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S
Unregistered User
(8/4/01 6:03 pm)
 Specifics
What are the specifics of the SRF mistreatment of employees and monastics? Giving specific incidents would reveal who I have talked to, something that is unwise in the current SRF environment. However, I will make the following points:

1) Members are generally considered the enemy or a source of semi-free labor. It is fine for them to be there as long as they keep quiet and do exactly as they are told. Any complaints about their treatment or what goes on there and they hear about it. Verbal abuse, especially on the women’s side, is common. Other forms of retaliation are also used up to and including termination for disagreeing with something, transferring someone around until they quit, or just pushing them off into a non-productive corner until they get the idea they should leave.

2) Everything is a secret. Since they consider the members to be the enemy, and people who might tell family and friends about things that go on at SRF, every little thing is a secret. Imagine the feeling that gives employees day to day to not be trusted to know the simplest of things. Members and employees were not even told who the Board of Directors were until about 18 months ago. Many of you probably thought you knew, but you didn’t. And it has changed again.

3) Salary compensation is inconsiderate at best. Many members give up careers to come there to serve, taking minimal salaries in return. The thanks they receive is mistrust, abuse, and a feeling that SRF is doing them a favor by letting them work there. Salary is of course not an issue for loyal members serving their Guru, until you learn that SRF is not the place of love and respect you thought it was. You expect to be working with struggling yogis, striving like the rest of us to improve them selves. It is not. This year they informed all the women employees that due to a shortage of money they would once again not be receiving raises. One friend has only had one raise in six years. Yet they are finding the money to give the accounting contractors raises, and these people make over $300,000/year! And everyone knows SRF has googles of money so why the pretense? Do poor people spend millions on an accounting system they don't use?

4) The monastics will yell at you, among other things. They can be rude, unfeeling, and certainly let you know they are “better” than you. Their feeling of power and position has corrupted many of them to the point where out in the “real world” they would be unemployable and need years of counseling. The nun’s areas are much worse by the way, most of the monks are sincerely trying and are victimized as much as the employees are. In the temples the ministers will tell us that inside SRF they are people just like us who have problems and deal with issues. This is not true. This is a closed society where a handful has absolute power over the lives of others and intends to keep it. This has corrupted the system in weird extreme ways. These people do not know how to behave. Our children know not to treat people this way, what is wrong with these people?

5) Senior nuns will lie to you. And if they feel threatened they will tell obvious and extreme lies… and expect we loyal devoted member-employees to believe it. Such a lack of character is shocking and crushing to ones sense of fairness and what Yogananda’s teachings are all about. In fact, seeing the lack of character by many of them is probably the most hurtful and damaging thing. We expect better from those representing Yogananda’s work. But then the lesson here might be to depend less on SRF and more on our personal relationship with Yogananda.

I will stop before this list gets too long and let others chime in with their explanations of the dysfunction there.

Real dedicated introspective monastics who read these things will see these points as criticisms they can learn from. These points are all true, but not all monastics are involved in all of them. Some who see them will pick up the challenge, and have already tried, and attempt to get things fixed.

Unfortunately some senior nuns will go crazy and try their best to get these things removed from the web. The person who posted the item about SRF being afraid of criticism was dead on correct. The fear of criticism drives 99% of what they do from day to day. They are not prioritized on getting improved Lessons published, getting more translations for Yogananda’s books, or improving the Center Tours. They are bound and determined to survive. Power is all they have left to achieve in their little world and those close to it are drawn to it like moths to a flame.

I once heard Yogananda said that at this point in the “work” Lay Members would have an ever increasing role. I now believe that the comment didn’t mean Lay Members would have key roles within the organization. I believe what he meant was that the focus would start to turn to the Centers and Groups, the individuals really trying to live the life Yogananda describes, and those making an effort in their communities and families to help and improve themselves.

Let the Mother Center and the dozen or so strange ones there drown in their own egos. Let’s help each other and study and live the teachings as best we can.

Thanks for this board and the opportunity to get this off my chest. I has helped.

member108
Registered User
(2/13/03 8:45 pm)
 Re: Specifics
I wonder what Astral 7 thinks of this message? Did this person make these things up?

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