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nonSwamiji
Registered User
(8/10/02 12:13 pm)
Reply 		We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
Fellows,

Like myself I am sure that many people here feel they have have lost sight of exactly what and why we believe in certain teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. Over the last several weeks since I have discovered this and other websites, not only has the cracks in the dam become visible, the dam has burst and flooded the valleys of doubt and confusion. The damage is so bad I can't be sure at the moment of any foundations even remaining.

I know some of my questions are:

Did P.Y. ever really say he was an Avatar?

Do we really need a Guru?

What are the core differences or theological changes that SRF editors have made to P.Y.'s writigs/teachings?

Are the changes made only to satisfy traditional Hindu political tastes and to consolidate power?

So, in the spirit of a declaration of faith, in the spirit of Fellowship and in the spirit of Self-Realiztion, I ask YOU. What do know is true? What do you know is false? What does your concience tell you is wrong?

Please provide links to any other thread that already covers this material.

(NOTE: I appologize if this subject has aready been been covered in great detail elsewhere on this board. I have put so many hours into study on this board and on other sites that cover this type of info. I feel a need to answer these questions and participate in this now. I want answers. I do not want to surf this website for the next 40 hours piecing together all this stuff. But, I will if I have to. Walrus, if this is already covered somewhere sufficiently please email me the link and delete this string. There are already so many string I don't want to add to the shuffle unless it is needed.)

Thanks, nonSwamiji

KS
Registered User
(8/10/02 12:50 pm)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
Here are my own opinions on these questions. Since there is truly a filter on Master’s words we need to operate from intuition to a great extent.

Did P.Y. ever really say he was an Avatar?
There is no need for the class-like separations of levels of greatness this implies. Just a saint? Just a guru or a world guru? An Avatar or maybe a rock star? Seems unnecessary and I doubt a truly great soul, which I believe Master to be, made these types of distinctions. Certainly not about himself.

Do we really need a Guru?
I believe there is sufficient smoke and mirrors in the world that we need the guidance of a Guru. This feels real to me. It gives our maya soaked egos a face, an example, a rudder. This does not mean we don’t take personal responsibility and relax our will into cult thinking as SRF suggests.

What are the core differences or theological changes that SRF editors have made to P.Y.'s writigs/teachings?
I don’t know much here. There have been threads and articles for years about the self serving mush SRF puts out. They are the one true representative of Yogananda, they are the chosen, their order (which Yogananda did not start) is ordained to run SRF, bunk bunk bunk. A lot of disappointing stuff.

Edited by: KS at: 8/10/02 12:52:00 pm
soulcircle
Registered User
(8/11/02 12:12 am)
Reply 		what your heart fully embraces
nonSwamiji,

Read the specific stories, relax, read them again
Read the specific stories section, relax, truly relax

Now again read them.....
But this time, for the first time....
read them with your heart
email those whose email is "enabled"
[do you understand that reference?]
ask them to email you directly if it is of value to them

and call on phone as follow-up
befriend them/us with your heart
visit one of us when led to by your heart
tell me if anything I say is of value

you may call me at 510-237-3206

one story
in the last year or so there is a story of the physical abuse in the monks ashram......, not presently going into the other forms of abuse
a brother is puttin in huge energy and hours!
he is being placed on a pedestal for younger monks to follow
...he is described as "sacrificing his spiritual life for the 'work!'"

so now in the simplicity of our hearts....
our tears and love go to all who are asked to give up life's meaning, that srf [mindless and soulless..no organization has a soul. YOU HAVE ONE]...that srf may "forge ahead!"

any deeply lasting benefit that yogananda holds for this veil of tears, this spaceship Earth, is in one sweet life living in quiet compassion (even failing at times), one sweet life as yours, taking time to question from the heart as you are, and one sweet life, such as yours, to look compassionately on a few people near you, and be a hand to hold, a heart to understand

if yogananda remains great, it is because he did just this above
one person by one person

not that he formed an unwieldly, powerful, self-serving organization of secrecy, fear with a lawyer-saturated budget.

he cried when he signed the papers of organization, and when you see the "Articles of Organization," you will cry, they read exactly like a great real estate empire, that we are witnessing now....
someone might remind us where on the web the "Articles of Incorporation" exist

*********yes? *********

in summary nonSwamiji, question, live and receive our imperfect but freely given compassion,
soulcircle

Edited by: soulcircle at: 8/11/02 12:13:11 am
member108
Registered User
(8/26/02 5:16 am)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
Regarding this question:
Quote:
What are the core differences or theological changes that SRF editors have made to P.Y.'s writigs/teachings?

The changes are to emphasize the organization more, to stress the monastic organization and the role of the president. Things like the lessons were never changed; they were simply created by old ladies as a collection of their opinions and Master’s. They chose the emphasis which probably can’t be trusted. Master didn’t have time to do it himself or probably would have. Most of the stuff in the lessons is not dangerous, just no better than many self-help books. Some things in the lessons are humorous.

Soros1
Registered User
(8/28/02 11:31 am)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
nonSwamiji,

Does it really take just a couple of websites to cause doubt with THE TEACHINGS for you?? and I think your metaphor about the "dam cracking" is a bit much.and what, may I ask did your "dam" consist of anyway???

I could reply to each of your questions yet I'm not your guru, PY was or hopefully still is. I'm a devotee just as you are but I know better than to believe *everything* that posted on these websites. and I know better than assume that any relationship between monastics and administration is connected to how spiritually developed they are. that's silly. Being in samadhi(I'm not by the way LOL)doesn't guarantee that you make a great leader, man or woman. I don't know how quickly your faith will have been restored by this time next year....and it can start to rejuvenate by focusing on your own spiritual progress and not the words on some websites

[SRF Walrus Edit: Name removed. It has never worked out when we include personal information. It gets too personal and the ego gets more involved.]

Edited by: srfwalrus at: 8/28/02 7:46:14 pm
soulcircle
Registered User
(8/28/02 2:19 pm)
Reply 		as fellow humans who are in this together
[To SOROS1],

You might as an intelligent person you are, respond to one, or a few, of the more damning, and perhaps true experiences relayed on this board.
Or you might do best, being in the moment and understanding the deep compassion I have.....

......for you who takes time to enter the tides and range of personal feelings and experience here

.....for myself who has stopped writing any checks to sfr...after learning the "true" account of srf's shunning of Durga Ma via yogananda-dif (forget whether it's dot org or dot com), and the hundreds of other stories in people's lives

....for each individual's pain shared here in being coughed up and spit out by power plays of the "fear farm," and the deep, deep empathy with the stirring beauty of the care and support offered each other in these posts.

soulcircle

Edited by: srfwalrus at: 8/28/02 7:47:42 pm
soulcircle
Registered User
(8/28/02 2:27 pm)
Reply 		Soros1, my gut reaction to your post above
Jim R.,

AumBoy has posted in "Great Quotes," under menu item Catch All...what best expresses my gut reaction to your post.

Quote:
"When you turn your head and look the other way, you are just as responsible." - Ayn Rand


soulcircle

nonSwamiji
Registered User
(8/28/02 7:05 pm)
Reply 		for Soros1...a bone to pick..
Quote:
Does it really just take a couple of websites to cause doubt with THE TEACHINGS for you??

Glad you asked.

No, it took facts. I did my homework having seen web hoaxes before. The websites just alerted me to the facts.
What was and what is are two different things.

1. I cross referenced the original version of A.O.A.Y. (1st edition @nanda version) with its current "SRF approved" version and see that P.Y. actually considered the householder path the higher path than the current version of SRF approved A.O.A.Y.

I suggest that you look at them both and tell me why you think they changed his words.

2. In SRF's "ParamAhansa Yogananda in Memoriam"
Premananda has been removed in picture and in text from the occasion. Premamanda was a householder if I remember correctly...

I suggest you look at the SRF official book I mentioned and then look at the original picture taken at the event and ask yourself why he was removed. Then tell me why.

(note:I did not know he even existed before I started looking around the net.)

3. I checked in to the fact that SRF changed the way Paramhansa Yogananda spelled his name. I can't for the life of me believe that P.Y. would not know how to spell his own name nor can I see how SRF gets off thinking that they have the right to change it themselves.

I suggest you look into it yourself and find the perfectly reasonable answer and tell me why to help clear up my confusion.

4. Rajarsi? Rajasi? Again? DejaVu?

? Need I go on? refer to #3 replacing P.Y's name with #4's name.

5. Why has it taken SRF decades to release P. Y.'s official written works when other organizations already offer it in a (hopefully) less edited format?

I suggest you convince me that it is for a generation that is more worthy or more needy or more spiritually evolved to understand it's signifigance. I assume that is what is implied by the fact that it is not released yet.

6. Why are there only 3 P.Y. audio tapes released to the public? Older devotees (Kryi@nanda) state that there were many many recording made of P.Y. when he was alive. Can anyone else here say the same?

Please help me make sense of the fact that I can't hear them because they are not available.

7. Why (here is a good one) did SRF just now , all of a sudden, have a new audio tape for convocation 2002 listeners to hear for the first time? Why did this "new" recording have sections on it that are unintelligeble? Is it SRF's way of saying, " Ok, lets release a crappy recording of ParamAhansa so people will think that the reason we have not released other versions is because they suck in quality." Hmm.???

Please convince me I am barking up the wrong tree.

8. Why have so many, many monks/nuns left the org?

Do you think that they are spiritual cowards, weaklings, lukewarm or possibly, by chance, against all odds, some of them left because they just couldn't be apart of a cult that has lost its way and still look at themselves in the mirror anymore, regardless of the fact that P.Y. started this org that they really want to uphold as truly righteous?

Ahh, those quitters... they just a little too touchy maybe?

9. Durga Ma's book is not listed in any catalog of SRF's that I have ever seen. Why?

Maybe there is a good reason? You tell me. I didn't know she ever existed before I looked at "those" websites.

10. Why ask why? just believe... believe... those who serve and do not ask questions are more evolved. Hold your hands up to the screen and feel the love... (OK, hehe just kidding!)

11. Why is there this demand by most religious orders to be removed from personally judging right from wrong of others and just being a: Shhh..quiet, loyal, loving, humble being?

"I" think Ghandi would approve of investigation and discrimmination

12. Why are those who require accountability considered uptight? Would there be a free country on this planet if someone did not question authority and make those who would be our leaders accountable?

13. I might add some more points here if I think of anything else.

"Judge not lest ye be judged" maybe that is an invitation for leaders to be open to questioning. (humility)

"Remove the plank before thee mention the splinter. (again humility)

He who hath no sin cast the first stone (put up or shut up)

What if these saying were not meant to make us stop judging but instead intended to keep our eyes open and our egos humble. What if it is the higher path to questioning our favorite institutions? What if all people who consider themselves good/loving people refused to say, "This/that is wrong."

Quote:
I think your metaphor about the "dam cracking" is a bit much.


You know what I think about what you think about what I think?

I think you are entitled to your opinion, that is "if" you think it is acceptable to "think and judge." [note: I do.]

Quote:
and what, may I ask did your "dam" consist of anyway???


Question for you: If you do not know what my "dam" consists of how can you qualify the magnitude of my statement?

FYI Soros1,
My "Dam" is/was the belief that I could rest and be comfortable with a path, an organization that our most merciful, almighty and loving God, through a special dispensation bestowed for the "true seekers" [that's me] a safe and secure path on this world of shadows and lies. Too dark for you? I call it as I see it. I have the right.

Quote:
(I could reply to each of your questions) yet {I'm not your guru}

(Did you really need to make that distinction for me or did you need to make that statement for yourself? ego disclamer perhaps?)yet{cop out?}

Quote:
I'm a devotee just as you are but I know better than to believe *everything* that posted on these websites.

Are you disputing any or every point that I have brought up above? (note:1-12) Has it no meaning to you? Have you taken a long hard look at what is and what might be? Have you identified which is which? Have you looked in the mirror and looked for bliss bunny characteristics? Do you realize that you have implied for the whole world to see that I just take *everything* I read as fact? What does that say about you?

Quote:
and I know better than assume that any relationship between monastics and administration is connected to how spiritually developed they are.


And? Is this statement supposed to be the qualifier that seperates you from the ignorant masses that assumes everything? I choose to assume so.

Quote:
that's silly


no comment.


Quote:
I don't know how quickly your faith will have been restored by this time next year....


Are you implying that I am going to see the light again? Am I going to again come back to my senses? You imply much. Maybe you think that I flit around and am whishy washy and can be controlled easliy. I think you know better now.

Quote:
...and it can start to rejuvenate by focusing on your own spiritual progress and not the words on some websites


Maybe this is my spiritual rejuvenation.

Then again maybe I am more lost than I ever have been. I must admit I have had a spiritual crisis. If it were not for my loving family and newborn I would feel completley dead inside. I hate what I have found. Maybe this is too intense for the SRF Walrus but this is what happens when you crush peoples dear beliefs.

I know for a fact it is what happens when you crush mine.


Quote:
Jim R
Houston SRF Meditation Group


Is this your line in the sand? Are you 'official' now?


little-big man, nonSwamiji

p.s. my email is activated. If you want my real name feel free to email me and ask. If I remember right the Walrus guidelines ask us not to post our real names.










Lobo
Registered User
(8/28/02 7:41 pm)
Reply 		Premananda
N.S.,

Premananda was a swami. He was a longtime Indian disciple of PY, after being a student as his Ranchi school. PY brought him over to help him with the work and he took sannyas vows and became Swami Premananda.

He then was made the head of the SRF Church of All Religions in Washington, D.C., where he stayed until his demise, I think about 10 years ago. He is shown in the first edition of the AY in a picture standing with PY in front of the church, which is described by PY as being "his," Premananda's church.

He came to the memorial service at Mt. Washington for his guru and lead the Vedic ceremony. As you've noted, sadly it appears that SRF felt he wasn't necessary and they air-brushed him from the picture, and any mention in the PY Memorium booklet.

There is a beautiful story of his love for his guru and the last days that they spent together before PY's mahasamadhi. PY even took him on a visit to Glendale Forest Lawn a couple of days before his mahasamadhi. The account has been posted on this website, you can probably with a little digging, find it.

parabastha
Registered User
(8/29/02 6:21 am)
Reply 		Re: for Soros1...a bone to pick..
I have the new tape just released by SRF: "Self-Realization--The Inner and Outer Path". PY's talk was cut half way. I know it, because I have a very old, unedited tape with that same talk.

Premananda's account on PY's last days is at:

pub78.ezboard.com/fsrfwal...ID=2.topic

Soros1
Registered User
(8/29/02 9:06 am)
Reply 		Re: Soros1, my gut reaction to your post above
soulcircle:

alright I'll bite.....what specifically do you accuse me of ignoring??? and if its the conditions as reported on this website about treatment of monastics by administration, amongst other things, then that's not something I have any control over. nor does anyone else on this website.

Edited by: Soros1 at: 8/29/02 9:09:04 am
LotusLeaf
Registered User
(8/29/02 12:57 pm)
Reply 		Re: for Soros1...a bone to pick..
Parabastha: Can you please tell us, at least in a general way, what was left out of SRF's new tape that is in your original way?

Thanks.

parabastha
Registered User
(8/29/02 2:50 pm)
Reply 		Re: for Soros1...a bone to pick..
After some point of his talk he changes the tone of his voice, and begins to talk with great power, almost shouting. He tells that all credit of his work belongs to Babaji and Christ. He was sent to fulfill Christ's promise to send the Holy Ghost. He describes the Holy Ghost. He came to unite original Christianity and original Yoga.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God!" -- he shouts -- "Not only monks, but all people!" He tells that God once showed him how houses are like human chicken coops, where people peck and eat and love -- and finally become "fried" chicken. God asked him, "Is that what you want?" And he, "No Lord! I came for you, I remain with you, I go away with you, I am content."

Then he says a powerful blessing to all present and begins to pray, calling Jesus, and Babaji-Krishna (yes, not Krishna and Babaji, as two separate entities) and the other gurus.

"May His light surcharge you! Everywhere you go, live God. Practice your Kriya; be intoxicated in that communion with the Spirit, and whoever sees your eyes shall change. May you all bew surcharged with the greatest power that is emanating from me as the power of the Father, none else."

"My hands, my feet, my mind and thought, my meditation and samadhi, all belong to the Father!"

He ends chanting OM several times.

It is a very powerful talk, almost 10 minutes was left out, the part in which he changes the tone of his voice, and begins to shout. Unafortunately, my tape is in a bad state, it is very old, and it was copied from another tape I think, and it is hard to catch everything he says. I wonder why SRF did not publish that talk in its integrity.



Lobo
Registered User
(8/29/02 7:28 pm)
Reply 		Re: for Soros1...a bone to pick..
"I wonder why SRF did not publish that talk in its entirety?"

Well, let's see. They didn't want people/devotee's to know that our guru did things that they've said he didn't. A good example is, of course, his calling Babaji/Krishna as One, which, again of course, is just how Kriyananda claims Master used to do so routinely.

One wonders what path one is following, these days, SRF or Yogananda's. If they will delete his words from one of his public speeches, what in the world are they doing with his writings.

Maybe that's why they are taking so long to get the remaining dozen's of his recorded talks released, it takes quite a while to censor the words of the guru!

"Oh what webs we weave, when we set out to deceive!"

parabastha
Registered User
(8/30/02 6:34 am)
Reply 		Re: for Soros1...a bone to pick..
Yes, you are right. At least, it is registered here for all to see that half of that talk was censored by SRF.

Maybe some people will press SRF to release in the future the talk in its entirety.

ATrueBeliever
Registered User
(8/31/02 7:57 am)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
re:
He tells that God once showed him how houses are like human chicken coops, where people peck and eat and love -- and finally become "fried" chicken. God asked him, "Is that what you want?" And he, "No Lord! I came for you, I remain with you, I go away with you, I am content."

It doen't seem like Yogananda was too crazy about householders either.

srflongago
Registered User
(8/31/02 9:14 am)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
He really did hope for world communities (of householders). Go back and read his early views, never repudiated by him. Please remember that he held his mentor Sri Yukteswar and his mentor's mentor Lahiri in reverence, and that they were both householders, as were a majority of their students. The householder Yogi is an ancient and rervered part of Vedic tradition.

Edited by: srflongago at: 8/31/02 9:19:11 am
parabastha
Registered User
(8/31/02 11:23 am)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
I appologize for quoting that passage outside the context. He said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God! Not only monks, but all people. This world was not made just for producing children and for selfish struggling for money. Millions have thought that, and millions have gone away unsatisfied. God once showed me how houses are like human chicken coops... etc."

The main point is not monastic v. houserholder life, but the common delusion of giving so much importance to the material, worldly life.

In the new tape, Yogananda praises both St. Lynn and Dr. Lewis (both householders) and appoint them as models to be emulated for all.

srflongago
Registered User
(8/31/02 12:22 pm)
Reply 		Re: We, the Fellowship of Self-Realizaton.
well put!

chuckle chela
Registered User
(9/3/02 10:50 pm)
Reply 		Reply to Soros1
Dear Soros1,

In your reply to soulcircle, you said that neither you nor anyone else had control over the treatment of monastics by the administration, among other things. I would suggest that, rather, it is the case that we members have chosen not to have any control. We've left the control of the organization to its monastic leaders, giving them our trust, obedience, and loyalty. We have done this because we believed in the new dispensation, in the perfection of the leaders and, by extension, the organization. More about this later.

But I take you to mean that we have no control or influence. As things stand, in one sense you may well be right. However, if you mean that we can or will have no influence, I have to disagree with you. In fact, I find such an idea distressing, depressing, and not a little frightening.

Since Yogananda set up the Fellowship to serve us all, I think it's a reasonable to suggest that SRF belongs to its members (I thought it was a nice touch by nonSwamiji to title this thread "We, the Fellowship of Self-Realization"). Certainly the members provide the financial support to allow it to exist. We have a right not only to know what is going on with management, but also to voice our concerns. We also can vote with our feet and our pocketbooks, and, figuratively speaking, we can dump the boxes of tea into the harbor. It seems that is what many are choosing to do.

I can't imagine that you believe that we can have no influence on the organization. Surely, Soros1, you don't conduct your own life that way, do you? If I may, allow me to suggest that the idea of our inability to change things might be an extension of our misunderstandings of Yogananda's teachings, a misunderstanding that has been allowed to germinate due to actions and personalities of the SRF leaders over the past few decades in conjunction with the mindsets many of us brought with us to the organization. I don't think the leaders deliberately set out to make the members feel powerless, and the members didn't consciously choose to give up their innate power, but in my observations that is what I have seen; the SRF culture has unwittingly spawned a significant number of members who personify the antithesis of self-reliance.

My thesis may be wrong, but I think it's worth pondering. Which brings up another point. SRF as an organization seems to avoid self-examination, perhaps because we're told the plan for the work is in the ether, it's all divinely guided, and so on. Alas, I no longer believe such sentiments. The work will develop as we the leaders and members of SRF wish and allow it to develop. This idea seems to be more consistent with the notion of free will (if you take the "it's all in the ether" explanation to its logical conclusion, then, indeed, we're all truly impotent). It's also a wee bit more frightening, don't you think? We all end up being responsible. Remember John Donne from your high school or college English classes? I've quoted one of his poems at the end of this post.

This lack of self-examination--efforts by all of us to ask how we're doing and take a look at where we're going--is, in my opinion, leading to serious problems. Without serious efforts at such critical appraisals of what we are doing and where we are going, I'm afraid the problems will only increase. If the unexamined life is not worth living, then the unexamined organization is not worth following.

I think nonSwamiji's response to yours illustrates how badly hurt many members have been, whether directly or indirectly. Like you, I have been an active member of an SRF meditation group for many years. I wish I could convey to you how hurtful these revelations have been to me (yes, I did my own independent checking). I'd love to be able to turn back the clock to a time before I became aware of any of this, but, of course, that's an immature fantasy. Instead, I have to deal with the reality before me. Yes, Soros1, there are things I can do to have an influence; supporting the Walrus (flawed as it might be) is just one of many.

I noticed that you participate in a meditation group. What would you think if the managing council's behavior was beyond the influence of any of the other members of the group? I doubt you'd find that acceptable. Why, then, is it acceptable for Mother Center and why do you seem to be content with this?


No Man Is An Iland

No man is an Iland intire of it selfe; every man
Is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a
Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse,
As well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor
Of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death
Diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

--John Donne

(And, you know, I could quote plenty from Master voicing the same sentiments).

I'd be interested in your thoughts, and I am mindful that I may have misunderstood you; thanks for taking the time to consider mine. Allow me one final indulgence . . . here's another poem. It's not directed towards you; rather, it's just a poem that might be worthy of our consideration.

1940

My young son asks me: Must I learn mathematics?
What is the use, I feel like saying. That two pieces
Of bread are more than one's about all you'll end up with.
My young son asks me: Must I learn French?
What is the use, I feel like saying. This State's collapsing.
And if you just rub your belly with your hand and
Groan, you'll be understood with little trouble.
My young son asks me: Must I learn history?
What is the use, I feel like saying. Learn to stick
Your head in the earth, and maybe you'll still survive.

Yes, learn mathematics, I tell him.
Learn your French, learn your history!

--Bertolt Brecht


Gitano no divino
Registered User
(9/4/02 12:27 pm)
Reply 		Do not go gentle . . .
Brava, Chuckle Chela, for another brilliant post: passionate, lucid, and flawlessly reasonable. I had a dream last night that I was leaving Mother Center as fast as I could. My station wagon was full of stuff and I was shoving it in the back so that I could get in the driver's seat. An SUV, presumably full of monastics, bore down on me, headlights shining in my face and blinding me. I was really in something of a state. I finally got safely away and sped down the hill. Even now, though, several hours later, I can feel the disturbed, panic-stricken sense of that dream. It was all happening at night, and the place was spooky. There was no doubt in my mind that I needed to get away from there and stay away. Of course, all that "stuff" was my unresolved feelings about SRF, and my continuing entanglement with it due to the fact that I married into the church, so to speak.

Most of you still believe in "master," and I hope for your sake that you're right. But I have left that behind as well. I'll tell you right up front that I do not believe in the Easter Bunny or the Great Pumpkin, and I no longer believe in god-men, avatars, or divinely perfected anybodies. My advice (for what it's worth): Take what is of value and meaning to you from the teachings and your experience with SRF, put it in your car, and drive away. I agree with Chuckle that a supine posture is unnecessary and beneath us. But I am a pessimist. I don't believe SRF can or will be reformed, or that it is worth reforming. I believe that it will fade away and eventually disappear, and that that is what should happen. Our non-cooperation and non-participation will hasten that blessed day. There is no plan in the ether, because (even as PY admits in the AY) there is no ether. And there are no patron-saint gurus watching over the work from some supernal realm beyond our perception.

SRF was, at best, I would say, a well-intentioned effort that quickly degenerated into a scam, a pious fraud. H.L. Mencken observed that there is no man so dangerous as one who is convinced of his own salvation. SRF is an organization full of individuals convinced of their spiritual superiority and the inevitability of their own salvation. This leads directly to endlessly self-justifying ruthlessness and hypocrisy. And again and again I say that a fish rots from the head down! All of the wilted blossoms and festering weeds of our devotion must be laid at the feet of Mukunda Lal Ghosh, a.k.a. Swami Yogananda, a.k.a. Param(a)hansa Yogananda.

If there is a god, then you don't need any intermediaries to communicate with it/her/him/whatever. That any person or organization led you so far astray as to think that you did need them only demonstrates the extent of the fraud. Turn your back on all this, shake off the dust of your feet, and leave. There is life, and there are beautiful and inspiring people, beyond SRF.

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