Is Self Realization Fellowship SRF a Cult? Was Paramahansa Yogananda a Christ? I was in SRF for many years. Here is my take on these questions. It is not the purpose of this blog to convince anyone of anything. I created this blog to help others who may be looking for this type of information.
April 2, 1867 – October 14, 1925), born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller
"Father of Modern Bodybuilding"
Yogananda took information
from Sandows books for energization exercises
This is his lovely wife
Yogananda does not give any acknowledgment or credit to the Ironmen for the material he "borrows", he does make mention of Sandow in the Autobiography of a Yogi.
Many people imagine that every spiritual master has, or should have, the health and strength of a Sandow.
Yogananda took information from the Tom Inch books and lessons and used them in his lessons.
Here is a 1939 film with a middle-aged Tom Inch lifting the Inch dumbbell.
Yogananda
This is a rare 1936 film of Yogananda in his mansion Ashram in Los Angeles. Yogananda demonstrates his power to go into super consciousness at will.
The rishis, however, have pointed out that the acid test of a master is a man's ability to enter at will the breathless state, and to maintain the unbroken samadhi of nirbikalpa.
Paramahansa Yogananda
Gizmos
I think the guy with the wings strapped to his back (1:30) was practicing the 'Airplane to God' version of SRF Kriya Yoga.
The first guru in the SRF lineage is Babaji .
He is hundreds of years old but looks forever young. He lives in a cave in India with his sister.
That there is no historical reference to Babaji need not surprise us. The great guru has never openly appeared in any century; the misinterpreting glare of publicity has no place in his millennial plans. Like the Creator, the sole but silent Power, Babaji works in a humble obscurity. Babaji, the yogi christ of India
So he operates a little bit like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
No one knows anything about him (where or when he was born, who his family was, where he went to school, his cell phone number etc) except that he was sent to bring the ancient teaching of Kriya Yoga to the World. He is in constant communication with Jesus. He was Krishna in a former lifetime.
He was chosen by Babaji to spread Kriya to the world. They met while Lahiri was out walking.
'I remember!' My voice was half-choked with joyous sobs. 'You are my guru Babaji, who has belonged to me always! Scenes of the past arise vividly in my mind; here in this cave I spent many years of my last incarnation!' As ineffable recollections overwhelmed me, I tearfully embraced my master's feet.
"'For more than three decades I have waited for you here-waited for you to return to me!' Babaji's voice rang with celestial love. 'You slipped away and vanished into the tumultuous waves of the life beyond death. The magic wand of your karma touched you, and you were gone!
"'My guru, what can I say?' I murmured brokenly. 'Where has one ever heard of such deathless love?' I gazed long and ecstatically on my eternal treasure, my guru in life and death.
Babaji made him a magic golden castle that disappeared and then he went forth to spread Kriya.
A vast palace of dazzling gold stood before us. Studded with countless jewels, and set amidst landscaped gardens, it presented a spectacle of unparalleled grandeur. Saints of angelic countenance were stationed by resplendent gates, half-reddened by the glitter of rubies. Diamonds, pearls, sapphires, and emeralds of great size and luster were imbedded in the decorative arches. ...'The magnificent palace will be the scene of your initiation tonight into Kriya Yoga. -From Autobiography of a yogi 1946-
Lahiri Mahasaya devised the Kriya technique which so changes the brain-cells, spine and body that they can express Cosmic Consciousness in three, six or twelve years (in determined, advanced students) and in twenty-four to forty-eight years (in ordinary students).
So did he "Devise Kriya" or did Babaji teach it to him as commanded by God? We may never know.... however...
He freely gave Kriya initiation to those of every faith, including Hindus, Moslems, and Christians... Article
This sounds very important and magnanimous except the population of Benares is over 80% Hindu, less than 3% Christian and the rest Muslim and misc. I would be surprised to find that this tiny population of Muslims and Christians were beating a path to his door to pledge loyalty to him and learn Kriya. I would be willing to bet that his disciples were Hindus...with perhaps one or two folks from other persuasions thrown in. To his credit he at least OFFERED it to others who wanted to worship at his holy lotus feet and you have to admire that. He was opposed to Kriya yoga being associated with any organization and never started one himself which is also to his credit.
Some of his notable disciples included Sri Panchanon Bhattacharya, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Swami Pranabananda, Swami Keshabananda, Sri Bhupendranath Sanyal, and the parents of Paramahansa Yogananda. Others who received initiation into Kriya Yoga from Lahiri included Swami Vhaskarananda Saraswati of Benares, Balananda Brahmachari of Deogarh, Maharaja Iswari Narayan Sinha Bahadur of Benares and his son. One biographer even speculates that Lahiri initiated Sai Baba of Shirdi into Kriya Yoga, based on a passage in Lahiri's secret diary.
(all Hindus?)
Many of his grandchildren have their own Kriya yoga initiation groups. There are other linage of people who studied Kriya from one of his other disciples. Some want your undying loyalty while others will give you the Kriya initiation on more of a hit and run basis. There are some versions posted for free on-line. With a google search you can find lots of people teaching various types of Kriya and they all claim to have the best one, so if you are interested, it can be an adventure. Google away.
III.
Guru three:
This very handsome, dignified, fully clothed (G-rated) man is the third guru, Swami Yukteswar.
Some reports say he was a Swami before meeting Lahiri and being initiated into Kriya yoga. His name was Priyanath Karar until he was initiated into the Giri Swami order. After that he met Lahiri who became his guru and initiated him into Kriya yoga. I do not know who his guru was before that if he had one. He had several disciples who learned from him.
He studied at a Christian Bible school in India. During this time he became interested in combining the Bible with the Gita and yoga. He then met Babaji at the Kumbha mela. Speaking on behalf of God, Jesus and himself, Babaji asked him to write a book comparing the Bible and Hindu scriptures which Yukteswar did. He was also a Hindu astrologer who worked out yuga patterns and determined that the Earth is in a different Yuga than other Hindu astrologers believe.
After his death he resurrected to Yogananda and told him about the astral world. He is currently the savior of the planet Hiranyaloka.
"My son, you may now comprehend more fully that I am resurrected by divine decree," Sri Yukteswar continued, "as a savior of astrally reincarnating souls coming back from the causal sphere, in particular, rather than of those astral beings who are coming up from the earth. Those from the earth, if they still retain vestiges of material karma, do not rise to the very high astral planets like Hiranyaloka....
"The ordinary astral universe-not the subtler astral heaven of Hiranyaloka-is peopled with millions of astral beings who have come, more or less recently, from the earth, and also with myriads of fairies, mermaids, fishes, animals, goblins, gnomes, demigods and spirits, all residing on different astral planets in accordance with karmic qualifications.
This is not the Krishna that we had when I started SRF. The old Krishna looked like a girl with over the top eye makeup. That Krishna seems to have disappeared replaced by this new hunkier guy. In fact all of the Gurus seemed to have changed over the years.(*see bottom of page) They all have on clothes and Krishna has lost the heavy eye makeup. According to Kriyananda he was not on the original altar but he was on the one I got back it the 1980's so I do not know when he was added by SRF.
But I digress,
Krishna is the Christ of India. He later incarnated as Babaji though he is still worshipped separately. He is an avatar and the main character of The Gita. He is widely worshipped in India and is celebrated by followers throughout the world.
Born Mukunda Lal Ghosh to devout Hindu parents who were devotees of Lahiri. His family worshipped the Goddess Kali. Yogananda followed the teachings of his parents and their Guru, embracing the religion of his childhood. He was a disciple of Yukteswar who initiated him into the Swami order. He came as a missionary of Kriya yoga to America. Paramahansa Yogananda was the founder of SRF. He is the reincarnation of Arjuna from the Gita. Yogananda placed his picture on the altar with the other Gurus for his followers to admire. He considered himself an Avatar (perfect incarnation of God). He was very humble. Most of this blog is about him already so there is no need to say more. If you want more information his autobiography isHere
VI.
Guru six:
Jesus
Born in Bethlehem Judea approximately 2000 years ago to devout Jewish parents. He was a keen religious student and elders were amazed at his understanding and wisdom. Jesus was considered a Rabbi amongst his people. He began a ministry to his local people. He could have spent his early years as Jewish men of his time did. Studying Jewish scripture and law. praying, apprenticing in a trade such as, oh, I don't know...maybe a carpenter.
But the God of his people wasn't good enough for him.
Instead he forsakes all his upbringing and culture and traipsed off to India (through Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan) to learn Kriya Yoga from Babaji. Babaji, Lahiri and Yukteswar were the wise men who came to visit him when he was a baby, so Jesus was destined to learn the guru business from Babaji. Then Babaji sent him back to Nazareth to gather 12 disciples to teach Kriya Yoga to. Other people took note of him when he went about healing the blind, raising the dead, walking on water and preaching a doctrine of peace, justice and love. Eventually the tide of public opinion turned against him and he was executed. Jesus was actually the reincarnation of Elisha. John the Baptist was Jesus' Guru when he was Elijah John 1:21 .
21They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
After his death many of the 12 disciples wrote about his ministry but they didn't mention the yoga postures, kriya, reincarnation or any other yoga stuff. This prevented this soul evolving information to reach America. This was disappointing to Babaji who then called a meeting with Jesus in his cave in the Himalayas to create a plan for Yogananda to bring Kriya to America.
Most of Jesus 12 disciples stayed around the hood to preach and write but two. One was Thomas (of doubting fame). He went to India to build a temple and convert Hindus to Christianity. This is confusing because Thomas apparently knew Kriya but didn't teach it to the Hindus who one would think would be ripe for it. Instead he made them into Christians.
Christianity originates in Israel. One of the Apostles (the 12 chief disciples of Jesus), St. Judas Thomas, was a carpenter. He was brought to India by a merchant to build a temple. St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, in south India in 52 AD. He succeeded in converting local Indians to Christianity. His converts were called Syrian Christians.
According to tradition, St. Thomas made his first conversions by a miracle. At the village of Palur, he found some Brahman priests throwing handfuls of water into the air as they performed their purification prayers. Thomas threw some water into the air himself, and it hung suspended in the form of sparkling flowers. Tradition continues that most of the Brahmans embraced Christianity on the spot, and that the rest fled. To this day, no orthodox Brahman will take a bath in Palur.....
By the sixth century there were Indian churches in contact with the Christian bishops of Syria. In 883, King Alfred the Great sent an English bishop to make an offering for him at St. Thomas' shrine in Mylapore. But contact with the West was precarious, and by the end of the Middle Ages the Indian church was practically forgotten....In their isolation, the Indians developed surprisingly few originalities of dogma.
The other Disciple that went to India was Barthalomew .
This is written about in Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius . Again he went to convert Hindus to Christianity not teach them Kriya yoga.
"Christianity has been long established in South Kanara and its adherents are more numerous here, than any other district of India. It is certain that, foreign Christian merchants were visiting the coastal town of Kanara and during that period of commerce some priests also might have accompanied them for evangelical work. According to tradition Kanara had its first missionary the Apostle St. Barthelomew, who landed on the shores of river Swarna at Colombianor Colombo village an ancient maritime port adjacent to Kallianpur, stayed there to preach. He was popularly called Bethel and so the origin of the place Barkur..."
