Self-Realization: Christian or Hindu?
Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the now classic life story, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” brought the Self-realization teachings of India to…
Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the now classic life story, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” brought the Self-realization teachings of India to the West in 1920. Yogananda was a monk in the Giri branch of the Swami order of India.
He used a variety of terms to describe his teachings according to the emphasis and context. One term he used was Sanatan Dharma. It is an ancient term that describes the essential revelations of Indian religion which pre-date the classic period of Hinduism. This term can be translated to mean the “Eternal Religion” or the “Universal Truths”. The meaning here is that the essential teachings represent the core and universal purpose of the creation in general and humanity specifically. It contains the foundational revelations of all true faiths such as a belief in God, divine love and goodness, the divine omnipresence in all creation, the destiny of all souls to seek and be reunited with the Creator and the role of those who are the agents of salvation. (Even a faith like Buddhism that is reluctant to discuss such tenants in these terms, professes compassion for all life and the importance of liberation from delusion.)
Another term he used is “Self-realization.” He used this term in naming his organization. It is a reference to the teaching that the individual human soul (or Atman) has for both its purpose and destiny to be re-united with the Creator (Brahman) in cosmic consciousness. That destiny is not automatic. The soul must make the effort to transcend its temporary identification with the body and personality to begin the journey to transfer its self-identification to the overarching Spirit within. The soul’s self-effort creates the magnetism to attract to itself the second crucial ingredient to its successful reunion: the grace of a God-realized guru.
Another term Yogananda used to describe his work in the West was the “Second Coming of Christ.” This was certainly an audacious moniker for a Hindu-yogi who was traveling and teaching in America. He did NOT claim HE was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. He stated that he was sent to the West at the behest of both Babaji (a reincarnation of Lord Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita) AND Jesus Christ. The two of whom, he said, conferred together: one without a body and with a body! He hinted at a deeper and long-standing relationship to Jesus Christ when he stated that the three wise men were none other than the yogis of his current life lineage in their former incarnations.
Yogananda said that he came to resurrect the ORIGINAL teachings of BOTH Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita and Jesus Christ specifically to emphasize the daily practice of meditation and the underlying similarity in their core teachings. Both in India and in the West, religion had gone too far in the direction of outward ritual, priestly control, and sectarian beliefs and had lost the all-important emphasis on the individual’s inner relationship with God for which meditation is uniquely helpful. Further, given the technological and scientific orientation of modern times, he knew that a method for “inner communion” (through meditation) would be welcomed and appreciated. Towards this end, Yogananda’s lineage in the nineteenth century revitalized and refined an ancient and advanced technique which they called, simply, “Kriya Yoga.”
Paramhansa Yogananda also taught hatha yoga, and the Eight-Fold Path of Patanjali (raja yoga) as steps toward initiation into the advanced technique of kriya yoga. Though the Yoga Sutras are too often assumed to be only the basis of yoga, a careful reading of their pithy statements easily reveals their universality and nonsectarian view.
This brings us at last to our question: Are these Self-realization teachings Christian? Or Hindu? Or, neither? Both?
Yogananda said “I didn’t come here to Indianize you!” He was not even a Brahmin by caste (but a Kshatriya). There is a strong resemblance in his teachings to those of a parallel but slightly earlier lineage: Ramakrishna Paramhansa and his chief disciple, Swami Vivekananda (who came to America at an earlier time, 1893).
Ramakrishna was a nonconformist from orthodoxy but less so than Yogananda if for no other reason than Ramakrishna did not travel outside India. Ramakrishna is perhaps best known for having achieved an inner realization of the potential of each of the major faiths of humanity to bestow God-realization.
One might say that Yogananda continued the direction away from orthodox Hinduism by focusing on the mainstream of Raja Yoga practices as taught in the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. (Ramakrishna focused on training his monastic disciples and did not publicly teach yoga-meditation practices.) Nonetheless, between the two Paramhansas, a trend or direction in religion was being launched.
Yogananda did, however, retain a few key Hindu chants (Hymn to Brahma, for example) and conducted the fire ceremonies of the Gayatri and Mahamrityunjaya mantras. His close disciples adopted variations upon Hindu dress and adopted a Hindu vegetarian diet that included creative meatless recipes devised by Yogananda for his western students.
Yogananda introduced an entirely new form of chanting using English words that are more like affirmations and prayers rather than only repetitions of the divine names. He retained the use of the Indian instrument, the harmonium (originally introduced by Christian missionaries long ago but adapted for chanting by Hindus.) but also played the organ and even the sarod.
One of the branches of Yogananda’s work is called Ananda. It was founded by Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Yogananda who was trained and commissioned by Yogananda.
Ananda’s Sunday Service features a ceremony written by Swami Kriyananda that incorporates elements familiar to both Christians and Hindus. It is called the Festival of Light. It contains an English adaptation of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad (“From darkness lead us to Light”). The Festival of Light ceremony culminates in a Hindu-style blessing to each congregant called the “Touch of Light.” It is given by the minister to each person at the point-between-the-eyebrows in the forehead. Even though it is a Hindu practice it reminds some Christian visitors of coming to the altar to receive the communion wafer.
The Ananda Sunday Service also includes congregational, Christian-like hymns (written by Swami Kriyananda) and during the service congregants stand and sit at various times. The service resembles a Christian Sunday Service replete with readings, a sermon, music and an offertory. It also includes, however, a brief period of silent meditation. Ananda honors in its own style four of the major Hindu celebrations: Shivaratri, Guru purnima, Janmashtami, and Diwali while yet including Christmas and Easter! In addition, it celebrates the birth and mahasamadhis of the Self-realization lineage.
The core of the Self-realization teachings of Yogananda are directed towards the practice of Kriya Yoga as it was re-introduced by Lahiri Mahasaya in the mid-nineteenth century in Varanasi, India. Kriya Yoga is the heart and soul of Yogananda’s teachings.
Self-realization organizations, including Ananda, are not affiliated with or subordinate to any Christian or Hindu sect or denomination. Swami Kriyananda, a swami of the Hindu Giri (mountain) branch, created a new swami order, the Nayaswami Order (“naya” means “new”). However, it is not officially part of Ananda but stands on its own and is open to eligible devotees who practice some form of meditation and ego transcendence to achieve the soul-bliss of Self-realization.
Yogananda’s teachings are therefore neither Hindu nor Christian yet contain recognizable elements of each. Yogananda insisted, however, that his was not syncretism but is, instead, elemental because it considers the essential teachings of each, and, indeed, the core elements of all true religions: the soul’s yearning for and destiny to reunite with the Creator. Meditation adds the “how-to” aspect of this goal while also incorporating the universal basics of the spiritual life such as devotion, self-sacrifice, humility, self-control and love for God and service to others.
Yogananda described his work as a “New Dispensation.” This resembles the early Christian assertion of being a “New Covenant” which both replaced and fulfilled the former “covenant” with Abraham and Moses as described in the Old Testament. Yogananda would surely agree that Self-realization teachings do not intend “to destroy the law and prophets” but to fulfill the essence and natural evolution of existing faiths. Taking from his own guru (Swami Sri Yukteswar) the revelation that humanity has entered a new era in the traditional cycles of time (called Dwapara Yuga, the second age), Yogananda declared that the time has come for humanity to begin moving away from sectarianism and to recognize the underlying shared values and purposes of all faiths. Yet at the same time and as a “New Dispensation,” Self-realization is developing its own expression of the universal religious aspirations underlying all faiths.
It seems obvious that, historically speaking, Yogananda’s Self-realization teachings are an outgrowth of the yoga-branch of Hinduism. Its relationship to Hindu orthodoxy is negligible. But like the core of pluralistic Hinduism itself, Self-realization sees its precepts as universal and non-sectarian even as it, too, has its own unique expression. The central emphasis on Kriya yoga reflects the self-effort aspect of soul union but retains the teaching that discipleship to a true guru is its necessary corollary.
As Jesus was a Jew and Christianity emerged from Judaism, as Buddha was a Hindu and Buddhism emerged from Hinduism, so was Yogananda was a Hindu and Self-realization is emerging from its roots in India. Self-realization’s emphasis on the original teachings of Jesus Christ reflects its mission to reveal the universality of (especially) Christianity at a time when East and West must find common ground. When Yogananda was asked why he especially focused on Krishna and Christ his response was simple: “It was Babaji’s wish that I do so.” As people from all over the world and all walks of life are drawn to Kriya Yoga and Self-realization, it is sure to take on a life of its own in the decades and centuries to come just as Christianity and Buddhism did as they emerged from their roots in Judaism and Hinduism respectively.
Joy and blessings to you,
Swami Hrimananda!