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Kriya Yoga (Sanskrit: क्रिया योग) is a yoga system which consists of a number of levels of pranayama, mantra, and mudra, intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. It is described by its practitioners as an ancient yoga system revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, who claimed to be initiated by a guru, Mahavatar Babaji, circa 1861 in the Himalayas. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the West from 1920. Etymology According to Yogananda, "Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his great guru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages. Babaji renamed it, simply, Kriya Yoga." In his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, Yogananda further explains that Kriya Yoga is described in certain scriptures as Kabali-pranayama, considered to be the greatest of all techniques in controlling prana (life force) by distilling prana from the breath and thus recharging the body cells. In this way exhalations and inhalations become unnecessary; the cells are recharged by the reinforced bodily life-force and the cosmic life; the physical cells therefore neither change nor decay. Jaerschky elucidates that kabali (Bengali) is synonymous with kaivalya (kevali, kevala), "isolation," the isolation of purusha (consciousness, spirit) from prakriti (nature or matter, including the human mind and emotions), or the unification with God. According to Jaerschky, kevali-pranayama leads to kevala kumbhaka, "the natural state of breathlessness, which is the goal of all deep yogis." Yoga The Sanskrit noun योग yoga is derived from the root yuj (युज्) "to attach, join, harness, yoke" (yoga is a cognate of the English word "yoke"). According to Timothy Miller, the term yoga may designate various spiritual practices in Hindu traditions, translating it as "union" or "discipline". In the context of the Yoga Sutras, to which reference is often made to explain the name Kriya Yoga, the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered the correct etymology by traditional commentators. Kriya A kriya may refer to any kind of practice in the context of yoga, and teachers of psychophysical practices often use the term. Philip Goldberg writes that, as a brand, Kriya Yoga generally refers to the lineage that Yogananda represented. He also cites the following definition found in Yogananda's autobiography. According to Yogananda, The Sanskrit root of KRIYA is KRI, to do, to act and react; the same root is found in the word KARMA, the natural principle of cause and effect. KRIYA YOGA is thus "union (yoga) with the Infinite through a certain action or rite." According to Jones and Ryan, kriya Yoga may be literally translated as "yoga of ritual action," noting that it "is contrasted with jnana (learning) yoga and equated with karma (action) yoga in the Trishikhi-Brahmana Upanishad." The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 2.1 defines three types of kriyā, namely tapas ("heat," ascetic practices), svadhyaya (study or recitation of the Vedas, or “contemplation, meditation, reflection of one's self”), and Isvara pranidhana (devotion or surrender to God). In the Kriya Yoga school, 'ritual action' involves breathing techniques (pranayama) revolving the life energy (prana) "upward and downward, around the six spinal centers" and upwards to the crown-chakra. Kriya yoga as inner fire ritual Tanya Lynne Brittain further explains that while "Kriya yoga is 'usually understood to mean 'yoga as practice' or “practical yoga,' [...][it is] also associated with the vocabulary of initiation and sacrifice." The kriya yoga pranayama practices are a form of kundalini-practice, which culminate in kriya, the "inner fire rite," the internalized Vedic fire sacrifice. Yael Bentor further explains that in the Upanishads this internalized fire ritual is associated with the maintenance of life, through breathing and eating. Where the Brahmin maintains the world order by his sacrifices, for the yogi the breath becomes a perpetual ritual. The internalization of the fire is also associated with tapas, "heat," burning away the defilements, and with pranayama, the control of the breath. These concepts were combined in the yoga of the subtle body. Yogananda writes: Kriya Yoga is the real "fire rite" oft extolled in the Gita. The yogi casts his human longings into a monotheistic bonfire consecrated to the unparalleled God. This is indeed the true yogic fire ceremony, in which all past and present desires are fuel consumed by love divine. The Ultimate Flame receives the sacrifice of all human madness, and man is pure of dross. History The origins of the present-day forms of Kriya Yoga can be traced back to Lahiri Mahasaya, who said he received initiation into the yoga techniques from an immortal Himalayan yogi called Mahavatar Babaji. The story of Lahiri Mahasaya receiving initiation into Kriya Yoga by 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 Christ, and to St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples." Yogananda also wrote in God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita that the science of Kriya Yoga was given to Manu, the original Adam, and through him to Janaka and other royal sages. Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his two sons (Dukouri Lahiri and Tinkouri Lahiri), Sri Yukteswar Giri, Panchanan Bhattacharya, Swami Pranabananda, Swami Kebalananda, Keshavananda Brahmachari, Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya), and many others. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda, a disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, with his book Autobiography of a Yogi and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the West from 1920. Practice Kriya Yoga, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally learned exclusively via the Guru-disciple relationship, and the initiation consists of a secret ceremony. 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." Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi mentions the practice of Kriya Yoga, but it doesn't provide details about how to practice specific techniques. Rizwan Virk writes that "The purpose of the book was to inspire readers to take up the yogic path by opening their minds to spiritual possibilities." In Yogananda's 6 October 1920 speech at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston, he said that the Kriya Yoga o.... Discover the Rizwan Virk popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rizwan Virk books.