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 ]

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

Date Posted: 13:20:21 02/10/06 Fri
Author: H - 22 Dec 2005
Subject: global guru
In reply to: dr - 22 Dec 2005 's message, "Re: worship the guru at your peril" on 13:18:56 02/10/06 Fri

Many gurus are non-personalists; you are not required to spend much time with them either. You go there, get some teaching and instructions and then are left on your own to practice. When you have mastered a step or get into difficulties you go there again and get further instruction. This flexibility combined with real authority I find lacking with those modern yoga-schools, -sects and -religions. For someone not of the religious type SRF is good for taking Kriya instruction, but afterwards study and think of Yogananda for yourself, apart from the SRF community. Problem is they want you to sign a pledge that you accept him as your guru, which is silly and smacks of signing a legal document for court.

Having said that, i have looked at most of the "famous" gurus out there and am fairly certain that Yogananda is probably the best. Not to demean other gurus but from my point of view only.

I agree. There are - or have been - surely many yogis, but not all are suited for guiding others. Whereas those who offer their guidance usually don't have that much to give. Another thing is that generally people can only teach - I mean techniques etc. - what they have themselves learned. In India it seems to have been custom to strictly adhere to tradition and continue what has been handed down by superiors or ancestors, not easily allowing for really new elements. You can see it from the animosity Yogananda reaped with his peers when they learned of his introducing foreign elements, cutting his hair etc. He was one of the few who not only offered - still offers - 'his' spiritual practices but also adapted his philosophical outlook to other cultures to the best effect. And seemingly he was a most excellent guide and disciplinarian to those who accepted him as a guru in the sense of spiritual superior. These are three excellent qualifications all combined in one single man. Adding to this, of course, he was a man of realization.

However there were others too. Those who did not adapt their teachings to other cultures naturally had a very limited following and thus did not become popular. Yogananda - after Vivekananda had prepared the field - was one of the few who spread yoga on a grand scale. Maybe we can call him the first "global" guru.

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