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SRF Walrus
Mt. Washington, Ca
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Lobo
Registered User
(1/23/02 8:59 pm)
Reply 		Re: to username
Another good book of Isherwood's that explores the relationship he had with his guru, Swami Prabhavananda, is "My Guru and His Disciple." Most of the book is devoted to their relationship and Isherwood writes so honestly and transparently that it is really quite a very revealing book, unlike any other that I've ever come across on the topic of guru/disciple relationship. Devoid of saccrine emotionalism yet full of life, I suggest that this book is a good place to start as it details the happenings at the Hollywood Temple in the late 30's and 40's.

I read a biography of Aldous Huxley which dwelt in part upon his relationship with Swami Prabhavananda, Isherwood and the other expatriates that congregated at the Vedanta Society during that point in time. I've forgotten the title of the book but it was good background to the whole scene during those war years in L.A.

Edited by: Lobo at: 1/23/02 9:00:56 pm
username
Registered User
(2/1/02 4:24 pm)
Reply 		Re: to Lobo and Username
Read it. Yes its a good book. It goes into meditation techniques uses the heart chakra.

username
Registered User
(2/2/02 9:37 am)
Reply 		Re: to xxxxxxxxxxx
I was confused the book with the heart meditation techniques is MEDITATION Monks of the Ramakrishna Order. (I think both books are about the same size with the same blue paper cover, am I right? The other book has the blue cover right?)

Edited by: srfwalrus at: 4/16/02 8:42:11 pm
username
Registered User
(2/2/02 6:00 pm)
Reply 		Re: books
yes the name of the book is "Diaries"

I don't think they carry it at the Vedanta bookstore, though everyone there knows about it. It may be just not out on the shelves. Isherwood was gay. And the diaries are his personal thoughts, and sometimes he had sexual thoughts and they are in the book too.

Lobo
Registered User
(2/3/02 8:55 pm)
Reply 		Re: diaries
Saw the Isherwood "Diaries" at Ramakrishna Trabuco Canyon library about 3 weeks ago. Visiting hours, 9am-11am, and 3pm-5pm.

I've looked at the Diaries and they also are full of stories about show business people so I don't know whether that's what you're searching for.

Again, I recommend "My Guru and His Disciple" by Isherwood that deals exclusively with their relationship and his experiences living the life of a monk as well as the other people who were there during that point in time, 1940's.

Just a suggestion. At the Hollywood Temple bookstore they have the "My Guru and His Disciple" book for sell. Saw it there about 6 weeks ago.

Smoke Signals
Unregistered User
(2/23/02 9:44 am)
Reply 		Leaving SRF
Dear all, This is what I have been saying on this board. Here you have a person who has left SRF and has gone to Vedanta, and all the sudden others come on the board to put down Vedanta. Does it ever end? What Chela had to say about Vedanta I never experienced in SRF. It feels like she made this up to discourage people from going to Vedanta. Could both of the anti-Vedanta people be from Ananda? Could it be that people just don't want those leaving SRF to go elsewhere? Maybe when they feel that they have no where else to turn, when none of the other groups that left SRF can satisfy them, they should just drown.

I found it interesting that xxxxxxxxxxx didn't want to read THE OCHRE ROBE. Could it be that she had learned things about SRF through flyers like I did, and so she has learned her lesson to never listen to other's comments?

I notice that Gray Beard never returned to give his comments. Where did he go? As a matter of fact, what happened to cjmagorian? I see no new posts from either.

Years ago I used to be an atheist. That happened because I began reading books by atheists and believed them. I read anti-Christ books and believed those too. So my feeling is, if you all want to go down that road, all you have to do is continue to find fault with every organization on earth and read every anti-guru book that you can find.



Edited by: srfwalrus at: 4/16/02 8:45:37 pm
Smoke Signals
Unregistered User
(2/23/02 9:48 am)
Reply 		firestarter
Maybe I should be called Firestarter since I am burning up. Maybe you all wish I would burn myself out, and I am sure I will in time.

In the mean time I believe I will check out Vedanta too.

Smoke Signals
Unregistered User
(2/23/02 10:09 am)
Reply 		Ananda
I checked it out, and again I have made a mistake. Mangomoy is not in Ananda.

GregsBrother
Registered User
(12/26/02 11:18 am)
Reply 		Re: More clarification
Old thread, but I have to throw 2 cents in.


If someone is upset with SRF leadership and decides to go to the organization founded by Donald Walters, for the "pure" teachings, they are just making one more mistake.

Ananda has many of the same problems SRF has. And a few more perhaps.

Decide for yourself of course.


Yes, read anandaanswers.com for the ananda perspective.

Then read anandaawareness.com for the other perspective on Donald J. Walters.

And finally read Donald Walters OWN WORDS he said under oath in his civil trial. That deposition is not disputed by him or anyone, they just say that he has since stopped behaving that way and re-took his monsatic vows.

It seems that Faye Wright and Donald Walters are both trying to set themselves up as the inheritor to PY's legacy.


I will not support either of them anymore.



chela2020
Registered User
(6/7/03 11:27 am)
Reply 		Re: To Greybeard
Mangomoy,

I recently finished reading “The Ochre Robe” by Bharati, who was a German monk.You wrote that Bharati said of the monatic life that they were “excessively rule-bound, and rigidly heirarchical, almost militaristic." Also you said that he left as a detractor, when he was asked to leave, but at the same time they were kind and forgiving and later asked him to come and give a lecture, which he did. He was very critical of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna, the teachings of the Gita, and so on. As to the Order itself, I saw no complaints. These are some of the things that I found in his book:

On meditation: …nothing is enforced. There is no check on whether one does one’s meditation regularly, or on how long one sits for meditation…”

On service: “It is the only Order amongst the Indian monastic institutions which enjoys the full confidence of the Indian Government, primarily on account of its Samaritan mission, in which the Ramakrishna Order stands alone. It has founded schools, colleges and other educational institution; it runs excellent hospitals, maternity homes and crèches, and in times of trouble, such as floods and famine, it is always on the spot to succour the victims…”

On morals: “…there is nothing to be said against this famous Order in any banal moral or moralizing fashion.”

On discipline: “…and the check on matters of general routine is extremely loose; in the Ramakrishna monasteries it is virtually absent, and it is probably this freedom from any kind of disciplinary pressure that makes the monasteries function with the utmost precision.”

On living conditions: “…in the first period of his (a monk’s) life with the Ramakrishna Order the novice is particularly well treated, and if he happens to come from a poor family then at first he lives better and more comfortably than he has been accustomed to at home. He has good, clean clothing; he is fed well with good and very tasty food; and he sleeps no more uncomfortably than anyone else. Then gradually these special privileges are withdrawn, but so gradually that he hardly notices it. In fact, what usually happens is that the monks themselves voluntarily abandon first this and then that privilege of the novitiate; they no longer desire this relatively high standard of comfort.”

Edited by: chela2020 at: 7/1/03 5:30 pm
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