When I was 10 years old, I had a traumatic experience which frightened me so much that I turned to the Bible for answers. The trauma was caused by a certain kind of abandonment, loss, and isolation. So, for a year I became a Christian fundamentalist. I turned to my culture’s particular religion, Christianity. In it I found paradoxically both justification for and an escape from my overwhelming emotions. Luckily, the fanaticism wore off after a year and I returned to my usual self, with a few remaining scars.
Unfortunately, I had developed a tendency towards black and white thinking. With that in mind, I hope the following "thesis" does not use black and white concepts also. My goal is to try and explain the origins of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in humanistic terms. I’ve also hesitated to come to conclusions as well, which is why I've put things in the form of questions. Because of my 19 years of involvement with SRF, I have spent most of my life trying to arrive at the ultimate truth, that happy harbor of assured safety and have found instead that I had closed my mind and feelings in the process.
When Yogananda was 11 years old, his dearly loved mother died without him being by her side. In his inconsolable grief, he turned to his particular culture’s belief in the power of meditation. There he experienced a vision and the voice of “Divine Mother”. This powerful spiritual experience became the foundation of his own spiritual path. 16 years later he would start a religious organization in the US, Self-Realization Fellowship, which promotes the concept of a feminine God, simply named Divine Mother. The devotee of this path is exhorted to call upon the presence of Divine Mother in meditation, for according to Yogananda, "the mother is closer than the father". This feminine deity is described as both benevolent and punishing depending on how the devotee/child needs to learn his life lessons. Yogananda's word as the guru is considered by his followers to be the voice of Divine Mother herself. Therefore, he is infallible in his judgements and instructions to perfect the devotee/child. All methods employed by the guru, from loving to humiliating punishment, are acceptable and seen as blessings from the divine.
Considering again Yogananda's early spiritual experience, one could easily see his seeking solace in meditation as a child’s escape into fantasy rather than a real resolution. Surely, if a child has no one from whom he can receive consolation in his overwhelming grief and loss, escape is the only way to survive. Yogananda was brought up on meditation and a belief in gurus, divine powers, divine beings, mother Kali, etc. His spiritual experience is in keeping with the beliefs of his culture. Driven by heightened inner pain, he found what he was looking for: a mother who would never die and who would never abandon him again. Is there anything morally wrong in that? No, of course not. But, when one turns their spiritual experiences into a religious path for all people, I begin to wonder if there are unconscious motives at work:
1) Is the leader’s spiritual formula in fact a dysfunctional coping mechanism which can only breed more dysfunction and confusion?
2) What happened to the original feelings of anger, grief, and disillusionment? Were they completely resolved or have they persisted unconsciously and have found new expression in the act of changing and dominating others?
I could never understand why Yogananda praised Hitler and Mussolini. But, if my explanation of the genesis of SRF is accurate, it makes sense that he would be impressed by these dictators' ability to dominate and control whole nations. Yogananda also had a well known ferocious temper.
1) Is there really such a thing as a benevolent dictator?
2) Can there be any true moral justification for someone demanding absolute allegiance from another person?
3) When the devotee sees his/her absolute allegiance to a guru as spiritual, does it make it so, or is the devotee only justifying self abandonment and escape tactics, escape tactics not dissimilar to the child Yogananda’s running away into meditation?
4) Because of the unresolved trauma from his own childhood, has the guru unconsciously placed his own followers in the same isolated state of loneliness and abandonment where the only place to turn for solace is Divine Mother/guru?
Unfortunately, I had developed a tendency towards black and white thinking. With that in mind, I hope the following "thesis" does not use black and white concepts also. My goal is to try and explain the origins of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in humanistic terms. I’ve also hesitated to come to conclusions as well, which is why I've put things in the form of questions. Because of my 19 years of involvement with SRF, I have spent most of my life trying to arrive at the ultimate truth, that happy harbor of assured safety and have found instead that I had closed my mind and feelings in the process.
When Yogananda was 11 years old, his dearly loved mother died without him being by her side. In his inconsolable grief, he turned to his particular culture’s belief in the power of meditation. There he experienced a vision and the voice of “Divine Mother”. This powerful spiritual experience became the foundation of his own spiritual path. 16 years later he would start a religious organization in the US, Self-Realization Fellowship, which promotes the concept of a feminine God, simply named Divine Mother. The devotee of this path is exhorted to call upon the presence of Divine Mother in meditation, for according to Yogananda, "the mother is closer than the father". This feminine deity is described as both benevolent and punishing depending on how the devotee/child needs to learn his life lessons. Yogananda's word as the guru is considered by his followers to be the voice of Divine Mother herself. Therefore, he is infallible in his judgements and instructions to perfect the devotee/child. All methods employed by the guru, from loving to humiliating punishment, are acceptable and seen as blessings from the divine.
Considering again Yogananda's early spiritual experience, one could easily see his seeking solace in meditation as a child’s escape into fantasy rather than a real resolution. Surely, if a child has no one from whom he can receive consolation in his overwhelming grief and loss, escape is the only way to survive. Yogananda was brought up on meditation and a belief in gurus, divine powers, divine beings, mother Kali, etc. His spiritual experience is in keeping with the beliefs of his culture. Driven by heightened inner pain, he found what he was looking for: a mother who would never die and who would never abandon him again. Is there anything morally wrong in that? No, of course not. But, when one turns their spiritual experiences into a religious path for all people, I begin to wonder if there are unconscious motives at work:
1) Is the leader’s spiritual formula in fact a dysfunctional coping mechanism which can only breed more dysfunction and confusion?
2) What happened to the original feelings of anger, grief, and disillusionment? Were they completely resolved or have they persisted unconsciously and have found new expression in the act of changing and dominating others?
I could never understand why Yogananda praised Hitler and Mussolini. But, if my explanation of the genesis of SRF is accurate, it makes sense that he would be impressed by these dictators' ability to dominate and control whole nations. Yogananda also had a well known ferocious temper.
1) Is there really such a thing as a benevolent dictator?
2) Can there be any true moral justification for someone demanding absolute allegiance from another person?
3) When the devotee sees his/her absolute allegiance to a guru as spiritual, does it make it so, or is the devotee only justifying self abandonment and escape tactics, escape tactics not dissimilar to the child Yogananda’s running away into meditation?
4) Because of the unresolved trauma from his own childhood, has the guru unconsciously placed his own followers in the same isolated state of loneliness and abandonment where the only place to turn for solace is Divine Mother/guru?