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Date Posted: 07:02:42 05/05/03 Mon
Author: ketch - 12 March 2003
Subject: SRF’s Response to Leonard Angel's investigation
In reply to: ketch - 12 Mar 2003 's message, "Leonard Angel’s investigation into the incorruptibility of Paramahansa Yogananda’s body." on 06:59:33 05/05/03 Mon

Angel wrote to SRF Mother Center, asking what the “miracle” associated with Paramahansa Yogananda’s passing is alleged to have been in the light of the comments received from the embalmers mentioned in the post above. He also asked why the information about the body having been embalmed is not present in most SRF publications. The reply is quoted below. The date is not given.




We spoke with Mr Gary Olsen, Vice President at Forest Lawn, about the assertions in your article. He commented that Mr Harry T Rowe, Mortuary Director at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park at the time of Paramahansa Yogananda’s passing, was a first-hand observer of the events that took place at the time., that he wrote a detailed description of those events in his notarised letter dated May 16 1952, and that Forest Lawn stands by that letter. We too stand by that letter, and suggest that you publish it in its entirety in your article, which we feel would otherwise be misleading.

The essence if not the detail of Mr Rowe’s letter appears in its first sentence: ‘The absence of any visual signs of decay in the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda offers the most extraordinary case in our experience.’ The fact is that the professionals on the scene were astounded by what took place. Mr Rowe was not a member of Self-Realization Fellowship and had no reason to bring the matter to our attention other than the facts of its extraordinary nature. Whether one calls such events ‘miraculous’ will depend on one’s own views. One who believes that miracles cannot occur will be unwilling to call any event miraculous, however extraordinary the facts may be.

The purpose of the excerpts from Mr Rowe’s letter which appear in Autobiography of a Yogi and other publications is to give the gist of that letter – to present the essence and feeling of it. The full photographic reproduction of the letter appears in the booklet Paramahansa Yogananda – In Memoriam and has always been available to anyone interested in the subject.

You asked by telephone for two items of information: the scientific credentials of Mr Rowe, and the whereabouts of Mr Kenneth Johnson – the embalmer listed on Paramahansa Yogananda’s death certificate. We asked Mr Olsen of Forest Lawn for this information; after looking into it, he told us that as Mortuary Director, Mr Rowe would have to have been licenced as an embalmer by the State of California. Aside from that, after these many years Forest Lawn has no record of Mr Rowe’s scientific credentials. And they have no record of the present whereabouts of Mr Kenneth Johnson.

If you should require any further information, please let us know.

Sincerely, SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP



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