SelfRealization Fellowship SRF

[eco warrior]

My sister in law and her family and my father in law are both deeply involved in SRF. They have completely become immersed in this, spending all their time at the church. My niece and nephew even go to an SRF run school. My sister in law won't let the kids go anywhere with her mom or us alone anymore, she always has to be there. This summer, she even went along on the grandmother trips that my mother in law takes exclusively with the grandkids every summer. My father in law doesn't work anymore and is donating 10 hours a day doing work for the church. He doesn't spend anytime with his grown children (except his daughter when they go to church), his son, his wife and the grandchildren. The problem, however, is that I can't find too many references to this organization as being a cult. The one that I did find refers to the millions of dollars that the group has for legal fees and how they are constantly suing websites who are anti Yogananda. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

What is SRF?

[Anonymous]

SRF is Self-realization Fellowship.

[Anonymous]

I do not regard the SRF as a cult, but they have some characteristics of a cult primarily their insistence of "unqualified devotion" to their lineage of gurus which acts to restrict free thought and creates a zombie-like attitude among their members.

[Anonymous]

These Realization cults always seem to come out sounding like the crazy ones. But I'd be worried about being restricted like that. I say fight back. Report this to someone.

Vugo Jay Acra of Ireland

[Anonymous]

For an in depth disscussion about SRF see
http://pub78.ezboard.com/bsrfwalrus

[Anonymous]

For an in depth discussion about SRF see
http://pub78.ezboard.com/bsrfwalrus

[Anonymous]

Any group that requires unquestioning loyalty is a cult - and that includes the Roman Catholic Church

[Anonymous]

How do they feel about Jesus Christ?

[j.humble@dundee.ac.uk (134.36.6.131)]

did you know SRF are rewriting/ reinterpretating the bible? they are not saying i think what jesus meant to say ect ect... theyre saying the gospels jonh, mathew ect were wrong! that for 20 centuries the churches have been incorrect about what jesuses message, its crazy and could lead to some serious conflict/holy war with the fundamentalist christians.. i fear for my friend...

[Anonymous (81.211.213.132)]

SRF is Self-Realization Fellowship, founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920. SRF is a religious organization; The founder, Paramahansa Yogananda, established a system of meditation through which one can improve his/her spiritual life. This system ( Kriya yoga ) is still taught nowadays. The beliefs of SRF come from original esoteric Christianity and original Hinduism. Obviously they don't have an exoteric approach, though I have always seen that many American members of the organization consider SRF as a real traditional church. This fact anyway come from the fact that Americans have the habit to be churchgoers, whilst Europeans ( as I am ) started losing this habit a few decades ago. The core of Yogananda's teachings is meditation and nothing else. SRF is not dangerous and fanaticism is generally not present amongst monks and nuns of the organization. Sometimes anyway, I noticed a bit of it amongst devotees.
You can visit their web page at:
www.yogananda-srf.org

[umike (209.179.128.12)]

You will have a difficult task indeed to find any evidence that the SRF is anything resembling a destructive cult. Even from the most rabid critic of newer religions.

In fact,they offer a positive contribution in beautifying the community thru their lush gardens and grounds open to the public.

Michael Greenberg

[Anonymous (198.145.66.88)]

The SRF was not founded in 1920. It was known as YOGOTA until the thirties. This is a misconception alot of people have. Some of Yogananda's writings were changed by the SRF. There is a lady in Texas that is devoted to the original works.

[umike (209.179.147.154)]

Thanks for the glowing electrons anon. Why dont you site your sources of information so they might be deemed credible.

Michael Greenberg

[Anonymous (198.145.66.64)]

Be happy to Michael: The charter to form SRF was filed in Sac. Calif. on March 29, 1935, a matter of public record. The first big change was adding an extra A to Paramhansa. I got most of my information on all the writings that were changed on a very interesting website-www.yogananda-dif.org

[grainne uaile (198.81.26.106)]

Hi Mike,

I just found this board today. While I have visited the website www.yogananda-dif.org often, I found original writings of Yogananda on my own or from other SRF devotees who have been passing them around the Encinitas Temple, and after comparing them with SRFs writings, I found that it is true, that is, SRF made several changes to his writings and has never offered proof in his handwriting that he wanted these changes made.

I don't consider SRF a cult, unless it is so in a mild sense. They do tend to want you to only go to SRF temples and read only SRF material, which I find rather cultist, but if you do these things, you will not get kicked out. They are good at making you feel guilty for doing so, which in itself is harmful to someone. And you will not get Kriya Yoga unless you pledge yourself to SRF--accepting that SRF is your organization. Yet Yogananda gave Kriya freely without asking others to change their beliefs and/or organization.

[Anonymous (24.21.19.216)]

i am beggining to get into this system of beliefs. I don't consider it a cult, it was never meant to be of that stature anyway. Religion is like a crutch, sometimes a person needs it for one reason or another, and sometimes a person depends on it for one reason or another. Kriya Yoga is something that you can fall into very easily, sometimes people just drown themselves in it, but i don't worry about that, that's alright with me because i know that they are the people who do not mean harm in this world, unlike the real cults Kria Yoga is not something destructive to the followers or to the outsiders.

They do respect and identify with Jesus Christ, as they do with every other major religious figure, in fact they draw and connect the lines between all religions for the sole purpose of understanding god better, i hope this helps some of you. If you want to understand it more i suggest you read, "Autobiography of a Yoga" by Yogananda, it is not a book that preaches and tells you how it is, rather it tells great stories in his life and it allows you to look into the world of Eastern Religion and gather your own thoughts.

[Tom (68.77.207.5)]

I would consider myself a "fringe follower" of SRF, in that I have read the writings of Yoganada and have found much truth in his teachings. I have always leaned toward Hindu teachings after long years of reading the Bhagavad Gita and Gandhi's works. But I love the teachings of Jesus Christ. Yogananda seemed to have an enlightened knowledge of the original teachings of Christ and the Gita were not really that far apart at all.

I agree with another poster's comments that, although SRF is very protective of copyright and their concept of maintaining purity of Yogananda's teachings, overall the organization accepts persons of all faiths who are seriously interested in the teachings of the great guru. It seems that any cultappearing behaviors would be seen in overzealous devotees and not indicative of the organization. Yogananda did stress the importance to stay on one course in one's search for God and not to change from teacher to teacher.

"The Second Coming of Christ" is a new 2 volume set from SRF which is Paramhansa Yogananda's interpretation of Christ's words in the gospel. He felt a need to provide followers with an understanding of what he believed to be the original teachings of Christ, taking into account all apocryphal as well as Church-sanctioned texts. It is a very enlightening view of the gospels, but sure to make set-in-stone orthodox Christians cringe. I believe that for Yogananda, it was a true labor of love for all mankind.

[Anonymous (141.76.1.122)]

SRF's Aggressive Expansion Efforts


> Umike wrote: “... they offer a positive contribution in beautifying the community thru their lush gardens and grounds open to the public.”


Actually they've harassed the community with heavy handed tactics by trying to push massive expansion projects without regard for the local residents and environmental impact of such endeavors.

Here are some extracts from the article "A Mountain of Discontent", New Times Los Angeles/ June 1, 2000/ Ron Russell:

“... SRF ... wants to build as part of a planned $40 million headquarters expansion ... by trying to avoid producing an Environmental Impact Report while naïvely seeking quick approval for the project. ... And, to no one's surprise, opponents are more restless than ever. "The biggest message coming out of the EIR is that now that they've done a document, that enables them to go for everything that they want," says Daniel Wright, who heads a group opposed to the church's plans. "What it tells us is that they're positioning themselves to try and ram this project through over all concerns in the community." Neither Miles Hyde, the monk who has been the church's point person on the development plan, nor SRF public affairs spokeswoman Lauren Landress returned phone calls to New Times. ... an opposition group known by the acronym CANDER posted the entire report on the Internet ... SRF's initial attempts to make nice with its neighbors have long since given way to hardball tactics. In the months leading up to the initial unveiling of its plans last year, SRF members infiltrated and essentially neutralized the venerable Mount Washington Association, many of whose members were opposed to its plans. ... To further show that it means business, SRF has hired some of the most influential and politically connected lobbyists in town. They include Consensus Planning Inc., which has been a force behind the push for expansion of LAX, and Steve Afriat, former campaign consultant to City Councilman Mike Hernandez. Hernandez's council district covers half the mountain -- including the part encompassing church headquarters. Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg represents the other half. Thus far, the church has spent more than $200,000 on lobbyists, including $26,000 during the first three months of this year, the most recent period for which records that it is required to file with the city are available. ...”

For the full article see:
http://www.rickross.com/reference/selfreal/selfreal1.html

[Anonymous (141.76.1.121)]

Finding Information on the SRF Cult that Does Not Deify Yogananda and his Thought Reform Techniques


> Eco Warrior wrote: “... My sister in law and her family and my father in law are both deeply involved in SRF. They have completely become immersed in this, spending all their time at the church. My niece and nephew even go to an SRF run school. My sister in law won't let the kids go anywhere with her mom or us alone anymore, she always has to be there. This summer, she even went along on the grandmother trips that my mother in law takes exclusively with the grandkids every summer. My father in law doesn't work anymore and is donating 10 hours a day doing work for the church. He doesn't spend anytime with his grown children (except his daughter when they go to church), his son, his wife and the grandchildren. The problem, however, is that I can't find too many references to this organization as being a cult. The one that I did find refers to the millions of dollars that the group has for legal fees and how they are constantly suing websites who are anti Yogananda. Any thoughts?”


Self-Realization Fellowship is a relatively small cult even though they claim a massive global following (although their adherents are international), so there's not a lot of information on the Net on this group. A good starting place to look is http://www.rickross.com/groups/selfreal.html where you can find reproductions of some newspaper articles related to Yogananda and SRF. You can also find a couple old articles (during the time he was alive), which are very interesting, at: http://p208.ezboard.com/fcultbusterssrfdivisionfrm7.showMessage?topicID=3. topic

Someone mentioned a message board called the "SRF Walrus" for detailed information. There is some information interesting about the organization there, but be warned ... they still view Yogananda as a type of savior, and they view his set of thought reform techniques as a way of reaching the "Divine". All the problems they've experienced, they blame exclusively on the SRF organization. If people come on the board and question Yogananda himself or his teachings, they tend to find their posts deleted without warning along with being banned if they continue with such inquiries.

The SRF Walrus is like some of the ex-Scientology communities that still view L. Ron Hubbard as a man who had the answers to all life's problems and continue to view his thought reform techniques as healthful self development exercises, and they're not interested in hearing otherwise. The same problem exists with the SRF Walrus. And there's a few websites on Yogananda that basically do the same (that have been mentioned in this thread by some posters) -- they demonize the organization and deify the founder and his teachings.

To fill the missing gap of information available on Yogananda and his thought reform techniques, I've created a message board forum several months ago to host and share such information: http://p208.ezboard.com/bcultbusterssrfdivision

The only other source of some opposing views to Yogananda's teachings (that I know of) can be found at: http://oaks.nvg.org/fila.html
Although the author there maintains some metaphysical views which may color some of his statements. Nevertheless, there is some good information there.


YellowBeard
Cult Busters - SRF Division

[Anonymous (172.138.191.207)]

Looks like a cult, smells like a cult, quacks like a cult.....Hmmm, I think what we have here is a genuine cult.

Mild? When it comes to cults, being in a mild cult is like having a mild case of cancer. Cancer kills the body. Cults kill the spirit.

Get out! Robbing from Christianity to lure Christians in is an ancient trick, Don't be fooled. Christians don't need a guru. Choose the real McCoy. SRF is a dangerous cult. Christianity is not. Christianity is the real thing!

[Anonymous (141.76.1.122)]

Cult recovery and establishing psychological health is much more serious business than simply replacing unconventional religious beliefs with mainstream beliefs. A dangerous cult can just as easily use the widely excepted and firmly established religion of the particular culture that they're setting up shop in, and wreak just as much havoc. So I feel it's best to not get pulled into over simplifications and what I'm tempted to call 'group think'.

SRF is no doubt a cult, and one that packages thought reform techniques as meditation practices. Oxygen and sensory deprivation is used while visualizing the symbol of the cult as one's 'Third Eye'. This keeps the practitioner's mind focused on the cult's indoctrination. The practitioner is taught one technique at a time, but it's stressed not to abandon the previous learned ones. By the time the student reaches the flagship technique, Kriya Yoga, they'll be spending large portions of their day immersed in engaging in one thought reform technique right after the other. Leaving the SRF cult is very difficult after being programmed in such a penetrating and rounded way.

The previous poster states that Christianity is not a cult. I'd like to challenges that assertion even though it's not politically correct for me to do so. But I feel reaching genuine psychological health (which prevents one from being drawn into cults in the first place) is more important than trying to appease the masses' fragile belief systems. Religion is something for the emotionally immature, just as fairy tails are for the physically immature. Just as we cannot say that 'Mother Goose' is more real than 'Santa Claus', we cannot say one religion is more real than another -- they are all equally mythologies.

One might say that believing in mythologies in and of itself does not lead to cult involvement and that some people may need religion at times in their life. This is the popular view, but no one thinks it out -- people generally except consensus thinking as truth. There is no evidence to show that anyone benefits from clinging to religious beliefs anymore than children benefit from having the story of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny feed to them. Children not brought up with these or similar beliefs manage to cope with all the difficulties of life just as well. Believing in illusions has never helped anyone. If we want to deal with life most effectively, we need to deal with it as it actually is.

But to deal with the direct question if Christianity is a cult or not, all we have to do is look in the Bible for the answer. Jesus was a particularly vicious cult leader:

---
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. (Luke 19:27).
---

People like to pick and choose only a few select verses in the Bible and point to those and say how wonderful religion is. But what about the other 98% of the Bible (and other religious texts) that show all the violence and insanity that results from religion.

Below we'll see the Jesus cult in action extorting money from a couple in a way that makes the Mafia seem like the Boy Scouts. The couple made a legal real-estate transaction and failed to give *all* the money to the Jesus cult. They gave the cult a large percentage as 'protection money', but that was not enough! Read it for yourself:

---
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (Acts 5:1-11)
---

It looks as though Jesus may have been put to death for a little more than simply challenging the mainstream religious views of the time as we're lead to believe. It looks as though that he and his cult were quite violent. Unfortunately the cult survived under Peter who we can clearly see was a piece of work. Today the cult spreads using guilt induction (as seen in 'The Passion') and other techniques and largely gets away with molesting children wholesale. I don't have the data, but if I had to guess, I'd say that there are more Christian-oriented cults than any other.

Is religion itself part of the problem of the cult phenomenon? I say clearly, yes. I feel those of us in the cult recovery field that are emotionally mature enough to abandon religious mythologies, should speak out even though we will face much opposition. Without depending on religion to provide the answers to life's problems, people have to start thinking things through for themselves. And when people start thinking for themselves, how are cults going to be empowered? From my perspective, I see questioning religion and challenging cults go hand in hand.

“As the astronomer rejoices in new knowledge which compels him to give up the dignity of our globe as the centre, the pride, and even the final cause of the universe, so do those who have escaped from the Christian mythology enjoy their release from the superstition which fails to make them happy, fails to make them good, fails to make them wise, and has become as great an obstacle in the way of progress as the prior mythologies which it took the place of two thousand years ago.” -- Harriet Martineau (1802-76)

[Anonymous (172.134.42.13)]

141, I will answer all of your bogus charges soon, when I have more time. By your own definition though, you are emotionally immature. You are religious too. Funny, how you post this long dissertation and yet you fail to state what your religious beliefs are. Please state them! I am a Christian and proud of it! What are you?

If they are, like many, just anti-Christian, then that is a religion too. Atheism is a religion. Everyone on Earth is religious, whether they are religious or anti-religious. Non-belief is belief.

If you won't state your beliefs, then you bring nothing to this table and should be ignored. Accentuating only the negative and not the positive is not discussion, just boorish dogma.

Whatever your beliefs are, or are not, you have put yourself in the same category....emotionally immature by your own definition.

If you are a god yourself, then you have a following of one. What kind of worship rituals do you have? Do they involve mirrors and candles?

I will be back to blow apart your self absorbed dogma later.

Until then, consider this: either Christ is who He said He is, the Son of God, or He is the biggest liar who ever lived and everything He said was a lie. You can't have it both ways. Liar or Savior?

[Anonymous (141.76.1.121)]

> “Funny, how you post this long dissertation and yet you fail to state what your religious beliefs are.”

If I say all religion is mythology, the reader can conclude that I feel that no religion is a description of real historic events -- they may be loosely based on some, but are mixed with lots of colorful tall-tales.


> “Accentuating only the negative and not the positive is not discussion ...”

What I wrote was just as much about the positive aspects of abandoning superstition as it was about the negative aspects about accepting superstitious beliefs. If you read what was written in a somewhat less defensive manner, you would have seen that.


> “... consider this: either Christ is who He said He is, the Son of God, or He is the biggest liar who ever lived and everything He said was a lie.”

If you believe in God (a super-being creator of the universe), then everyone is the son and daughter of God. How can Jesus be anymore a child of God than anyone else? So the whole Son of God thing never really made sense in the first place, but people eat that type of stuff up nevertheless. Was he the biggest liar in the world? No. Lots of cult leaders have claimed to be of supernatural heritage. What he did was not original, not now, nor back then.


If you want to continue this conversation, I'd suggest we use a more appropriate thread, such as "Why do People try so Hard to Find Fault Within Religion" if that sounds fair to you.

I addressed my concerns here since this comment was made in regard to SRF:

> “Choose the real McCoy. SRF is a dangerous cult. Christianity is not. Christianity is the real thing!”

I felt that was an irresponsible comment to make, and what I wrote directly addressed that comment. I admit that I got into too much detail when a more brief comment would have been fine. We shouldn't degenerate this thread into a religious debate because this is the only thread on the board that deals with SRF, and there's not a lot of information out there on SRF. So if we get rolling on a big religious debate here, that may chase some people away that really need information on the SRF cult.

> “I will be back to blow apart your self absorbed dogma later.”

That'll be fine, but like I said, please try "Why do People try so Hard to Find Fault Within Religion" or a similar thread which would be much more appropriate than doing so here. Please remember that this is a cult recovery board and not a free-form chat room. I'll be happy to address your concerns in one of the more appropriate threads.

I'm going to follow this with a more formal article describing the SRF cult.

[Anonymous (141.76.1.121)]

Overview of the Self-Realization Fellowship Cult


The Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) cult was founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), not long after being invited to speak at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston as an Indian delegate sponsored by the Unitarian Church. After his well received talk at the Congress, Yogananda lectured across the United States, spellbinding audiences with his immense charisma and fantastic tales about yoga-induced mystical powers. By 1925, he arranged the purchase of the former Mt. Washington Hotel property in Los Angeles to establish his headquarters for his newly established Hindu-Christian hybrid religion (along with plenty of colorful personal improvisations). This property came to be known as the Mother Center where Yogananda's personal quarters were not far from those of the young female nuns that were quickly incorporated into the cult. Self-Realization Fellowship became an American church in 1935 under the laws of California.

Self-Realization Fellowship is the first Kriya Yoga cult to be started in the United States. Kriya Yoga offshoot cults have later been established by break-away SRF Yogananda disciples, such as the "Ananda Church of Self-Realization" and the "Solar Logos" UFO cult.

Self-Realization Fellowship's main recruiting strategy is similar to Scientology's, they present a fictional work to the public and pawn it off as a legitimate piece of literature when in fact its real purpose is solely to attract members. These works are Dianetics, disguised as a self-help book, and Autobiography of a Yogi, disguised as a "real" autobiography of a man's spiritual adventures in India.

Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi" is a tale of mystical gurus doing all sorts of fantastic things such as materializing extra bodies, teleporting themselves, reading and implanting thoughts in people's heads, levitating, and even rising from the grave. The readers then learn that they too can do these marvelous things if they become submissive and subservient to a true master of the yogic arts -- an enlightened guru. The readers also conveniently learn that the author is one such true spiritual master who has even talked to Jesus Christ in a state of cosmic consciousness and has arrived to enlighten all in the West who enter into a guru-disciple relationship with him.

Yogananda claimed to be in tune with "original" Christianity as taught by Jesus himself by communing with him in a state of cosmic consciousness. Yogananda spoke of references to Kriya Yoga symbolically hidden in the King James Version of the Bible. He also projected the idea of Kriya Yoga references into Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, the Bhagavad Gita, and pretty much any religious text he could manage to slip it into.

Kriya Yoga is Self-Realization Fellowship's flagship meditation technique, which is claimed to speed up the evolution of man's consciousness. One has to pass through a series of other lesser meditation techniques before they can receive initiation into Kriya. These meditations incorporate thought reform techniques.

One of the early practices that the student is taught is the Hong-Sau meditation technique (in which oxygen deprivation is used), where the student repeats a mind-numbing mantra and is encouraged to decrease their oxygen intake with the ideal state to be obtained being breathlessness. Yogananda dispels the fears of the practitioner by claiming that the prana (life force energy) will directly feed the cells of the body, forgoing the need for oxygen.

The Aum Meditation technique is then taught after Hong Sau in which sensory deprivation is used. The eyelids and ears are held tightly sealed with the fingers while chanting a mantra and trying to listen to a mystical vibratory sound.

With all the meditation techniques, the symbol of the cult is visualized constantly and is taught to be considered as the practitioner's "Third Eye". This symbol represents the teachings of the cult and keeps the ideology on the practitioners' mind while they practice sensory and oxygen derivation techniques that break down one's critical thinking abilities.

The disciple is taught that the Guru (Yogananda) is a representative of God sent to help them to attain spiritual enlightenment. And if the disciple abandons the Guru, they are actually abandoning the help of God. This is a simple, yet effective tactic to maintain the membership of the cult through fear and guilt.

[Anonymous (4.29.136.229)]

I am looking for anyone who has left S.R.F. after passing the level of the Kriya pledge, and now proffesses to be a Christian. Please only respond if you fit this description or know someone who does. thankyou.

[Anonymous (4.238.14.225)]

Reply to Anonymous 4.29.136.229
I am a Christian, and a former devotee (kriyaban) of SRF. It was very difficult to leave because of the fear and guilt involved. My message to other people considering leaving SRF is to read the New Testament in modern English. Jesus Christ is my Lord, Savior, and my Enlightenment. I don't need six gurus. I don't need to perfect myself. I don't need to become a saint. I do not need to do a million Kriyas to become liberated! I do not need to attain sabikalpa samadhi. God hears my prayers, and knows what is in my heart. Here is the Cosmic Chant that I have left behind in a trail of dust: Wake yet wake, oh my Saint. you did not meditate, you did not concentrate, and passed your time with idle words, oh my Saint. Death will be at thy door, and you may not have time anymore to redeem thy soul,oh my Saint. Wake yet wake, oh my saint.....( only Jesus Christ can redeem my soul). The meditation techniques did work, but I prefer to think my own thoughts, not Yogananda's. I am now free to manage my time as I wish, and not to build my day around my meditations. I am now free to not meditate. The Christian message is very beautiful in its simplicity.

[Anonymous, cont. (4.238.12.37)]

I would like to add some new information to my previous post. When I wrote that the meditation techniques did work, I meant that I have experienced being able to sit for long hours with a straight spine ( not slumped over) hardly moving at all, and breathing very slowly. An hour can go by quickly. It is a calm, peaceful, pleasant, timeless feeling. However, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the belief system. I noticed over time that I did not want to read any more SRF writings. Something was bothering me. I was no longer making my best effort, and felt bad. Something did not "feel right", but I had brushed it off too many times. Because I was a devotee, and because of my experiences, I was terrified to leave. I had to go to the Highest Power--Jesus Christ--to find healing, peace and freedom.

[engine (engine)]

Reply to Ecco Warrior------
The controlling behavior that your sister in law is exhibiting is not healthy--ecspecially for her children. I would advise trying to get her help if appropriate, however, I do not think SRF is a cult. I have had experience helping people leave cults and to my knowledge, (I have read material created by SRF)--they do not practice mind control. They do encourage meditation which is self iniatated mind altering states however this is not abusive /forced mind control. I also did not ever read any material that tried to make its devotees feel guilty or scared.

[rooby (rooby)]

I lived within a cult that has as its basis the teachings of the SRF - it's called 'Self Realization Meditation Healing Centre' - based in Queen Camel, Somerset, UK. The "Guru" believes herself to have had the honour of being called and instructed by Yogananda sometime during the 1980's. This was carried out during a series of late night meditations when Yogananda, along with several of the other 'Gurus" from the SRF lineage, revealed himself to her. Suffice to say, the SRF have no dealings at all with SRMHC, although a vast amount of SRF teachings have been 'borrowed'.
SRMHC carries all the hallmarks of a cult and is seriously damaging the lives of those who go there to live by using mind control techniques.
A web site has been set up to help people find the truth.
http://www.geocities.com/srmhc_awareness/index.html
Has anyone out there had any dealings with this cult?

[redpurusha (redpurusha)]

Someone here wrote "Religion is like a crutch, sometimes a person needs it for one reason or another, and sometimes a person depends on it for one reason or another."

This is an interesting analogy made. Suppose you wanted to get across the ocean from NY to Europe, would you need the 'crutch' of a sturdy ship or a plane? So it is with religion, I think, but there are small boats that may take much longer, there are planes that will crash, there are ships that may take those on it places they didn't want to go, and there are people who think they can swim by themselves, not taking a risk with the other 'crutches' yet finding themselves drowing soon after jumping into the water.

Nevertheless, there 'is' at least one airplane that will get you there safely and quickly. You have to figure it out yourself though, be able to think for yourself, and experiment for yourself.

[deadtwice (deadtwice)]

The Rick Ross website is not one that is easy on cults. I think people agree that by looking at it, we can discern what has some foundation in fact and what may be just people complaining. Let us consider what the seven articles say:

1)SRF is dealing with land/real-estate issues very inappropriately (recently, before they were fine). They paid an ex-devotee who had been in a sexual relationship with a senior monk (b/c of the confidentiality agreement, we don't know how exactly this relationship was like)

2) This article too deals with real-estate issues and mentions that SRF lost copyright deals with Ananda.

3) There are allegations that Yogananda had a son.

4) The person claiming to be the son did a DNA test which showed that the person who SRF said was his real father, was actually not his real father.

5) This article only has very positive matters, nothing negative.

6) DNA test shows that Yogananda is not the person's father.

7) This article too is very positive.

So basically we have four negative articles. Two of them (Yogananda's son) are shown to have no basis. Thats leaves us with the other two which give two important criticisms:

1) Senior monk had sexual relationships with a devotee and SRF paid her to settle court case. The administration has not been honest about this, etc...

2) SRF is acting in unappropriate ways with regards to real-estate issues and causing disturbance and problems to people in the area.

This is what we can gather from what is in my opinion a reliable source. Is this enough to classify it as a cult as opposed to a legitimate religion - I don't know. But always look at the information carefully. In my opinion these are very serious issues, especially the first but also something that mainstream religions also have problems with. Also, it seems to show that the problem is not Swami Yogananda, but his followers.

Often some information is completely wrong and sometimes are by Christian fundamentalists who intentionally misconstrue information to lead more souls to salvation.

For instance the article "Overview of the Self-Realization Fellowship Cult", which is unsourced, has many objective errors. From the language too, one can easily tell its not even trying to be objective. In general objective information is presented in objective tone because those with proper information have nothing to exaggerate.

"One of the early practices that the student is taught is the Hong-Sau meditation technique (in which oxygen deprivation is used), where the student repeats a mind-numbing mantra and is encouraged to decrease their oxygen intake with the ideal state to be obtained being breathlessness."

The person writing this is either very poorly informed or delibrately misinterpreting the technique. The technique consists in just watching the breath (not controlling it) like in Buddhist meditation. You can try this for five minutes, just watch your breath. As you practice (without controlling breath), the breath gets more and more subtle and the pauses become longer (the scientific explanation is something to do with increased blood oxygenation which means oxygen consumption per unit time decreases). In the technique as one gets relaxed the breath stops for a while on its own, its not magic its just that the pauses get longer.

This is clearly misconstrued by the article. Another problem is that there is no visualization in any of the SRF practices, and yet the article says its in every practice!

Please look at evidence carefully and not just so that you can add extra members to your cult list,

Regards.

[tomcat (tomcat)]

Here are some observations on Self-Realization Fellowship as a cult practicing some form of mind control:

Yogananda says (in writing) that it does not matter what you believe about God, it is what you know through direct experience of God that counts. An atheist is as welcome as a believer to try these techniques for himself and experience God for himself. Yogananda goes on to say that if after a year you are not satisfied with the SRF teachings, go seek another path and go with his blessings! He never claims that his teachings are the only way.

SRF members are not required to attend any meetings. Many (probably most) meditate alone at home, distant from other members. We are asked to meditate twice a day, try to behave well, and to practice the presence of God during the day, all to the best of our ability. That's it. Guilt and fear are yogic no-noes, keeping us apart from God, our Self.

There's a charge for the lessons that barely covers printing and postage and once or twice a year we are asked to make a contribution to the work or to some special cause like the tsunami relief. That's all.

There has been mention of an "oxygenation" technique used to produce the breathless state. The breathless state is desribed often in the writings of both Christian and non-Christian mystics. The 1800s English poet Wordsworth had such a religious experience and he described it in a poem as having the breath drawn out of him as if by a large pump. (The longer pauses between breaths are a preliminary state to true breathlessness.) The literature is voluminous. Look it up.

How could this describe a cult? (By the way, the behavior of the SRF members who isolated themselves from their family was not in accord with Yogananda's teaching. Sometimes beginners are afflicted with an overabundance of enthusiasm. SRF emphasizes the importance of harmony in the family and of not making the SRF teachings a cause of conflict.)

Again, how does this describe a cult?

[mushroom (mushroom)]

I once worked for SRF. And I found it a rather disturbing experience.

In 1998, I got a job there as a computer technician. I knew nothing about the group at the time, but I took the job anyways. After spending 3 weeks updating their technical manuals and user manuals, I was transfered to their printing facility. Their largest selling item was "Autobiography Of A Yogi".

During my first 2 weeks there, I was given a copy of the book, and a copy on audio tape (narrated by Ben Kingsly if I remember right). What struck me was how it was mostly Eastern Mysticism, with a "light dusting" of Christian beliefs. They paid a form of "lip service" to God and Christ, but mysticism took the center stage in the beliefs.

While I worked at the print facility, I realized that I was one of the few "non-members" who worked there. One of the guys I struck a friendship with was a member, and worked as a printer. With 5 years of experience, he would be considered a "Journeyman Printer" in any company or large print shop.

This guy though was trying to live in LA on minimum wage. And that wage was before he tithed 10% back to the church! He was constantly short of money, and was having marital problems because of how tight his budget was.

Over the next 3 weeks, the "recruitment" became more and more intense. And it was during this time that my fiancee' died. I asked for a few days off, and was refused. Instead, I was told that I should attend their meditation classes, and it would help me through my grief.

When I made it obvious that while I respected their views, but I was not about to become a member. The next week, I was let go.

I talked to the recruiter about the job afterwards, and she told me that I was the 4th candidate they had hired, only to have this happen to. After sending them 2 more candidates, they dropped them as a client.

I see them as a cult. They may have some good ideas, but the way they half-way integrate Christianity, it is apparent that they are only trying to appeal to a broader base of possible members. And they talk about a huge number of "Hollywood" members, including George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, and Ben Kingsley. I have never found any other references to any of these men being members.

[redpurusha (redpurusha)]

mushroom,

I'm sorry to hear of your situation (fiance dying and being let go). I am familiar with these teachings and can only say that the emphasis on "eastern mysticism" has mostly to do with the fact that there is both an outer (exoteric) and an inner (esoteric) side to religion. While not completely ignoring the outer ceremonial worship of Jesus Christ and other spiritual personalities, they prefer to place emphasis on the inner or mystical side - this is the underlying common denominator of all true religions -including Christianity.

As far as you (and numerous others) being let go, apparently due to your lack of interest in joining the group, that's a tough topic as this involves employment at a spiritual organization or church. I guess, naturally they would prefer someone who is both capable of doing the job and also has the spirit of the teachings. Because we live in a society where laws make this illegal and lawsuits are flying for just about anything that remotely is unfair to anyone (ie preferences over religious views), this is that much more complicated. I don't know their side and this view is only on behalf of myself.

Last year, I was laid off from a job I was working for four years, just as I worked myself up to get a much higher paying position. Now someone who is out of college has that job I was looking to get and is getting paid an entry-level salary. I don't have a grudge with them and am, in fact, glad to be working somewhere else right now with a significantly higher salary than I would have recieved at the other job (and much quicker commute).

(Message edited by redpurusha on October 29, 2005)

[nara]

A book has been published about the SRF cult (written in 1st-person by a man who left the group after 15 years). It is called "Spiritual Perversion," by Steve Sanchez. You can read about it at http://www.spiritualredemption.com/index.html or buy the book on Amazon.

[hart]

Self-Realization Fellowship, although relatively small and not broadly known, has been widely accepted as legitimate and respected by mainstream society for the past 80 odd years.

Paramahansa Yogananda himself met many well known historical personages, including Calvin Coolidge, and was well respected by many prominent members of society. He even received an exemplary citizen's award from the state of California.

After his death, the organization he founded, Self-Realization Fellowship, its monastic leaders, the retreat centers, its publications, etc. have continued to be respected by the mainstream in the United States, in India, and in other countries. As far as I know, over 86 years the organization has never been seriously charged - much less convicted - of any legal wrongdoing.

The Autobiography of a Yogi, published by SRF, has been a spiritual best-seller since it was published some 60 years ago. Several other SRF books are available at every major bookstore in the US and abroad and appeal to a general audience interested in spirituality.

**Therefore, the burden of proof is on those who accuse SRF of being a cult.**

[hart]

**Therefore, the burden of proof is on those who accuse SRF of being a cult.**

An impartial observer will easily recognize that those who make "cult" accusations against SRF, on this or other websites, generally fall into four basic categories:

1- Fundamentalist Christians, who consider *every* belief system other than their own as deeply flawed and anyone who does not accept their fundamental religious belief (accepting Jesus Christ is the only possible way to achieve salvation) as heading toward eternal damnation. (By the way, this is diametrically opposed to SRF teachings, in which there are many valid approaches to truth and all major religions are worthy of deepest respect.) Naturally, since Yogananda interpreted Christ’s teachings uniquely, fundamentalists tend to attack his teachings and organization.

2- Atheists who are deeply and acerbically opposed to any religion whatsoever - that is, they are not only atheistic but hubristically so, absolutely convinced that everyone that believes in God or any religion is deeply deluded and only their supposedly "rational" worldview is valid (another type of fundamentalism).

3- Those who followed SRF teachings for some time but felt guilty about not following some aspect of the teachings and could not deal with this in a healthy way; instead, to compensate their own unfortunate and unnecessary feelings of inadequacy, they lash out irrationally at SRF. It is important to point out here that no SRF members that I have met practice all aspects of the teachings perfectly - but they deal with this in a natural way. As with any religion, or any serious pursuit in life, you simply try to do your best. That is what SRF teaches - in fact, Yogananda and current ministers explain that feeling guilty, becoming stressed, tense, or uptight are all detrimental and instead one should try to be always relaxed, enjoy the present moment, and just keep trying to improve.

4- People belonging to Ananda Church of Self-Realization, an offshoot organization whose self-identity is largely constructed on its criticisms of SRF and whose leader has been sued for sexual improprieties.


Ironically, it is those that make these "cult" criticisms that tend to be on the intellectual/ideological fringe of society. Any impartial observer of SRF - who is neither an adherent nor has a personal or ideological bone to pick - tends to respect the organization and would never consider it a cult.

By the way, those that criticize meditation are even more obviously disconnected from modern understandings: the practice of meditation has been very broadly accepted by mainstream Western society as beneficial - at the very least - to physical and mental health. Innumerous scientific studies, including by the National Institutes of Health, have confirmed its benefits and none have shown it to be akin to brainwashing or to somehow blunt one’s intellect.

You don't have to agree with Yogananda or SRF, you don't even have to personally like the teachings, but to accuse them of cultism is a very serious charge and I consider it quite irresponsible.

For those who are trying to sort out fact from fiction in these posts, I suggest you try to find out a little for yourself: check out the SRF websites (www.yogananda-srf.org (http://www.yogananda-srf.org)); search the *mainstream* press for articles on Yogananda and the organization; take a look for yourself at an SRF publication; or even contact the organization by mail or phone.

[hart]

Just one example of a recent mainstream press article:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06204/707697-51.stm

[truthordare]

With the help of the internet, the destructive influence of SRF is finally being known. As a 30 year victim of these teachings, and someone who was on the inside, I can say with total conviction it is a cult. Hart's argument is SRF's monologue. These devotees are dangerously passive aggressive on the interent. They have no arguments of their own but spiel statements they were hypnotized to believe. If you are involved in SRF and you want out, find a recovery support group.