VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6], 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 13:11:22 10/25/03 Sat
Author: Hendrik - 23 Aug 2003
Subject: Re: P. Yogananda an 'avatara' ?
In reply to: ANON - 22 Aug 2003 's message, "Re: P. Yogananda an 'avatara' ?" on 13:02:27 10/25/03 Sat

it is also rather silly to use such titles as Avatara, because to do so implies a hierarchy.By saying that Yogananda was an Avatara you are saying that he was above Lahiri,on equal footing with Babaji.

Of course there is no exact definition of the nature of an Avatar, and even less we can expect any ultimate answers to the question what historical personages may have been Avatars proper, but what you address is the tendency among followers of religious groups to elevate their own teacher above supposedly competing ones.

Claim of avatarhood - similar to the No-Mind cudgel - is at any rate an excellent psychological tool for cementing the superiority of one's own allegiance; -- what is beyond human understanding, or even comes as a direct command from God, cannot be questioned. Therefore you are led to obey the teacher, or the group, "us".

I think more than the question of Yogananda's actual Avatarhood (who am I to judge?) this is what is really behind the heat that often is generated as soon as this topic is touched on.

I think in SRF's case one can find part of the explanation in the religious affiliation of its members.

SRF, in my opinion, has originally been an effective Hindu-Christian-modernistic hybrid, with emphasis on 'Hindu', but after the passing of first Yogananda and now gradually most of his direct disciples it is going to assume the colors of the spiritual environs it is thriving on. This is a natural process for a popular spiritual movement, it even may change to something completely different than what it was in the beginning. In SRF's case there is also the interesting and decisive factor that the cultural background of the founder was purely Indian whereas the present location and members are mostly American.

I do not have statistics but not without reason I assume that the single most influential current among American SRF members is that of a protestant fundamentalist childhood background, and I think this mentality will continue to determine the future outlook of SRF, particularly as Christian fundamentalism is at present a significant force within American religion and society. A second strong influence may be the hippie remnants and esoteric people, but interestingly quite a number of those has also fundamentalist or at least active Christian roots.

This subliminal fundamentalist mindset demands a relatively clear-cut system that is centered around a sort of messianic figure, a Savior or substitute for Christ. Of course Yogananda is taking that place. A personal relationship with God is another core ingredient, and Yogananda, along with SRF, serves that need too.

Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar, and the other 'predecessors' may, according to this analogy, in relation to Yogananda probably adopt a similar position to what John the Baptist did in relation to Jesus. -- It sounds absurd, but I believe on a psychological level it is cogent.

Of course, at the same time Christ is held up as superior by both Yogananda and SRF, and this reduces Yogananda's importance to that of a prophet or, at best, of an apostle.

At any rate, religions thrive on a sense of exclusivity and superiority, and the deeper a member is into this religious side of SRF, the less he may view his own tradition as being essentially just another sect of larger ancient traditions from a foreign, non-Christian culture. Perhaps faith is able to fundamentally change the way we perceive the world.

Hendrik

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.