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srflongago Registered User (11/27/02 7:42 pm) Reply	Re: To srflongago He seems now to be settled following his father's footsteps, teaching the traditional Lahiri doctrine from his father's notebooks. It makes me very nostalgic to hear him, since the teachings have been so distorted by others over all these years.
soulcircle Registered User (11/28/02 12:39 am) Reply	Ringbearer, your question about a German author's books Ringbearer, In searching through the walrus board I don't find the post by someone who knew the title and where a copy of the book that yogananda may have drawn from for the energization exercises. This raises another question, are there going to be times in the future when we would benefit by having a floppy disk/hard copy of the walrus board in its present form........some of what is presently here, may not always be available. There were other things of course that made me cringe at the convocation. Do people who cue up for every utterance of some monastic celebrity, who, "master this, master that, the six avatars I follow!," ever make process with their own self-esteem and empowerment. Deeply committed to an organization that has little time for householder ideas, an organization that has shut them away from something as simple as an annual finacial statement, deeply committed to an organization that has relegated the householders to second-class citizenship, have any of them a prayer. Well I remember attending only two classes on a borrowed admittance card, i have written no checks to srf for awhile. People were amused when i would touch their feet in greeting, parting or during conversation, telling them as I did that they were the one who i valued, that i see in them everything Master ever had. So onward, we are fish swimming in goddess, hardly needing to seek the water we live always within, the goddess that reads this board through our eyes.
username Registered User (11/28/02 5:01 am) Reply	To: srflongago srflong ago, please pm me. I am unable to pm anyone - this function does not work for me for some unknown reason.
username Registered User (11/28/02 5:07 am) Reply	re: german book There is a book with the exercises by some german guy. A friend had a copy of it and showed it to me 9 years ago or so. I was not that interested in this aspect of the Yogananda controversy so I didn't pay much attention - but the book does exist!
Ringbearer7 Registered User (11/28/02 9:44 am) Reply	Re: re: german book Maybe you could contact your friend and get the title and author? I am still doubtful having never seen the book myself. Even Satyeswarananda metioned "the book" in one of his books but failed to name the author and title. Come on! Someone has to know this information if it really exists!
Ringbearer7 Registered User (11/28/02 10:02 am) Reply	Re: Ringbearer, your question about a German author's books Soulcircle, "In searching through the walrus board I don't find the post by someone who knew the title and where a copy of the book that yogananda may have drawn from for the energization exercises." I don't think the author and title was ever mentioned. I have been following the posts here for sometime (before you came I believe) and I would have certainly noticed if this information was mentioned since this issue of the origin of the EEs has been of interest to me for years. Edited by: Ringbearer7 at: 11/28/02 10:02:47 am
Ringbearer7 Registered User (11/28/02 10:15 am) Reply	Re: To srflongago "He seems now to be settled following his father's footsteps, teaching the traditional Lahiri doctrine from his father's notebooks. It makes me very nostalgic to hear him, since the teachings have been so distorted by others over all these years." I don't know if there is much to the "Lahiri doctrine." I think his philosophy was very simple - basically: Practice Kriya and become absorbed in the intoxication that results. From what I have read he was very terse in his commentaries on scriptures and even in his personal letters to disciples. I think the subtleties of his teachings lie in the techniques of the various stages of Kriyas and not in the philosophical exposition. Concerning the techniques, I have heard considerable debate concering whether or not Shibendu Lahiri is really teaching the traditional Kriya of Lahiri Mahasaya - personally I tend to I doubt it but I don't know for sure.
username Registered User (11/28/02 2:46 pm) Reply	Re: various stuff Re: book I lost contact with the friend who had the german guy's book. But I believe he bought the book in a berkley or oakland bookstore, he also frequented ananda around that time, so maybe someone there would know. try e-mailing or posting a question to the kriya yoga discussion board or that traditional yoga (kashi) place about the book. Maybe anil nerode (his e-mail is shown on kriya yoga discussion board) knows or priscilla at amrita can help Re: Shibendu's teaching. first kriya is about accurate, there are slight changes and varieties among teachers. (this first kriya is not the same as SRF's kriya) His second kriya is wrong ( way off the track - according to five or six kriya teachers who have been asked about it). There have been problems concerning shibendu's moral values that have upset some of his former students.
Ringbearer7 Registered User (11/28/02 3:20 pm) Reply	Re: various stuff That's too bad - it would be interesting to see the book. Yes, maybe someone on the Kriya Discussion Board might know something about this. Since Satyeswarnanda mentioned this in one of his books perhaps ones of his followers might know info about the book? "first kriya is about accurate" Compared to what? My impression is that there is considerable variation in the 1st Kriya between lines. "His second kriya is wrong ( way off the track - according to five or six kriya teachers who have been asked about it)." Interesting. What teachers have you asked?
username Registered User (11/28/02 4:55 pm) Reply	Re: ringbearer Let's discuss off board. If you send me a private message with an email address I can respond to you with specifics. I am unable to successfully send a private message to anyone but myself through this walrus board.
Ringbearer7 Registered User (11/29/02 11:01 am) Reply	To Username Username, please check you messages. I sent you a private message.
srflongago Registered User (11/29/02 11:55 am) Reply	Re: To srflongago Ringbearer: The Vedanta Lahiri tradition means following the Gita and the Upanishads, striving for a focused Mind (Raja Yoga), a sound Body (Hatha Yoga), and a Spirit of Compassion (Karma Yoga). The cessation of the desire for the fruits of action and piercing the cloud of Maya lead to unity of individual consciousness with the universal consciousness of mankind and the world. The Kriya initiations are only a tool. One can achieve them all and have developed no compassion whatsoever, a still unclear mind, and a body not wholly under control. One has to strive toward ends, not means. The greatest masters I know all alter the Kriya initiations to the personalities and plane of advancement of the student. Initiations are not a ritual activity, to be done the same way by everyone. Shibendu did as his householder forefathers did. He led the life of a householder, had a career (statistician-demographer), raised a family to adulthood, and with this life experience as background turned to the teaching of Yoga. There is an old Indian tradition of experimentation at the time you make the decision to pursue teaching Yoga as your life. Traditionally one spent years wandering from Ashram to Ashram, adding much to the family Yoga tradition from which you came. He did the equivalent for a time before settling into his family tradition. I wish to point out that many who have taken Swami vows have violated them. Those in the householder tradition never took such vows. They led full lives. They, like the rest of us, have to mature as human beings and as teachers after they undertake teaching. I am told that a senior disciple of his father is at odds with him, possibly because he made the decision to teach late and is only now coming into his own. These things happen. I don't put much store in them. Edited by: srflongago at: 11/29/02 11:55:58 am
Gitano no divino Registered User (11/29/02 1:12 pm) Reply	Re: To srflongago Srflongago: How much credence do you lend to the account of Lahiri Mahasaya's life in the Autobiography of a Yogi? I must say that any attempt of mine to emulate LH or hoist him up as a model for my own life would be made impossible by the fantastic, Harry Potter quality of the narrative. As he appears in the pages of the AY, I cannot relate to him at all. It seems to me that his life and work have been so mythologized as to make him all but inaccessible to a Western mind such as my own (though in other cultural traditions the fictional elements would no doubt make him very attractive indeed). Can you elaborate on the life of LH as you understand it and highlight the features you think are most relevant to the lives we lead in the time and place in which we now find ourselves (which are definitely NOT Vedic India)? Thanks in advance. PS I was especially intrigued by your description of the traditional goals of Vedantic teaching: focused Mind (Raja Yoga), a sound Body (Hatha Yoga), and a Spirit of Compassion (Karma Yoga). These are not difficult to admire and embrace. I was very relieved that there was no mention of "enlghtenment" per se, a bete noire of mine. Clearly that is implied as a goal, however (piercing the veil of Maya is another way of referring to enlghtenment, I suppose). Does the renunciation of the desire for the fruits of action extend also to a renunciation of the desire to attain a liberated state of awareness? (This is not a leading question; I really want to understand better). Edited by: Gitano no divino at: 11/29/02 1:37:36 pm
username Registered User (11/29/02 1:23 pm) Reply	Re: To srflongago It appears that you are a supporter/disciple of Shibendu. Is this true?
srflongago Registered User (11/29/02 2:03 pm) Reply	Re: To srflongago No, I am not a follower of Shibendu, having been educated by those of a much earlier generation to be an independent truth seeker. However, as I have already said, I was impressed by the faithfulness with which he represents the traditional doctrines developed in the family Ashram in Benares following Lahiri. I put no credibility in AY's accounts. Though authorised, it was the product of many hands, intended to bring in new students by puting forth an attractive face. It brought in many. Edited by: srflongago at: 11/29/02 3:31:14 pm
srflongago Registered User (11/29/02 2:56 pm) Reply	Re: To srflongago Gitano: I am the wrong person to discuss Lahiri's life. I have only his works. Shibendu is the appropriate person to comment, as the inheritor of family traditions and records and the Ashram. From Lahiri's works, he was a very learned traditional vedantist in the householder tradition, without interest in large organizations, who put much weight on the dual interpretation of the Gita. I do use the term "enlightenment" for lifting the veil of Maya and self-delusion. Nothing supernatural there.
username Registered User (11/29/02 3:55 pm) Reply	Re: Shibendu Shibendu's investigation of yoga seems to have been primarily at the Osho ashram where he studied tantra, this is according to Shibendu. Shibendu does not follow traditional Hindu practice. As you probably already know, Hindu's believe that if you die in Benares you will be enlightened. Shibendu took his dying wife out of the family home in Benares, on a 24-48 hour train ride to her parents home, where he left her and went to visit one of his mistresses in Southern India for several months. He is not a holy man nor does he respect the Hindu traditional ways, though he enjoys the monetary contribution given him by those collecting kriya techniques (I don't believe any one he initiated really considers themselves a disciple), and says that he is a very rich man in India.
srflongago Registered User (11/29/02 4:33 pm) Reply	Re: Shibendu What one was and what one may become are not the same. What I heard was quite traditional Vedic in Lahiri's tradition. I wish him well. Some the things I liked is that he espoused the concept of guru as guide from darkness to light, not as master in a master-disciple relationship. Also the characterization of personality as yet another snare of Maya, clouds obstructing the unity of the self and the universal. No, these are not religious tenets. But they express the Vedantic tradition I am in sympathy with. Edited by: srflongago at: 11/30/02 1:58:26 am
manivar Registered User (3/14/03 10:11 am) Reply	Re: BOOK: Yogananda Returns Hi. My name is John and I am a member of a Spiritual Group. 'Cause our personal interest I want to make you an important question: Do you know (in California) an Exoteric Group of people with a Medium that channeling with Shri Paramahansa Yogananda? Thank you for your help. Edited by: manivar at: 3/14/03 10:13:59 am
stermejo Registered User (3/22/03 1:39 pm) Reply	Re: 500 channels...and nothing on Johnny, I'll bet there's 100s of groups channeling in California. Some Yogananda, too. Man, this is a big thread. Would like to clear up; Channeling was very prevelent in the 1930's. Depression-era what else's a folk to do? Senior Godfre King claims to have channeled the Ascended Masters back then; Specific personalities who spoke "through" him in medium like fashion. About the "lady," I use the term loosely, who made channeling popular back in the 70's; JZ Knight (gag) and Ramtha. Ms Knight turns out to be an insane manipulator of human beings. Of course, that doesn't mean she doesn't channel. Just that some dead folks can be up to a whole lot of no-good. And, looking down on us here in this vale of tears, can easily find a human body to up the ante. Stay the heck away from "channels." Well, at least, visit at your own risk. They are creepy. But don't we Americans LOVE a creepshow? Who said that, PT Barnum?

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