What is Kriya Yoga?

Is described through its practitioners as the ancient Yoga system revived today by Mahavatar Babaji via his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, c. 1861. Kriya Yoga was delivered to international awareness through Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi and via Yogananda's introductions with the practice to the west from 1920.

According to Yogananda the historic Yogic text the Yoga Sutras regarding Patanjali, contains a description of Kriya Yoga inside the second chapter II. forty nine: "Liberation can always be attained by that pranayama which is accomplished by disjoining the length of inspiration and cessation. "

The Kriya yoga system includes a number of amounts of pranayama, mantra, and mudra depending on techniques intended to be able to rapidly accelerate psychic development and engender a profound state regarding tranquility and God-communion. Yogananda qualities his description regarding Kriya Yoga to be able to his lineage regarding gurus, Sri Yukteswar Giri, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Mahavatar Babaji (fl. 1860s). The latter is reported to possess introduced the strategy as essentially identical towards the Raja Yoga regarding Patanjali and the technique of Yoga as described inside the Bhagavad Gita.

Yogananda had written in God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita which the science of Kriya Yoga was given to Manu, the first man according to the Vedas, and through your pet to Janaka along with other royal sages. According to Yogananda, Kriya Yoga was well known in ancient India, but was at some point lost, due to be able to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference". Yogananda says that Krishna means Kriya Yoga inside 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 span force from the heart and brings the item under his control.

Yogananda also mentioned that Krishna was referring to Kriya Yoga while "Lord Krishna... relates which it was 'he', in the former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to a ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, which gave it to be able to Manu, the fantastic legislator. He, therefore, instructed Ikshwaku, the daddy of India’s photovoltaic warrior dynasty. " And again while he says, "Liberation is usually accomplished by that pranayama which is attained by disjoining the length of inhalation and exhalation. " A primary disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, Sailendra Dasgupta (d. 1984) has written that, "Kriya entails several acts that contain evidently been adapted in the Gita, the Pilates Sutras, Tantra shastras and from conceptions on the Yugas

Practice.

Kriya Pilates, as taught through Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally solely learned via the Guru-disciple relationship and the initiation includes a secret ceremony. They recounted that following his initiation into Kriya Yoga, "Babaji instructed me inside the ancient rigid regulations which govern the transmission with the yogic art by Guru to disciple. "

As Yogananda details Kriya Yoga, "The Kriya Yogi psychologically directs his lifetime energy to revolve, way up and downward, around the six spinal focuses (medullary, cervical, dorsal, back, sacral, and coccygeal plexuses) which correspond to the twelve astral signs with the zodiac, the remarkable Cosmic Man. One half-minute of revolution of one's around the sensitive spinal cord of man consequences subtle progress with his evolution; that half-minute regarding Kriya equals 1 year of natural psychic unfoldment. "

With Kriya Quotes by Swami Satyananda, it's written, "Kriya sadhana may be regarded as the sadhana with the 'practice of staying in Atman'".