Kriya Yoga
Encyclopedia
Kriya Yoga finds mention in the ancient spiritual texts of Patanjali Yogasutras "Tapah svadhyayeshvara pranidhani kriyayogah" (Second Pada; Sloka 1). It was later revived by Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri in the 19th century. Subsequently Paramhansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) reported the same for his style of Yoga
. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama
based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development
Yogananda attributes Kriya Yoga to his lineage of guru
s, deriving it via Yukteswar Giri and 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 Bhagavadgita.
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."
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"
, but was eventually lost, due to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference". Yogananda says that Krishna
refers to Kriya Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita
(Chapter IV, Verse 29):
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." Yogananda says that Patanjali
was referring to Kriya Yoga when he wrote "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." And again when he says,"Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama
which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration." A direct disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri
, Sri 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."
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 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."
Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
who was himself a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, then brought Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century.
Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his oldest son, Sri Tincori Lahiri, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
, Sri Panchanon Bhattacharya
, Swami Pranabananda, Swami Kebalananda, Swami Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).
There are different lineages of Kriya yoga. Here are some of them:
From teacher to disciple:
There are many other lineages as each teacher would most likely have taught many people through the years. Some of these in turn would have become teachers themselves and taught others. Lineages are not documented. The list above is just one of the most commonly known.
Supposedly there are "dynastic lineages" too. However this is no guarantee or proof of anything. If it were we would know of the descendants of Sri Sri Yukteswar (he had one daughter) too. Similarly, the descendants of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, probably numbering in hundreds and thousands by now, would also all be well known, realized teachers. Finally, the fruits of spirituality transcend any "physical" / "emotional" limits of race, family, religion and geography. Thus any claim to dynastic lineage is illogical and not directly a measure of one's ability to teach Kriya Yoga.
Details of some other teachers and lineages follow:
Another lineage of Kriya yoga of Babaji Maharaj-Lahiri Mahasaya
started in 1984 when Satyacharan Lahiri authorized his disciple Shailendra Sharma
to initiate in Kriya yoga. Most of the guru
s of this lineage are householders, but according to his teacher's instructions Shailendra lives a life of celibacy
, does not work and lives at shmashana
(the last makes him close to aghori
).
Sri Satyacharan Lahiri the grandson of Lahiri Mahasaya authorized his disciple Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee to initiate in Kriya yoga. He also authorized him to write a biography "Purana Purusha" on the life of Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri from his 26 confidential diaries. Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee has founded Yogiraj Shyamacharan Sanatan Mission on Sept 30th 1991.
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
. The system consists of a number of levels of Pranayama
Pranayama
Pranayama is a Sanskrit word meaning "extension of the prana or breath" or more accurately, "extension of the life force". The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prāna, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "āyāma", to extend, draw out, restrain, or...
based on techniques that are intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development
Yogananda attributes Kriya Yoga to his lineage of guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
s, deriving it via Yukteswar Giri and Lahiri Mahasaya
Lahiri Mahasaya
Shyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...
from Mahavatar Babaji
Mahavatar Babaji
Mahavatar Babaji is the name given to an Indian saint by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples who met Mahavatar Babaji between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramhansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi , including a first hand telling of Yogananda’s own...
(fl.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1860s). The latter is reported to have introduced the concept as essentially identical to the Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga
Rāja Yoga is concerned principally with the cultivation of the mind using meditation to further one's acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation.Raja yoga was first described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and is part of the Samkhya tradition.In the context of Hindu...
of Patanjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
and the concept of Yoga as described in the Bhagavadgita.
Practice
Kriya Yoga, as taught by Lahiri Mahasaya, is traditionally learned via the Guru-disciple relationship. 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."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."
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"
History
According to Yogananda, Kriya Yoga was well-known in ancient IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, but was eventually lost, due to "priestly secrecy and man’s indifference". Yogananda says that Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
refers to Kriya Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
(Chapter IV, Verse 29):
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." Yogananda says that Patanjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
was referring to Kriya Yoga when he wrote "Kriya Yoga consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Aum." And again when he says,"Liberation can be accomplished by that pranayama
Pranayama
Pranayama is a Sanskrit word meaning "extension of the prana or breath" or more accurately, "extension of the life force". The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prāna, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "āyāma", to extend, draw out, restrain, or...
which is attained by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration." A direct disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteshwar Giri is the monastic name of Priyanath Karar , the guru of Swami Satyananda Giri and Paramahansa Yogananda. Sri Yukteshwar was an educator, astronomer, a Jyotisha , a yogi, and a believer in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible...
, Sri Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta has written that, "Kriya entails several acts that have evidently been adapted from the Gita, the Yoga Sutras, Tantra
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
shastras and from conceptions on the Yugas."
Recent history
The story of Lahiri Mahasaya receiving initiation into Kriya Yoga by the yogi Mahavatar BabajiMahavatar Babaji
Mahavatar Babaji is the name given to an Indian saint by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples who met Mahavatar Babaji between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramhansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi , including a first hand telling of Yogananda’s own...
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 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."
Through Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya Yoga soon spread throughout India. Yogananda, a disciple of Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteshwar Giri is the monastic name of Priyanath Karar , the guru of Swami Satyananda Giri and Paramahansa Yogananda. Sri Yukteshwar was an educator, astronomer, a Jyotisha , a yogi, and a believer in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible...
who was himself a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, then brought Kriya Yoga to the United States and Europe during the 20th century.
Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples included his oldest son, Sri Tincori Lahiri, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteswar Giri
Sri Yukteshwar Giri is the monastic name of Priyanath Karar , the guru of Swami Satyananda Giri and Paramahansa Yogananda. Sri Yukteshwar was an educator, astronomer, a Jyotisha , a yogi, and a believer in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible...
, Sri Panchanon Bhattacharya
Sri Panchanon Bhattacharya
Panchanan Bhattacharya was a disciple of the Indian Yogi Lahiri Mahasaya. He helped to spread Lahiri Mahasaya's teachings in Bengal through his Arya Mission Institution....
, Swami Pranabananda, Swami Kebalananda, Swami Keshabananda, and Bhupendranath Sanyal (Sanyal Mahasaya).
Lineages
Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri; the Fountain-Head of Kriyayoga had several disciples. Notable amongst them were his two sons Tinkori and Dukori Lahiri, Panchanan Bhattacharya, Harinarayana Paladhi, Shri Yukteshwar Giri, etc.There are different lineages of Kriya yoga. Here are some of them:
From teacher to disciple:
- Babaji Maharaj
- Lahiri MahasayaLahiri MahasayaShyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...
- Sri Yukteswar
- Paramahansa YoganandaParamahansa YoganandaParamahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...
- Swami Hariharananda
- Swami Shankarananda
There are many other lineages as each teacher would most likely have taught many people through the years. Some of these in turn would have become teachers themselves and taught others. Lineages are not documented. The list above is just one of the most commonly known.
Supposedly there are "dynastic lineages" too. However this is no guarantee or proof of anything. If it were we would know of the descendants of Sri Sri Yukteswar (he had one daughter) too. Similarly, the descendants of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, probably numbering in hundreds and thousands by now, would also all be well known, realized teachers. Finally, the fruits of spirituality transcend any "physical" / "emotional" limits of race, family, religion and geography. Thus any claim to dynastic lineage is illogical and not directly a measure of one's ability to teach Kriya Yoga.
Details of some other teachers and lineages follow:
- Lahiri MahasayaLahiri MahasayaShyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...
- Tinkori Lahiri
- Satyacharan Lahiri
- Shibendu Lahiri
Another lineage of Kriya yoga of Babaji Maharaj-Lahiri Mahasaya
Lahiri Mahasaya
Shyama Charan Lahiri , , best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi and a disciple of Mahavatar Babaji. He was also popularly known as Yogiraj and Kashi Baba. He revived the yogic science of Kriya Yoga when he learned it from Mahavatar Babaji in 1861...
started in 1984 when Satyacharan Lahiri authorized his disciple Shailendra Sharma
Shailendra Sharma
Shri Shailendra Sharma – is kriya yoga yogi and guru. Shailendra wrote commentaries on such fundamental philosophical and yogic texts as Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta.-Youth and Search for a Guru:...
to initiate in Kriya yoga. Most of the guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
s of this lineage are householders, but according to his teacher's instructions Shailendra lives a life of celibacy
Brahmacharya
Brahmacharya is one of the four stages of life in an age-based social system as laid out in the Manu Smrti and later Classical Sanskrit texts in Hinduism. It refers to an educational period of 14–20 years which starts before the age of puberty. During this time the traditional vedic sciences are...
, does not work and lives at shmashana
Shmashana
Shmashāna also spelled as Smashan is the name for Hindu cremation ground, where dead bodies are brought and then lit on pyre to be burnt.The word has its origin from Sanskrit language, Sham means Shava, a corpse. Shana means Shanya a bed. It is usually located near a river or water body in...
(the last makes him close to aghori
Aghori
The Aghori or Aghora are a Hindu sect believed to have split off from the Kapalika order in the fourteenth century AD. Many mainstream Hindus condemn them as non-Hindu because of their taboo violation of orthodox practices...
).
Sri Satyacharan Lahiri the grandson of Lahiri Mahasaya authorized his disciple Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee to initiate in Kriya yoga. He also authorized him to write a biography "Purana Purusha" on the life of Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri from his 26 confidential diaries. Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee has founded Yogiraj Shyamacharan Sanatan Mission on Sept 30th 1991.