Cosmophilospher wrote:

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Just like the nutty "proof" that his body rotted slower than a mere mortal when he "left his body", that is, when he DIED like the rest of us mere mortals will.

In an article which appeared in the Rational Enquirer, The Skeptics’ Newsletter for Western Canada, Leonard Angel, a professor of philosophy at the University of Columbia, recounts how he investigated the miracle which is reported in almost every Yogananda publication put out by the Self Realization Fellowship (SRF), the society founded and organised by Yogananda to propagate his teachings:


“After Death the Body of Paramahansa Yogananda Manifested a Phenomenal State of Immutability.” The story in Self-Realization Magazine (Los Angeles) May 1952 issue; and in the national news weekly Time, August 4, 1952 reported that:

“The great world teacher demonstrated the value of yoga (scientific techniques for God-realization) not only in life but in death. Weeks after his departure his unchanged face shone with the divine light luster of incorruptibility. Mr. Harry Rowe, Los Angeles Mortuary Director, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park (in which the great master is temporarily placed) sent Self-Realization Fellowship a notarized letter from which the following extracts are taken:
The absence of any visual signs of decay in the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda offers the most extraordinary case in our experience...No physical disintegration was visible even twenty days after death...No indication of mould was visible on his skin, and no visible desiccation (drying up) took place in the bodily tissues. This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one...At the time of receiving Yogananda‘s body, the mortuary personnel expected to observe, through the glass lid of the casket, the usual progressive signs of bodily decay. Our astonishment increased day after day without bringing any visible change in the body under observation. Yogananda's body was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability...No odour of decay emanated from his body at any time...The physical appearance of Yogananda on March 27th, just before the bronze cover of the casket was put into position, was the same as it had been on March 7th.”


Professor Angel was impressed, but not convinced. He obtained a copy of Yogananda’s death certificate from the Los Angeles Department of Vital Statistics which confirmed that Yogananda had died on March 7th, the certificate of death being received by the registrar on March 11 1952. However, the certificate also bore the signature “Kenneth I. Johnson”, and the number 2641. It was contained in box #21, above which were the words “Signature of embalmer.”

Confirmation that Yogananda had in fact been embalmed was found in the full text of Harry Rowe’s letter in a little booklet entitled Paramahansa Yogananda, In Memoriam, put out by the Self-Realization Fellowship. It reads,

“Paramahansa Yogananda’s body was embalmed an the night of March 8th, with that quantity of fluid which is customarily used in any body of similar size.”

So what was the miracle?

According to the full text of Harry Rowe’s letter the astonishment was only due to the fact that the funeral home staff had not used any creams in addition to the embalming fluid - a creamy pore-sealing emulsion that temporarily prevents the outward appearance of mould.

A check with two independent licensed embalmers elicited the following comments,

“I’m sure we’ve had bodies for two or three months with good preservation. This is not unusual. Creams are not necessary”, and “...that preservation for 20 days through embalming is not unusual. We can keep a body a month or two without interral…an embalming fluid with a lanolin base will have humecant which prevents dehydration, which is the major concern...a heavy glass lid as is described by Mr Rowe as being present on the casket, would prevent a great amount of air circulation, and that in itself would prevent most desiccation, so that would account for it.”

Far from being “a demonstration of yogic powers”, “a phenomenal state of immutability” or “a miracle through the grace of the Heavenly Father”, it seems that any perception that a miracle had occurred was simply the result of misleading selections taken from a misleading letter.

-- excerpt from "Incorruptibility: Miracle or Myth?", Harry Edwards, November 1995
[www.adam.com.au]


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The statement of the director of Forest Lawn, Harry T. Rowe, is accurate, but incomplete. Mr. Rowe also mentioned that he observed a brown spot on Yogananda's nose after 20 days, as sign that the body was not "perfectly" preserved. In any case, the SRF's claim that lack of physical disintegration is "an extraordinary phenomenon" is misleading. (One wonders how much digging into the mortuary annals they did. Very little, I imagine.) The state of the yogi's body is not unparalleled, but common. A typical embalmed body will show no notable desiccation for one to five months after burial without the use of refrigeration or creams to mask odors. According to Jesus Preciado, who has been in the mortuary business for thirty years, "in general, the less pronounced the pathology [at the time of death], the less notable are the symptoms of necrosis." Some bodies are well-preserved for years after burial (personal correspondence, Mike Drake). Some, under extraordinary conditions, are well-preserved for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

-- excerpt from "Incorruptible Bodies", Robert Todd Carroll
[skepdic.com]

Thanks for the info on the embalming. Great stuff.
This has the making of a expose' on Yogananda, telling the real story.

I recalled the info about his immutable body from what i read in the past. I recall that they gave it a very hard sell.
Meanwhile, they knew damn well he had been embalmed, and that was what caused his body to appear to be preserved.

So that is a blatant lie being propagated to this day from these people.

The current female leader of SRF, really made my blood go cold. Just from looking at her pictures, and reading her writings, something about her totally creeped me out.

And these are the same people who blatantly lie to this day about the embalming stuff.
If they had ANY honour or credibility, then they would come clean with that info.
But no, they are caught in a lie.

But think about it.
Yogananda probably didn't orchestrate this post-mortem fraud himself.
Then who did?
Someone who was high up in his organization orchestrated this fraud, perhaps even planned it, around the time of his death.
Or perhaps just seized the opportunity when it arose.

Either way, that tells you the kind of organization they have going. Blatant dishonesty.
And its not just from Yogananda.

I wonder who was his right hand man just before he died?
They are probably responsible for this post-mortem fraud.

Coz

Cosmophilospher wrote:

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Also, i can't recall, did Yogananda make claims to be able to perform "miracles" himself?

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.

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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.”

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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 practising 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.

[groups.yahoo.com]

and

[www.indian-skeptic.org]

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As we can see, this describes [i:f16e3715f3]exactly[/i:f16e3715f3] 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.

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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."

[www.indian-skeptic.org]


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Excerpts from "Miracle Mongers and Their Methods", by Houdini:


"ALL wonder," said Samuel Johnson, "is the effect of novelty on ignorance." ... My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day commonplaces of my business. ... Much has been written about the feats of miracle-mongers, and not a little in the way of explaining them. Chaucer was by no means the first to turn shrewd eyes upon wonder-workers and show the clay feet of these popular idols. And since his time innumerable marvels, held to be supernatural, have been exposed for the tricks they were. Yet today, if a mystifier lack the ingenuity to invent a new and startling stunt, he can safely fall back upon a trick that has been the favorite of pressagents the world over in all ages. He can imitate the Hindoo fakir who, having thrown a rope high into the air, has a boy climb it until he is lost to view. He can even have the feat photographed. The camera will click; nothing will appear on the developed film; and this, the performer will glibly explain, proves that the whole company of onlookers was hypnotized! And he can be certain of a very profitable following to defend and advertise him. ... My business has given me an intimate knowledge of stage illusions, together with many years of experience among show people of all types. My familiarity with the former, and what I have learned of the psychology of the latter, has placed me at a certain advantage in uncovering the natural explanation of feats that to the ignorant have seemed supernatural.

[conjuror.com]

Much appreciation for your post Corboy. Lot of material to digest there, so I'm working on delving into those areas now. I remember you mentioning Carlos Castaneda in another thread, but I never took the time to followup on the links. I'll be doing that now. I'll also be taking a more in-depth look into the Mark Miller material.

From my initial browsing into the first link provided, I'm having some problems with the spiritual assertions being made there. I need to give the article a more careful reading before I comment, and perhaps my concerns will be addressed with a more thorough reading.

Coz stated:

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I was tricked by reading "Autobiography of a Yogi" when I was a lot younger, and naive.

This book is one of the half a dozen or so recommended "classics" on Buddhism 101. So may sources consider it a classic. Perhaps a classic in indoctrination, i do not know. So much to digest in this thread.

I have purchased only one of the recommended classics on Buddhism- and haven't read it yet... titled [u:e10155af08]The Three Pillars of Zen[/u:e10155af08] by Roshi Philip Kapleau.

The question remains for me- How can one separate the genuine from the counterfeit? My only guess is to resist becoming a "member" until I have applied some healthy skepticism and done the research.

To avoid potentially unsafe groups see the following questions and guidelines.

Warning Signs [www.culteducation.com]

FAQ [www.culteducation.com]

There are many methods, but why not try the Carl Sagan Baloney Detection Kit?
[www.skeptics.com.au]

Right away, one sees the fallacy.
Its an "argument from authority".
That is, all of these sources say its good, so it must be good.
Well, what if these sources are biased, deluded, wrong, or getting commission referrals from Amazon.com?

Also, there is no independent confirmation of the stories in Yogananda's Autobiography.

One can see that the Yogananda Hypothesis violates almost every precept of the Baloney Kit.

Now of course, when i was young and foolish, i didn't know any of this, and believed the stuff in the book, because i couldn't comprehend at the time that someone would make up so much stuff.
Also, at the time i WANTED to believe that all that stuff was possible. This also violates several of the precepts in the Baloney Kit.

This stuff can get very tricky though, as one gets more fine-grained in ones analysis.
But when someone claims they can do "miracles", and offers NO PROOF, then its easy.


Coz

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Aurora

The question remains for me- How can one separate the genuine from the counterfeit? My only guess is to resist becoming a "member" until I have applied some healthy skepticism and done the research.

I just saw an interview on TV with a guy who is a manic-depressive. He said when he is in mania, he feels like "he has God and the Devil warring inside of him".
That reminds me of the Yogananda quote below.

Also, if you think about Yogananda, up all night "writing" with the "help" of young women, etc. (maybe he was writing as well).
Writing books about his "superpowers" and how God is talking to him, and becoming one with Christ, etc.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Its pretty interesting, if you think about it in that context.

Coz

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Cosmophilospher

Here is a quote from Yogananda which shows something interesting.

"There are always two forces warring against each other within us. One force tells us to do the things we should not do; and the other urges us to so the things we should do, the things that seem difficult. One voice is that of evil, and the other is that of good, or God".

Nice link on Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit. Lot of good material there. If anyone seriously following this thread hasn't followed that link, I highly recommend that you do so.

I've heard so much good about it, but never got around to picking up a copy. I'll be sticking that on my Christmas wish list. :D

Elizabeth Hamilton (1904 - 1991), known as Reverend Mother Yogacharya M. Hamilton, said to be the only woman that Yogananda made a Yogacharya, spoke often of going through a "mystical crucifixion" and of not being able to sleep at night because of processing her devotee's energy.
I am especially puzzling over something I often heard her speak on, something she also wrote about in: [www.crossandlotus.com]

Some relevant excerpts:

[i:d5a67a9fbf] I went to the doctor with Father and, because I had been taking on some of the same condition as I usually do with all of those who are
with me, I had some of the same trouble.

....I had told him about my being a difficult patient because I never knew whether what I came to a doctor with was my own or six other
people's. And the only way I could find out was to go. It's rather expensive but, when I know it isn't myself, then I know it's somebody else. And these things happen before I am aware of the fact that anybody has anything.[/i:d5a67a9fbf]

The way this would work, she would have say a sore throat, she would claim that it wasn't her own, it was one of her devotee's ailments. Naturally someone in the group would state that they indeed had a sore throat, everyone would be shocked and stunned, this would be seen as evidence of how great and holy Mother Hamilton was.
This worked as a guilt trip also, devotees felt they had to be careful in their thoughts and behavior, because Mother Hamilton might suffer for them if they did something wrong.
Amongst other abilities she was said to be able to bilocate, to read minds, and to predict the future.
I've come across several guru types who claim to take on other people's illnesses, also some folks who say they are shamans believe they do this also. I am not sure how this belief would be expressed in a DSM diagnosis, but it seems to me that it is certainly a delusion, and that the whole theme of being "contaminated" by others, of supposedly healing others by taking on their illnesses....is one worthy of deeper analysis.
Mania could also be a factor, the belief that one is superhuman, all knowing, and magical.

The Yogananda - Hamilton lineage continues through David Hickenbottom ( [www.crossandlotus.com] ).

Sarah