stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

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Among the SRF gurus, Lahiri Mahasaya was, according to the
same source, both King Janaka and the poet Kabir. Likewise, Babaji
(as with Aurobindo) was believed to be the reincarnation of
Krishna—with Yogananda himself being the Bhagavad Gita’s Arjuna,
Krishna’s most beloved disciple. As he himself explained
parts of that:
[Rajasi Janakananda—James J. Lynn, Yogananda’s most
advanced male disciple—was] one of the [Bhagavad Gita’s]
twins, the positive one, Nakula. He was my favorite brother
and I loved him more than anyone else. I was also his Guru
then too. Krishna was my guru and Babaji, being Krishna, is
still my guru, Sri Yukteswarji was my guru by proxy for Babaji
(in Mata, 1992).
Yogananda further said that he himself would reincarnate in a
few hundred years, “just to sit in back and meditate.”
All of the gurus in the SRF lineage (i.e., Krishna, Jesus, Babaji,
Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar) are additionally believed
to be avatars. Yukteswar is also held to have been the reincarnation
of the stigmatist Saint Francis of Assisi.
“Sir,” I asked Master [i.e., Yogananda] one day at his desert
retreat, “are you an avatar?”
With quiet simplicity he replied, “A work of this importance
would have to be started by such a one” (Kriyananda,
1979).
Indeed, Yogananda often said of SRF and kriya yoga, “This
work is a special dispensation of God” (Kriyananda, 1979). He further
prophesied that it would sweep the world “like wildfire” over
the coming millennia, to the point where “millions would come.”
As expected, there is an asserted connection with Jesus as
well:
“Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Sri Yukteswar,” [Yogananda]
announced, “were the three wise men who came to visit the
Christ child in the manger” (Kriyananda, 1979).
Others (e.g., Burke, 1994) have suggested that Yogananda was
also previously John the Beloved (i.e., Jesus’ apostle, John).
Yogananda himself claimed, on other occasions, to be the reincarnation
of William the Conqueror. The latter king, being the ille-