• Lavish Praise
• Improved Yukeswar Teachings
• The Fate of Fished Fish and Shepherded Sheep

Lavish Praise

An Overdose

Yukteswar (1855-1936) was a swami (monk), a disciple of Shyama Charan Sharman Lahiri (Lahiri Baba), and the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) who attracted quite a following in the United States, where he founded a fellowship, Self-Realization Fellowship, which he registered as a church in 1935. It is headed by monks and nuns of a Hindu swami order. SRF publishes books and talks by Yogananda and The Holy Science by Yukteswar. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SRF also has meditation groups and centres in over 50 countries.

Yogananda says his guru Yukteswar was an incarnation of divine wisdom, a jnana-avatar; a Christ [a], "a master in every way" [Ak 99]; one of "unerring spiritual insight" [Hos v], one whose words oblige the cosmos [Pa, ch. 17 ]. If that isn't lavish praise, what is?

[a] Paramahansa Yogananda. "Yogavatar Shyama Lahiri Mahasaya's Ladder of Self-Realization, for Salvation for All". Inner Culture, March 1937. Jesus on his part forewarned against false teachers and false Christs. The New Testament wants you to believe that that all Christs but himself are false Christs and that they don't wish you well, much like hungry wolves [Cf. Matthew 28:18-20].

Those who have not been into the cult of SRF, may think the things presented here are small, and that lots of greater things should be done instead of relaxing and diving inside. The latter is part of sane meditation.

In SRF, many monastics have made a great show of reverence till they meet with misfortunes and griefs and drop being monastics there. Around 2002 one third of the monastics left the premises. There is no blame in getting very disappointed; it is a sort of waking up, although hardly pleasant.

Big words capture many. One must be on guard and prefer to pass by both sick-making cultism and conformism where one comes across it, if there is a real choice in the matter. I will now go into some SRF hailed sayings of Yukteswar and consider to what degree they apply generally.

Improved Yukteswar Teachings

"Look fear in the face and it will cease to trouble you." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

If fear appears, there could be a reason for it somehow. Fear is at times rooted in subconscious calculations of a sort, of hunches or feelings. Care to discern the possible reasons for fearing, and hope your fears are sane and not all irrational, perhaps stemming from obsolete nervousness and neuroses and in need of medical attention.

"Forget the past. The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. The first part of the counsel is wrong; to learn from the past is fit. What is apt, is to derive benefit from significant lessons of the past. That is surely fit for many.

To the degree that fit shame and remorse work for good in somebody, one should neither lessen nor deny them their good work either.

"Disbelieve in the reality of sickness . . . an unrecognized visitor will flee." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. Be realistic instead of foolish. A proper diagnosis may save your life.

As Yogananda says, "Modern medicine has its uses. Why deny the facts?" Do not drop regular medical check-ups, take to good coping. Know that Yogananda got medical treatments, also as prescribed by Yukteswar. You find stories about it in the Autobiography. When tall words - taken more or less out of context to seem inspiring - conflict with the actions of those who said them and taught them, it is their actions that show what they really think is fit.

Try to get aware of what is the matter with you, if you can. There are many ways to proceed, and they are not equally painful. A good diagnosis can help your cure and stop what is set adrift. Also, find proper steps out of your plight as soon as can be, instead of illusionism and denying hard facts.

"Attachment is binding. It lends an imaginary halo to the object of desire." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. Don't get emotionally attached to the SRF gurus so that they get imaginary haloes, then.

It is best to be on the safe side. Now the Bhagavad Gita tells us to be steadfast in yoga, abandoning attachment, and seeking refuge in wisdom [2:48-49]. It is wise to learn to cope, too [2:47], to have all right books, marriage partners, family, children and values, and be staunch and mature and live in a free country. Besides, the one "who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom." [2:56]. And "by performing action without attachment, man reaches the Supreme." [3:19]

It goes to say there is still hope for you even if you don't feed devotion to gurus are they tell you to. Many gurus talk little of the Gita's teachings on detachment, vairagya, although it is presented as a prerequisite of success in yoga disciplines. Bhakti movements, on the other hand, go for devotional attachment. In the long history of yoga, the bhakti movements are newcomers, relatively speaking. What is more, they result in cults. [Wikipedia, s.v. "Bhakti"] There is still more on the art of nonattachment and the art of war in the Gita. But this little may do to show that Yukteswar has Gita support for the first part of his counsel. And to go into imaginary haloes is unnecessary.

Then, was Yukteswar above attachments all his life through, or did he become much more detached as time went by? A story in Yogananda's autobiography about how Yukteswar reacted to the death of a friend, furnishes quite an answer.

A friend of his, Rama, got Asiatic cholera and medical treatment. The man who became known as Yukteswar, went to his guru and sobbed out the story. "He will be well," said the guru, Lahiri Mahasaya.

Soon Yukteswar returned with a light heart to his friend and found him dying. Yukteswar hurried back to his guru, who dismissed him blithely.

Returning to his friend's place, he found a hopeless case. The dying friend roused himself to cry out: "Yukteswar, run . . " After these words and some more, he sighed and died.

"I wept for an hour by his beloved form . . . Half-dazed, I trudged back to my guru.

"'How is Rama now?' Lahiri Mahasaya's face was wreathed in smiles.

"'Sir, you willl soon see how he is,' I blurted out emotionally. 'In a few hours you willl see his body, before it is carried to the crematory grounds.' I broke down and moaned openly.

"'Yukteswar, control yourself."

All night through Yukteswar struggled unsuccessfully to regain an inner composure in meditation, but at dawn he was still disturbed. [Autobiography of a Yogi, Chap. 32].

Some children get suffused with love and overbearing care, others not. In any case the natural drift of the emotions is that possessive feelings cool off as we mature. "If you love somebody, set him or her free" reflects that deep trend or lesson that many possessive parents are to learn. But see to that your young ones get proplerly instructed or educated, not tamed and suppressed and scared overly, and gain enough security to date and marry as they mature and are handy enough for it. It is in the art of living.

Thus, some grow out of their infant attachments and form other ones, be it to the neighbour's wife and a car. See what a man spends the most quality time on or in. Is it the car or his wife? Stages of id-linked development are here: [Link]

"Remember that finding God will mean the funeral of all sorrows." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. Maybe funerals don't appeal to you. If so, find some other imagery if you care to, some that help you on and up.

But do not think that Yuktewar did not suffer after he had found cosmic consciousness. Both he and Yogananda suffered, and there are stories about it in the Autobiography of a Yogi and elsewhere. Do not disregard the witnessing of gurus that fall ill, grieve. Adjust accordingly.

That higher states induce and introduce happiness, though, is not drivel. It should be very, very good to attune to that.

"Ordinary love is selfish, but divine love is without change. The flux of the human heart is gone forever at the transfixing touch of pure love." [Yuktewar]

COMMENT. It is common to group love into many kinds. Ancient Greeks has the words philia, eros, agape, storge, and xenia. Philia may signify liking, a friendly relationship, and/or dispassionate virtuous love. Agape may at times mean the same thing as philia, and often an ideal type of love. Eros is more passionate, carnal love. Storgé is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring. Xenia is friendly enough hospitality, also to strangers. [Wikipedia, s.v. "Love"]

In Buddhism, Advesha and metta are benevolent love, quite different from ordinary love, which is usually about attachment and sex and which rarely occurs without self-interest. In Buddhism and Hinduism, Kama is sensuous, pleasurable sexual love, and Karuna is compassion and mercy. In Hinduism, kama is also the third main life goal. Prem refers to elevated love. Bhakti is "loving devotion", and there are nine forms or gradations of bhakti alone. [Ibid.]

From selfish or basic levels to much altruistic or refined ones. The word love can refer to a variety of feelings, from loving a meal to loving a partner. There is passionate desire, sexual love, emotional closeness, platonic love, and much more. Love is hard to define because it means many things and different things to different persons in different settings. Narada Bhakti Sutras distinguishes eleven forms of love. [Wikipedia, s.v. "Love", and "Narada Bhakti Sutra"]

Love tends to make us committed, also to animals. Bonding may result. Stress statistics further shows that love normally turns into a great punisher after the sugary phases. Few are mature enough to deal expertly or detached with that. [More]

'Flux' is another keyword in the quotation above. It means 'flow, moving on, change, and fluctuation'. 'Transfixed' should mean 'held motionless by or as if by piercing'.

After Yogananda had become a disciple of Yukteswar, who told Yogananda that he loved him, Yogananda ran away from him, hoping to gain enlightenment in the Himalayas. He was not at all motionless after far from "steadied" after being touched by loving Yukteswar, then. However, years later Yogananda was ceremonically given the SRF title of Premavatar, "incarnation of love". It can be hard to be some delicate "love-machine". That is how it is.

"As a Tathagata [Awakened One] speaks, so he acts; as he acts, so he speaks." That is good! [Buddha (Catukka Nipata Pali 23)]"

There is no absolute need for sensuous love in the art of meditation. However, those who feel so called, may learn Tantra yoga, sex yoga, and thus get much and pleasant backup. Steady and deep-going meditation is what is aimed at. And if "love comes to get you", you have to deal with it without losing the control of your main assets. It is in the art of living. Yoga has methods or ways of dealing with love otherwise too, but turning it, twisting it and even cultivating twisted love so that you manage to turn it more or less inwards to the Self some way or other. In Narada Bhakti Sutras there are eleven sorts of love. [Wikipedia, s.v. "Narada Bhakti Sutra"]

The intimate servants of the Supreme Lord are fully absorbed in loving Him. [Narada Bhakti Sutra, v. 70]

"Roam the world as a lion of self-control; don't let the frogs of weakness kick you around." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. If the figure is understood propery in its most typical aspects, Yukteswar wants us to be waylaying gang-members on four legs and meat-eaters and shun vegetables, sleep and rest most of the day, and roar terribly now and then - adhering to that "lion's self-control".

Human self-control (sound discipline) may work better and help you if it ties in with fit instructions for living. Good company may help you too, And a way to walk also. Thus there is the Teachings, the Sangha, the Path - they are called three jewels for Buddhists. One should refrain from limiting oneself to one's loss. That counts too.

Peeling the pep-talk imagery aside, I think Yukteswar says, "have self-control; don't let weaknesses get the best of you." The question is whether it is fit self-control we talk of. First of all, accept what you are. If you want to develop or improve yourself, be yourself and a darling too. You may have to go deep for it. A lion is a killer by instincts. It ambushes and slays innocent animals, operating in flocks. That is parts of its so-called self-control. But Yukteswar encourages vegetarianism.

The handy tip may be: swerve from much that is common in the natural world, and if you do that sort of yogic penance for long, you might improve. Lions in the wild hardly do that. [More]

Much in modern society calls for curbing of naturalness in humans, and wholeheartedness may come to suffer through it in time. Freud has written a book about the unpleasantness of the culture. There are good sides and bad sides to it. Victorian moral reflects the stilted, stultifying and neurosis-making feigning and putting on airs that often is mistaken for culture, even high culture. Thus, so-called self-control is at times quite opposed to acting naturally. Whatever it is, go for getting the best of it, and get victorious enough to relax enough.

On some occasions Yukteswar himself was far from living up to keeping a stiff upper lip. During one such incident, he could not compose himself when a friend of his died. And when a pet disciple had given in to bad habits, Yukteswar asked Yogananda to get rid of him; getting rid of a former favourite disciple was much too hard for Yukteswar himself.

"Master summoned me and brokenheartedly discussed the fact that the boy was now unsuited to the monastic hermitage life.

"Mukunda, I'll leave it to you to instruct Kumar to leave the ashram tomorrow; I cannot do it!" Tears stood in Sri Yukteswar's eyes. [More]

There are self-help books with tips and tricks on to assert oneself in a culture dominated by big firms and their assertive bosses. It could work well to learn some typified or even delicate techniques to assert yourself properly and deal maturely with manipulation . Also, see where the money goes and who benefits, if you aim at better living for many. Conform assertiveness training looks suspect.

One should not ignore the need for sane protection as he works to lessen deep-seated insecurity, which is a problem for many American students, as exposed by Professor Emeritus Philip Zimbardo [Link]. There are books that go for teaching you "to ask for what you want in life and get it with Assertiveness Training". [Cf Edo]

Yukteswar's disciple Yogananda refused to marry. Setting aside the expressed wishes of his father Bhagabati, one of many yoga Christs [so called by Yogananda], Yogananda did not pay attention to: "In marriage, being the right person is as important as finding the right person [Stephen Jay Gould]". However, if two persons are not compatible in the first place, striving only for an amount of self-assertiveness seldom works full well.

Proper assertiveness is quite an art. Some lower facets of the assertiveness art may be trained, but not by taming, and higher facets of fit assertiveness may not be directed from those outside and bystanders. Heuristically tinged monitoring of oneself could bring many advantages. Some are found in Choosing Success, a book with a benevolent outlook. [Suc]

Don't discard or dismiss yourself and your own brains for your conform education and training. Find the conditions for getting into higher activitives of learning; that could help a fare too, according to Benjamin Bloom and others [Link]. Being stout helps a lot too, for people tend to justify their self-conceptions and much else to what they have the guts to realise and stick to in their way of living. Being told things we cannot do anything about, seldom helps.

"Everything in the future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now." [Yukteswar]

COMMENT. He who decreed it, had longed for a son to train in yoga. But even after great successes in yoga, Yukteswar still did not have any son.

About his guru, called Lahiri Baba: "His stalwart body developed a small boil on the back." He did his kriya, but died anyway. It happens to so many . . .

Swiss-born Brother Anandamoy, a direct disciple of Yogananda in SRF, once told at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles during the SRF convocation in 1971 that Yogananda suffered too as he was nearing death, and said it was for the sake of disciples. "And then he looked at me!" said Anandamoy.

In Yogananda's Man's Eternal Quest too we can read that Yogananda suffered when a wishing well of cast concrete "accidentally slipped and fell with all its terrific weight on my foot". The pain was terrible, he says, and his foot seemed completely mashed. He was carried to his room where "Day by day the pain in my leg became almost unbearable." [Ak 377-78]

"Everything will improve because it won't" - wasn't that the teaching for some days?

Will anything bad in future improve its badness if you are making a spiritual effort now? Hopefully not. The teeth you lost many years ago, what does it matter if they improve today? And what about the bad soup you got two years ago? Is it so sure that it will improve? Yukteswar's saying generalises. And things that are all right already, may not need any improvement.

Frankly, people put trust or faith in sayings of Yukteswar on the authority of Yogananda, the guru, or due to massed faith. "Don't believe everything you hear" is a sensible saying. But do go for merits in this life for the future, teaches Buddha. [Link].

Yukteswar is at least partly in tune with Buddha's higher teachings right here. [Link]

The Fate of Fished Fish and Shepherded Sheep

Divine Mother Could Not Stay: Being with Yogananda's Disciples at the SRF Headquarters at Christmastime Was too Hard

Have you ever considered that where people talk much of 'divine' and 'God ' - whatever is of highest renown - there could be a dire need for it lurking in the background somewhere? The farther away from the Light, the greater the need for Light? Or like empty barrels making much sound as they cry and wail for Divine Mother as told by Yogananda? In The Science of Religion [Scp] there is this Indian adage: "We pray to the Divine when we are in a pucker." To the degree that it is so - granting there are many other outlooks that are valid for investigations too - monasteries may be full of materialists.

Impossible? There is still more to learn from Yogananda in the matter: During his all-day Christmas meditation at the SRF Headquarters, surrounded by his close, monastic disciples, "The Divine Mother appeared to him and the awed disciples heard him speaking to her. Many times he exclaimed, "Oh, You are so beautiful!" But suddenly he cried: "Don't go! You say the subconscious material desires of these people are driving You away? Oh, come back! Come back!" [Say 74]

The Divine Mother felt out of Her waters in SRF and could be driven away by Yogananda's close disciples who were not even aiming at it, but were just materialistic, we are told. Isn't that interesting? The monastics there belonged to the church that Yogananda set up in 1935 to get and hold property, to buy and sell real property, to borrow and lend money, and so on down the first page. [Here is the deed]

Advice

Where they speak of God on their side, suspect something fishy anyway.

Buddha says the disciple is not to believe him foolishly, but work his own way up, adjusting to his teachings. [Link]

"It takes one to know one." To recognise and really appreaciate noble teachings, you have to be noble yourself. The same applies to art. Artists may recognise and appreciate art a lot without being told. It is a matter of wavelengths.

"I will make you fishers of men." - Jesus told his chosen disciples to fish men. It may take fisher to understand that it is not good for the fish to be fished. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." [Mark 2:17].

"How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!" [Matthew 12:12] The shepherd makes a living of shearing and slaughtering his sheep at a proper time. Accordingly, don't be an "ill sheep", be a worthy human. See what happens to fish and sheep that are caught by fishermen or guarded by good shepherds (bosses).

Subjects get too concerned with roles, decor and stiff, formal rules of etiquette, it may be added.

The character of cultists needs to be strengthened fitly, but the large society is built on corporate greed and sustaining markets these days.

Look at what really takes place as you go about minding your own essential business. You yourself deserve a good share of the fruits of your good labour also.

Do not automatically believe in traditions and authority figures. Compare: [Link].

If a statement or lesson works for good nearly always, acting sensibly on it could be fit in the long run, but there is no automatic guarantee of success in such cases.

Searching carefully for the settings or circumstances where a grand-looking theory or statement could work strongly to your advantage, is in the art of living. Verifications of this and that can be had at different levels of significance. Statistics serve to give alternatives to "maybe" and "hopefully". "Most likely" is better than "likely", and "very probably" is better than "probably", for example. Thus, it helps to grade possibilities: helps us as to trends in the long run, and even to gauge odds.

Be quite guarded in the public space.

There is much you can do to improve your lot if you get access to fine instructions and perhaps neat equipment and tools too.

All who believe in ridiculously swollen promises with next to nothing substantial in and behind them, could need to reflect better and get rid of stupid attachments.

A person's life space - his subjective evaluation of goals and the environment - at least co-determines his behaviour [cf Sop 10].

"There is nothing so practical as a good theory," as Kurt Lewin said [Sop 11]."

Let charity starts at home, and assume little.

If you find yourself deep in a sect, be guarded and seek to get out of there as well as you can.

If things are lenient or fit for it, build good assets to improve your lot in life. Learn to gauge odds before venturing anything important.