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Kriya Yoga school

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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
Related schools
Satyananda Yoga
Mystic Mahavatar Babaji.
Lahiri Mahasaya (1828–1895).

Kriya Yoga is a form of yoga-meditation that is based on the simple Ujjayi breath. There is much more involved also, including body postures, yoga asanas. Kriya yoga is taught in various lines of recension, and they spread different kriya yoga systems. Thus Kriya Yoga is a medley of methods. Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta (ca. 1910--1984) shows in his biography on a fellow disciple, Paramahansa Yogananda, that Yogananda made many changes to the kriya yoga system he had learnt in India. [1].

Kriya Yoga is described in faith by some practitioners as the ancient Yoga system revived in modern times by Mahavatar Babaji through his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, c. 1861. It was brought into popular awareness in the West through Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi [2] 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[2] and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. [3] Talk of what is intended is fit if solid and extensive proof is largely missing.

‘Kriya’ means 'work' or ‘action.’ Kriya Yoga is thus yogic work toward the "crest-jewel" of realization. A form of kriya yoga is taught freely in Satyananda_Yoga. There it is also made abundantly clear that the basic kriya yoga is essentially the Ujjayi breath In Satyananda Yoga, further, kriya is taught "without strings", whereas Yogananda's organization asks for an oath of loyalty for it.

Satyananda Yoga, further, operates with free-standing teachers like Swami Janakananda and their derivate schools and classes on yoga and kriya yoga, and publish solid books of high quality. One of them explains kriya yoga in detail, through a set of comprehensive lessons.[4] Unlike some other lines that teach kriya yoga, this one is fit for facts and not just what might be 'world bubbles' like "infinite". There is research that documents effects of this kriya yoga.

Kriya yoga in the system of Ramiah is a system of 18 Asana (postures), taught by Mahavatar Kriya Babaji Nagaraj's disciple, Yogiar SAA Ramiah. Each aspect, from prayer, to stretching the body to meditation, is designed specifically so assist in holistically healing the body and the mind. The breathing techniques and postures will purify the body and the mind and help us understand and become in tune with the body so that we can heal. We are reminded of the divinity within and our power that we are worthy of divine love and healing. When we tap into the infinite energy, anything is possible.

Kriya yoga classes are designed for all age groups and those at any level of yoga practice. The class is structured with an opening prayer, brief warm-up, yoga postures, breathing exercise, and meditation and finishes off with a Q&A session. Classes are really easy and techniques can be practiced at home, however, attendance of once a week is required in order to ensure your practice is correct – a book or a DVD cannot help you if the posture is incorrect. This technique is taught at the Jadatharaya International Institute of Right Living and Yoga in Durban, South Africa.

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.[5]

Practice

You breathe in and out, using the most delicate Ujjayi breath. It is as simple as that.

Kriya Yoga, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally exclusively learned via the Guru-disciple relationship.[6][7] 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."[8]

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."[9]

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"[10]

Claimed history

It is written in Yogananda's Autobiography that 'kriya' is a word coined by Babaji and made known in the 1800s. The word 'kriya' is ancient Sanskrit, though. Its basic meaning is work, action. There are other, associated meanings as well. The point is: When the work 'kriya' appears in ancient texts, it may not be Babaji's system of kriya yoga that is referred to there. Smart alec abuse of scriptures for the sake of gains may not stand a fair inspection. Through Yogananda interpretations, various scripture passages are said to speak of kriya yoga. However, good translators of ancient texts] referred to by him, understand the meaning of 'kriya' differently in places it appears. It is more fit to to look into and correct faltering yogi views and claims than to swallow them whole in the faith or trust that operates.

According to Yogananda, Kriya Yoga was well known in ancient India, but was eventually lost, due to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference".[11] 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.[12]

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."[13] Yogananda says that Patanjali was referring to Kriya Yoga when he wrote "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum."[14] And again when he says,"Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration."[15] A direct disciple of Yukteswar Giri, Sailendra Dasgupta (d. 1984) 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."[16]

Trust in quotations without good evidence is a tricky thing, and may not work full well.

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.[17] 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."[2][18] The claim is a far cry from the salvation by the Holy Spirit that the New Testament backs up.

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 an abridged form of Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century.[19] [20]. Swami Satyeswarananda has documented how Yogananda's kriya yoga differs from the traditional one in the Lahiri-Yukteswar line, and in detail. Yogananda

Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his sons, Dukouri Lahiri and Tincori Lahiri, as well as Yukteswar Giri, Panchanan Bhattacharya, Pranabananda, Kebalananda, Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).[21]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta. Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2006. Pdf: yoganiketan.net. Also at Google Books, partial view.
  2. ^ a b c Miller, Timothy (1995). America's Alternative Religions. SUNY Press. p. 178. ISBN 0791423972.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ Satyananda Saraswati, Swami. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques. Munger: Yoga Publications Trust, 2007
  5. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda (1997). Autobiography of a Yogi (Chapter 26), 1997 Anniversary Edition. Self-Realization Fellowship (Founded by Yogananda). ISBN 0-87612-086-9.
  6. ^ "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
  7. ^ Miller, p. 183.
  8. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 33, page 322
  9. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946, by Paramahansa Yogananda, chapter 26.
  10. ^ Kriya Quotes from Swami Satyananda, page 2.
  11. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
  12. ^ Bhagavad Gita IV:29
  13. ^ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26, referring to Bhagavad Gita IV:1-2
  14. ^ Patanjali Aphorisms, II:1. Translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
  15. ^ Patanjali Aphorisms, II:49. Translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 26
  16. ^ Kriya Yoga, it's dissemination and the Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj, chapter 5, page 8
  17. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 34, Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas, by Paramahansa Yogananda
  18. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 33, pg.307, by Paramahansa Yogananda
  19. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, ch. 26.
  20. ^ Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta. Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2006, chap. 7; Pdf: yoganiketan.net; Google Books, partial view
  21. ^ Autobiography of a Yogi, p. 381, ch. 3, ch. 33, ch. 36, ch. 32.
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  • 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]
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