LEAVING FOR GOOD
So I was not attending services but I was still meditating and reading lessons. At this time I still believed in Yogananda but I didn't believe in SRF.
I attended a Bikram style Yoga class and it was there that I learned the truth about the energization exercises. This was big for me. I looked on the internet and I found that the story was true. Combined with the fact that I had already learned the Hong Sau technique was just an ordinary yoga technique, I was devasted. I lost faith in the techniques in general and Yogananda specifically. I also learned that there were other people who had left SRF. At this point I knew that the lessons and teachings were not as they had been presented to me.
I had the Loyalty thing thrown at me for so long I felt no ability to think independently.
To such a God-sent Guru the disciple must always be loyal throughout his lifetime and through future incarnations until he finds redemption.
Service Reading #39
I started looking deeper.
I wondered about the autobiography. I started with the segment on Therese Neuman. I learned that stigmata is actually either munchausen syndrome, Haemolacria or easily faked.
They say it is written in Galations 6:17 but he is actually talking about circumcising not stigmata.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%206&version=CEV
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32797753
I met a person who translated the Christian Bible directly from original Greek. It was at that point that I realized how idiotic Yoganandas interpretations were. I started looking on line to put his stuff in context. Here is an example from the Autobiography:
Matthew 4:4. Man's body battery is not sustained by gross food (bread) alone, but by the vibratory cosmic energy (word, or AUM). The invisible power flows into the human body through the gate of the medulla oblongata. This sixth bodily center is located at the back of the neck at the top of the five spinal chakras (Sanskrit for "wheels" or centers of radiating force). The medulla is the principal entrance for the body's supply of universal life force (AUM), and is directly connected with man's power of will, concentrated in the seventh or Christ Consciousness center (Kutastha) in the third eye between the eyebrows. Cosmic energy is then stored up in the brain as a reservoir of infinite potentialities, poetically mentioned in the Vedasas the "thousand-petaled lotus of light." The Bible invariably refers to AUM as the "Holy Ghost" or invisible life force which divinely upholds all creation. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"-I Corinthians 6:19.
http://www.yogananda.net/ay/CHAPTER__39.htm#FN39-4
Mathew 4:4 is actually about turning stones into bread for food, not about the "aum body battery".
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%204&version=CEV
I Corinthians 6:19 is actually about sex not the Aum. So much for Yogananda and his Biblical references.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206&version=CEV
Then I looked into the Vedas. I didn't get past Rig Veda which was mostly about the drug Soma and how to serve it.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv09012.htm
I had read the Upanishads before, so I already knew that Aum was in those teachings. The thing is there is no link what-so-ever between the Bible, Jesus, Krishna or the Upanishads.
Only in Yoganandas imagination.
I AM A CULTIE NO MORE
Some people go on to another Guru or Religion after leaving SRF. I have not.
I believe in God because I find my life is fuller and richer when I am accountable to a power greater than myself. I understand why people feel it is better to "belong" to a group or religion. People need beliefs and religion, just like we need to live useful lives of love, work and play. It gives their faith structure. It gives a solid creed to live by. I choose not to follow a religion because they all want to tell you what to believe. I choose to follow my own heart and my own relationship with God. I still have great respect for all Religions and find many inspirational messages there. I just do not belong to any religion or church.
Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie
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Thank you so much for this incredible site! Your diligent work is greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI am an ex-SRF member who is now also involved in cult awareness issues.
Due to several other websites on the subject of SRF abuses and scandals, I am of the opinion that SRF is a truly devastating cult. I have read the stories, testimonies, and ongoing debates about the group, and by comparison to other groups, the exit process from SRF seems to be particularly rife with frustration, confusion and unresolved emotion.
I know that my perspective on this isn't particularly popular with many post SRF activists, but that's my opinion, which is based on interactions with active and recovering cult members for close to 20 years now.
I found your blog because I'm looking for people who have survived cults who might be interested in participating in an upcoming television production about cult survival. The producers are particularly interested in finding males to contribute. It seems that men are far less willing to believe that they've been snookered by a cult than women are, so there's a lack of males who are interested in telling stories of cult survival.
This is a reputable production company whose programs air on the Discovery channel among other well-known outlets.
I don't know the protocol for communicating here, but I'd like to hear from anyone who might be interested in telling their story about SRF involvement from the perspective that it is a destructive cult.
May I post my e-mail address here, or does it come up automatically? As I said, I'm not familiar with this format, or with the appropriate way to solicit private interactions, so I hope I haven't broken any rules here. I have posted my name and website, although the site has been inactive for several years now. I can be reached through the contact information there.
Thanks again so much to another Katie for this wonderful act of love and courage! The information is invaluable, and I hope it remains public for as long as possible.
Katie II,
ReplyDeleteHi!
Thanks so much for stopping by. You can post your e-mail address here. I am all about helping cult survivors, so welcome!
I am glad to have your comment posted however I have had a problem with SRF trolls as of late. We can't both be KD or Katie as I have had some problems with impersonators. yeesh!
If you could post again with a different handle, I could put your e-mail up.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Katie
Thanks Katie I,
ReplyDeleteI'm now Cosmic Fool. My e-mail is CosmicFoolKatie@gmail.com
Katie I, if you're interested in participating in the documentary, I'd be happy to forward your information to the producer. It's just that they told me that they need men, since they have very few, and they are not wanting to make it appear that all cult leaders are male and all followers female, since that's not the case, as we know.
I do think your story is very well presented here, and they are looking for that also, so please let me know if you're interested!
All the best,
Cosmic K (Katie II)
Oh, also Katie II,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting how the cultified respond to truth and facts about their cherished beliefs? Suddenly all the peace, love and good vibrations fly out the window.
I'm not trying to be sarcastic about them either, I have great empathy for the intensity of their responses. SFR in particular really takes people down a very beautiful garden path. Even after I'd awakened from my primary cult, I still continued to defend and endorse SRF as being the only "spiritual" group about which I could find no dirt, and Yogananda as the only guru who remained honest and trustworthy!! Oi, did that one come back on me, now that nothing remains hidden on the internet!
I can't say that I was extremely hurt by the information, by the time I read all of it I was certainly jaded enough already to take it in stride, but still there is that awful feeling of realizing that I'd been betrayed and played for a sucker yet again!
What really shook me badly were the interactions I had with a few disgruntled SRF members on the message boards who were still insistent upon clinging to the teachings, or even to Yogananda, despite all the information about how false it all is. These people are severely damaged, that's clear. The emotional turmoil they are in is stunning to me, despite my experience with many other exiting cult members. It's so sad, I wish there was something that we all knew to do for people who are suffering this way, but sadly, it all comes down to "self-realization". (isn't that a funny name for a cult led by a "guru" who we allegedly can't do without?)
It is true though, that no one can do it for us, we all have to come to our place of truth and honesty on our own, and for some the challenge really does seem daunting. I can't ignore the very real possibility that the guru or cult leader is so good at making us dependent upon them, that some never do learn to stand on their own and think for themselves.
As you said, a lot of people cult jump, and I guess that's why.
I don't share your belief in God, no God that fits the usual descriptions, anyway, but I'm glad to know that you are comfortable to be navigating the mysteries of life on your own, since I really believe that's the only way we can come to anything close to a functional relationship with all the questions that have no real answers.
Thank you for your welcome also. I'm having a really interesting time of it reading through all your posts. I know you've done a really, really good thing here! All we can ethically do for each other is share our thoughts in an equitable way, and so far it sure looks like you've done an amazing job of that!
All the best,
CosmicFool Katie
I have been following the Therese Neumann case for long and the most recent scientific studies conducted there showed that the DNA found in the blood from all her clothes was indeed her own DNA showing that yet there was no REAL EVIDENCE to prove that the stories of Therese Neumann were untrue and in fact supported the miracles of Therese Neumann. These studies were conducted by the German govt or some similar organization and were published in a reputed scientific journal.
ReplyDeleteAll of your evidence - Therese Neumann, the stories in the newspapers with nerode and dhirananda, the energization exercises is pretty strong - but still mostly through inference or indirect linkage - nothing conclusive IMHO. On the contrary there are several books by Paramahansa Yogananda's contemporaries on I believe a website Yogananda.net that seem to solidify his case. As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out.