Book Review: Part Six
A Paramahansa Yogananda Trilogy of Divine Love
by: Durga Mata
"If all the Gods are pleased but the Guru is displeased, his displeasure counts, and if all the Gods are displeased, but the Guru is pleased, his pleasure will be the raft to the infinite shores.
"Paramahansa Yogananda
Driving
According to Durga, Yogananda could not drive a car. He did try once but he "Went on the sidewalk, ZigZagging all over the road."So his Swanky Packard was driven by a Chauffeur devotee and not by himself.
Driving a car doesn't seem like it would be that hard to learn...
WORK: A four letter word
Yogananda did not do physical labor. He would occasionally do a little sweeping to set an example for the others. "He never lifted heavy burdens, for he had enough carrying our heavy karmic bundles without adding to the weight."
Heavy Karmic bundles made his jacket buttons pop
Event Planner after the fact
"Master never told us his plans ahead of time, even if we had to work with him on the plans, for he said that Satan would step in to put a stop to it or change it somehow. After the idea had Materialized, then he would tell us what the plan had been."(Page 176)
Sounds like a great way to take credit for the good stuff that happens while skirting responsibility for the bad stuff that happens, or claiming to be all knowing AFTER the fact.
I worked with a person like this once. Maybe he was actually an Avatar and I just thought he was acting like a dweeb....I don't know...
anyway...
Beautician magician
Once a boy saw Yogananda primping in front of a mirror before going on stage. He was fixing his hair just so (many thought he "Marcelled" his hair). Yogananda saw the boy looking disgusted at the coiffering.
He parted it in the center and pulled the back hair more to the front on each shoulder.The boy was mentally thinking how vain Master was. Master often demonstrated in his lectures what he did to give this boy a lesson. He said he stood for the longest time in front of the mirror deliberately taking more pains to affix each hair in the right places; petting his hair here and there, combing and re-combing; all the while watching the boys expression change in the mirror. Finally Master turned and said to him" So you think I am vain, because I comb my hair before going to face an audience. I saw you you in the mirror and received your thoughts. That is why I deliberately acted vain".
The boy apologized and was never critical of Yogananda for working his Doo again. According to Durga, Yogananda rarely washed his hair as he thought it would dry it out. He kept it clean by brushing it frequently and over and over, apparently applying the '100 strokes' rule for long hair.
Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie
"Heavy Karmic bundles made his jacket buttons pop." *lol* This is just one instance where you adroitly juxtapose the "godman's" outlandish claims with ... a not-so-elevating reality.
ReplyDelete-Michael
I'm so glad you're writing about this book and I had many of the same thoughts myself. I hope you write about "Mejda" - it's so weird that I'm still fascinated by it. All of those wonderous events didn't seem to make much of an impression on his brother and well...it's just nuts.
ReplyDeleteHi Gordon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
I didn't read 'Mejda' all of the way through. Frankly, I thought it was a bit strange, and I was 100% devoted to SRF and Yogananda at the time.
My Husband read it all of the way through and his assessment was similar to yours. Like you he thought that the miracles attributed to Mejda would have been astonishing and yet everyone seems to just kind of yawn and then go off to do something else.
Perhaps I will take a second look at it...
Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie