Notes 203
- Satyeswarananda 1991: 150.
- Satyananda 2004: 268.
- Trout 2000: 120.
- Satyeswarananda 1994: 115.
- Satyeswarananda 1991: 149.
- Dasgupta 2006: 121.
- Dasgupta 2006: 132.
- See Angel 1994: 293– 96.
- Yogananda 1958: 124.
Chapter 4- Warnack 1932: I9.
- The most notable point of divergence, aside from the eschewing of Sanskrit termi-
nolog y and exclusion of karma yoga, is Yogananda’s subdivision of Vivekananda’s
rāja yoga into what he calls the “meditation method” and the “organic scientific
method.” The two new methods differ in that the “meditation method” is described
as referring simply to the control of the external organs and is therefore judged to be
hardly superior to the state of deep sleep. On the other hand, the “organic, scientific
method,” which receives a much lengthier exposition, deals with the control of the
internal organs and life energies. This latter approach largely mirrors Vivekananda’s
description of rāja yoga, as well as the principles that would later guide Yogoda
methodolog y as expounded by Yogananda, in combining a haṭha yogic physiolog y
with scientific language of electromagnetism. The book is also composed in a lofty
philosophical style that is highly uncharacteristic of Yogananda’s later publications,
one possible explanation for which is that Yogananda was not in fact the “instru-
mental cause” of the publication. In the preface to his “rewriting” of the work, God
Is for Everyone (2003), Kriyananda claims that Yogananda never really wrote The
Science of Religion at all. According to Laurie Pratt (Tara Mata), Yogananda drew
up the outline for the book after his return from Japan in 1916 but Dhirananda,
whose command of English was then far superior, served as a ghostwriter for the
actual text. Dhirananda is listed as a secondary author on every edition of the work
released prior to his break with Yogananda in 1929. Upon examination, the style
of The Science of Religion is indeed much more reminiscent of Dhirananda’s later
independent publications than to anything else that Yogananda has authored.
Dhirananda’s writing does nothing to betray his Indian roots, being filled with
references from the Bible, to Hamlet, to Bolshevism. Indeed, one might observe
that works by New Thought authors of the time regularly employed Sanskrit with
greater frequency than did Dhirananda’s essays. However, Dhirananda’s preference
for Western terminolog y does little to temper the highly opaque nature of his prose
and, like his subsequent publications, The Science of Religion has never enjoyed any
notable popularity. Although it is likely that Dhirananda likewise had a significant