kriya yoga

Kriya Yoga is an ancient and powerful system of meditation, which promises perfect health, peace of mind and a stressfree life. The people of India have practiced it for many centuries under the guidance of trained teachers. Kriya Yoga approaches the study of the Self with a sense of reflection and introspection so that the spiritual traveler may understand the conditions of his her mind. The everchanging mind is the biggest barrier to calmness and selfrealization.Kriya Yoga is the ancient path of Soulculture and spiritual life. The life of the entire creation is breath. The life force of the entire creation is God Himself. The entire creation is permeated and pervaded with His presence. Without God, there is nothing. Everything is born in God, lives in God and merges with God like waves in the ocean.The soul is immortal, deathless, pure and divine. Because of the Soul, the body is alive, beautiful and active. Through the Soul, man does many types of work. Work in Sanskrit is derived from the root Kri. Kri means to do and Ya means the Soul. All work is done by the power of God, the living life of God, the breath; this is Kriya.

Mental
Calmness of mind, inner peace and the stilling of the internal chatterbox
An ability to be in the present moment rather than in the past or future
Enhancement of ones concentration and focusing abilities
Release of anxiety and stress, lessening of orry.
Emotional
Transformation of negative emotions into more positive energy
Transformation of negative and toxic emotions such as anger, resentment and worry
Physical
Improvement of physical health, healing of longheld physical ailments
Increased flexibility and toning stretching of muscles
Increased flexibility of the spine and vertebrae
Muscle relaxation and unwinding of the fascia (connective tissue)
Improvement and expansion of breathing ability
Toning of the major internal organs (liver, stomach, spleen, kidneys, colon etc)
Spiritual and overall
A greater sense of life enjoyment
An increased sense of hope and faith in the world
The ability to let go of old patterns of hopelessness and despair
Increased compassion and understanding for other people and their problems
An increased desire to be of service to humanity, friends, family and colleagues
A greater understanding of the meaning of life and why we are here
An understanding of your life purpose
Ultimately a movement towards and experience of oneness with God and all life.

Science or material well being is never an obstacle for a truly spiritual life. The human being is a complex combination of body, mind and intelligence with the constant association of the Soul. Science has been a blessing, to some extent, for body, mind and intelligence, but without spirituality neither complete manifestation of the Soul, nor perfection of life is possible. Science and spirituality complement each other. Without science, spirituality is paralysed and without spirituality, science is blind. Spirituality brings inner strength, regulation and dynamism. Kriya Yoga is the beautiful combination of science and spirituality.

Kriya Yoga is the scientific technique of meditation that brings allround development in man. The human being is a complex creation of God. As for the human brain, it remains a mystery to the scientists even now. A complex mechanism of brain cells and the cerebrospinal system not only regulates the human activities, but also the entire world. The human brain has immense capability. The physical, mental and intellectual growth can be accelerated through the practice of this scientific Kriya Yoga meditation. The brain cells are energised and rejuvenated, bringing good memory, control over the emotions through regulation of the neurons in the nerves.The brain and the spine can be magnetised and energised by the scientific technique of Kriya Yoga, which in turn hastens physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual change.The nerve plexuses, ie. the chakras in Yogic language are situated in the spine and glands like the pons, pituitary and pineal glands and are activated by meditation.Kriya Yoga can transform body and mind into excellent health with calmness. It does not give attractive and alluring promises to be achieved in future.

It gives immediate results. When one touches the fire, it burns the hand. When one touches a bare electrified wire, one gets the shock of the current. Similarly, when one practices this beautiful meditation technique one perceives divine power in every breath and feels the change in ones own life.Anyone can practice this simple technique under the guidance of the Master or the teachers. Selfrealisation at every moment and in every breath is the highest necessity for getting calmness and being free from the binding results of karma. The Soul is the innermost substance and core of ones being. In every step of ones life, one can perceive the Divinity.

In the teachings of Kriya Yoga we are taught how mind and breath are correlated We are what our mind is and our mind is what our breath is. The significance of breath has been known to human civilizations by realized souls for thousands of years. In the middle part of the 19th century an elusive and mysterious Master Mahavatar Babaji brought this technique to the world through the lineage of Masters Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri, Swami Shriyukteswar, Swamy Sri Bhupendranath Sanyal, Paramahamsa Yogananada, Swami Sri Satyananda and beloved Gurudev Sri Paramahamsa Hariharananda. Today this lineage is continued by Sri Paramahamsa Prajnanananda.

Breath is life. Breath is an indestructible gift of God with its own presence. Breath integrates the body and soul. Without proper breathing process, disintegration starts. The physical body starts diverging away from the soul, which is a form of death. Not only the breath, but also its quality or type, or the way each inhalation and exhalation is undertaken, is important to the evolutionary process of becoming a human being.The breath and the mind are correlated and causally connected. Through breath control one can get calmness and inner peace. In the authentic Kriya technique, one gradually regulates the breathing pattern. Meditation is the means of achieving the state of ceasing physical and mental activities completely. You can master breathing so that life will be regulated and balanced.

The word Yoga comes from the root yuj. It has 32 meanings in Sanskrit, but the most appropriate here is to unite. The union of the individual Self with the Cosmic Self, the child of God with God, the Father. Therefore, the body with the Soul is Yoga.Kriya Yoga is a supreme science of Selfrealisation. It is a scientific technique of action with constant Godconsciousness, which ultimately leads to realisation going beyond the body, mind, intellect, thought, and even the world, to Soulconsciousness.To perceive the Soul in every breath, in every moment, in every action, in everything and every being is Kriya Yoga. By the practice of Kriya Yoga meditation, one aspires to lead a life of divine consciousness, which ultimately brings love, purity and joy.

Kriya Yoga is an ageold tradition. There is no record of its history. It is the technique of spirituality, which has been practiced by saints, seers and sages from time immemorial. Even in Indian mythology, it is mentioned that Rama and Krishna also practiced and taught this technique of Kriya Yoga.After apparently being lost in the increasing spiritual decline of later epochs, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, a mysterious Master, the timeless Avatar Babaji Maharaj, brought the teaching into a new form and gave the ancient heritage the name Kriya Yoga. Babaji is a renowned Yogi, who is supposed to have lived in the Himalayas for many hundreds of years until the present time. However, he reveals himself only to a few people.He handed the teaching of Kriya Yoga over to his student Lahiri Mahasaya, a family man from Benares, who reached the highest realisation through the practice of this technique. This revolutionary aspect contributed to the proliferation of Kriya Yoga all over India.

Lahiri Mahasaya had many important students. One of the most outstanding was Swami Shriyukteshwar Giri, a true incarnation of divine wisdom. He was the Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, who went to America by the order of Babaji in 1920, and who later became known in the West with his wonderful book Autobiography of a Yogi.The last great living master of Kriya Yoga who was a direct disciple of Swami Shriyukteshwar Giri and Paramahansa Yogananda, was Paramahamsa Hariharananda. He was 95 years young when he left the body attaining mahasamadhi on 3rd December 2002. He is the author of Kriya Yoga and other spiritual books and has memorised and fully understands all of the major scriptures including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Bible, the Koran and the Torah. At the age of 40 he obtained the highest state of Yoga nirvikalpa samadhi which means breathless and pulseless state.

In ancient times, Kriya Yoga was revealed by God to Vivaswan, the first King of the solar dynasty in ancient India. Vivaswan taught it to Manu, and Manu in turn taught it to Ikshwaku, and the teaching continued to be past down through the ages. Later it was taught by Krishna to Arjuna and many others... then many centuries later Babaji taught Yogiraj Lahiri Baba who passed it on to his disciples.

Since then it has continued to passed on through the lineage of Masters Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri, Swami Shriyukteswar, Swamy Sri Bhupendranath Sanyal, Paramahamsa Yogananada, Swami Sri Satyananda and beloved Gurudev Sri Paramahamsa Hariharananda. Today this lineage is continued by Sri Paramahamsa Prajnanananda.

Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, the current head of a great lineage of Kriya Yoga, is the president of various charitable organizations which are run by the Kriya Institute.One of these organizations is the Prajnana Mission, which was founded in 1993 by Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, on the advice and divine guidance of his Guru Paramahamsa Hariharananda. The mission provides educational grants to the blind, handicapped and orphaned students, and towards the construction of building projects such as high school libraries.The Mission teaches the discipline of Kriya Yoga to sincere seekers irrespective of caste, creed, sex and religion. It is meant to provide spiritual, mental, physical and intellectual upliftment to those on the path of selfrealization. The Mission is dedicated to the service of humanity through many spiritual, charitable and educational activities.

A sincere spiritual seeker who follows the path of Kriya Yoga with love and devotion and a desire for spiritual growth can attain Selfrealization even within one lifetime. This powerful yoga is a manifestation of the many yogas described in the Bhagavad Gita, but primarily it derives from
Karma Yoga detachment from the fruits of actions in the world, and more importantly, from the inner activity of the mind
Jnana Yoga a disciplined intellect acquires spiritual knowledge, and this wisdom creates freedom through detachment from the fruits of actions
Bhakti Yoga unconditional love is awakened by gratitude and by the joy arising from the oneness with all creation, which is cosmic consciousness