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chela2020
Registered User
(1/3/03 4:38 pm)
Reply 		Re: Daya's House and Retreat Houses
Dear Masterschela and Gregsbrother,

You both make such good valid points. It is also good to know that you, Gregsbrother was told the truth as to where she lived. We have no proof other than the newspaper as to whether it was a secret or not, and perhaps they just didn't want the newsmen showing up at her door, and can you blame them if this is the case?

When I first heard that she was living in a very nice home, I was infuriated, but then when I read what true renunciation was, I thought differently about it. This is what I had read, which goes along with what you said Masterschela. This is taken from the book, Religion in Practice by Swami Prabhavananda: "Question: Should not a spiritual teacher manifestly demonstate that he has for the love of God, given up everything--should he not live with only the barest necessities?" Answer: "You would then identify the life of renunciation with a life of poverty and discomfort, and you would say that if a spiritual teacher lives in comfort and in a plentiful household he is evidently not living the consecrated life...A man of true renunciation concerns himself neither with poverty nor with riches. One person may live in dire poverty, and another may live in luxury, and yet both be steeped in spiritual ignorance and confirmed in worldliness. What is renunciation? Renunciation is the giving up of everything. The rich man must give up his riches, and the poor must give up his poverty. If the poor man hugs his few trivial possessions and clings greedily to his meagre earnings, he is as much attached, and is as much a worldly man...The vow of a monk is not a vow of poverty--as the expression would be generally understood in the West; it is a vow to cease craving for things...'That man who lives devoid of longing' --if we may return to the Gita--'abandoning all craving, without the sense of "I" and "mine" --he attains to peace.'"

Borg108
Registered User
(1/24/03 5:06 pm)
Reply 		Re: Daya's House and Retreat Houses
All SRF monastics take a vow to live a life of simplicity. The head of any organization should be an example to others. When I was in the ashram, senior monastics sometimes had things the rest of us didn't. We were always told to keep our eyes on our own plates and focus on our relationship with God and Guru. There is nothing wrong with this advice, but I admired those like Ramana Maharishi who never accepted any special favors or privledges - all had to share equally in them - or Swami Ram Tirtha who had a pallaquin provided to him when he returned to India from the US in 1905. He put the Gita in the pallaquin and walked with everyone else. Resistence was futile. We were all absorbed.

Edited by: Borg108 at: 1/24/03 9:00:52 pm
KS
Registered User
(1/25/03 6:01 am)
Reply 		The little sins add up
Having a house, and keeping it secret, is a minor sin of course but they do pile up. How about having the organization sell pictures of you? Or publishing your great words of wisdom while some of Yogananda's remain unpublished?

In fact, why would you think publishing any additional wisdom was necessary?

Ego, man, ego. ;)

Borg108
Registered User
(1/26/03 11:16 pm)
Reply 		Re: The little sins add up
Yes, they do add up. SRF reflects more the Catholic monastic tradition than it does Indian ashram life. Yet despite the rigidity, dogma and narrowness of the Catholic Church, there have always been those within it who have risen above to become saints. This is wonderful for those who can do it. Others, like myself, finally reach the point where we can't go on dedicating our lives to an organization that expresses itself in many ways that we have come to learn are antithetical to the aims and ideals that we signed on to uphold. This is a hard decision to make when we consider how much we have benefited from the teachings and practices that we have been blessed to receive. I really don't know if SRF bashing is a good thing, but I understand the hurt and disappointment that many of us have felt as we have gotten deeper into the organization. I think honest and thoughtful discussion in a respectful and polite way may help us grow further in understanding. The opportunity for this kind of discussion is, unfortunately, very much lacking within SRF. I wish this board didn't have to exist, but I'm glad that it does. It seems that others here have felt like myself that the emperor wasn't wearing much clothing these days. It's nice to know that I am not alone. Maybe resistence is not so futile...

Edited by: Borg108 at: 1/27/03 12:02:46 am
xmonk
Registered User
(10/13/03 12:18 pm)
Reply 		Re: The little sins add up
Borg,
I'm certain that I must have known you in the ashram. I understand what you say about civility in the discussions here. That is all well and good in our everyday encounters with normal people and events. Unfortunately. we are not dealing with normal people nor events.

As you well know, the Brown's and the Wright's took over a great work when Rajarsi passed. Simply by joining hands and combining their efforts, they took SRF over. It has never been the same. Daya and Mrinalini have succeeded in making the order into a cross between Catholicism and Mormonism ( plus,
who knows what else.) It doesn't have too much resemblance to it's Indian heritage.

But, be that as it may, SRF has become a morass and I find it quite difficult, if not impossible, to keep from negating any hope of virtue. Civility has taken a back seat by many of the
present and former monastics, as well as others. I feel that those souls have every right to scream out, "The Emporer has no clothes!"

Edited by: xmonk at: 10/13/03 12:21 pm
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