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Date Posted: 04:04:19 03/20/04 Sat
Author: Hendrik - 25 Feb 2004
Subject: Did anyone else get that yoga spam? (completed)
In reply to: Hendrik - 25 Feb 2004 's message, "Did anyone else get that yoga spam?" on 04:03:10 03/20/04 Sat


Los Angele Times, Wednesday, October 25, 1939


Swami Sought in Damage Suit


Determined that he shall not become a vanishing Hindu, process servers were conducting a far-flung search yesterday for Swami Yogananda, Indian cultist accused in a sensational $500,000 damage suit, of amazing goings on with feminine followers.
Aiding in the search was the plaintiff, Nirad Ranjan Chowdbury, also known as Sir Nerode, former associate of Yogananda, who maintains a palatial abode on Mount Washington and also boasts a high class hideaway at Encinitas.


Chowdbury's charges took on a spice not generally associated with the spiritual repose of Yogism as the swami was sought by minions of the plaintiffs attorneys, Harold E. Krowech and Theodorn E. Bowen.


PEACHES HE IS GOD


After pointing out that Yogananda teaches that he is God, or Paramahansa, Chowdbury, Calcutta-born, Harvard educated student of East Indian religious philosophy, alleged that the swami has been "for the past year trying to break up the marriage between the plaintiff and his wife," and that Yogananda "prevented the plaintiff's wife from having proper care during the pregnancy of her child."


Moreover, Chowdbury alleges that the swami teaches that:

"The members of the congregation must not get married because their first love must be to God through Swami Yogananda and that if they should be married that their first loyalties are to Swami Yogananda and not to their spouse."


IRREGULAR PRACTICES


Picturing highly irregular practices in the cult quarters on Mount Washington, the plaintiff declared that the swami "has young girls in the immediate vicinity of his room going in and out all hours of the night."


The younger girls are kept segregated from older women, Chowdbury charges, adding:

"Young girls have free access to the rooms of said Swami Yognanda and that said Swami Yogananda forbids said young girls who attend him from going out with other men and forbids them to go out at all except with him."


At his Encinitas palace, Chowdbury charges , Yogananda maintains caves and rooms for meditation "that are not in keeping with the standard of religious meditation..." and that "the places of mediation are too secretive and ornate of construction to be used for the purpose of spiritual mediation, all of which is contrary to spiritual practices, contrary to Hindu philosophy and contrary to the purposes and objectives of the partnership."


ROMANTIC TO MERCENARY


Changing from the romantic to the mercenary tack, Chowdbury declared that the swami has used contributions from his cultists to "foster his ambitious and private ends."
The plaintiff accused the swami of "using the teachings of Yogoda and Hindu Philosophy for the sole purpose of creating a personalized interpretation of defendant Swami Yogananda as a divinity...so as to force upon the members of the congregation and others the interpretations that God talks only through Swami Yogananda."


Chowdbury said yesterday that while a graduate student at Harvard he met Yogananda, who then was lecturing in the East, became interested in the swami's teachings, and was made a partner with the swami in the cult only to be "frozen out" last January, after the long-haired cult leader had transferred his interests from the East to Los Angeles, where he is said to have attracted as followers scores of Los Angeles women and girls.


PURELY COMMERCIAL


After the freeze out, Chowdbury said he became convinced that "Swami Yogananda was engaged at all times in a purely commercial venture for the purpose of his own personal gain, and that his activities had no connection with the true Hindu Self-realization philosophy."


At the cult headquarters, a crisp young woman attache reported that the swami is due back today. He lectured in San Diego Monday night, she said.

--------------------



"... Basu Kumar Bagchi (Swami Dhirananda) was a close friend of Yogananda's in India as a young man who joined him in this country in 1922 and was placed in charge of the Mount Washington property the first three years after Yogananda acquired it. He is also said by some to have written several early works, in whole or in part, that were later attributed to Yogananda, although the latter's devotees hotly dispute this. But in the spring of 1929 he split with Yogananda and forced him to sign a promissory note for $8,000 that he contended was due him as part of a partnership the men had entered to promote Yogananda's enterprises. ... that's what repulsed him about his dear friend Yogananda. The impression he left with us was that Yogananda was screwing everything in sight ... Nerode essentially accused Yogananda of running a harem, describing how the swami had young girls housed next to his room on the third floor of the former hotel, and how they went in and out of the swami's room at all hours, while older women were housed on a separate floor entirely."


-- "The Devotee's Son", New Times L.A., July 5, 2001, Ron Russell
http://www.rickross.com/reference/selfreal/selfreal3.html

---------------



We're going to move on past the newspaper articles to an actual deceptive exhibition which Yogananda did on his lecture tours.


Here's one of several tricks Yogananda did to try to prove that he had superhuman control over his body:


Paramahansa Yogananda use to perform a "pulse trick" in front of audiences (along with other tricks) to demonstrate how he had superhuman mastery over his body. I'm going to present two article excerpts here. The first documents him actually performing this particular trick. The second will reveal how it was down.


--------------

Extract from "Hell-Bent for Heaven: The Autobiography of Hilda Charlton". Publisher: Golden Quest; (December 1990)


He [Yogananda] interrupted his talk to ask if there were a doctor in the audience. A man stood up and Swamiji asked him to come on the stage. He requested the doctor, “Take my pulse and tell me what you feel.” The doctor felt his wrist, looking perplexed at first and then amazed. “There is no pulse,” he answered. Swamiji then told him to take the pulse on the other wrist. The doctor’s facial expression turned from amazement to incredulity. He said, “Swami Yogananda, this is impossible. Your pulse is pounding at an incredible speed.” He quickly tried the other side again and said, “This side is normal.” He came down from the stage into the audience shaking his head and mumbling, “Impossible, impossible.”
http://pub78.ezboard.com/fsrfwalrusfrm32.showMessage?topicID=5.topic

--------------


This trick is actually the first on the list from "An Indian Skeptic's Explanation of Miracles" by B. Premanand. This trick may have been clever back when Yogananda was on his lecture tours, but it's out in the open now; just like some of the old magic tricks that have been protected for generations finally get revealed in time. Here's the excerpt on this from the article:


a) Short-Time Death, Stopping Heartbeat: One can stop the heartbeat for short periods by breathing air inside fully and trying to exhale the air without actually exhaling. What is generally done by god-men is only to stop the pulse at the wrist. This is done by stopping the flow of blood to the hands by keeping a lemon, or a small ball or a rolled handkerchief in the armpits and pressing down on the object when they wish to temporarily cut-off the blood flow. Doctors do not, in the confusion, check the heartbeat, but check the pulse and confirm that the pulse is stopped. The god-men show this trick to make people believe that by practicing yoga and pranayama, a person can stop the breath and heartbeats and still be alive. This is to prove to the people that they are above normal human beings.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/5561
And here's another article that speaks on the same trick:
http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/byhedwa1.htm

-------------


As we can see, this describes *exactly* what Yogananda did on stage. The force Yogananda used to press against the object in his armpit caused his heart-rate to accelerate, which the doctor detected in the other arm. When Yogananda released this pressure, his heart-rate returned to normal, which the doctor then reported on on the arm where there was no pulse.

-------------


From an interview with B. Premanand:

"At first I believed all that I read about gods and gurus. I wanted to possess all the siddhis available. At the age of 19, I set out to find myself a guru. I went to Aurobindo and Tagore was father's friend. Like Swami, who in his book 'In Search of God' writes about his tour around India without money and claimed that God took care of him, I set out on a trip around India penniless. But I didn't see any god helping me, only human beings. I met a lot of swamis who told me they'll teach me all this kundalini stuff. ... I found all the yogis and rishis to be tricksters. Then I grew interested in the tricks. I can make a lot of money as a godmen if I want. I know about 1500 miracles as opposed to 50/60 that an average godmen knows. Dr. Kovoor used to come from Sri Lanka and hold miracle exposure campaigns from 1969 onwards. I wrote a book called 'Lure of Miracles' on Satya Sai Baba. Publishers refused to touch it, so I published it myself and Kovoor released it for me. I was with him in that tour as he was ill and there were also a lot of people who wanted to kill him. I became a member of the Rationalists Association. We used to go to village interiors where first I used to burn my body to attract attention. Then we used to give our lectures."
http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/svm2.htm

---------------



Many have crash landed thoroughly destroyed from Yogananda's tainted teachings, twisted by the gravitational force of his megalomania. [ There's a message board set up for the single purpose of helping those who have been chewed up and spit out by SRF. This board is the SRF Walrus which can be found at: http://pub78.ezboard.com/bsrfwalrus ]

Spiritual devotion and codependency are two very separate things. But with Yogananda's teachings, he paints codependency as a necessary component of Self-realization. This is far from true. Codependency will keep you leashed to the thick leather restraint of his will. You may be frightened to deal with Reality on your own two feet, but becoming an extension of Yogananda's (or anyone's) ego can only lead to disaster.


Yogananda will not let you go easily ...


"... As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish, what should one say of many animals ? Therefore it is not liked by them that men should know this." -- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. I.iv.10.


But fear not because ...


"... And to this day whoever in like manner knows It as, ‘I am Brahman’, becomes all this (universe). Even the gods cannot prevail against him, for he becomes their self." -- I.iv.10.


No one in their heart wants to remain enslaved to another. Allow the courage of the Self to unfold from within and fight for Freedom! But be careful, do not fall into the trap that Yogananda fell into. Remember that all people are yourself; never take advantage of anyone as he did, for that will lead to your destruction. Your consciousness is the Universe, but do not allow the limited ideas of the ego to distort that perception. You should not subjugate yourself in an attempt to destroy the ego. Your ego is Consciousness filtered through your particular circumstances. It is very unhealthy to attempt to squash this. Only people trying to take advantage of you will foster those ideas, or simply people parroting religious teachings that they do not understand. All you need do is realize that all things are *equally* Yourself. Then there is no harm possible, and your Self-realization can unfold naturally and in a healthy fashion.


Please think carefully on these things. One may be flustered now and upset.
This message is from yourself to yourself and therefor it is more important than you can imagine.


Feel free to share this message with other Yogananda worshipers if you wish to help disentangle the tightly knit belief structures that ensnare the mind within this particularly subtle trap.


Best Wishes,
Yourself


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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