Reflections on the History of Religion—
How SRF's Development Mirrors Christian Religious History
Continued... (page 2 of 2)
Excerpted from A Place Called Ananda
by Swami Kriyananda, , Chapter 30
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Substantive changes to Autobiography of a Yogi
These are all minor points, however, relatively speaking, in view of the many and much graver changes SRF has introduced into his books, teachings, and policies. Autobiography of a Yogi has been subjected to so many changes that Ananda, having won from the courts the right to republish that book, has felt it a duty to make the first edition once more available to people.
New editions contain over one hundred additions of the organization's name, many of them obviously with the particular purpose of promoting the organization. Yogananda's original references to communities have been removed as well as any hint of his enthusiasm for them. There are substantive changes in the text, such as the new statement that only SRF-approved ministers may give Kriya Yoga initiation. (What Yogananda originally wrote was, "The actual technique must be learned from a Kriyaban, or Kriya Yogi.")
A significant change appears also in a passage comparing the path of the yogi householder to that of a swami. The first edition of the book says, "To fulfill one's earthly responsibilities is indeed the higher path, provided the yogi, maintaining a mental uninvolvement with egotistical desires, plays his part as a willing instrument of God." This passage was changed in the mid-1950s (as I happen to know personally, having discussed the matter at the time with Tara). It now reads, "Fulfilling one's earthly responsibilities need not separate man from God, provided...."
These are examples, only, of the kind of alterations I mean, all of them intended to increase the authority of Self-Realization Fellowship in the dissemination and practice of Yogananda's teachings.
Additional changes
Another quite amazing change is the exclusion of at least a quarter of his poem, Samadhi, from the Autobiography.
As for his enthusiasm for communities, SRF downplays it, actually saying (as they do, to justify so many changes), "He changed his mind at the end." Once, however, he declared during a public lecture, "Last night I was thinking so much about communities that I wasn't able to meditate! Then I chanted to God, and my mind came back to me."
Two chapters ago I pointed out the drastic re-editing Tara did on Whispers from Eternity. That, too, must be listed among the substantive changes SRF has sanctioned.
A word that is frequently used by SRF is "the blueprint"—as if Yogananda had sat the directors down and dictated to them his exact wishes for the work. He did nothing of the kind! "The blueprint," he used to say, "is in the ether." The pattern "ordained by God" (as he expressed it to Dr. Lewis) remained for his disciples to work out. Even in the responsibilities he gave me personally, which were considerable, he left it mostly to me to tune in to his will and apply it according to my own ability to perceive. If I needed help, he supplied it, but his way with his disciples was to help them develop their own intuition. The so-called "blueprint," then, is simply an organizational ploy for exercising control.
SRF seeks monopoly through litigation
In 1990, SRF instituted a lawsuit against me and Ananda, claiming it had a monopoly on its name, and the right to prevent me from quoting anything of Yogananda's (my own Guru's!) without their permission. At the present writing, January 2001—nearly eleven years since the suit was filed—the case is not yet completely over, though we've won almost everything. So far, SRF has forced us to spend some five million dollars in defending ourselves.
Could we have simply reacted to their charges by ignoring them? People occasionally ask us this question. The simple answer is, No. How we wish it had been possible! SRF took their suit to the courts of the land, demanding legal sanctions against us. To ignore them would have meant forfeiting the right to continue serving our Guru as his disciples. To submit would have been to admit publicly that they alone have the right to speak on his behalf. It would have meant surrendering any such right, ourselves.
SRF persists, despite continuing losses in the courts
SRF's leaders have done their best to win by bringing us to financial ruin. In the process, they have used endless delaying tactics, and caused us to spend more and more money. Every time they've lost a point, they've appealed it—ineffectively, for the most part—to the higher courts. So far, the outcome has been quite different from what they intended: They have lost the right to a monopoly on their name. They have lost their claim to ownership of Yogananda's writings. Ananda, meanwhile, has been like David fighting Goliath, for SRF is enormously wealthy, and Ananda simply is not. Still, we have so far won almost everything. But the struggle, unfortunately, goes on. Will it go further, after we win everything? Are there other ways they can persecute us? The answer is in God's hands. We are open to His will, no matter what tests He sends us.
An opportunity for settlement, dashed by SRF
In 1997 I wrote Daya Mata to say that the Judge had declared, finally, that he was going to give us both an opportunity now—as he put it—"to practice your own teachings! You'll have to decide these last matters for yourselves." In my letter to Daya I wrote, "Ananda has no desire to gloat over your defeat. We've no wish to declare ourselves victorious, for that would imply that you were the losers. How much better it would be if both of us could declare to the world, 'We've agreed to the following, . . . .' We could list the points on which we'd agreed, so that what emerged would be perceived as a joint agreement between us." This would, I said, demonstrate harmony between us as fellow disciples of the same great Guru.
Daya Mata agreed to meet us in Pasadena. It was a wonderful reunion: harmonious, loving—an outspoken recognition of the deep bond between us. Always my dream had been that we would work in harmony together, spreading Master's mission of love.
Ananda's view of the teachings, however, seems never to have been the same as SRF's. This fact was revealed clearly by what followed that meeting. Daya has always seen the teachings in terms of centralized control, whereas I have always seen them in terms of people's spiritual needs. Thus, even though our meeting in Pasadena was harmonious, SRF assumed from the love we expressed that we intended to cede back to them everything we'd gained in the case. To us, the construction they placed on our love was hardly believable.
A surprisingly personal antagonism by Daya Mata
Daya Mata said to me at that meeting, with reference to their persecution of me, "It has never been personal." Needless to say, the person being persecuted is not so easily inclined to see that persecution impersonally. Still, I know what she meant. The issues involved are, in her mind, more important than any individual's life and reputation. A dubious claim, of course, in light of Yogananda's statement, "Only love can take my place"! I'm reminded of a movie in which a lawyer comments on some villain's threat to destroy Los Angeles: "I think we need to define what is meant by 'destroy.'" Jesus Christ said, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." (Luke 16:10) The saying, "I love humanity; it's my neighbor I can't stand!" seems fitting in this context.
The Catholic Church has used a rationale similar to Daya's in its explanation of the Inquisition, which it still justifies. A recent Vatican item in a secular newspaper in Italy praised Torquemada on the anniversary of his birth—Torquemada, I ask you! the "butcher of the Spanish Inquisition." It described him as a humble, devout monk whose only desire was to protect the faith. Nothing personal in that, of course! When Torquemada burned people at the stake, we were asked to believe that he did it in God's name, that his was an act of love—for the Church, of course, not for human beings, but anyway without animus (so the Church claims) toward the sufferers he tortured and killed. Such is the story. If one steps on an ant, the act is probably quite "impersonal." Still, one wonders how the ant sees it. SRF, however, has stepped on this particular "ant" with such grim determination that it makes the stepping itself seem directed with great and very personal feeling.
Is it true that SRF's persecution of Ananda has been impersonal? Hardly! Daya Mata wrote me that it has all been to defend a principle. What principle? No mere institution can be a principle! A principle is by very definition abstract. Their exercise of hegemony, too, reveals considerable personal attachment.
Kriyananda's offer to give Ananda to SRF is rejected
Much has been said and done by SRF and its members to discredit Ananda—all quite impersonally, no doubt! We ourselves, however, have had to fight for our lives. If Master had wanted the organization to be his entire spiritual legacy, I would sincerely embrace it as such, aware that my own understanding, being human, cannot but be fallible. I cannot see, however, that their claim is supported by anything he ever said, did, or wrote.
Wishing to demonstrate complete loyalty to my Guru, however, I actually offered two or three times to give Ananda to Self-Realization Fellowship. This may seem extraordinary for one in my position, but I made the offer not because I'd had any change of heart toward Ananda, and certainly not out of any sense of guilt toward SRF. Indeed, Ananda represents for me the culmination of my life's work. It might also be fairly considered a vindication and a triumph for me personally, especially in light of the things Tara said against me. I offered Ananda to SRF with the simple thought, "This has never been my work. It is Master's. If by any chance it should end up becoming SRF's, I would relinquish it gladly." To underscore my complete non-attachment I offered even to leave Ananda forever, and never give it a backward glance.
Obviously, Ananda members themselves would have had to be consulted, and their feelings taken into account. As a formal proposal, therefore, my offer was contingent on the will of others, not only on my own will. The important thing then, to me, was that I be completely willing to leave everything, if such should happen to be my Guru's will. What became of me personally thereafter would, I felt, be entirely in his hands.
Simplicity, however, is not often understood. Ananda itself has been simple in its motivation regarding SRF's lawsuits. "Whatever you want," we have prayed to God and our Gurus, "we will accept with love." Daya Mata herself led us in a similar prayer in Fresno in 1990, before the formal filing of their lawsuit. When decision after decision went against them, however, they appealed, and appealed again, then yet again. In the end they submitted the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined even to hear the appeal. Daya's prayer might perhaps have been better stated: "Master, may your will be done—provided it agrees with mine!"
The first time I offered Ananda to SRF was in 1972. Daya Mata replied then, "We'll see." Nothing happened. Later I made the same offer by letter, to which a variety of responses came from SRF's representatives, none of them positive. (Their general tone suggested that I was being merely irresponsible.) The third time I offered, Daya Mata replied, "We wouldn't want to inherit your debts." Could she possibly believe that Ananda was teetering on the verge of collapse? Disappointed at the meaning implied in her answer, I replied, "And I wouldn't want to give you Ananda if I thought you would run it into the ground!"
Daya once said to me, "It isn't the good people of Ananda I have anything against. It's Kriyananda." To me, the only thing that matters is that we have the freedom to serve our Guru's mission. SRF had raised me in the thought that the organization was his work. Ananda members, on the other hand, have never shared this scruple. I myself have seen from SRF's very narrowness that the scope of his mission is far, far broader. Ananda, to us now, has been and always will be part of Master's work—that is to say, of his overall mission. Our members are directly acquainted with SRF, for it is not very far from Ananda's California communities and many have gone there. I have often said to people, "Visit SRF. See for yourselves, then draw your own conclusions." Most of them have chosen Ananda, though I have not influenced them to do so. Their choice is not grudging—a sort of compromise, or necessary substitute for SRF. Many have told me, "I would never have become Master's disciple except through Ananda." Most of them add, "Their way simply doesn't attract me." In the eyes of God, I believe they are right to follow their soul-guidance. Still, I have given them perfect freedom to make that discovery for themselves.
SRF's denunciations of me have been surprisingly personal. They have denounced me to the courts as an "interloper." They have attempted to defame my character, my discipleship, my spiritual and moral integrity, my right to speak on behalf of my Guru. I'm sure they feel, however, that none of this is "personal." They have repeatedly rejected my attempts to bring unity between SRF and Ananda, but have not shown the slightest qualm about trying to steal Ananda members, or even Ananda itself, away from me whenever they've seen a hope of fomenting trouble between us.
Do these attempts reflect Master's counsel to Daya Mata, "Only love can take my place"?
In my heart, and I'm sure in the hearts of all Ananda members, there is deep love and fellow-feeling for the members of SRF: for its renunciates and lay-members alike. We deeply desire harmony with them, and would willingly forget all past hurts unhesitatingly in the name of love. If truth is needed to clear the air—and such is presently, I believe, the case—we speak it with sorrow, and with unchanging love. If by any chance their efforts to destroy us should prove successful, we would love them still. Until now, however, our efforts to win them with love have meant only a hardening of their animus toward us. I cannot but think that the consequence, for them, has been their spiritual and institutional loss.
Karmic Pattern #5: The end justifies the means
One point stands out, however, in their efforts to undermine Ananda. If a person seeks victory by honorable means, it may be that he is merely mistaken, in which case he cannot be held spiritually culpable. If, however, he seeks victory by dishonest and underhanded means, there can be no justification for his actions. In such a case, indeed, he can only be considered dishonorable.
SRF has lied. Daya Mata herself has lied. Daya Mata has asked me, too, to lie in order to protect SRF's name. The tactics their lawyers have used, which SRF has endorsed, have been what other lawyers themselves call "despicable." This aspect of the story is so sordid that I cannot even bring myself to describe it in detail.
Karmic Pattern #6: Suppression of small spiritual communities
There is another instance, here, of karmic repetition. The early Christians are known to have gathered into small, spiritual communities—"intentional" in the sense that their members shared the same beliefs, practices, and ideals.
Why does history tell us so little about those communities? From all indications, they were successful. The inevitable conclusion, surely, is that they were suppressed along with the gnostics. Indeed, autonomous communities can only have been considered a threat by the Church in its determination to impose control on its members. It is for similar reasons, surely, that SRF is not happy with Ananda's existence.
Since communities would certainly have been inconvenient to the newly organized Christian Church, it seems probably for this reason that references to those early communities were suppressed, along with the gnostic writings. Yet what could have been more natural than for Jesus to want people to live together in communities, practicing together the teachings he had given them?
At any rate, Paramhansa Yogananda himself urged people all his life to form communities. And SRF, like the early Church, has set itself against this idea. Daya once said to me, when I raised this subject, "Frankly, I'm not interested." In 1988, to celebrate our twentieth anniversary, a group of 200 members went from Ananda to visit SRF's main centers in southern California. On the Encinitas grounds, the nun in charge, Sister Shanti, stated to a group of us, "Oh, I know, many people have tried to start communities, but none of them have succeeded." Two hundred people, celebrating twenty years of successful existence, and she could say that to us! Her very statement makes it clear, however, that SRF has no serious intention of ever starting the communities for which Master campaigned so ardently.
Yogananda himself tried to start a community in Encinitas. His hopes were not destined to be fulfilled during his lifetime, and I cannot help thinking that one reason the venture was abandoned was owing to resistance by some of his monastic disciples. Even so, until the end of his life he kept urging people to form communities. His last-known plea on the point came only four months before he left his body. Kamala Silva reported it in her book, The Flawless Mirror, from a conversation she had with him.
It has been my own lot to fulfill Yogananda's communitarian dream. Ananda now consists of six communities: five in America and one in Italy, with a seventh under way in Rhode Island. An ancient karmic pattern is re-emerging through Ananda's striking success story: a repetition of the trend begun long ago among the early Christians. I've pointed out SRF's attempt to freeze the mission of Paramhansa Yogananda. SRF seeks to exercise rigid control over its members, who go along with that attempt in the sincere belief that such was Yogananda's desire. His wish, certainly, was that his disciples love one another and not fight together. I myself have been "turning the other cheek" for decades. Can I continue to do so now with integrity, in the face of renewed attacks by them? Master told us not to be doormats for others. Self-respect, and respect for truth itself, demands that I defend myself and Ananda—with love, yes, but firmly.
What Ananda stands for is an attempt, paralleling that of the Gnostics and the early Christians, to simplify matters, and to center the teachings in the individual's own Self-realization. To Daya Mata, we and everyone who disagrees with her are—to quote a favorite expression of hers—"pipsqueaks." In my belief, and Ananda's, all of us (including Daya herself) are children of God, heirs in equal right to soul-freedom in Him.
Karmic Pattern #7: Supression of non-monastic communities
Again, there is a growing insistence within SRF that the strictly monastic life is the only way to serve and spread Yogananda's teachings. Many of his close disciples, however, were, or had been, married. Suppression of non-monastic communities is another indication of a historic karmic pattern. The struggle between inner spirituality and "churchified" spirituality is being repeated in the struggle between SRF and Ananda. I myself deeply believe in the monastic ideal. I too am a monk, and, despite many attempts by SRF and its members to deride my monastic calling, I am firmly committed to it. Monasticism sets an example to devotees everywhere that the spiritual life must be founded at least on inner renunciation. I have, however, seen a measure of arrogance among renunciates in their calling that I heard Yogananda himself also deplore.
In about 1970, some of the members of Ananda expressed a desire to start a monastery. Though I encouraged them, it was with trepidation, for I realized that men and women living in the same community would probably not succeed in persevering in that calling. In fact, the monastery did not endure permanently, at least in that form. What came out of it eventually, however, was a new kind of monastic order including householders dedicated to the traditional monastic ideals of non-attachment, simplicity, service, and self-control. Such a community, I find, is an inspiration to people everywhere, at a time when most monasteries in the world are empty. It inspires, moreover, in a way that communities that are exclusively monastic, in the traditional sense, have not achieved, or at least are not achieving nowadays. People at every stage of life are encouraged to be devotees wholeheartedly. This pattern of life was first established by Lahiri Mahasaya. Paramhansa Yogananda approved of it, and, indeed, recommended it for most people.
I had to set the pattern myself—such, it seems, has always been my job at Ananda—for "monastic householdership." Seeing many Ananda members burdened with feelings of guilt that they couldn't be renunciates, I deliberately chose marriage for myself. This step was of course, for me, a serious risk, but I felt that I could accept the married state now without losing my inner spirit of renunciation. My marriage completely changed the community. Everyone, since then, has felt a pure dedication to God and to doing God's will. Our teachers and ministers, householders all, are the best I've encountered in any spiritual community. As for myself, God saw to it that the marriage didn't last. I am grateful for what I gained from it. I am grateful He took the burden from me. At no time, I am glad to say, did I feel any personal attachment to it. I was, am, and always will be a monk at heart above all.
Breaking the karmic patterns—Individual freedom, individual Self-realization
Ananda has already broken many karmic patterns of the past. A new pattern is emerging instead—one of personal spiritual freedom, similar to the system since ancient times in India, where no organization tried to control people's spiritual quest. In India, far more so than in the West, the purity of the spiritual teachings has been maintained by the spontaneous devotion of sincere individuals. Above all, it has been maintained by the repeated manifestation on its soil of great saints. India's is the final, complete disproof of any claim that an organization is needed to uphold the purity of high teachings.
Ananda's, then, is a success story: gloriously so! Many thousands of lives have been changed, even by simple contact with it. I never forget, however, where that success comes from. It comes not from this simple, mere human being, but from God, and from the blessings that fill our hearts from our great gurus.
