Yogananda's Incorruptibility After Death is a SRF Myth

October 18, 2006

Yogananda's Incorruptibility After Death SRF Myth

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, 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/bstett/Pa...bility.htm

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/incorrupt.html

Yogananda (1893-1952) died at age 59 of a heart attack (which was

the official cause of death) after giving a speech at the Biltmore

Hotel to welcome India's visiting ambassador. Yogananda's health was

deteriorating rapidly at the time, and he was in a particularly

weakened state, so it's not much of a surprise that he would

collapse after straining himself in such a way. Nevertheless, the

faithful view his " collapsing on the ground as his heart gave out

from more strain than it could handle " as Mahasamadhi -- a magical,

conscious floating away to some sort of heaven.

An interesting note here is that the average male life expectancy

for someone living in the United States circa 1950 was 66 years.

Evidently Yogananda's ideas on diet and health weren't exactly

sound, since he couldn't even manage to live as long as the average

beer drinking, cigar smoking, red meat eating American male during

the 50's. A little more solid protein in his diet probably would

have helped.

More importantly, his meditations claimed to rejuvenate the cells of

the body with magical pranic energy channeled in from the medulla

oblongata. His 'Hong Sau' meditation in particular, ironically

claimed to have the ability to rest the heart. Well, I think it's

clear that his heart didn't actually benefit in such ways.

Nevertheless, people continue to do the robot dance (aka

Energization Exercises), Hong Sau, Aum, and the hissing throat

ritual called Kriya. No one ever benefits, no one ever gains health

benefits, no one finds Enlightenment (which is the Eastern version

of Heaven or Disneyland). And no one connects the dots and actually

stops and thinks.

The show must go on I suppose.

" Mundus vult decipi. " (The world wants to be deceived.)

" Homo vult decipi; decipiatur. " (Man wishes to be deceived; deceive

him.)

November 5, 2013

It is interesting the amount of time skeptics and atheists spend on attempting to create fraud where there is none. What the sum of all the information presented states is that SRF reported that Paramahansa Yogananda's body remained visibly intact 20 days after death. The note regarding the incorruptibility being unique was provided by the cemetery handling his remains. The SRF publication itself is even noted, in the article, to admit that there was a spot on his nose that was the only indication of death. The fact that he passed away, just as he had predicted...speaking of his love for America and India, is not mentioned. The fact that he repeatedly told his followers that he would be "gone soon"...and that he, "had a big trip" coming up were also not mentioned. But the implications that his lifestyle, diet, etc. were "not sound" and that the meditative practices have never benefitted anyone is the biggest proof that the person who wrote this article is hurting deeply on the inside. Why make such malicious statements about someone who has done no personal harm to you? Why equate Heaven to Disneyland? Is that your clear understanding of the nature of the metaphysical? Is Disneyland as deep as your mind can go when trying to conceive of the Infinite? If so...that too is ok...it is all a part of your process, but know that there is only two ways to progress. Either you open up your mind and listen to others who have found the way...or prepare yourself to go through trial after trial until the natural consequences of your actions take you through the arduous path of evolution in spite of yourself. Either way...you will be ok. You will be in my prayers.