NiTe Paramahansa Yogananda

[Juan E. Sandoval]

I found yet another Ni-lead guru, the Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda.

He doesn't have too much footage but it's just enough to put together ~3+ minutes of just him on camera, displaying his vultology. But first here are a few still shots:

And here is a video I put together of all the clips I could find of him.

 
He's yet another example of an Ni-lead shaman, fitting the exact same shade as NiTe l--- Adi Da Samraj. He also had a discipleship, a focus on meditation and was considered by some as the "father of yoga in the west."
He also appears to have panpsychic undertones to his work, from quotes such as:

"You are walking on the earth as in a dream. Our world is a dream within a dream; you must realize that to find God is the only goal, the only purpose, for which you are here. For Him alone you exist. Him you must find." – from the book The Divine Romance

But I don't really know that much about him. I am wondering if anyone else has come across his work here, and if so what do you think of him?
Thanks!

[safsom]

I am not sure about Paramahansa Yogananda as you mention (though his work does seem fascinating) but I think that Ni itself as a function and the emergent properties of of an Ni-lead function stack (which implies the judgement axis being subordinate and having introverted extroverted sensing) lends itself naturally to a lot of the ideas you see these spiritual teachers advocating - particularly those concerning the nature of life itself, which I've observed Ni-leads tend towards as framing as a product of consciousness and interpretation, directed towards not the acceptance but the obligation of capturing the present as a means to modify it or mutate it to fit an idealization. You see these ideas emerge globally, after all, Ni's main proclivity is towards capturing these observations in a panoramic scope, but I would personally assert that the belief systems of South Asia were the origin of Ni as a spiritual modus operandi - specifically a Gamma variant of it, which is why you see so many NiTe in these fields.

One of the foremost Ni-style intellectual trends in Western spirituality at least is alchemy. TeNi Isaac Newton produced a great deal of work as attempts to solve the problems of alchemy, of particular interest to him and many alchemists was the symbol of the Ouroboros, or a snake that feeds back into its own mouth, symbolizing transmutation, the essential process behind not only life, but the flow of the universe itself. Processes flowing into one another, resources transferred between them. Cycles of events recurring in a manner where those events that were originally root causes emerge once again as consequences of the possible permutations of events being reduced due to prior occurrence. However, the most crucial association in alchemy is that between the universe and the mind - the mind is a means whereby which the universe is perceived, and thus its mastery precedes any mastery of the external world. The first transmutations are not physical, but mental, because they introduce the potential that your perception can be extended towards physical change.
These ideas are best known by most as being representative of alchemical traditions, but the fact of the matter is that most Abrhamic religions, though definitely alluding to individuation (modification of an individual consciousness towards the end of enlightenment) comparatively place a much greater significance and weight on acting out of virtue for upholding the word of God, or for the good of the collective. The change and ripples do not begin in the mind of the individual, they begin in the universal mind. This is the opposite of what is at the heart of Indic belief systems, instead, they take the very Gamma (as opposed to the Beta attitude of the Abrahamic religions) approach to these problems.

The Ouroboros, as we know, is a symbol of recurrence and re-emergence - what goes in is what comes out, simply transmuted to another form. The ancient Indic symbol of the dharmachakra (literally translating to 'wheel of dharma' or 'wheel of righteousness') is alluding to an extremely similar concept - initially constructed for facilitating a cyclical construct of time based on ethical precedent, the same ancient wheel symbol can be observed not only during rituals of a more cosmic or metaphysical nature, but even seemingly mundane rituals like birthdays, where the wheel is spun to signify transitions between archetypal life-stages and eventually the union of childhood and old age at their crucial overlap - senility. Most importantly, of all, the wheel also serves as a model of consciousness. The wheel always loops back to its original state, and the mind is the origin of thought. Perception is founded upon thought, and therefore the universe and its cyclical processes are founded not only on observable phenomena but mental phenomena too.
From a functional-stack ontological perspective, you can clearly see the Ni play out as an epistemological force, clearly on an axis with Se. Although the precedent for the observation of recurring phenomena is based on present, clear and concrete data, the truth of the data independent of interpretation (which is sacred for Se) is completely abandoned by the Ni approach to spirituality and truth - truth is instead found not externally or in 'real' data, but begins in the mind and the way the perceptual capacity of the mind itself is oriented - which has no volitional limit for most Ni-leads. The world is not what it is, but what you are able to make it with your consciousness, because the universe is a direct emergent property of cognition itself. These ideas have their origin as emergent properties of Ni, which are reflected (as analyzed above) in early Indic symbolism.
What is the trend with the gurus that you mention in your post above? The traditions and schools of thoughts from which they come are primarily Indic - even Adi Da Samraj (though I could see a case for his religion being an excuse to serve his sex addiction) traveled to India to learn more about the ancient idea of consciousness being a mediator. This is a trend that you are bound to observe among Ni-leads of a spiritual bent, they are more partial towards the ideas of their intellectual predecessors (eastern schools of thoughts, Eckhart Tolle, etc...) than those of their own inherited traditions. With the increasing popularity of spiritual coping methods (due to a materalization of the world at large), you see this phenomenon and method of spirituality increasing in popularity, ironically as an awareness of timeless trends that can actually be capitalized is declining. Balancing (the Ouroboros feeding back into himself!) and neutralization. Cycles and wheels.
I think it is appropriate to end this post with a Hindu folktale about the mouth of Lord Krishna and where the universe really originates -

His mother, Yashoda, coming up to him with a wagging finger scolds him: “You shouldn’t eat dirt, you naughty boy.”
“But I haven’t,” says the unchallenged lord of all and everything, disguised as a frightened human child.
“Tut! Tut! Open your mouth,” orders Yashoda.
Krishna does as he is told. He opens his mouth and Yashoda gasps. She sees in Krishna’s mouth the whole complete entire timeless universe, all the stars and planets of space and the distance between them, all the lands and seas of the earth and the life in them; she sees all the days of yesterday and all the days of tomorrow; she sees all ideas and all emotions, all pity and all hope, and the three strands of matter; not a pebble, candle, creature, village or galaxy is missing, including herself and every bit of dirt in its truthful place.

This is the original Ni perspective and the perspective that you see from most modern spiritual gurus that advocate similar ideas - the mind is the origin of the universe and modifications of the internal lead to direct reverberates and changes in the external. Perception is not reality in itself (because perception itself implies some external basis), but the modification of perception changes how reality is structured and utilized. This is where I will end for today.

[Juan E. Sandoval]

@safsom , I hope you'll excuse that I haven't even constructed a reply to your post above (except to say I loved it), yet I find myself adding more fuel to the discussion. But perhaps it'll all loop back around. Today I came across another NiTe:

NiTe Rev. Sarah Coakley

(Heh, there's a meme on our Discord server about Gamma types and "Sex and Power" themes. She's apparently authored a book called "God, Sexuality, and the Self" which sounds very much in parallel with this meme, but that's hardly the most interesting facet about her.)
I haven't watched the entire video above, but I watched through this one:

..And what she says at 0:45+ speaks to what you were saying above:

I myself can't remember a time when I didn't feel this extraordinary tug towards the transcendent. I don't know whether some of us are just born that way or whether it's genetically implanted. I've often wanted not to believe in God for lots of actually rather rational reasons but I found it very difficult to disbelieve in God myself.

And as a trained theologian, what she means by this is not simply a matter of fundamental adherence, but I believe she means by it a kind of ontological inexorability of the notion (of this Absolute Consciousness's primacy) from her being.
There's so much more to what she says in the rest of these videos and others, and I haven't even begun to properly absorb her perspectives. But since she came up today, quite by accident, I thought I'd share it here with you and those interested.

[Author]

Posts