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Notice the Noticer
Registered User
(6/17/03 11:26 am)
Reply 		Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
I don't suppose I need to convince anyone that SRF puts an emphasis of pathological proportions on "how we look to others."

I wonder if the ash-covered naked sadhus on the Ganges ghats think a lot about that. Maybe we should take up an offering to provide them with suits and ties so they can be more spiritual.

Too bad the Matas weren't around to mold Jesus into a well-groomed bliss bunny. Then he wouldn't have done that embarassing knocking over of money-changers' tables.

Seriously, I was speculating about this distortion and have a theory about its origin [hence this "history" forum]. Insiders would know much better, and I'd love to hear their theories or knowledge too. But what I'm guessing is that, in the early SRF days when Hindu mysticism was surely regarded as at best pagan superstition, those who parted from the social norm to follow PY must have wasted an incredible amount of energy worrying that it looked like blasphemy or just plain craziness. Especially in the McCarthy era when (like in today's post-9/11 society) witch-hunting came back in style.

SRF's severly unbalanced overemphasis on outward appearance has given rise to a dangerous belief; that Realization can be detected, or even CAUSED, by how a personality acts.

We forget that there were "saints" who threw rocks at others, made countless incomprehensible statements (especially the Zen/Chan guys!), etc -- didn't Mirabai run about the streets naked singing blissful love-chants?

Not to mention Nisargadatta's chain-smoking!

SRF convinces us that if your skirt is wrinkled, you are a very, very bad girl.

And like somebody else said on this board, the buildings and grounds are impeccably maintained -- not a weed in sight -- whilst shaming, degrading behavior grows out of control within the photo-op structures.

I have heard that one enlightened Hindu teacher (not sure which one) said, if you want to change your personality, you'd best do it now, because when you've awakened, you'll see that IT DOESN'T MATTER. Awakening to your true Self means waking from the dream that the individual "me" has any actual reality at all. I'm given to understand that many of the personality configurations that existed prior to awakening are still there afterwards -- similar sense of humor, same grammatical mistakes, same enjoyment of dressing nicely or not paying much attention to attire, etc. The difference is, one knows them not to be one's Self. The mind keeps cranking out thoughts; but since they're known to just be blips on the energy screen, they're not followed. The mind just does its thing; it's not a problem.

Those whose identification is no longer with the smaller, illusory self, but with Vast Consciousness, are not compelled to act in ways that are aggressive or defensive. Such actions arise from misidentification. Trying to eradicate such tendencies from the unrealized, small self -- well, there's nothing wrong with doing so, but believing that we HAVE to in order know our True Nature, and then pouring vast amounts of energy into this basically impossible task -- is just sadly misleading. And, that belief alone, that something is wrong with Here and Now, becomes what keeps us unrealized.

So for example, if your personality type isn't one that's naturally good at keeping things in your room all orderly and neat, no matter how many years you've tried to make it that way... take hope. My best sources indicate that a messy desk will not condemn you to hellfire. Only SRF will.


ranger20
Registered User
(6/17/03 1:26 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Quote:
I don't suppose I need to convince anyone that SRF puts an emphasis of pathological proportions on "how we look to others."

I had a non-SRF friend some 20 years ago who used to say "The quickest way to make yourself nuts is to compare your insides to other people's outsides." I think he was right.
Quote:
Too bad the Matas weren't around to mold Jesus into a well-groomed bliss bunny

In a sense, they've done so, by way of retrospective history. The only one of the seven sayings from the cross *ever* quoted is "Father forgive them..." It's gentle Jesus, meek and mild, in whom I don't have a great deal of interest.

I've thought about this a lot, because the the moment that really draws me to Jesus is "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Who do I want in my corner when life gets thorny, a bliss bunny, or someone who has actually tasted and overcome, all the sorrow that this life can inflict? That cry, when Jesus even experienced a severing of the connection to his Father, the very thing that he'd lived for, speaks volumes to me, of a consciousness capable of infinite compassion, precisely *because* it's experienced the depths of suffering.

Similarily, this spring, when an animal I'd been attached to for a long time died, and I wanted to rest my mind with Master, it was was Master as he mourned for his deer, rather than Master in an exalted state of consciousness.

If an avatar is tihe Infinite living a life in human form, to draw nearer to us, then somehow those vulnerable moments are what is most touching, and at least for me, rouses the most love - even when they were [gasp!] not thinking positively!

Edited by: ranger20 at: 6/17/03 1:32 pm
dawnrays
Registered User
(6/17/03 3:04 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
You are absolutely right!

"Before awakening: fetch water and chop wood.

After awakening: fetch water and chop wood."

I got that off the "Shared Transformations" website on Kundalini at www.elcollie.com/st/st.html. I found it on this board and I thought it was very interesting.

It goes into a lot of the stuff you seem interested in.

dawnrays


KS
Registered User
(6/17/03 8:41 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
The basic premise of many of us here is that SRF is a sham, a disappointing cult grafted onto a real man of God. The realization that SRF are not what it pretends to be causes the bad ladies to act from a point of fear of being found out. This fear shows itself in many ways but of course one way it manifests itself is as extreme control issues. SRF wants to simplify the environment and make sure it does not put them in a bad light. Therefore rather than spending their money helping the poor or even the membership it spends 1/2 million on new bathrooms for a local temple and so on. Image is everything!

Keep in mind this also gives them a litmus test for entry into the first level of cult-hood. If you won’t wear the uniform or help keep kids out of the services or buy into any number of outward image illusion behaviors then you are not ready. You have not surrendered to God. You still act from your ego. What a crock.

Notice the Noticer
Registered User
(6/18/03 6:26 am)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
"Fear of being found out" does make a lot more sense as their motivating force than my armchair theory of "fear of not fitting in." I love reading your clear view of things like this.

Particularly since, in this view, SRF is seen to be manifesting one of the broadest-scale archetypal paradigms in human consciousness, which is based on the primary lie of separateness: "I perceive myself to be separate [to have been rejected], therefore I must be essentially bad."

And what to do about that badness, as exemplified in the Adam & Eve story, is ... get dressed up. By all means, do NOT let anybody see who you really are. Then, once your own fig leaves are in place, spend all your psychic energy to keep them there, which includes insisting that everybody else wear them, too.

And, of course, the belief of rejection is also denied and covered up right away by claiming the opposite, that we're the favored ones. You've got that in the Big Three monotheistic religions, and I see westerners insinuating it into Hinduism and Buddhism all the time. And once again, SRF perfectly epitomizes it: WE OWN THE COPYRIGHTS!! And are willing to fight to the [financial/reputational/ethical] death to defend our position.

Edited by: Notice the Noticer at: 6/18/03 6:32 am
chela2020
Registered User
(6/18/03 6:35 am)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Notice the Noticer:

I loved your first post on "outward appearance." I think those of us born in the U.S. were raised on "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

BUT I will take weeds and wildflowers in place of another Forest Lawn any day, and I will take cobwebs growing under desks full of dust because the monastics are too busy to notice or have other duties, or because seva isn't pushed. OR whatever the reason. It is refreshing. It shifts the importance.

OneTaste
Registered User
(6/19/03 1:34 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Notice the Noticer:
Quote:
I don't suppose I need to convince anyone that SRF puts an emphasis of pathological proportions on "how we look to others."


Emphasis of pathological proportions? Uh, isn’t that just a bit understated?

Odd that, with all the talk about maya and the big bad world out here, the endless splitting of things into good and bad camps, when you come down to it, SRF talks one way and walks another.

Sure, appearance is paramount. Whoever said that PR was more important to SRF than PY hit it on the head. Funny, with all the worldly folk being so less than "spiritual," less than us of the "new dispensation," SRF is scared to death and totally beholden to how the world perceives them. Not a recipe for a healthy psyche, and all the mediatation in the world is not going to alleviate the repression barrier this sets up.

Quote:
And like somebody else said on this board, the buildings and grounds are impeccably maintained -- not a weed in sight -- whilst shaming, degrading behavior grows out of control within the photo-op structures.


Bingo. As St. Andre of Agassi put it years ago, “image is everything.” Funny that SRF would no doubt castigate such an idea, yet at the same time, they are utterly and slavishly devoted to the same. The talk goes one way, the walk the other. And in the midst of this split, the neuroses just churn away in the basement of the psyche, gobbling up energy better spent elsewhere.

Quote:
And, that belief alone, that something is wrong with Here and Now, becomes what keeps us unrealized.


I have noticed here and in other posts of yours that you are coming from the nondual point of view. Quite refreshing to see, but I wonder how it will play here. SRF is so caught up in the dual and even those who have left the org may have trouble in having it leave them.

Oh, dear. Look at the timeless. Is it Now o’clock already? Where does the time go?

ATrueBeliever
Registered User
(6/20/03 7:40 am)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
If anyone doubts the srf OBSESSION with image the following experiment is suggested:
Go to the convocation this August and practice the OM technique in any public area (as they will surely announce you are not to do). When you are requested to desist - affirm your right to engage in meditation anywhere, that it is the highest form of good activity, and then just continue meditating. You are guaranteed to be removed from the premises by either srf ushers or hotel security.

ranger20
Registered User
(6/20/03 8:39 am)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
It's not as if concern for appearances and being publically pious is anything new:

Quote:
Be careful not to do your "acts of righteousness" before men, to be seen by them. If you do you will have no reward from your Father in heaven...And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
-- Matthew 6:1,5 (NIV)

chela2020
Registered User
(6/20/03 2:07 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
To ATrueBeliever:

That was almost funny. I mean I got a chuckle out of it, but then it is sad too because it is true. Try going right up to the altar in any temple and bowing down. Place a flower on it. Maybe no one will stop you; maybe they will. Try sitting cross legged in a chair or try sitting on the floor during service, etc. Trying doing anything Indian outside of pranaming or saying "Namaste".


Notice the Noticer
Registered User
(6/20/03 5:12 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Yes. When I worked in the retreat kitchen, we had a grueling schedule: 12-hour days with two 2-hour breaks. I lived 40 minutes away, so going home to rest was not an option, and I guess it just never occurred to the other kitchen workers, who lived across the street from the temple in SRF apartments, to offer me a place to rest. If the weather was warm, I could go outside and sit on a nice concrete bench. But one day when it was raining I went into the meditation room instead, and had a nice meditation. It wasn't a time when the retreatants were there or anything. But after that one time, I was banned from ever doing so again. I was given to understand that that would "confuse" the retreatants.

I'm telling you, those people are NUTS.

P.S. A 1/2 million dollars for new BATHROOMS?! You know, I've been having a heck of a time trying to find a way to make a living, and have significant financial problems.

Maybe I should start a cult.

Edited by: Notice the Noticer at: 6/20/03 5:17 pm
dawnrays
Registered User
(6/20/03 5:48 pm)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Ha ha (good one).

Yea, once at Eninitas, I tried to sit on front lawn (it was a nice day).

The receptionist rushed out and told not to sit there, like it was a major faux pas.

I felt like I'd tripped in front of the queen while trying to curtsy or something.

dawnrays

crogman1
Registered User
(6/21/03 6:17 am)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Hi All,
I think the comment that the bad ladies are driven by a fear of being found out is not exactly true. I believe that they are way down the rabbit hole and completely believe their cult environment is real. However, to maintain it, for the good of the world mind you, requires compromise after compromise after compromise. Maya works this way to rob us of spiritual progress and keep us from God.

The matas sinned 50 years ago with their desire for power and authority. It was probably a someone minor sin but grew and grew. It warped their goals and spiritual nature. I do believe that even Daya Mata has a seed of spiritual stature. She would not have been so close to Yogananda if she didn’t. However now she expresses no more realization than the average 7-11 clerk. She can talk the talk pretty well which is confusing for people. Her “job” for years has been that of a realized saint and she has learned the routine. Notice she only comes out in public once a year or less so doesn’t have to act the part very often!

They do have plenty of fear. Fear of failure is the main problem there. The place has totally warped values. Their $14 million dollar accounting fiasco is one example. To absolutely ensure success in accounting and allow them to centrally manage their money they would pay ANY amount!

The sooner SRF dries up and blows away the sooner Master’s true nature can shine.

crogman1
Registered User
(6/21/03 6:42 am)
Reply 		SRF Appeal for Money
Notice,
The 1/2 million for bathrooms is at the Hollywood Temple. It is a separate structure with marble floors for heavens sake. Very fancy and nice looking. Why didn’t SRF mention this expense in the latest magazine and appeal for money?

babaGEE
Registered User
(6/23/03 2:02 pm)
Reply 		Re: SRF Appeal for Money
Yes, why wasn't it in the latest magazine? A picture of these brand new spanking marble lavatories would have made an extremely appropriate cover for an organization who believes in their own BULLS***.

At least the Hollywood Temple has taste. The $14 million dollar Lake Shrine Temple looks like the inside of a YMCA, bathrooms and foyer included.

xmonk
Registered User
(9/20/03 7:45 am)
Reply 		Re: Outward Appearance replaces Inward...Anything
Of course SRF is a sham. At the time of PY's death, there was a scramble to attain control of an organization that could be very lucrative.

The Wright's(Daya and her family), along with the Brown's (Mrinalini and her mother), worked together and, by sheer numbers, took the organization over. The rest is history. It has been a downhill slide ever since.

There is no love and compassion, honesty, etc. What is there, is simply just another money grubbing religion, with its leaders putting on airs of enlightenment. If they believe in karma, as they profess, they should be shaking in their boots.

KS
Registered User
(9/21/03 5:29 am)
Reply 		bad ladies belief in karma?
Actually I think the bad ladies are so deep in delusion that their belief in karma reinforces their belief that they are doing good. They still run the organization, therefore they were right to take it over. They are still worshipped as Gods too. If they were not doing the right thing and following God’s laws then surely they would have failed by now? Of course srf IS failing and coming apart, but they don’t see it.

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