Similarities between Guruism Guruism and Gerontolatry Part III The third part third part of this study is based based on a chapter in in Dionysios Farasiotis‘ Farasiotis‘ book, The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Elder Paisios Paisios (Greek Edition). This chapter is called The Influence of Yoga on the Body and the Mind. It is only found in the Greek edition on pages 381-393. For some reason, the translator Fr. Alexis Trader (who is also a spiritual child of Geronda Ephraim and is a monk at one of his Athonite monasteries, Karakallou) decided to omit this chapter from the English edition. As in the first part, the following are excerpts from the photocopies that were distributed by St. Nektarios Monastery in Roscoe, NY. The similarities are interpolated within the text in brackets [...]: In the beginning, one truly feels a healthiness, well-being and revival. However, it is suggested to attribute this improvement to certain ‗hidden powers‘ and a certain ‗secret wisdom‘ that exist hidden within the Yoga exercises (stances). [In Monasticism here, most beginners experience a grace and this is always attributed to their Geronda Ephraim‘s prayers and their blind obedience. Many novices have been told that once they make the prostration to Geronda Ephraim signifying their submission to him, then invisibly they receive an innumerable amount of crowns free from his immeasurable and overflowing resource of graces and crowns. Any breach in this peace and euphoria is either the demons — demons — which which are allowed by God to tempt the beginner so he can be trained and learn the art of warfare —or warfare —or it‘s the the disciple‘s fault through his disobedience or accepting thoughts against his elder]. Every metaphysical metaphysical explanation of this well-being (i.e. via endorphins due to change of life-style and healthier living) is superfluous. Persistence in such an explanation simply becomes personal preference or curiosity that hides other goals. Only beginners have this feeling of well-bein well-being. g. The more advanced start to have problems; pains in the waist, knees, back and joints. [All monks start having health issues not too long after starting out in the life. As time goes on, the longer one is following the monastic typikon, one generally starts to develop back and knee problems. Illness is said to go hand in hand with the monastic life as everyone needs a cross to bear. The back and knee problems are pretty much a guarantee. Novices are are encouraged encouraged to stand stand as much much as possible possible during the all-night all-night vigil as they tend to fall asleep asleep easier during services when sitting. Combine that with a day of hard labor, only 6-6 ½ hours of sleep broken up into into a 4 hour hour (4 ½ if one one wants to sacrifice sacrifice the only free time they have to themselves themselves during the 24 hour period) and a 2-2 ½ hour period after an all night vigil followed by breakfast. Not to mention all monks generally have 150 daily prostrations as a rule (300 prostrations during Great Lent), except for Sundays. However, one can also rack up multiple prostrations during the day due to mistakes or disobediences they make. These are all ex pected ex pected to be fulfilled fulfilled so the demons don‘t don‘t have anything anything to hold against them during the soul‘s ascent through the toll -houses. These things take a toll on the body after awhile]. The main aim of Yoga gymnastics and postures is neither the development of muscles nor the acquisition of blessings. Their aims are the alteration of the organism‘s biochemical equilibrium. Someone seated in these postures puts pressure on the internal organs of the body: the heart, intestines, liver and lungs. Certain postures particularly press and act upon the endocrine glands (they are called chakras in their terminology).. The pressure incites the glands (most times) when we have an over-functioning terminology) over-function ing and effusion of great quantities of hormones inside the body. Other times, the exact opposite occurs. Every group of postures (asanas) exerts pressure on the various glands. [During the prayer of the heart portion of
a vigil — — the the times differ for each individual monastic — monastic — one one sits on a very small stool, which props their knees above their waist, and head is bent, body somewhat crouched. One wonders if similar things occur in the body with the pressure this posture puts on the internal organs of the body. There are some monastics who will do their daily kanona before they go to sleep so they can spend the entire duration of their nightly vigil (up to 3 or more hours) in such positions doing prayer prayer of the heart. Though the bodily position and breathing exercises for this method method of the prayer are not the be be all and all of the prayer, they are used as aids to assist in acquiring the prayer. When one of the monks in Arizona was asked about similarities between the Jesus Prayer and Hindu mantras, the response was that many Indians and Brahmans travelled back and forth from Egypt during the height of monasticism, they were so impressed by the spirituality spirituality of the Desert Desert Fathers that they stole some some of their techniques techniques for themselves themselves trying to imitate them]. Once, Elder Paisios told me, ―The devil cannot hide completely. God doesn‘t allow it . If the devil hid hid in some sack, a certain horn would protrude. But what does the devil one do? What‘s this, he says, it isn‘t a horn, it‘s an eggplant‖. The gurus also follow this tactic. They explain these clearly bodily phenomena as spiritual experiences and as spiritual progress. They interpret the condition (which doctors consider sickness) as ‗draining up energy energy from higher centers‘. Egoism will flatter these people into into thinking that they are more advanced; they aren‘t like the others. The pur pose of this this tactic is to make make these people more attached to the gurus with the hope that they will also reveal other deeper secrets to them; higher techniques that will make them superman, gods or whatever else else they desire. Thus, the maypole of deception is weaved. [In monasticism, everything is very black and white, there are not too many gray areas. A monastic‘s experiences are either from God or the Devil, Grace or the demonic imitation of Grace. Only the Geronda or Gerondissa can properly discern if the source of an experience is the uncreated energy of God, or the created energy of the devil. The monastic is heavily encouraged not to believe or or trust anything anything he feels feels or thinks before first confessing it to his/her his/her superior; the superior superior will give them the proper interpretation. And even if the superior is wrong, it is still better to do obedience and be safeguarded safeguarded from delusion as Geronda Ephraim Ephraim teaches teaches using using examples examples from the Desert Fathers]. Fathers]. The Yogic exercises and other similar techniques act upon the endocrine glands and bring about hormonal changes to the body. You will hear that they act upon certain centers – – ‗chakras‘ ‗chakras‘ (which give them mystical extensions) from where you derive energy. This is a ‗spiritual origin‘. Is this change without witho ut danger? Is it safe for someone to experiment and and play with his body‘s hormones? God (nature if you prefer) has regulated and fixed our body in a certain way. We have a very strong, intricate equilibrium, equilibriu m, so why do we want to change it? The smallest hormonal disorder causes serious illnesses (sterility, high blood blood pressure, goiter*, goiter*, diabetes, cancer). cancer). It is very dangerous. It is opposite of what they advertise. It has a deep influence upon the body. Someone can become gravely ill; suffer a gallopin galloping g form of cancer; he can go mad, ending up in a psychiatric clinic. [Monasticism doesn‘t put as much emphasis on the bodily postures as the yoga asanas. The prayer of the heart bodily aids are just that, means to an end, not the end itself. However, the combination of drastic diet change which is also food deprivation, forced sleep deprivation — which which also interferes with the circadian rhythm — hard hard labor to fatigue the body does have an effect on an individual. Combine that with doing psychosomatic exercises on 4 hours of sleep after a full day of work and starvation and depending on the blessing, after chugging a mug of cold coffee to wake up. Over a period of time, this will start affecting the natural equilibrium God designed for the human body. There is also research that shows caffeine can cause auditory hallucinations: http://www.livescience.com/3230-caffeine-hallucinations.html ].
Nobody knew knew these things. things. Nobody talked talked about th these ese things in the 70‘s. Ten years had to pass for many cases of illness to appear in order for something to start being whispered. Again, the gurus threw the burden and error on their their disciples. disciples. They didn‘t do the exercise exercise well. well. They didn‘t make good good preparations,, etc. The first cowardly preparations cowardly questions questions started started to occur. occur. Afterwards, suicides compelled compelled the gurus to start speaking about the dangers. dangers. Many people fell from the clouds, so dangers also exist. exist. [In monasticism, the burden is always thrown on the disciple. Geronda Ephraim has stated a disciple can enter hell with a blessing and not be burned or harmed. Thus, almost 100% of the time, if something happens to a disciple —nervous disciple —nervous breakdown, developing psychological psychological problems, problems, becoming becoming ―possessed‖ ―possessed‖ or deluded, leaving the monastery, severe depression, self-harm, suicide, etc. —it‘s etc. —it‘s almost almost always always deduced as the disciple did not have clean confession, is negligent in their spiritual duties or didn‘t do their obedience properly (i.e. (i.e. with a good disposition, disposition, unquestioning, unquestioning, without without judging, judging, etc.). There are the few rare rare instances where these things are blamed on the devil‘s envy and demonic warfare, though again allowed by God‘s Providence Providence for any given given reason. A Geronda or Gerondissa almost never never take on on the responsibility for themselves. For instance, in one monastery, the Abbot admitted that the monk in charge of construction was going to lose his soul if he remained in that diakonima because it was not helping him and he was becoming more problematic, argumentative, egotistical, and was challenging Geronda at every step. Though as the Abbot reflected, he then stated, ―But we save so much money with Kassianos, we need him to remain where he is, he is the only monk who can do it. He has saved the monastery millions.‖ millions.‖ On a later occasion, after a brief argument between this Abbot and the monk, with the monk rebutting and challenging everything that was being said, the Abbot turned to a couple of his monks afterwards and lamented Kassianos‘ end, stating what a diffic ult end he would have, and he was concerned because he didn‘t know how he would fare in the afterlife. But, in the end analysis, it would seem saving millions of dollars on construction projects is more valuable than saving one individual soul (which Christ has stated is more valuable than the entire universe). Again, all the fault is cast on the monk because he he doesn‘t do obedience obedience or have have clean confession. confession. What did Satyanenta say when speaking about the techniques? ―Together with this redemption from restrictions and misfortunes, from the other side, you can go mad and pass your remaining years in a psychiatric ward. Unfortunate Unfortunately, ly, this has has happened happened to some some people who who followed practical Yoga without without guidance or, otherwise, they didn‘t obey their teacher‘s instructions.‖ That is, he throws the blame on the disciples. He puts ‗oil‘ on himself. himself. [In Geronda‘s teachings, he doesn‘t hide the fact that monks can go mad and be possessed. He frequently tells such stories from his experiences experiences on Mount Athos — Athos — even even a story where he prayed to be possessed so he could understand and empathize more with the possessed, which he states God allowed briefly. As well, a large portion of the literature read describes monks possessed, who went insane insane and had had to be chained chained for periods periods of time time or committed committed suicide. suicide. But again, all all these things happen because a monastic hides their thoughts or follows their own will. Also, as the Athonite Fathers explained to younger monks and novices, ―Geronda will only ask once, twice, maybe three three times. However, if he sees one doesn‘t listen, he washes his hands of this disciple. He shouldn‘t have to stand there with a gun to the disciple‘s head; it‘s up to the disciple to either obey or disobey. There are monks at Philotheou and they don‘t even exist for Geronda Ephraim, he gave up on them long ago due to their disobedience. disobedience. And some don‘t even realize it. One of the worse delusions is for a monk to think they are in obedience when in reality they are doing their own will.‖] Let‘s return to guru Satyananta to see how he justifies or excuses the madness and cancer that someone can suffer from Yoga and similar techniques: ―Don‘t permit such a thing to happen to you. If you desire
to follow the road toward true knowledge, you should have a guru that is completely familiar with this other dimension of consciousness. The teacher should know it backwards. He should have been found there. Such a guru is called Sat-guru. Sat- guru. Why reconcile with something lesser?‖ [This is Geronda‘s teaching, teaching, ―Have an experienced guide.‖ The Geronda‘s say of themselves they are the most sinful people in the world with no spiritual gifts, etc. out of humility. Yet, the Patristic writings place the position of a Geronda, at least for one who does blind obedience, like an infallible Pope. The Geronda does not himself teach that he is infallible, yet his teaching and the Patristic teachings teach the position of the Elder is infallible. How? ―The mouth of the Elder is the mouth of Christ‖ (Papa Ephraim Katounakia) ―The first words out of your Elder‘s mouth are God‘s will for you, if you rebut or change and ask your Elder for something else, then the next words are his own and not God‘s will for you‖ (cf. St. Siluan); ―God will make straight the crookedness of the Elder to the one doing blind obedience‖ (Elder Ephraim of Arizona); ―Even if you see your Elder fornicate, do not judge him‖ (St. Symeon the New Theologian). Thus, the Gerondas do not advertise themselves, but use the Patristic teachings as a means to self-advertise. Now, throw in all the Geronda Ephraim miracle and spiritual giant stories and teachings a monastic is bombarded with with almost almost on a daily daily basis, he is also also advertised advertised through his Abbots, abbesses and the monastics he brought from Greece. This is passed on to the next generation of monks, who will pass it on to the next batch of monastics that enter their monastery, and a perpetual cycle of self-promotion and advertising is solidified. The Gerondas and Gerondissas also cover their own inabilities with the catch all, ―We‘re just representatives of Geronda Ephraim; he can‘t be in all his monasteries at once. But whatever obedience or disobedience you do to us, goes to Geronda Ephraim and then to Christ.‖ The sneaky guru is indirectly self-recommended. self-re commended. So, for the ‗mishaps‘, according to his view, he blames the disciples or the pseudo-guru. pseudo-guru. Satyanant Satyananta, a, however however is guaranteed, guaranteed, a successful teacher. His disciples don‘t have to fear. Yet, is this really how things are? How many disciples left from him, afraid, disappointed, disappoint ed, discouraged and mentally mentally insane? In the beginning, when I met the mentally insane swami (that is an advanced Yogi teacher), I asked, ―why is he like that‖? They told me, ―His guru took his mind because it was an obstacle to his spiritual progress‖. What can someone say? They patch up everything. They justify it all by proposing their own interpretati interpretation. on. They slip from thesis to thesis until they contradict themselves, justifying the unjustifiable. [The mishaps for many of the Orthodox who visit the monasteries are blamed on the secular priests who don‘t know their faith, don‘t give the proper penances and thus cause more harm to the individual‘s soul, and know nothing about spirituality (code for they don‘t practice the neptic the neptic tradition of interior watchfulness and ceaseless mental prayer, nor pass it on to the people confessing to them). Lots of monastics — monastics — both monks monks and nuns —leave Geronda Ephraim‘s Ephraim‘s monasteries. Afterwards, they are explained off as having hid their thoughts, not having obedience nor struggling spiritually. Thus, they were deluded by the devil who dragged them back to the world. In the monasteries, anything unjustifiable can be made justified if it serves the monasteries‘ interests. There is no sin in lying when given the command to lie because then it is obedience. The disciple will only be judged on their obedience, obedience, did did they obey obey or not. The giver giver of the commands commands will be judged judged on the commands given — if if they were sins, lies, white collar crimes, forgeries, etc. — etc. — the the disciple is not responsible for performing these actions. He is responsible if he doesn‘t perform them, or if he examines them, or if he questions the one giving the orders. This is dangerous for a disciple. This is the mindset in the monasteries]. For a monk, each advancement is said to bring a new, stronger warfare (i.e., from sub-novice to novice, novice to rassaphore, ordination, or tonsuring into the great schema). After one is a monk for a decade or
longer, Geronda Ephraim may reveal another anothe r secret to them: ―It‘s only after 10 or 15 years that a monk starts to get an understanding of just exactly what he has gotten himself into…‖ The rest of the article can be found here: https://www.scribd.com https://www.scribd.com/doc/2506758 /doc/250675862/Dionysios62/Dionysios-Farasiotis-The Farasiotis-The-Influence-Influence-of-Yoga-on-theof-Yoga-on-the-Body-andBody-andthe-Mind
