learnt to peer into past incarnations of other people, such as sixty past lives in about one and a half minute, give and take . . . and perhaps finding a pharaoh or three if there are any.

The stories of past lives may remind of a family tree. The good and well-known guys get the focus, even a soccer-player where soccer counts for much, but the highwaymen and so on often go much unmentioned. Many persons focus for prestige.

Speaking of kings of ancient Egypt, Egyptians believed their pharaoh to be divine with sacred, magical powers, supreme will, and control of nature - but criticised and plotted against him too, and even plundered his grave. It is an imperfect world.

In SRF they say in an ashram (closed community for monastics and novices) that those who live there have "at least been pharaohs". Boasts of oneself by assumed former lives are not ideal, but not blunt denials either. Yogananda also tells the world is unreal. That would make Yogananda himself unreal too, as an unreal part of it, his past lives dreamy, and so on. Abrupt-looking comment: "Do not leave him foolishly then. Have good sense . . ."

All realities seem unreal . . . the material universe is not real. — The body is unreal. - Yogananda, Ak 182, 421]

SRF contains a farcical mental universe - body of teachings - to tackle as you accept the guru's repeated words: It is all unreal, quite like a movie. Fair evidence is not found so easily there. Hearsay and rumours and strange feelings abound, though.

Further reading: [Link].

Added: Things they believe about Yogananda as a reborn Arjuna in SRF circles

Durga Ma (born Florina Alberta Dufour, 1903-93) was a sweet woman disciple of Yogananda, and some describe her as the most underrated nun in SRF. One day in 1951 Yogananda said to her: "I remember you had asked me years ago if I was Arjuna." She exclaimed, "You were Arjuna." He smiled his, "Yes." She then asked him if Rajasi was with him at that time. He answered, Yes, he was one of the twins, . . . Nakula. He was my favorite brother . . . Krishna was my guru and Babaji, being Krishna, is still my guru."

She then asked him if she was also with him at that time. He looked at her and said, "Sure, you were. . . ."

[Durga Mata. A Paramhansa Yogananda Trilogy of Divine Love, "My Life and Service to My Guru," Beverley Hills, CA: Joan Wight Publications, 1992/93 and 1997, p. 54.]

A Cultish Country

Spin-offs appeared after the guru's demise. Two of them are Ananda Sangha and Sunburst (Solar Logos), founded by James Donald Walters and Norman Paulsen, respectively.

• One scenario may start with the founding of YSS (Yogoda Satsanga Society) in India in 1917. Its founder was a Yukteswar, Hindu monk and guru of Yogananda.
• Its American associate, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), was founded in 1920 by Yogananda when he lived in Boston. In 1925 a Los Angeles hotel was bought to serve as a headquarters. In 1935 the founder made the fellowship a registered church. The guru's monastic order from the early 1930s went into it. Monks and nuns of the SRF Order who take their final renunciant vows, thereby become members of the old Hindu Swami Order that their guru belonged to. Thus, SRF is headed by Hindu nuns and monks. The guru founder died in 1952. YSS and SRF form a dual organisation. There are members and groups in over 50 countries. They publish frilly books and so on.
• Small spin off groups were formed when former helpers of Yogananda broke with him and started on their own in various ways, and early, direct disciples of Yogananda were allowed by the guru to start groups as well. Many spin-offs appeared after the guru's demise. Sunburst (formerly Solar Logos), founded by the late Norman Paulsen, is one derivate.
• James Donald Walters, direct Yogananda disciple and also known as swami Kriyananda and for a few years as Nayaswami Kriyananda - and former vice-president of SRF, started his own community, the Ananda Church of Self-Realization - Ananda Sangha - in 1968. That was after SRF had thrown him out. What is more, "Membership in Ananda involves the progressive commitment of one's autonomy and financial resources to the church." A vow is used to that end [1]. Ananda and Crystal Clarity publish many books, vidoes, casettes, etc. too, in part in competition with SRF. There was a long-standing legal feud among the two over rights to publish Yogananda material, and even the right to the term "Self-Realization". The case began in 1990 after Ananda added the term "Self-realization" to its name. Self-Realization Fellowship responded by filing a massive lawsuit for trademark, publicity rights, and copyright infringement. After twelve long and costly years of law-suit, a San Franscisco court in December 2002 put an end to the feud, and decided for most part in Ananda's favour [2]. Many of Kriyananda's works are online, either at Ananda or Google Books.
• Other teachers and organizations in the Babaji line spread kriya and books on kriya too.

Kriya teachings without any SRF gurus: The Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School teaches a kind of tested kriya yoga and publishes books. The School is the name of a group of teachers who run several independent schools in Scandinavia and Germany. The School is free of any commercial, political or religious interest. The Danish yogi Swami Janakananda founded the School in Copenhagen in 1970 as a non-profit organization. A significant element in the school is a thorough-going yoga teacher education.

The Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School stems from Satyananda. His line teaches kriya yoga without guru-given bonds, and so do I.

Sects and Widespread Humbug

It takes two to tango (Proverb)

A sect is a group adhering to a distinctive doctrine or to a leader. A cult is a group adhering to religious beliefs and ritual; maybe of a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious. Members are often required to show great devotion to some person, idea, object, movement, or work. A cult is usually a minor group of people characterized by such devotion. 'Cult' and 'sect' are often so similar that one has trouble in discerning between the two. [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]

There are sects in many religions, and in some cases they may complement one another. For example, in the Zen school, which has had lasting influence on the cultural life of Japan, there are different methods recommended in the various sects, such as Soto, Rinsai, and Obaku. And in modern Japan, Zen sects and subsects claim some 9,600,000 adherents. [Ebu "Zen"]

In Hinduism too there are many sects. Hinduism itself consists mostly of sects, in fact. Vallabha's Vishnu-worshipping sect with its emphasis on erotic imagery, stresses absolute obedience to the guru. Many of the sect's senior monks got very rich . . . In the intensely emotional Caitanya sect, where Krishna is worshipped, legends of Krishna and his youthful beloved, Radha, are in the middle of cultish, devotional self-surrender.

Without followers there would be no cult or sect. Sect leaders and their followers form the sect web together, so not only leaders are involved in it and are to blame, believe it or not. "It takes two to tango": There are complementary roles to battle with, and that is a rich field of study.

Young students may suffer from insecurity - and besides, gullibility is wide-spread. Many secretly insecure and not so secretly insecure youngsters that are first duped or taken in somehow, later develop neuroses as paying members. Deep neuroses may support the deviant structures of some closed group. They may even feel guilty and truant for leaving an abusive sect and master behind. Time and again media have disclosed that a fair amount of cultish leaders go for money (wealth), power (influence), and sex (animal fulfilments), - it is in part due to narcissism. It has shown up in time in a lot of scandals. By such signs many charismatic fellows have been detected, maybe after many years.

This does not suggest that wealth and pleasures are not good. One should assimilate the basics of Buddhist living, where wealth is fit and used for noble purposes. Compare the four basic goals of life in Hinduism - of getting wealth and pleasures with due righteousness, and try not to get entangled and increase one's degrees of freedoms too - so as not to create failures and neurotics. In Sanskrit the four life aims are termed artha (wealth), kama (pleasures), dharma (righteousness); and moksha (freedom).

Tense cults tend to look like sects as they "evolve" or deteriorate. Philip Zimbardo tells of some lessons to learn from cults. Zimbardo tells that according to recent research by Dr. B. Carducci in Indiana and his own research team in California, more than 50 percent of college-aged adults report being chronically shy (lacking social skills, having low self-esteem, being awkward in many social encounters). That is a problem.

Zimbardo holds that the large society needs to be made nicer and fit for thriving. Hinduism says clearly that going for lust (kama) and wealth (artha) are two of the four main goals in life. The other two are righteousness (dharma, as defined there), and freedom (moksha). The ideal is to incorporate all four goals in a way of life. There are good ways of doing it, and so many other ways -

To combat sects on the Internet, try to submit evidence and do not fail to be very articulate and polished - even polite - to save yourself some trouble. But be forewarned that not all opponents play fairly. So guard yourself too, preferably beforehand.

I think loving oneself is a first priority to anybody who says God is in himself or herself, or that the Self is what is worth striving for. It is wise to discern between healthy self-love and unhealthy self-love. In that lies a clue. Narcissistic "self-love" is more of a parody - it is mock self-love, not proper love of Self, that is. [Link]

A sect consists of perhaps self-loving, narcissistic followers who want to get things from the leaders. If the followers do not get all they strive for, they can be awfully disappointed and take to acting against being followers, against former leaders, and may not know what to do too.

Leaders that once were followers may not change either. By the way, similar things happen in the sciences when new basic ways of perceiving and thinking appear and challenge the status quo - things often stiffen with time. Not only limbs do that. [Thd 211].

Spin-off from a Big Walrus Study

In the following a technique of creating mental distancing or space to the SRF guru and his church is employed. Folly may surface more easily by such means, but there is no guarantee it will. Distancing is frequently used in cartoons, even fables. Distance-making techniques of various sorts can help humans deal with difficult topics and hence get it better, better, especially if forewarned. An example of distancing is when fable animals portray humans and speak like humans too.

Forewarnings are coming. The content is in part in the form of abstracts, and many pen names are changed further, mostly for the fun of it - and you may probably realise who Sir Alf and his QUAG in the mire of the world are:

Now kriya is more than loosely associated with the church of QUAG

ALL MY life I thought Sir Alf was my Alf and I was involved in QUAG - Sir Alf's Church of Alf-Realization - on many levels. Since leaving 5 years ago, removing everything associated with QUAG from my home, and not returning to the temples, I no longer feel anything for or from Sir Alf. So, can it be said that I left him or he left me? [D. E. Cadent (6/9/04 7:55 pm)].

QUAG gives kriya only to the rules that limited human conditions, and it will kill the spirit of QUAG.

QUAG are trying to build their own church, the only way church — Isn't it so? - Somehow there is a big kink here — Two different intiations makes perfect sense. It may be why Sir Alf gave [some of his followers] the OK to give Kriya - QUAG even goes so far as to say the Blessings can't be in the "Other" Kriya, because they are outside the org! [troyfel (6/8/04 10:04 pm)].

Sir Alf had more than one teacher. And visited many teachers - It was good enough for Sir Alf. [juiceyum (5/15/02 1:14 pm)].

I took kriya, with a "vow," - While it shouldn't bother me, it still kind of does. [Rhapsody (5/15/02 2:35 pm)]. (2)

Sir Alf have resonated through my life.

Sir Alf offers guidance and love to all - that makes the troubles at QUAG sadder somehow.

I felt there was something unnaturally rigid about QUAG that kept me at a distance. It has been interesting to have that confirmed [Ice Chimes (6/6/04 10:10 am)].

Earlier, Kriya was not made conditional on any kind of cult membership

I AM BLESSED to have Sir Alf's friendship.

As the result of a "big dream" I had this year, (after mentally severing my QUAG membership), I am deeply convinced that Sir Alf's friendship is given regardless - Can he be my Sir Alf if I believe so little of what he (apparently) taught? - he was not too concerned about that either - gave kriya to a sceptical scientist-type, saying " - Try kriya and find out for yourself."

Kriya was not made conditional on any kind of church membership until 1960.

I think - that QUAG started down it's slippery slope in changing - They probably had good intentions (the kind the road to hell is paved with) - Combine that with threats. [Damor (6/7/04)]. (4)

Sir Alf said that Hahihi stands in for all kriya yoga disciples and give's them initiation whether they know it our not [taokqumm (6/9/04 7:07 am)].

QUAG make you feel that loyalty to QUAG is the same thing as Sir Alf-loyality - and leads to some of the weirdness - QUAG are a cult and use Sir Alf as the draw. [Hsss (1/17/02 7:12 am)].

I believe the kriya initiation to be the entry into a teacher/disciple relationship with Sir Alf - an advanced disciple can also stand in as proxy for the Alf. [Lotto (6/7/04 11:41 pm)].

The guru-given prospect of a lifetimes sentence if you quit, really exists.

THERE are all kinds of rumours (I guess they're rumours) [however, they come from the lips of Alf] about how if you give up doing kriya you won't have the chance again for this "higher" technique for another x amount of lifetimes.
      It has felt awkward to seek other teachings or paths to help myself, because of the feeling that I get that I am doing something wrong. [ladygodiva (5/14/02 1:21 pm)]. (5)

"Who wants to know if So-and-so is Really her Alf?" [prantee (1/1/04 1:51 am)].

Summary: On the Wrong Track

Beware.

1. Now kriya is more than loosely associated with the church of QUAG.
2. Earlier, Kriya was not made conditional on any kind of cult membership.
3. The sordid prospect of a lifetimes sentence if you leave Yogananda, really exists (see top of the page).

I'M SORRY TO SAY: To be more than loosely associated with the Alf's modified kriya yoga may be the threat in disguise to some. Strange, isn't it?

The Nut

OLE AND Lena were up in years and Ole passed on to his heavenly reward. Pastor Sven had the funeral service and offended Lena a bit in his sermon comments, especially when he said,

"Here lies Ole but it is not really Ole. It is just the shell of Ole. The nut, Ole, has gone on to heaven."

- Thanks to Pastor Roy A. Steward

Much May Worsen in Time through Dogmatic Beliefs

We should seek the society of superior men - those who tell us the truth and help us to improve ourselves. [Yogananda, Ak 100]

Flatterers do not help us. [Yogananda, Ak 100] [Cf. More quotes on criticism and flattery by Yogananda]

Some of that unlucky band pay mostly lip service perhaps, for example as to Yogananda's endorsements of Mussolini, dictatorship, socialism, and the hoax book about Jesus in Tibet. Or to a poem where he likens himself to a jasmine bush that is cut down with an axe.

Just as a jasmine vine fails not to shed its flowers on the hands administering axe-blows at its roots, so do Thou teach me not to deny the showering blossoms of forgiveness and help over those who cut me.

  - Paramahansa Yogananda, Whispers from Eternity.

Everyone should put some faith in the value of their own good conduct, and there is a place for proper self-defence, by all means. Stupid non-violence that helps bad guys to go on and win the day, is passively helping them on and up.

"Our best friends are those who criticise us the most . . . who never condone our faults," is one of Yogananda's sayings. SRF has said they find no fault with his guidelines, and that his wisdom is faultless. A dogmatic attitude like that is a hallmark of a sect. You do well to consider the evidence without too much prejudice to fail by.