“The seeker receives the true Kriya of that state directly from the mouth of the Guru, or the Master.” 2:18 Manusanghita, Commentaries by Lahiri Mahasay (p. 39, Hidden Wisdom, Com. Vol. III by the author).
Once Babaji said, “Those who are getting Kriya from unpermitted and unauthorized persons are not getting true Kriya, but rather they are receiving only information on Kriya.”
Therefore, according to Babaji, Lahiri Mahasay and the holy Scripture, until a person is initiated personally by the permitted master and has received Kriya from the mouth of his Guru, he has not in reality received initiation and Kriya.
Without initiation in a righteous way, nothing becomes operative.
The Guru-param-para, that is, learning through personal relationship, provides the vital points, such as Guru-sparsa, “touch of the Guru,” which provides the life (Prana) of the disciple during the initiation. Gurusakti, “the energy of the Guru,” gives birth to the disciple. In reality, the life of the disciple begins that day; it is the birthday of the disciple.
“The first birth is Kriya initiation. The second birth is to pass the air at the waist. The third birth is to receive Pranayam, or Omkar Kriyas. All these take place in the body.” 2:169 Manusanghita, Commentaries by Lahiri Mahasay, (p. 62, Hidden Wisdom, Com. Vol. III by the author).
That is why to receive Kriya from the mouth of the Guru and the personal relationship with the Guru is the life of the Kriya teachings.
Thus the modified Kriya trend lacks the very life of Kriya, and it reduces the teachings to learning information about Kriya teachings as if in some academic institution.
Yogananda modified, rather deviated, from the tradition on this point and introduced correspondence lesson courses for mass education.
12. Yogananda introduced thirty seven (37) energizing techniques and made them part of Kriya discipline, rather part of the modified Kriya discipline. These are not at all a part of original Kriya tradition.
He found these techniques useful to inspire and motivate his Western devotees who love exercises.
In the original Kriya tradition, the Mahamudra is practiced in the beginning and serves as an energizing Kriya to shake the body. Mahamudra is based on the composition of Paschimuthasana of Hatha Yoga.
13. He changed the composition of Mahamudra from the original Kriya tradition.
14. He advised that Kriya be practiced while sitting on an armless chair, legs hanging and set on the ground.
This is a fundamental modification and deviation from the original Kriya tradition.
Yoga in general, and Kriya, in particular, require a sitting posture with legs folded. The prescribed posture is called Padmasana (lotus). All the ancient Yogis prescribed this Asana for practicing Raja or Kriya Yoga.
“In his method of initiation into Kriya also, Swami Yogananda added innovations. Perceiving that the average American found it difficult to sit in lotus posture, he taught that he could sit erect on a straight-back armless chair, legs hanging, and practise Kriya; initiation was also a mass affair; instead of direct contact between the teacher and the taught - the Guru and the novice - the whole affair was reduced to something like an indoor class.” p. 168, Kriya Yoga written and published by Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta, Calcutta, 1979. (Dasgupta was Sriyukteswar’s disciple and Yogananda’s private secretary during 1935-1936).
In the higher stage, the body levitates. At that time the lotus posture serves to lock the body in position. What will happen to the legs which are in hanging position?
Perhaps, Yogananda knew what he was doing. Being compassionate, with much motherly love, he instructed his followers to begin the practice, at least to achieve a step in this life. Customarily, like the other liberal yogis, he offered his work to the Lord that He should take care of it.
The original Kriya discipline being the Science of all sciences demands practice very strictly adhering to the rules lest everything be in vain.
Lahiri Mahasay wrote in his letter to his disciple as follows:
“Please practice according to the instructions; otherwise all will be a farce. [That is, the Kriyanwita will not get results].” p. 66, Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.
15. Yogananda introduced Hang Sa technique and OM technique which he preferred to call Baby Kriya, and these are not at all original Kriya. These are his introduction to modified Kriyas.
In the First Kriya (which he would prefer to call Kriya Proper) he brought three modifications:
16. He changed the numbers for the beginners.
17. He changed the instructions of the original Kriya and introduced the counting at the end of inhaling. In Original Kriya there are specific instructions at the end of both inhaling and exhaling.
18. He advised the practitioner to bring attention from behind to the front underneath the head which is not possible for definite physiological reasons according to Swami Pranabananda, disciple of Lahiri Mahasay. The Scripture supports the original Kriya tradition and in that respect the comment of Pranabananda.
There is a story which may be appropriate to mention here in this connection.
In the early 70’s, the author was visiting Yogananda’s hermitage boys’ school. Also Panchkori De, disciple of Swami Kebalananda, principal, Postgraduate Teachers’ Training College of Sevayatan was visiting Swami Bidyananda (disciple of Yogananda).
Hiralal Chanda, a household and advanced disciple of Swami Satyananda, was the principal and Abanindra Narayan Lahiri (popularly known as Abani Babu), a bachelor, disciple of Swami Satchidananda (disciple of Yogananda) was the vice principal of YSS boys’ school.
Swami Satchidananda (disciple of Yogananda)
Both Hiralal Chanda and Abanindra Lahiri had been the author’s teachers in the hermitage school in high school days when he was a resident student. They reserved special affection, as well as regard for the author. Abanindra Lahiri was the host of the author, while Bidyananda was the host of Mr. De.
One afternoon, in the front yard, in front of Abanindra Lahiri’s quarters, Hiralal Babu, Mr. De, Abanindra Lahiri, and the author were having satsanga, spiritual discussion.
An assistant teacher (a devotee) of the school who happened to be an ex-student of the school, was plucking flowers from the front yard garden in preparation for evening prayer, of which he was in charge.
Meanwhile, Mr. De was taking a break and was looking at some flowers in the garden. When he was near the devotee, he asked him if he was a Kriya practitioner?
The devotee replied, “Yes sir, I am.”
Mr. De: “Why is it that your health looks so weak? How do you practice Kriya?”
The devotee brought his hands near his mouth, folded the fingers, touched the tip of the thumb on the tip of the first finger and showed him how he practiced Kriya to feel cool current during inhaling and warm current during exhaling.
Mr. De: “From whom were you initiated into Kriya?”
The devotee: “By the joint secretary of YSS. [An American].”
Mr. De: “Did he tell you to practice like this?”
The devotee: “He showed me this during initiation.”
Mr. De: “How long have you been practicing like this?”
The devotee: “About three years.”
Mr. De: “No wonder your health is so weak. You are not supposed to practice like this. Perhaps the secretary wanted you to understand this clearly and that was why he showed you this way. You are bringing the hands from behind to the front to bring attention. Did the secretary instruct this, too?”
“Yes sir,” said the devotee.
At this, Mr. De laughed loudly. Everybody’s attention was drawn to them. The devotee was eager to know why Mr. De was laughing, but he had no time. He had to leave or he might be late for conducting the evening prayer with the students.
Upon Mr. De’s returning to satsanga, Abanindra Lahiri asked him for the reason of such loud laughter. It may be mentioned here that both Mr. De and Abanindra Lahiri had been classmates during their one year course of Bachelor of Teachers’ training (B.T.) and had been good friends.
Mr. De narrated the story of the assistant teacher to Abanindra Lahiri, the vice principal. Mr. De said that bringing attention from behind to the front underneath the head is incorrect.
Abanindra Lahiri: “To show the bringing of the hands near the mouth to inhale and exhale to feel cool and warm currents was a misunderstanding on the part of the devotee. But what is wrong with the practice of bringing attention from behind to the front side?”
Mr. De said that bringing attention from behind to the front underneath the head is incorrect.
Abanindra Lahiri: “Why
is it incorrect?”
Mr. De remained silent.
Abanindra Lahiri looked to his colleague, the principal, Hiralal Chanda, hoping for an answer. He too remained silent.
Abanindra Lahiri, then turned to the author, who too preferred to remain silent.
At this point, Abanindra Lahiri went to his room and brought a big notebook. In fact, it was one of the several volumes Lahiri had bound for his personal use of “the Preceptom - the magazine on Yoga literature,” published fortnightly. Later, these were converted to “Yogoda Lessons” on Kriya. In the West, Yogananda’s organization has introduced lessons which are not exactly the same. He opened the relevant portion quickly, as important places were underlined. He showed them to Mr. De.
(Note - After visiting Kumbha Mela at Haridwar in 1974, a French lady devotee and a young journalist, an African French, of Paris, who met the author at Kumbha Mela, later visited the author, at Dunagiri, Hill, Himalayas. Both wanted clarifications on some of their confusions. At that time, she showed her lessons. Thus the author happened to notice the differences.
(In fact there is a little more to this story. The author, the lover of solitude and silence, never intended to visit Kumbha Mela due to the big crowd. But he had to visit Haridwar in 1974, just for three days towards the end of seven weeks duration of the fair because Mahamuni Babaji wanted the author to be there. Babaji had three reasons:
(1. to have the experience Kumbha Mela, at least once,
(2. to have the author know the differences of the lessons; It indicated that silently Babaji was preparing the grounds by educating the author to commission him later for reestablishing the original Kriya tradition and
(3. to respond to the intensive prayers of some devotees.
(Both the devotees, the French lady and the young journalist, had a letter of introduction from Swami Sradhhananda [a Bengali Swami living in Paris, who had received Swami order from Bhola Giri Sanyas asram, Haridwar] to Swami Sevananda, a disciple of Yogananda, who was living at that time in Bhola Giri Asram.
(The young journalist said, “I have the letter of introduction from Sradhhananda to Sevananda. I walked many times in front of Bhola Giri Asram’s gate, I could walk in and use the letter to see Sevananda, but I did not want to meet an Indian Kriya Yogi in this manner. My friend agreed. We prayed to Babaji to bless us so that we could meet an Indian Kriya Yogi without formal letter of introduction. And surely, we are glad to meet you Swamiji. We have come, on behalf of two hundred French devotees of Paris, who themselves have been praying to Babaji for this meeting. We want to have clarifications of our doubts regarding our practice in higher techniques according to the teaching through the lessons; and to know the correct pronunciation of the Mantra in Sanskrit.”
(The author asked, “What about Sradhhananda?)
The journalist replied, “He is very good for the beginners. Whenever he performed Homa, the Vedic rituals, many devotees attended.”
(Later, both devotees proposed that the author come to Europe. They promised to bear the expenses and do all the necessary arrangements, but the proposal was turned down. Then again, the lady devotee stated that one of her lady friends o Paris wanted to build an asram in India, so that she could live six months there and six months in Paris. Her question was, whether the author would be willing to accept and consent to live six months in the proposed asram when her friend would be in Paris.
(The author, gently smiled within, observing the tricks of the negative forces to tempt him, and said, “Sorry, this body is not that caretaker person.”
(They left Dunagiri Hill
after three days.)
Back to the story. Mr. De maintained his silence, and did not comment.
Abanindra Lahiri looked to the author to intervene.
Reluctantly, the author told Lahiri, “The one to whom are you showing these materials was himself in charge of these Preceptoms while he was in Ranchi, in addition to his other responsibilities [such as being in charge of Finance, serving as teacher at the Brahmacharya Vidyalaya (school), and being assistant general secretary of Yogoda Sat Sanga Society (YSS) from 1936-42. He was even made Brahmachari Santananda by Yogananda in 1936. Once, I was told by Satyananda, ‘Yogananda wanted to bring him to the U.S.A. in 1936. But in those days, his eyes were focused somewhere else.’ In other words, he was focusing inward and everything else was insignificant to him].”
Abanindra Lahiri: “Is this true?” Mr. De nodded his head.
Abanindra Lahiri was shocked by this disclosure. However, he wanted to know the comments of all on this particular point. He looked to Mr. De who maintained his silence. So did the principal, Hiralal Chanda. Then he turned to the author demanding that he say something.
(Note - Once, Hiralal Chanda was considered to be brought to U.S.A., but it did not materialize.)
Again, reluctantly the author said, “As you know, Kriya practice is very personal; it is a matter of Guru-Param-Para - Master and disciple relationship; that is why no one would answer.”
Privately the author told Abanindra Lahiri, “You had better direct your question to Satchidananda (disciple of Yogananda) from whom you are receiving instructions. In this connection, you may look into the comments of Swami Pranabananda (disciple of Lahiri Mahasay) in his Gita interpretations - there he said on this particular point that trying to bring attention to the front from behind the head is impossible because the internal tissues in that part of the Spinal Cord are so constituted that if one tries to come from that side it gets tighter and tighter, and blocks it automatically. One could not reach the center this way not to speak of bringing attention to the front side.”
By then, it became dark. It was time for evening prayer. Abanindra Lahiri looked very worried, nervous, and saddened. He had been practicing Kriya according to the lessons seriously and sincerely for twenty-two long years with no results. He complained to the author several times. Now, he began to doubt.
Abanindra Lahiri did not lose time. The following week he made a trip to visit Satchidananda. He told the author, later, on some other occasion, that arriving at Dhanyasol where Satchidananda was staying, “I was so upset, I did not make any introduction, rather, straightforwardly asked Swamiji (Satchidananda), ‘Please do not give me a bluff, and answer my questions honestly.’ ”
Satchidananda: “Let me check your practice.”
Abanindra Lahiri said, “When I practiced, he said, ‘It is okay.’ I tried again to explain to him what had happened and what caused me to direct this question to him, but he said, ‘Do not worry; Go on practicing.’ ”
Abanindra Lahiri asked the author on some other occasion, “Could you comment on Swamiji’s (Satchidananda’s) treating me like this? What could be the possible reasons?”
Again, the author was reluctant to comment, but Lahiri insisted. He knew that he could count on the author, since the former had known the latter from grade four in the hermitage.
The author said, “I could only imagine two reasons: 1) Satchidananda himself was a disciple of Yogananda and he had no choice but to respect Preceptom; 2) he has experienced the Lord’s sudden blessing in his Khecharimudra practice and, as a result, he understood that unless the right moment comes, things do not reveal. That is why he advised you to continue to practice.
Abanindra Lahiri was not happy with the situation. He knew that Satchidananda, although a disciple of Yogananda, had received instructions from Swami Satyananda. So he decided to seek clarification directly from Satyananda. Accordingly, he contacted the author to make an appointment with Satyananda for three days during the next month.
The principal, Hiralal Chanda and Abanindra N. Lahiri, the vice principal arrived at Sevayatan, Satyananda’s hermitage.
On the second day, in the evening, Abanindra Lahiri asked Satyananda an important question in the presence of the author. Satyananda, apparently, said, “Go on practicing. It is okay.”
Abanindra Lahiri was shocked. He looked at the author and pressed the author’s body hard in such a way that Satyananda could not see. He wanted the author to interfere and help him.
The author said, “It is between you both. It is not the area for another to comment.”
Abanindra Lahiri felt helpless and became desperate; he touched the author again and pressed hard by which he meant that he wanted the author to intervene and help him.
At this the author directed a request to Satyananda, “You could throw some light on Abani Babu’s question.”
Satyananda simply looked at the author and remained silent.
The next day, Lahiri asked the author, during evening walk, “Swamiji! What is your comment about Satyananda’s answer?”
The author said, “I have observed on many occasions, whenever one of Yogananda’s disciples would come and seek Satyananda’s advice, he would not disturb the structure of Yogananda’s Kriya teachings when giving advice to the devotee. Rather, Satyananda thought this matter to be Yogananda’s own responsibility to his disciple.
“Satyananda also knew that he is not supposed to answer until the right moment arrives. Furthermore, looking at the questioner’s providential background, advice is given for his benefit. What else can I say? I wish I could be of help, but my hands are also tied; I cannot say any more because the righteous spirit must be maintained. That is, eternal Realization is eternally secret. The Lord Himself kept It secret by means of Silence. I can chant simply:
“Twamabyaya saswata dharma gopta, ‘You are the custodian of eternal Realization [dharma] by means of Silence.’ Gita 11:18.
“In other words, everything points to the right moment for the fortunate one to receive the right advice in the right time.
“Kabir says, ‘The true path is rarely found.’ ”
The following day both left for Yogananda’s hermitage. After a couple of years, Hiralal Chanda retired and Abanindra N. Lahiri became the principal. Then in 1971 Satyananda left the body and entered into Mahasamadhi. Hiralal Chanda also left the body in 1976.
During Abanindra Lahiri’s tenure, the author visited him a couple of times. He used to introduce the author to his present students in the evening prayer, advising them to take advantage of author’s visit.
Abanindra N. Lahiri left the body in November 1983 in Calcutta.
Lahiri Mahasay knew that many initiated Kriyanwitas might not be able to make progress in Kriya, especially in Khecharimudra, and that is why he emphasized that the first Kriya be practiced strictly according to the instruction with all sincerity.
In one letter he wrote to a devotee, “All [complete Realization] can be attained by the first Kriya; only sincerity is needed. The After-effect-poise of Kriya and blissful addiction are there at the very first Kriya. Go on practicing Kriya.” p. 22 Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.
Now to return to the discussion of Kriya modification:
19. Sriyukteswar did not teach Khecharimudra to Yogananda because he observed that Yogananda had already learned it from Sastri Mahasay (Kebalananda).
Although, in fact, Yogananda was initiated by Sastri Mahasay whom he used to address as Guru Maharaj-ji prior to coming to the U.S.A., for some reason afterwards, Yogananda preferred to be identified as the disciple of Sriyukteswar whom he used to call Jnana Guru Maharaj.
At that time, Sastri Mahasay was a householder disciple of Lahiri Mahasay, and Yogananda had been made Swami by Sriyukteswar. Perhaps, being a Swami, he preferred to mention Swami Sriyukteswar as his Jnana Gurudev over Sastri Mahasay. It may be pointed out here that in spite of his friends’ criticisms in India for his apparent changing of Gurus, Yogananda never showed disrespect to Sastri Mahasay. Rather he treated him with respect.
Since Yogananda did not learn Khecharimudra from Sriyukteswar, he did not teach Khecharimudra to his disciples.