SWAMI SATYESWARANANDA VIDYARATNA BABAJI,
YOGI-VEDANTIST

Personal Associate and direct disciple of Mahamuni Babaji in the Himalayas

Mahamuni Babaji of the Himalayas, represented with the Bengali script for OM

LAHIRI MAHASAY

The principal Kriya disciple of Mahamuni Babaji in the Himalayas

Swami Satyeswarananda Maharaj sponsored the following endowments

CAUTION

Blessed are the Bengalis; for they received the Original Kriya Path. Right from Mahamuni Babaji’s principal Kriya disciple, Lahiri Mahasay, to the present day all the Original Kriya Masters (Guru-param-para - lineage of Guru) 99.9% are Bengalis. They used Om (representing Mahamuni) in Bengali Script. That is why the Bengali Script of Om is used traditionally over the Devnagiri Script to represent him. He has not given his photo to the world. Mahamuni’s photo cannot be taken by a camera. A camera failed to take Lahiri Mahasay’s photo; it was possible only when his permission was granted. Produced here is the only photo of Lahiri Mahasay in black and white (original).

Some American artist drawing sketches as per Yogananda’s instruction made a portrait. Know it for certain that it is NOT a real photo. It is true that Mahamuni looks like Lahiri Mahasay, but not like a body builder.

Excerpt from Biography of a Yogi, by Swami Satyeswarananda Maharaj, pages 451-453

In practicing the First Kriya, the seeker is to find out the path of the spinal cord. The practice of Khecharimudra [Talabya Kriya] is included in the first stage.

[In the Original Kriya discipline, without being established in Khecharimudra or Talabya Kriya, the second Kriya (which is a Kriya of the Second Stage), is never introduced or initiated. The simple reason is that the seeker does not have the capacity to absorb the Higher Power, and without the ability to handle Higher Power, the seeker faces a dangerous situation. Thus the success of Khecharimudra or Talabya Kriya is a “precondition” before the Second Kriya is initiated.

[Satyananda’s best friend and brother disciple, Paramhansa Yogananda, dropped Khecharimudra in his teaching. He did it gradually from “must” to “may” and then dropped it altogether; it is well known among the other Original Kriya groups that Yogananda modified many things of the Original Kriya discipline. Thus, many times in India, especially in Bengal, the Original Kriya practitioners of some groups in order to keep their promise to their Gurudev “not to practice Kriya in front of the non-Kriya people,” refuse to sit together with the disciples of Yogananda and his followers of the written Kriya lessons system introduced by him.

[It should be mentioned here that the Original Kriya people considered non-Kriya people, followers and devotees that think of Yogananda as their Guru without meeting him and being personally initiated by him. This is because there is no Guru-disciple relationship since there is no personal acceptance on the part of Yogananda as their Guru which is the fundamental factor in the Guru-disciple relation according to the Vedic culture and discipline. One reason for this tendency is because Yogananda had declared himself to be the last Guru of his line. This is also another liberal invention of Yogananda.

[It should be mentioned here that if someone practices the Second Kriya or the higher Kriyas without the establishment of Khecharimudra, these will not be operative or effective since the ground has not been prepared and the capacity in the seeker has not generated. The practice in that case is useless and serves but to feed one’s ego saying that one is practicing a higher Kriya and therefore is an advanced yogi or yogini (female yogi) as the case may be. It could be likened to conducting an experiment in the laboratory of physics where all the necessary equipment and apparatus are assembled and the experiment is undertaken without electricity being connected or plugged in.

[The tongue is the electric cord; the base end of it is connected with the body below the throat which is the assembled equipment in this case and which is connected with different chakras, or centers; the other end of the electric cord, the tip of the tongue, has not been plugged in with the upper region, towards the head, the electric outlet, with the Master who is in Oneness with the eternal Master, the source of electricity.

[Thus Yogananda abandoned the Original Kriya approach; instead he relied on the traditional Vedic pranayam to awake the Kundalini from the Muladhar, the coccygeal center. He omitted being established in Khecharimudra first, but he expected his initiates to be enriched in Nada at the dorsal, and to open the knot of Hridaya Granthi, from where the inner Sound, Om, starts to enrich the Muladhar as in the Original Kriya.

[In other words, Yogananda was relying on his initiates to open the second knot (gate) without opening the first knot (gate). However, Yogananda himself had learned Kriya by opening the first knot.

[In the Raja Yoga of Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, “Principles,” are laid down, but there is no instruction, at least regarding the procedural or demonstrative aspect of how to practice.

[On the other hand, though the Kriya Path is based on Patanjali’s Principles of Yoga, there are certain advantages to the Kriya Path, such as, specific mudras like Khecharimudra and Yonimudra and, Kriyas, to dissolve or overcome specific limitations.

[Furthermore, in the Original Kriya Yoga, the process takes place in the following order:

[First is the opening of the knot of the tongue, resulting in loosening the attachments towards the material world,

[Second, is the opening of the knot of the dorsal, enriching the process through the sound of Om,

[Third, is the revealing of Jyoti with the help of the Sound of Om at the coccygeal center; thereafter automatically the mouth of the spine opens for Kundalini Energy and at the same time the opening of the mouth of the spine is seen between the eyebrows, in the spiritual Sky.

[Thus one needs to follow the Kebali Kumbhak in Original Kriya.

[These two unique features alone make the Original Kriya path of Babaji much more advanced, unique and practical for men and women than Patanjali’s Raja Yoga.

[Dropping the Khecharimudra directly leads halfway back to the traditional method of Pranayam (Vedic Pranayam) which relies on opening the Kundalini from the base. However, Yogananda did not accept the counting of the numbers on the right hand, as in the traditional Vedic method of Pranayam. So it is a sort of a halfway system.

[Thus actually Yogananda made a mixture of both systems (traditional Vedic-Pranayam and Kriya-Pranayam) and his modifications eroded “the uniqueness of the Original Kriya Path.” As a result, the modified Kriya has lost “the power of integrity” as well as “the functionality of the Original Kriya approach.”

[According to the Original Kriya discipline and to Lahiri Mahasay’s teaching dropping the Khecharimudra or Talabya Kriya from the practice means that the practitioners will remain stranded in the first stage. Perhaps, Yogananda knew what he was doing and that is why he was obligated to mention that of his line, he would be the last Guru.

[From the general point of view, the intensive and exclusive devotion can open the mouth of Kundalini, and the traditional approach of the practice of Pranayam can awaken the Kundalini for some after a long and hard struggle; for some it is impossible.]

Without scriptural references, any interpretation is not validated for the academic, intellectual scholars of spirituality in India. The references for the above are from Manusanghita, the Laws of Manu, Chapter 1, verse 81, commentary by Lahiri Mahasay.

81. Religion is divided into four steps:

1. Raising the tongue
2. Crossing of knot of the dorsal center
3. Crossing of knot of the navel
4. Crossing of knot of the coccygeal center

These are the four steps of religion.

FAITH: IN THE CONVENTIONAL SENSE

The organized religions and faiths in the conventional sense are incapable of delivering Spirituality, pure Consciousness of the absolute Self; hence, one needs to seek the state of desirelessness (nirvasana) which alone has the capacity to bestow eternal Happiness or Freedom; otherwisely, called Liberation.

The people of organized religion have no chance to be sincerely aware that eventually, all union ends in disunion (one departs alone from the world) and all earthly-gained-wealth in loss (no one can take anything).

BISWAS: FAITH IN THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The equivalent term of the word “faith” in Sanskrit is BISWAS which can be scanned into two: Bi and swas; the part Bi is Bigata which means “past,” “dissolve,” or “tranquil,” and the part swas means “breath.” Therefore, Faith is “Tranquil Breath.”

The common notion and popular expression: “Have faith in God,” should be interpreted spiritually that one needs to tranquilize one’s breath. Therefore, it is fair to say that teaching “Faith” in the churches in this context, is missing the fundamental ingredient, that is, “Tranquil Breath.”

Realizing God or the Self is EXCLUSIVELY A PERSONAL MATTER and there is no scope, at all, of spiritual organizations, churches, or any agency in between the seeker and God, the Self.

Unfortunately, crisis creeps in any religion and the teaching of spiritual disciplines when the fundamental factor is made confused or muddied in the first place; that is, a personal matter (direct teaching from Master to disciple) is taught through the so-called spiritual organizations and churches by the novices whose breath and life are still in the restless state (being outward with attachments for commercial gains, accumulating abundant wealth and having a big ego).

BREATH: THE SPIRIT

The word SPIRIT is derived from the Latin word SPIRITUS which means “Breath.”

When the Bible says, “God is a spirit (John 4:24), it really means that God is a state of “Tranquil Breath,” devoid of restlessness.

In fact, the state of Godhood is the state of Tranquil Breath; when it becomes restless, Creation begins, that is, when one breathes, Creation starts. If one attains the “state of Tranquil Breath,” one achieves the “state of Godhood.” This is certain.

The answer for tranquilizing one’s breath (Prana) is Pranayam (the state of Oneness Union, Yoga). Nanya pantha bidyate ayanaya (Upanisad): “There is no other way left.”

Therefore, the answer is Pranayam.

YOGA

IMPORTANT

“The BASIC and FUNDAMENTAL features of the teaching of yoga discipline is that the yoga practitioner should perform each Karma in life with EQUANIMITY treating success and failure ALIKE. (Samatang yoga uchyate. Bhagavad Gita 2:48) for it is Providence [DAIBA] that gives the result.

“Man expects high, though destiny might have decreed against him, and he receives happiness or sorrow as it might chance. Binding himself into the results through expectation [vasana], he attracts bondage into the cycle of birth and death and cannot release himself.

“Karmanye badhikaraste ma phalesu kadachana. Bhagavad Gita 2:47 ‘You have the right to practice Kriya, perform Karmas, but don’t expect results.’ Commentaries.

“Therefore, the smart thing to do is to abandon the expectation of results and continue to practice sincerely and very strictly to the instruction and the order received personally (one on one basis) from the living lips of a Guru (Guruvaktragamya), and not otherwise. That is the right way, the rest (learning from the representatives in group of any organization which are prohibited by Mahamuni anyway) is false.” - Vidyaratna Babaji

VEDANTA

Manipulations of the Monster - the Mysterious Mind

The Self, or the Atma alone exists eternally, and so it does not reincarnate. The popular notion is that the individual self or the jiva reincarnates, which is not correct. It is the mind (the restless breath in the light of Kriya), which is born, reincarnates, migrates to other bodies, and goes to other worlds. The objective world is a materialization of the mind and so in spirituality, renunciation of material things does not matter at all. It is the mind (restless breath or the ego) that needs to be renounced through the actual practice of pranayam or Kriya.

One will realize the Self, the Atma when all desires (vasana) would be renounced. Eternal happiness or contentment (santos) lies in the state of desirelessness (nirvasana). So be tranquil in Oneness within with the Self or the Atma.

Practice!    Practice!    Practice!

Constant undistracted practice is the real key to attain realization of the absolute Self. Because of wrong thinking for many incarnations, ignorance has firmly established its stronghold and so it appears as external objects (sangsar-adambar – the world-show). It is the monstrous mind that creates the unreal, magical, phenomenal, world-show and stretches it out in front of us through its own imagination to play the game of ensnarement (entrapment). Therefore, the external world, the subjective experiences and assertions are all ignorance.

Ignorance is of two kinds: superior (nivritti) and lower (pravritti). Nivritti or the subjective that draws in the outgoing vritti (modification or wave of the mind) is superior; the ignorance which tends to enjoy life – in the objective world is the lower one (pravritti). So destroy ignorance by superior ignorance (nivritti). To be free from this ensnarement of the mind one must engage to practice at the present moment and not on the thoughts of past and future. Ignorance ends in a similar way when the imagined snake is discovered to be really a piece of rope.

The Self (Atma) is beyond senses. Atma is realized when the mind and the senses subsiding completely in the Atma, are not operative at all.

A Vedantist would say – Knowledge is born of ignorance and destroys ignorance; a man in a dream is chased by a tiger and generates tremendous fear; remembering he has a gun, he shoots the tiger dead and awakes. The illusory gun shoots the illusory tiger and releases the man from fear. Similarly, Knowledge is born of ignorance and destroys ignorance. One who has awakened to spirituality is free from all fear and realizes the Self.