Cult Bible
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Epilogue
In this book on problems tied in with Self-Realization Fellowship, headquartered in California and with many of its members in that state, I give glimpses of deteriorations that set in after what started as spreading of yoga techniques, blended with Christianity in a soap opera fashion and produced cultlike behaviour en masse.It shows up that several SRF members have left the fellowship and needed therapy afterwards. Accordingly, updated psychological knowledge may be a boon, as it may help considerably against many sides to becoming a cultish person by and by.
I have also taken pains to present the guru-founders views, how they changed as he accommodated to the West, and how the current management apparently is served by the selections of his message that they find fine for themselves - monks and nuns in power, with a dichotomy between the leaders and the lay members that has very unhealthy sides to it.
I encourage sceptical inquiry, politely, in the steps of Gautama Buddha. It helps against being taken in and being made conform by "massa" belief.
I give examples from what has taken place in and around the fellowship after one third of its monastics left its premises after the Los Angeles Times leaked out the news that the SRF president had shunned the SRF environment for thirty years, preferring villa living. That seems to have been demoralising.
Some who discovered they had been taken in somehow and had become goofy, got severe problems. Maybe it happens all of the time - I lack documentation for it, so I cannot tell. Against depressions of former monastics and other members, I have suggested several general steps to try, and why not homeopathic remedies and flower essences along with it. Every little helps, they say.
We then look into a discussion board or two to see how people handle being members and former members, as the case may be, and find that surprisingly much of what the boards come up with, revolve around faith and much unverified things - articles of a New Age faith, if you like.
One censord discussion board for Yogananda devotees was studied impromptu by me some years ago, and I came up with some of the functions that SRF-related discussion boards appear to have: to counsel one another as lay members; to bring in angles of loyality; to smear offenders up to harshly; but also allowing some thinking.
A next page looks into delicate problems of leaving the guru Yogananda or his society. The theme "moving on" surfaces now and then. Move on to what? is a question. Some find their way to Buddhism. There are many forms of Buddhism I can approve of.
The last page in the series revolves around the theme "past incarnations of Yogananda" and problems connected with assertions in that street. There are many.
In conclusion
It is better not to become a member of a narrow society than to to try to extract yourself from it later, struggling against many ties, for a long time.I would encourge SRF to loosen up too: to drop the immature dogma that Yogananda's guidelines are without fault and his wisdom is without flaw, first of all. I would also discard the SRF kriya pledge in its current shape, for it goes against Human Rights laws in many countries, and is more severe than any other guru-disciple relationship I have heard of - stricter by far than similar and corresponding guru-disciple deals of India.
I would also encourage impartial investigations into the effects of the kriya techniques, including Hong-Sau breathing. It is not enough just to invoke words like "scientific" and "science". Learn from the TM movement after Maharishi. He encouraged research, and research he got. The research documents that TM (Transcendental Meditation) can be very helpful by and large.
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Such measures could make SRF more liberating, and should be wise. It is a long way to go to bring the society in line with its founders first visions and utterances, at any rate.
- Tormod Kinnes
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