Jump to content

Kriya Yoga school: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
reverted edits by 15:15, 23 March 2013‎ 46.9.197.230 - spam - no citation
No edit summary
Line 14: Line 14:
[[File:Lahiri_Mahasaya.jpg|thumb|[[Lahiri Mahasaya]] (1828–1895).]]
[[File:Lahiri_Mahasaya.jpg|thumb|[[Lahiri Mahasaya]] (1828–1895).]]
'''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. To Westerners, it was brought into popular awareness through [[Paramahansa Yogananda]]'s book ''[[Autobiography of a Yogi]]'' <ref name="Miller178">{{cite book | last =Miller | first =Timothy | title =America's Alternative Religions | publisher =SUNY Press | year =1995 | page=178 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=y3Mt7QlXrRwC&pg=PA178 | isbn =0791423972 }}</ref> and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice since 1920. The system consists of a number of levels of [[Pranayama]] based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development<ref name="Miller178" /> and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion.<ref>"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 Paramahansa Yogananda, chapter 26.</ref>
'''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. To Westerners, it was brought into popular awareness through [[Paramahansa Yogananda]]'s book ''[[Autobiography of a Yogi]]'' <ref name="Miller178">{{cite book | last =Miller | first =Timothy | title =America's Alternative Religions | publisher =SUNY Press | year =1995 | page=178 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=y3Mt7QlXrRwC&pg=PA178 | isbn =0791423972 }}</ref> and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice since 1920. The system consists of a number of levels of [[Pranayama]] based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development<ref name="Miller178" /> and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion.<ref>"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 Paramahansa Yogananda, chapter 26.</ref>

Kriya Yoga is taught freely in [[Satyananda Yoga]]. There it is made clear that kriya is essentially the [[Ujjayi Breath]].<ref>Satyananda, Swami. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 2004.</ref> In Satyananda Yoga, further, kriya is taught "without strings", while SRF demands an oath of lifelong fealty for it.


Yogananda attributes ''Kriya Yoga'' to his lineage of [[guru]]s, deriving it via [[Yukteswar Giri]] and his master [[Lahiri Mahasaya]], from ''Mahavatar Babaji'' ([[floruit|fl.]] 1860s). The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the [[Raja Yoga]] of [[Patanjali]] and the concept of Yoga as described in the [[Bhagavad Gita]].<ref>[[Paramahansa Yogananda]] (1997). ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' (Chapter 26), 1997 Anniversary Edition. Self-Realization Fellowship (Founded by Yogananda). ISBN 0-87612-086-9.</ref>
Yogananda attributes ''Kriya Yoga'' to his lineage of [[guru]]s, deriving it via [[Yukteswar Giri]] and his master [[Lahiri Mahasaya]], from ''Mahavatar Babaji'' ([[floruit|fl.]] 1860s). The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the [[Raja Yoga]] of [[Patanjali]] and the concept of Yoga as described in the [[Bhagavad Gita]].<ref>[[Paramahansa Yogananda]] (1997). ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' (Chapter 26), 1997 Anniversary Edition. Self-Realization Fellowship (Founded by Yogananda). ISBN 0-87612-086-9.</ref>

Revision as of 10:17, 24 March 2013

This article is about the Kriya Yoga taught by Lahiri Mahasaya. For other uses of the term Kriya Yoga, see Kriya.
Kriya Yoga
FounderMahavatar Babaji gave to Lahiri Mahasaya
Practice emphases
Kriya Yoga Pranayama
Mystic Mahavatar Babaji.
Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895).

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. To Westerners, it was brought into popular awareness through Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi [1] and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice since 1920. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development[1] and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion.[2]

Kriya Yoga is taught freely in Satyananda Yoga. There it is made clear that kriya is essentially the Ujjayi Breath.[3] In Satyananda Yoga, further, kriya is taught "without strings", while SRF demands an oath of lifelong fealty for it.

Yogananda attributes Kriya Yoga to his lineage of gurus, deriving it via Yukteswar Giri and his master Lahiri Mahasaya, from Mahavatar Babaji (fl. 1860s). The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the Raja Yoga of Patanjali and the concept of Yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita.[4]

Practice

Kriya Yoga, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally exclusively learned via the Guru-disciple relationship.[5][6] He recounted 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."[7]

As Yogananda describes Kriya Yoga, "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."[8]

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"[9]

History

According to Yogananda, Kriya Yoga was well known in ancient India, but was eventually lost, due to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference".[10] 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.[11]

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."[12] Yogananda says that Patanjali was referring to Kriya Yoga when he wrote "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum."[13] And again when he says,"Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration."[14] A direct disciple of Yukteswar Giri, 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."[15]

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.[16] 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."[1][17]

Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of Yukteswar Giri who was himself a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, then brought Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century.[18]

Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his sons, Dukouri Lahiri and Tincori Lahiri, Yukteswar Giri, Panchanan Bhattacharya, Pranabananda, Kebalananda, Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).[19]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Miller, Timothy (1995). America's Alternative Religions. SUNY Press. p. 178. ISBN 0791423972.
  2. ^ "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 Paramahansa Yogananda, chapter 26.
  3. ^ Satyananda, Swami. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 2004.
  4. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda (1997). Autobiography of a Yogi (Chapter 26), 1997 Anniversary Edition. Self-Realization Fellowship (Founded by Yogananda). ISBN 0-87612-086-9.
  5. ^ "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
  6. ^ Miller, p. 183.
  7. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 33, page 322
  8. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946, by Paramahansa Yogananda, chapter 26.
  9. ^ Kriya Quotes from Swami Satyananda, page 2.
  10. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
  11. ^ Bhagavad Gita IV:29
  12. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26, referring to Bhagavad Gita IV:1-2
  13. ^ Patanjali Aphorisms, II:1. Translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
  14. ^ Patanjali Aphorisms, II:49. Translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
  15. ^ Kriya Yoga, it's dissemination and the Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj, chapter 5, page 8
  16. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 34, Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas, by Paramahansa Yogananda
  17. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 33, pg.307, by Paramahansa Yogananda
  18. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 26.
  19. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, p. 381, ch. 3, ch. 33, ch. 36, ch. 32.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kriya Yoga.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  • Yoga Niketan, a free online library of Kriya Yoga related manuscripts by Lahiri Mahasaya, his disciple Pranabananda, and others.
  • Swarupananda Brahmachari popularly known as Yogacharya Tapan Bose founded Kriya Yoga Mission [1]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kriya_Yoga_school&oldid=546708550"