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Kriya Yoga is described by its practitioners as the ancient Yoga system revived in modern times by Mahavatar Babaji through his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, c 1861, and brought into widespread public awareness through Paramhansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama based techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion.

Kriya Yoga Practice

Kriya Yoga as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya is traditionally learned via the Guru - disciple relationship. In Autobiography of a Yogi, Lahiri Mahasaya describes that after his initiation into Kriya Yoga, "Babaji instructed me in the ancient rigid rules which govern the transmission of the yogic art from Guru to disciple."

Yogananda describes Kriya Pranayama, "The Kriya Yogi mentally directs his life energy to revolve, upward and downward, around the six spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs of the zodiac, the symbolic Cosmic Man. One-half minute of revolution of energy around the sensitive spinal cord of man effects subtle progress in his evolution; that half-minute of Kriya equals one year of natural spiritual unfoldment."

In Kriya Quotes from Swami Satyananda, it is written, "Kriya sadhana may be thought of as the sadhana of the "practice of being in Atman"

History

According to Yogananda, Kriya Yoga was well-known in ancient India, but was eventually lost, due to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference". Yogananda says that Krishna refers to Kriya Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita:

Offering inhaling breath into the outgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases the life force from the heart and brings it under his control.

Yogananda also stated that Krishna was referring to Kriya Yoga when "Lord Krishna … relates that it was he, in a former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator. He, in turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India’s solar warrior dynasty." Yogananda says that Patanjali was referring to Kriya Yoga when he wrote "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." And again when he says,"Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration." A direct disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, Sri Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta has written that, "Kriya entails several acts that have evidently been adapted from the Gita, the Yoga Sutras, Tantra shastras and from conceptions on the Yugas."

Recent history

The story of Lahiri Mahasaya receiving initiation into Kriya Yoga by the yogi Mahavatar Babaji in 1861 is recounted in Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda wrote that at that meeting, Mahavatar Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, "The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century, is a revival of the same science that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples." Yogananda also wrote that Babaji and Christ were in continual communion and together, "have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age."

Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri who was himself a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, then brought Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century. Since that time it has spread throughout the world through various Guru lineages, most of which claim descent from Lahiri Mahasaya.

Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Sri Panchanon Bhattacharya, Swami Pranabananda, Swami Kebalananda, Swami Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).

Difference in Techniques

According to Swami Satyeswarananda Giri and Shibendu Lahiri Yogananda taught a modified Kriya technique which differs substantially from the original Kriya technique as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya. Yogananda adapted Kriya Yoga for Westerners by adding the Energization Exercises, the Aum technique and the injunction to practice Kriya Pranayam in silence, thus making it suitable for group meditation. The original sequence consists of Talabya Kriya (Khecari mudra), Kriya Pranayam, Navi Kriya, Yoni Mudra and Maha Mudra.

Notes

1. "Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened...the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately linked with breath mastery." Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946, by Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 26.
2. "Initiation of a Kriya Yogi consists of a secret ceremony; it is an affair between the Guru and the initiate." Kriya Yoga, it's dissemination and the Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj, chapter 5, page 8
3. Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 33, page 322
4. Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946, by Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 26.
5. Kriya Quotes from Swami Satyananda, page 2.
6. Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
7. Bhagavad Gita IV:29
8. Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26, referring to Bhagavad Gita IV:1-2
9. Patanjali Aphorisms, II:1. Translation by Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
10. Patanjali Aphorisms, II:49. Translation by Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
11. Kriya Yoga, it's dissemination and the Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj, chapter 5, page 8
12. Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 34, Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas, by Paramhansa Yogananda
13. Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 33, pg.307, by Paramhansa Yogananda
14. KRIYA, Finding the True Path, chapter 8, pg. 254, by Satyeswarananda Giri.
15. Written Notes at Satsang by Shibendu Lahiri, Santa Monica, CA, Oct. 2004

References

• Satyeswarananda, N. N. (1991), KRIYA, Finding the True Path (First Edition ed.), San Diego: The Sanskrit Classics, ISBN 1-877854-14-X {{citation}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

See also

Khecarī mudrā

External links

• The Science of Kriya Yoga from the First Edition of Autobiography of a Yogi written by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1946
• Lahiri Lore the website of Shibendu Lahiri
• Modifications to Original Kriya from the website of Swami Satyeswarananda Giri

General

• Yoga Niketan a free online library of Bengali Kriya Yoga and Kriya Yoga related manuscripts translated into English. Includes books by Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Pranabananda, and others.

• Kriyas
• Yoga styles
• Meditation for Spiritual Unfoldment