Thursday, November 30, 2006
False Prophets and False teachers
Paramahansa Yogananda on
False Prophets/False Teachers.
"One may argue that a beautiful lotus may be plucked from a murky pond, or that one may savor sweetmeats prepared by a person who himself subsists poorly on bowls of rice; or that one may even glean some profit by reading a good book written by an evil man.
But it is an ineluctable truth that in spiritual matters , for ultimatate realization and God-union, the shepherding of a false prophet" will not do.
The devotee needs to follow the path of a God-knowing person, chosen for him by God.
A false prophet can never be a God-ordained guru, no matter how artfully he presumes such title. A false prophet is one who knows at heart his hypocrisy and moral weakness and yet professes gooodness to attract and hold people who will follow him blindliy for his own ends- financial and for gratification of the ego.
A true guru will not bring any such evil misguidance to his followers."
from page 551, The Second Coming of Christ;;;;;;
(c) SRF Publishers LA USA 2004
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Pluralism and Harmonious Relationships
From the timely and balanced wisdom of
Paramahansa Yogananda
"We are all part of the One Spirit.
When you experience the true meaning of religion,
which is to know God,
you will realize that He is your Self,
and that He exists equally and impartially in all beings."
Paramahansa Yogananda
"We are all part of the One Spirit.
When you experience the true meaning of religion,
which is to know God,
you will realize that He is your Self,
and that He exists equally and impartially in all beings."
"Paramahansa Yogananda"
Friday, November 17, 2006
SELF REALIZATION SRF The Original Kriya Path to Enlightmenment
When you raise your consciouness the view is more grand, more complete, more true. Where the air is rarified and less polluted, it may seem lonely at first. Then after a little while you will know this great change is your way to Self-Realization. The consciousness where the One Reality (Braman) is fully manifested.
by pyislove
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Self-Realization today - Kriya Yoga
This URL is the best source for learning about Meditation and Kriya Yoga
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/Default.aspx
Further Notes on Yoganandas Kriya Yoga;
The Kriya Yoga and other methods taught by Self-Realization Fellowship is all one will ever need to reach salvation / God realization.
Kriya yoga is a very effective group of simple Meditation techniques that will transform and enrich your life in many ways. But like all things - you must sincerely work at it.
"The science of Kriya Yoga, mentioned so often in these pages, became widely known in modern India through the instrumentality of Lahiri Mahasaya, my guru's guru. The Sanskrit root of Kriya is kri, to do, to act and react; the same root is found in the word karma, the natural principle of cause and effect. Kriya Yoga is thus " union (yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite." A yogi who faithfully follows its technique is gradually freed from karma or the universal chain of causation.
Because of certain ancient yogic injunctions, I cannot give a full explanation of Kriya Yoga in the pages of a book intended for the general public. The actual technique must be learned from a Kriyaban or Kriya Yogi; here a broad reference must suffice.
{NOTE} Long before Yogananda Passed on He decreed that the actual technique should be learned from an approved x SRF Kriyaban or Kriya yogi. This change occurs in the more recent editions of this book with the orange covers according to is final instructions. fp
Kriya Yoga is a simple, psychophysiological method by which the human blood is decarbonized and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers.1. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of tissues; the advanced yogi transmutes his cells into pure energy. Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters in the use of Kriya or a similar technique, by which they caused their bodies to dematerialize at will.
Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his guru, Babaji, who rediscovered & clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages.
"The Kriya Yoga which I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century," Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, "is a revival of the same science which Krishna gave, millenniums ago, to Arjuna, and which was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples."
Kriya Yoga is referred to by Krishna, India's greatest prophet, in a stanza of the Bhagavad Gita: "Offering inhaling breath into the outgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases the life force from the heart and brings it under his control." The interpretation is: "The yogi arrests decay in the body by an addition of life force, and arrests the mutations of growth in the body by apan (eliminating current). Thus neutralizing decay and growth, by quieting the heart, the yogi learns life control."
Krishna also relates that it was he, in a former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator.4 He, in turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India's solar warrior dynasty. Passing thus from one to another, the royal yoga was guarded by the rishis until the coming of the materialistic ages. Then, due to priestly secrecy and man's indifference, the sacred knowledge gradually became inaccessible.
Kriya Yoga is mentioned twice by the ancient sage Patanjali, foremost exponent of yoga, who wrote: "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." Patanjali speaks of God as the actual Cosmic Sound of Aum heard in meditation. Aum is the Creative Word, the sound of the Vibratory Motor. Even the yoga-beginner soon inwardly hears the wondrous sound of Aum. Receiving this blissful spiritual encouragement, the devotee becomes assured that he is in actual touch with divine realms.
Patanjali refers a second time to the life-control or Kriya technique thus: "Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration."
St. Paul knew Kriya Yoga, or a technique very similar to it, by which he could switch life currents to and from the senses. He was therefore able to say: "Verily, I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ, I die daily."1 By daily withdrawing his bodily life force, he united it by yoga union with the rejoicing (eternal bliss) of the Christ consciousness. In that felicitous state, he was consciously aware of being dead to the delusive sensory world of maya.
In the initial states of God-contact (sabikalpa samadhi) the devotee's consciousness merges with the Cosmic Spirit; his life force is withdrawn from the body, which appears "dead," or motionless and rigid. The yogi is fully aware of his bodily condition of suspended animation. As he progresses to higher spiritual states (nirbikalpa samadhi), however, he communes with God without bodily fixation, and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the midst of exacting worldly duties.
"Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened," Sri Yukteswar explained to his students. "The ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery. This is India's unique and deathless contribution to the world's treasury of knowledge. The life force, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of the breath."
The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.The astral system of a human being, with six (twelve by polarity) inner constellations revolving around the sun of the omniscient spiritual eye, is interrelated with the physical sun and the twelve zodiacal signs. All men are thus affected by an inner and an outer universe. The ancient rishis discovered that man's earthly and heavenly environment, in twelve-year cycles, push him forward on his natural path. The scriptures aver that man requires a million years of normal, diseaseless evolution to perfect his human brain sufficiently to express cosmic consciousness."
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/Default.aspx
Further Notes on Yoganandas Kriya Yoga;
The Kriya Yoga and other methods taught by Self-Realization Fellowship is all one will ever need to reach salvation / God realization.
It has a history of good & remarkable results in the lives of those who have understood and faithfully practiced it. Those who claim some greater or more complete Kriya Yoga are often just looking for a following or may be self-decieved thinking they know so much more than the great ones who founded this path. Avoid such persons.
Kriya yoga is a very effective group of simple Meditation techniques that will transform and enrich your life in many ways. But like all things - you must sincerely work at it.
SRF Lessons course will prepare one to do this properly and most effectively. That is why it is not good to receive such techniques from those who do not give you that preparation time that is so important for the new devotee.
Many of Yogananda's most advanced disciples are monastics at SRF/YSS centers around the world, and even though I have met a number of devotees, Daya Mata [late president of SRF ] is the greatest of these that I have ever personally met.
Beware of claims about whose kriya yoga is the most advanced and
who claims to be the greatest disciple of Yogananda. "you will know them by their fruits."jc
It is just the point of this blog.
"whoever would be the greatest must be the servant of all." JC KJV
Many of Yogananda's most advanced disciples are monastics at SRF/YSS centers around the world, and even though I have met a number of devotees, Daya Mata [late president of SRF ] is the greatest of these that I have ever personally met.
Beware of claims about whose kriya yoga is the most advanced and
who claims to be the greatest disciple of Yogananda. "you will know them by their fruits."jc
It is just the point of this blog.
"whoever would be the greatest must be the servant of all." JC KJV
Parmahansa Yogananda
Defines Kriya Yoga;
From his classic Autobiography of a Yogi.
CHAPTER: 26
The Science of Kriya Yoga
The Science of Kriya Yoga
"The science of Kriya Yoga, mentioned so often in these pages, became widely known in modern India through the instrumentality of Lahiri Mahasaya, my guru's guru. The Sanskrit root of Kriya is kri, to do, to act and react; the same root is found in the word karma, the natural principle of cause and effect. Kriya Yoga is thus " union (yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite." A yogi who faithfully follows its technique is gradually freed from karma or the universal chain of causation.
Because of certain ancient yogic injunctions, I cannot give a full explanation of Kriya Yoga in the pages of a book intended for the general public. The actual technique must be learned from a Kriyaban or Kriya Yogi; here a broad reference must suffice.
{NOTE} Long before Yogananda Passed on He decreed that the actual technique should be learned from an approved x SRF Kriyaban or Kriya yogi. This change occurs in the more recent editions of this book with the orange covers according to is final instructions. fp
Kriya Yoga is a simple, psychophysiological method by which the human blood is decarbonized and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers.1. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of tissues; the advanced yogi transmutes his cells into pure energy. Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters in the use of Kriya or a similar technique, by which they caused their bodies to dematerialize at will.
Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his guru, Babaji, who rediscovered & clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages.
"The Kriya Yoga which I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century," Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, "is a revival of the same science which Krishna gave, millenniums ago, to Arjuna, and which was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples."
Kriya Yoga is referred to by Krishna, India's greatest prophet, in a stanza of the Bhagavad Gita: "Offering inhaling breath into the outgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases the life force from the heart and brings it under his control." The interpretation is: "The yogi arrests decay in the body by an addition of life force, and arrests the mutations of growth in the body by apan (eliminating current). Thus neutralizing decay and growth, by quieting the heart, the yogi learns life control."
Krishna also relates that it was he, in a former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator.4 He, in turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India's solar warrior dynasty. Passing thus from one to another, the royal yoga was guarded by the rishis until the coming of the materialistic ages. Then, due to priestly secrecy and man's indifference, the sacred knowledge gradually became inaccessible.
Kriya Yoga is mentioned twice by the ancient sage Patanjali, foremost exponent of yoga, who wrote: "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." Patanjali speaks of God as the actual Cosmic Sound of Aum heard in meditation. Aum is the Creative Word, the sound of the Vibratory Motor. Even the yoga-beginner soon inwardly hears the wondrous sound of Aum. Receiving this blissful spiritual encouragement, the devotee becomes assured that he is in actual touch with divine realms.
Patanjali refers a second time to the life-control or Kriya technique thus: "Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration."
St. Paul knew Kriya Yoga, or a technique very similar to it, by which he could switch life currents to and from the senses. He was therefore able to say: "Verily, I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ, I die daily."1 By daily withdrawing his bodily life force, he united it by yoga union with the rejoicing (eternal bliss) of the Christ consciousness. In that felicitous state, he was consciously aware of being dead to the delusive sensory world of maya.
In the initial states of God-contact (sabikalpa samadhi) the devotee's consciousness merges with the Cosmic Spirit; his life force is withdrawn from the body, which appears "dead," or motionless and rigid. The yogi is fully aware of his bodily condition of suspended animation. As he progresses to higher spiritual states (nirbikalpa samadhi), however, he communes with God without bodily fixation, and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the midst of exacting worldly duties.
"Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened," Sri Yukteswar explained to his students. "The ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery. This is India's unique and deathless contribution to the world's treasury of knowledge. The life force, which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of the breath."
The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment.The astral system of a human being, with six (twelve by polarity) inner constellations revolving around the sun of the omniscient spiritual eye, is interrelated with the physical sun and the twelve zodiacal signs. All men are thus affected by an inner and an outer universe. The ancient rishis discovered that man's earthly and heavenly environment, in twelve-year cycles, push him forward on his natural path. The scriptures aver that man requires a million years of normal, diseaseless evolution to perfect his human brain sufficiently to express cosmic consciousness."
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Self-Realization today
From the wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda;
"Whoever has given even a little thought to God-
even a momentary yearning for Him - that desire shall ultimately save them."Self-Realization Magazine, Fall 2006 (c)
SRF publishers LA USA
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Self-Realization today
See special page at the SRF site on Daya Mata's 75 th anniversary as a
disciple of Parmahansa Yogananda.
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/special_ancmnts/75annv/75anv_e.html
See her photo in blog below;
disciple of Parmahansa Yogananda.
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/special_ancmnts/75annv/75anv_e.html
See her photo in blog below;
Friday, November 10, 2006
For the most authoritative site
representing the sacred global mission of
Paramahansa Yogananda, please visit;
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/Default.aspx
Mother Center of the
Self-Realization Fellowship/YSS
Paramahansa Yogananda, please visit;
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/Default.aspx
Mother Center of the
Self-Realization Fellowship/YSS
centers and meditation groups created by
Yogananda to disseminate and direct his spiritual work.
To which He bequeathed all publishing/editing rights to his writings, recordings, and photos.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Self-Realization today
Paramahansa Yogananda on
"Spiritual teachers/preachers & Gurus"
"In India we seek spiritual guidance from those should who know God.
We do not follow just anybody.
"the blind cannot lead the blind."
Would you make an important purchase from a slesman who misrepresents product because he does not understand what he sells?
A teacher without God-realization is merely a spiritual victrola that may grind out a sermon, but doesn't know what it is all about.
"It is the greatest farce to pose as a spiritual representative unless you are making a sincere effort to commune with God and realize the truths you preach." by Yogananda
From Self-realization magazine , fall 2006 ,(c) Self-realization publishers LA USA
Commentary ; Too many devotees and seekers chase after too many unqualified teachers
(false gurus)without understanding how to recognize a true Self-realized soul. Do your homework and carefully research the life of one whom you would follow. One who has lived that perfect life and who does not seek fame.
True Guru does not need to be physically present to be a living Guru. False teachers are dead men walking!
He needs to know Reality and he must be a "living master". Not one in phyical form only - but one who is living in divine omnipresence whether in or out of corporeal form.
The last place to start is attending a big goup with many other devotees, as the crowd charisma generated by the group will distract the seekers judgement as to the true nature and spirituality of the leader. x pyislove
Although attending quiet group meditation sessions seem to work out for some people, being alone and taking the time to read & think
about same leader, one can make more objective descisions about what is happening in ones spiritual life.
One should clearly know what one is looking for, are you seeking a community, a mate , or a relationship with God. fp
"Spiritual teachers/preachers & Gurus"
"In India we seek spiritual guidance from those should who know God.
We do not follow just anybody.
"the blind cannot lead the blind."
Would you make an important purchase from a slesman who misrepresents product because he does not understand what he sells?
A teacher without God-realization is merely a spiritual victrola that may grind out a sermon, but doesn't know what it is all about.
"It is the greatest farce to pose as a spiritual representative unless you are making a sincere effort to commune with God and realize the truths you preach." by Yogananda
From Self-realization magazine , fall 2006 ,(c) Self-realization publishers LA USA
Commentary ; Too many devotees and seekers chase after too many unqualified teachers
(false gurus)without understanding how to recognize a true Self-realized soul. Do your homework and carefully research the life of one whom you would follow. One who has lived that perfect life and who does not seek fame.
True Guru does not need to be physically present to be a living Guru. False teachers are dead men walking!
He needs to know Reality and he must be a "living master". Not one in phyical form only - but one who is living in divine omnipresence whether in or out of corporeal form.
The last place to start is attending a big goup with many other devotees, as the crowd charisma generated by the group will distract the seekers judgement as to the true nature and spirituality of the leader. x pyislove
Although attending quiet group meditation sessions seem to work out for some people, being alone and taking the time to read & think
about same leader, one can make more objective descisions about what is happening in ones spiritual life.
One should clearly know what one is looking for, are you seeking a community, a mate , or a relationship with God. fp
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Self-Realization today
The balanced and timely
Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda.
It is especially worthy to note that this modern yogi/prophet was keen enough to state that all scripture that we read may not all be the Absolute unadulderated word of anyones favorite God - while at the same time Yogananda honors all religious traditions and does a remarkable job of separating the "sugar from the sand" to show us the rich and valuable elements and their esoteric meanings that will surely bless and inspire the lives of all seekers and devotees.
See following quote>>>>>>
Scripture is not always absolute truth – Paramahansa Yogananda
“Religionists may argue, “my faith is better than yours.” They are like the blind men who fought about the description of the elephant they had been washing. One had been washing the trunk, so he said that the elephant was like a snake. One said that the elephant was like a pillar; he had been washing the leg. Another said the elephant was like a wall; he had been washing the massive sides. The man washing the tusks proclaimed confidently that the beast was no more than two pieces of bone. The man washing the tail was sure all were wrong, for the elephant was like a rope leading high up toward heaven! Then the driver said, “Friends, you are all right and you are all wrong.” Because each blind man had been washing a part of the elephant, they were all partly right; but they were also wrong because the part was not the whole.
Even on the authority of a scriptural text, one cannot judge what it teaches, for various are the meanings and consequent distortions drawn from holy writ, some of which defy the laws of both reason and wisdom.
Also, who can deny what errors might have come down through the centuries in the form of mistranslations or mistakes mane by scribes?
The bible and the Vedas may well be inspired texts that came from heaven, but the ultimate test of truth is one’s own realization, direct experience received through the medium of the soul’s omniscient intuition.”
Paramahansa Yogananda, from “The Second Coming of Christ; Resurrecting the Christ Within you.”
Page 379, © Self-Realization Publishers , 2004, LA USA,
Also see page 69 of the same book, where the master tells us that he did not write this biblical commentary in an attempt to prove the authenticity of the scriptures, but rather to show their correlation with many holy parts of vedic scriptures.
Paramahansa Yogananda was able to bring out the hidden and clearest truths from these sometimes distorted ancient writings. Few in the world have given greater meaning to the sacred.
It is from Yogananda's talks, life and writings that major shifts in the spiritual outlook of the world are now taking place, as well as in many other fields in which he dealt.
Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda.
It is especially worthy to note that this modern yogi/prophet was keen enough to state that all scripture that we read may not all be the Absolute unadulderated word of anyones favorite God - while at the same time Yogananda honors all religious traditions and does a remarkable job of separating the "sugar from the sand" to show us the rich and valuable elements and their esoteric meanings that will surely bless and inspire the lives of all seekers and devotees.
See following quote>>>>>>
Scripture is not always absolute truth – Paramahansa Yogananda
“Religionists may argue, “my faith is better than yours.” They are like the blind men who fought about the description of the elephant they had been washing. One had been washing the trunk, so he said that the elephant was like a snake. One said that the elephant was like a pillar; he had been washing the leg. Another said the elephant was like a wall; he had been washing the massive sides. The man washing the tusks proclaimed confidently that the beast was no more than two pieces of bone. The man washing the tail was sure all were wrong, for the elephant was like a rope leading high up toward heaven! Then the driver said, “Friends, you are all right and you are all wrong.” Because each blind man had been washing a part of the elephant, they were all partly right; but they were also wrong because the part was not the whole.
Even on the authority of a scriptural text, one cannot judge what it teaches, for various are the meanings and consequent distortions drawn from holy writ, some of which defy the laws of both reason and wisdom.
Also, who can deny what errors might have come down through the centuries in the form of mistranslations or mistakes mane by scribes?
The bible and the Vedas may well be inspired texts that came from heaven, but the ultimate test of truth is one’s own realization, direct experience received through the medium of the soul’s omniscient intuition.”
Paramahansa Yogananda, from “The Second Coming of Christ; Resurrecting the Christ Within you.”
Page 379, © Self-Realization Publishers , 2004, LA USA,
Also see page 69 of the same book, where the master tells us that he did not write this biblical commentary in an attempt to prove the authenticity of the scriptures, but rather to show their correlation with many holy parts of vedic scriptures.
Paramahansa Yogananda was able to bring out the hidden and clearest truths from these sometimes distorted ancient writings. Few in the world have given greater meaning to the sacred.
It is from Yogananda's talks, life and writings that major shifts in the spiritual outlook of the world are now taking place, as well as in many other fields in which he dealt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)