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SRF Walrus > SRF Teachings and Ideals > Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere?
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kylieyuga New User (11/12/05 9:35 am) Reply	Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? Hi, I first heard of SRF after reading 'Autobiography of a Yogi'. It's a really nice book, very inspirational. I signed up for the SRF lessons, the first batch were quite inspiring, and then later they became increaingly dull and repetitive, as anyone who's read them already knows. For years, I then had this stumbling block in my mind that in order to make any progress I had to learn kriya yoga, so it kind of put me off meditating. Eventually I found first kriya on the net. It's hidden away on www.kriyayoga.com If you can be bothered to wade through all the rubbish that's there you may eventually find it. What you will then have, is a not very good guide to some hatha yoga. It will never get you anywhere. So at last I knew, kriya yoga was not for me, and I didn't have to go to some spooky initiation ceremony to find out. What a waste of everyone's time keeping that secret. Yogananda always talked about hearing Aum and seeing the 'star'. Well I meditated. I didn't really follow SRF's instructions but years and years ago I heard Aum. Well what do you know? It really exists. But about this 'star' thing. People can use all sorts of 'nimmitas' as their object of meditation, it doesn't have to be a star. There is not some magic star waiting there for you to see someday. So a long time later after some rather harsh life experiences, I went off and became a Buddhist and meditated a lot every day for a year. (Avoid vipassana there are too many know-nothings saying they teach it.) I had some success, and I did some 'other stuff'. I'm sure a good hatha yoga class would be good for many here. Then I found out that those new-agers are all talking crap about kundalini. They know nothing. But those yogis sure did, and they even wrote some stuff down about it, but it won't make much sense unless you experience it. You may get spontaneous yoga postures called KRIYAS, all sorts of weird stuff can happen. It could be very scary if you didn't know what was happening to you, but I'll tell you what, Gopi Krishna didn't know anything. I'm going to continue in another post, because what I have to say next may be too controversial even for the walrus! I hope not. -- Andigarimisou
dontknownothinbouthistory Registered User (11/12/05 12:15 pm) Reply	Thank You Andigarimisou Hey that's a good read...... Yes this is apparently on the money.... Here's to the best for you.... Again thanks for the insightful sharing
kylieyuga New User (11/13/05 2:20 pm) Reply	Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? dontknownothin's motivations for posting here are somewhat different to mine. He is here to 'set the house on fire' so to speak and doesn't care about the welfare of the occupants. I am posting here because I had a misguided loyalty to SRF for a long time. I think explaining my experience may benefit other people, maybe even someone who is a monastic. Here is an account of Yogananda's death. Apparently it happened at a banquet in honour of the Indian ambassador to the US, Binay Ranjan Sen: On March 7, 1952, ... Paramahansa Yogananda closed a speech on God with the last lines of his poem ‘My India’: “Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves and men dream God, I am hallowed my body touched that sod.” He died without leaving a will. It must have really spoiled the evening when he dropped dead in the middle of dinner. This is not a case of an enlightened man 'choosing to leave his body'. His last word was 'sod', what kind of legacy is that to leave? The leading members of SRF have lied about his death ever since. Paramahansa Yogananda was not a 'self realised master'. Sri Yukteswar was not a 'self realised master'. In fact, in Autobiography of a Yogi, there is a rather graphic account of how Sri Yukteswar is instructing his disciples in an astral realm. www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/43.asp So he has not "merged with Atman", and Yogananda has not merged with him either. Lahiri Mahasya on the other hand knew what he was talking about. Here are some words from him: "My worship is of a very strange kind. In this Ganga water is not required. No special utensils are necessary. Even flowers are redundant. In this puja all gods have disappeared. And emptiness has emerged with euphoria." So, SRF inspire people to meditate which is a wonderful thing. But devotion to Paramahansa Yogananda is misguided. It is not a valid spiritual path, and they have lied about him for years. If you want to be a Christian, go be a Christian. If you want to be a Hindu, go be a Hindu. If you want to be a Buddhist, come and be a Buddhist! -x- Edited by: kylieyuga at: 11/13/05 2:26 pm
Paramadas Registered User (11/13/05 5:46 pm) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? Kylieyuga, Despite some really obvious mistakes (e.g. the whole praising Hitler thing), Yogananda is IMHO a true Guru. Sure has helped me a bunch. I'm inclined to paraphrase one of Yogananda's songs---if you're diving for pearls and you don't find any, don't blame the ocean---you're just not diving deep enough. So, if you don't feel Yogananda's presence, blame yourself, not him. Lots of us DO feel Yogananda's loving guidance, but if you don't, that's cool. Not everyone's drawn to the same path. But to criticize SRF, Yogananda or especially kriya without experiencing it properly doesn't deserve alot of respect. For the record, you can NOT get kriya off the internet and expect it to work. There is some sort of mystical connection that is made during that ceremony (why would you say it was "spooky"?). During Master's lifetime there was a fellow who heard Yogananda say that all you needed for enlightenment was to do a million kriyas. So, he went out and did a million kriyas, and then came back and complained to Yogananda that he didn't have enlightenment. Yogananda explained that, while the kriyas are a shortcut, you also need the inner connection with the Guru. It's that connection that you get with the ceremony. If nothing else, the ceremony acts as a symbol of humility for the chela. The disciple is opening him/herself up to God through the guidance of the Guru. That humility is an essential element in the equation. Without it, kriya is just another breathing technique. Edited by: Paramadas at: 11/13/05 9:31 pm
kylieyuga New User (11/14/05 5:33 am) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? At the end of the day, I know from supramundane insight. I am right and you are wrong, simple. I don't have to feel humble towards Yogananda because I am more spiritually advanced than he is. He never heard Aum. He never attained Jhana. He never raised his kundalini. He had no supramundane attainment whatsoever. SRF have lied about him for years. They actively hinder peoples' spiritual paths by instilling a false sense of loyalty to a couple of dead guys who weren't that nice. They have lied to you as well, and you are standing up for them because you are deluded about Yogananda being a true guru. He was only guru in the literal sense of the word. -- Andigarimisou
Paramadas Registered User (11/14/05 5:40 pm) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? "Pride goeth before a fall"
maggie mcclintock Registered User (11/23/05 11:09 am) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? I didn't find the SRF lessons all that benifical either, but I realize that others love them and have benifited to some extent. Like you I left SRF and went to Buddhism, and that is where I am at the moment. I do agree that there are a lot of groups out there that are not real groups; they have sprung up like wildflowers. What I did find with Buddhism is that I finally know what I am to expect from meditation. I used to ask SRF if I was supposed to quiet my thoughts to the point of having no thoughts, and they would tell me no, but at the same time I never knew what I was supposed to experience, so of course I had all of the visions, that is, so-called hallucinations of seeing things, hearing things and seeing the light. Now I realize that all those things are nothing, and that you are to quiet your thoughts to the point where you have no thoughts, and with my new meditation technique I can do that when I am patient enough to sit for way over an hour. I also no longer hang onto teachings. That was a big one for me because I had hung onto every word of Yogananda's, and I don't hang onto even the Buddha's words. The idea of loyality also doesn't come up in Buddhism, neither does having surrender to some Master. I know longer deal with the kundalini. It isn't even taught, although I can not tell you if the Buddha taught it or not. It just no longer interests me. I do think and have been told by many that kriya is not being taught correctly by SRF, and that is the reason why people are having emotional problems as a result, but then again, I don't believe in doing kriya even if it were taught correctly. I know longer think of it as the quickest way to enlightement, but it could be the quickest way to the nut house. I think SRF has just about lied about everything, but I no longer blame them, after all, they are protecting an organization and a master. I was just not wise enough at the time to choose the right place to be, but then again, it was my karma to have chosen SRF, and I learned what I needed to learn before I moved on. I have been told ever since that you should study the master of an organization for years before accepting that person as your master. There was no way to have studied Yogananda or SRF because the secrets run deep. And now knowing that, I would say, if you can't study a group or a master, leave. Often times it is only those who are the in group that learn the truth in an organization. I also don't believe in having devotion to any master. Never again will I ever look up to someone as knowing all, as having perfect guidance for me, etc. Never again will I give my love like that. I have also learned that when we expect a master or any organization to be perfect, we will always be disappointed. There are no Gods on earth; even Buddha was never a God; he was human, and he made mistakes. I, too, can never again believe that PY was a true Guru, but that doesn't matter to me anymore. He came with a message, and if it helps people, then fine, but when it harms others, then that I am against. "if you're diving for pearls and you don't find any, don't blame the ocean---you're just not diving deep enough. So, if you don't feel Yogananda's presence, blame yourself, not him. Lots of us DO feel Yogananda's loving guidance, but if you don't, that's cool." If you feel Yogananda's loving guidance, then I think that is great for you. I put my all into him and SRF, and I dived deep, so deep that my head hit rock bottom, and it had left me with a headache for a very long time. I don't find that it is necessary for me to feel the presence of any master. What is important is to find it all within myself, and while that is difficult at times, that is okay. I just no in Buddhism no one has said or written that I should feel the presence of any master inside of me, but that I should meditate and bring out my own Buddha nature, that is, find love and compassion within not outside of myself. There is no talk of having to have "inner connection with the guru" in order to become enlightened. Buddha had no one but himself, and he became enlightened. Anyway, that is my take on it.
SayItIsntSo Registered User (11/24/05 12:39 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? *Quote:* spooky initiation ceremony It wasn't spooky. If found it highly charged and spiritual. I also went to 30 years of Kriya ceremonys after and the only complaint was the way they prepare you for it. They made us sit in another room and meditate, then make sure you have flowers, fruit and cash, then they usher you in to the main temple. I thought it a waste of time and way too controlling. The first initiation at MC was in 74 and Daya Mata presided. I never understood the big deal about people committing to Kriya when they'll go stand at an altar and marry a person for "better or worse," and then have no problem divorcing them if it doesn't "work." SOOOOOOOO my advice to people was, "take Kriya," and stop stressing about it. Spot the Looney
SayItIsntSo Registered User (11/24/05 12:40 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? PS. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Spot the Looney
dontknownothinbouthistory Registered User (11/26/05 2:55 am) Reply	your Thanksgiving Hope it was a dandy
Ringbearer7 Registered User (12/1/05 3:27 pm) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? The "kriya yoga" you found on that kriyayoga.com website has almost nothing to do with the Kriya yoga that SRF teaches. What good does "supermundane insight" do a person when one is lacking the basic common sense to have a healthy scepticism concerning information found on random websites on the internet?
ranger20 Registered User (12/5/05 4:33 pm) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? A monk asked Seng Ts'an, the third ancestor in China, "What is the path to liberation?" Seng Ts'an replied, "Who binds you?" "No one binds me," said the monk. "Why then," asked Seng Ts'an, "do you seek liberation?" PS, I do love pithy Zen stories. I also enjoy calling people "Grasshopper" in casual conversation. Edited by: ranger20 at: 12/5/05 4:41 pm
bsjones Registered User (12/19/05 3:10 pm) Reply	Re: Does following SRF teachings get you anywhere? HELLO GRASSHOPPER !

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