Steve, I used to swim, far away from the beach but that was in the Adriatic sea, which compared to the Pacific ocean is more like a bathtub. In lake Shrine I wrongly remembered that by bathing in that water you received a special blessing, whereas when I checked later it was more like being in that place would draw those blessings. Turyananda had a booming voice and went on with some reasoning I do not remember, I thought that he took his role of guardian pretty seriously. I agree you cannot make everyone happy with all the quirks we all carry.
SRF lessons, actually I do not read them often but now you are prompting me.
Hello to Eric-hillbillus, when I was a boy in Italy the Indian American Culture was very, very popular, we knew all the tribes and the sayings of the wise old indians, we had lots of cartoons with them and films of course, even though the image was often distorted, they being the villains a little too often!.
Well; I too thought it rather weird that our sister site just closed out with no apparent explanation beforehand.... we'll see... they might come back yet. Quite often though I have noticed that having a guru brings into our lives many things that happen for a reason. It often takes a while to grasp but yet it is still so. I am sure happy you came here though because you contributed so much to yoganandajis' site. I recently told someone that I invented spiritualportal but I realized the fallacy of my statement when I thought how various people here have reinvented it. Hope you help us also. We are receptive to suggestions. It seems to me that everyday on the path we are faced with new challenges and must reinvent ourselves to be mentally healthy in the conditions we find ourselves.
I hope to share with you experiences with the SRF lessons. It always gives me much enthusiasm to see others working through some of the same ideas we have and trying to put spiritual concepts to practice. i am presently working with lesson 100. i remember asking a monk at SRF where he got the guided meditation he used in service and he said lesson 100. i always liked those guided meditations. Yogananda was quite practical and methodic in his approach. His techniques gave me the first real glimpse at spirit. For this I will never forget and continue practicing till the end of my life: God Willing.
Turiyananda was often a bit larger than life. A very unusual man indeed! He told me once that I needed to be careful because he had seen that look on convicts: This was when i just met him! I had just gone through a real difficult relationship (23 years old) and felt numbed. But for some reason he momentarily shook me out of that state and made me laugh hilariously-He had a very dry and satirical sense of humor-So in that sense i think it was all good. I thought later: We often take ourselves way too seriously and the things that happen in our life. It is OK to be the butt of a joke. Besides who is really there to get offended but a ridiculously loud ego?
Jitendra
