the root of all these bad decisions

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This is it. This is the core issue. Let me restate it in my own words. And the beauty is that one can use all the information SRF itself publishes to establish this truth.

Master brought a new teaching. He did not bring Hinduism. He did not bring "traditional" Yoga. He did not even bring meditation. He brought a "new dispensation," at the demand of Babaji. (Remember, Master didn't want to come. Even his guru telling him to go wasn't enough. So much for blind obedience.)

And what is this new dispensation? Again, according even to official doctrine, it began with Sri Yukteswar's "smoldering reflections on social reform." Sri Yukteswar wanted to give the people of the West, "greater by far in intelligence than most people congregated [at the Kumbha Mela]," access to the science of Yoga. Babaji agreed: "East and West must establish a golden middle path of activity and spirituality combined."

Now what is this middle path? I submit that it is a new synthesis, something that has not existed before. It is emphatically *not* simply moving from Western thought to Eastern thought. But that is what SRF has become. What you are seeing is the gradual rejection of all the "western" values and learning that are supposed to be an equal part of the new dispensation.

Musicman points out the very different paths the East and West cultures have taken. (Read Campbell, but more importantly, read Jung, and Robert Johnson. Please.) The "line of gurus", I believe, intends to truly synthesize these two threads of humanity into a new culture, the real culture of the higher ages. But the SRF leadership is, frankly, too stupid to understand this. They think that because they keep things neat and clean, and use electricity and plumbing, and even computers(!), they are combining East and West. No.

So the answer to many of your questions is: No, SRF is not supposed to be like this. Yes, it is off track. But virtually everything discussed so far is just a symptom of the core, core issue. Master's mission was to bring Kriya Yoga to the West, and to show the underlying unity of all original Christianity and original Yoga--*not* original Hinduism. It is not his mission to turn the West into the East, nor is it to simply raise the sanitation level of the Indian villages. It is to truly unite East and West.

My personal opinion is that the world is not ready for this yet. Master came to plant seeds, but they have not even begun to sprought yet. Everything we are seeing and experiencing, regarding SRF, is wholly meaningless and irrelevant. In historical terms, it will disappear. Think, for example, of the early Christian church. It took hundreds of years for it to develop. Not that it was very good, but it had its place in the grand sweep of history, and that place took a long time to evolve. The real Christianity was always held by people outside the structure, and it is their tradition that has actually molded Western civilization. (That would be another long thread, but the writings of the Desert Fathers had far more influence on European thought than the church did.)

So, for me, to bottom line is that the SRF organization is a meaningless artifact. Go to the temple, or don't go. Give it money, or don't give it. These are personal decisions. Base them on what your personal life is. But don't imagine for a moment that it has anything to do with eternal Truth, or your soul's relationship with God.

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the vine choking out compassion and other noble values

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Reluctance to embrace new, untested ideas

Discomfort with or resistance to change

Impatience with processes that take too long

Unwillingness to focus on future needs at the same time as present ones

Inflexibility; inability or unwillingness to adapt when necessary

Inability to focus on "the big picture" and see the implications of actions

Lack of sensitivity as to how people will be affected by policies and decisions

Reluctance to change directions and shift gears when warranted

Unwillingness to instigate or support needed change and calculated risks

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