The characteristic of a realized person is to be restrained. Sangjam, the restraint of the senses is the primary ingredient of inner Realization. Yogi Patanjali mentioned Sangjam in his Yoga Sutras:

Trayamekatra Sangjam. Yoga Sutras 3:4

The verse says, “Three [Dharana - glimpse of Tranquility, or concept, Dhyana - meditation and Samadhi - attunement in Oneness] being united into One constitutes the state of Sangjam, or the state of restraint.”

There is a nice story on this point: Gargya, son of Valaka, one day, visited King Ajatsatru of Benares. Gargya was proud of his Brahmana heritage. He wanted to teach the king who was a Khatriya. So their conversation began:

Gargya (G) said, “He who is in the wind and who is also as breath within, I meditate upon as Brahma.”

Ajatsatru (A) said, “You should not say like that about Brahma. I worship Him as invincible and unconquerable.”

G: “He who is in the fire and who is in the heart, I meditate upon as Brahma.”

A: “No. You should not speak thus of Brahma. He is the embodiment of forgiving; I meditate upon Him as forgiveness.”

G: “He who is in the water and in the heart, I meditate upon as Brahma.”

A: “No. Do not speak thus of Brahma. I meditate upon him as harmony.”

[Thus both continued back and forth for a while. Finally Gargya said the following; and Ajatsatru replied appropriately.]

G: “He who lives in the heart as Intelligence, I meditate upon him as Brahma.”

A: “Please do not speak Brahma in that manner. He who meditates upon Brahma, achieves atma sangjam, self-control. I meditate upon Brahma [the ultimate Self] as Sangjam, or self-control.”

Gargya reflected on what the king has said and became silent for a while. Then he approached the king, “Please accept me as your disciple.”

The king said, “You are a Brahmana; your profession is to teach spiritual discipline. I am a Khatriya and my duties are to rule, make gifts and to support the Brahmanas.”

Gargya again approached the king with folded hands to accept him as his disciple. This time, the king said, “Well then, I will teach you.”

Gargya was advanced but not a realized Brahmana. So quickly he understood that he needed to learn the discipline directly and personally from the King who was a realized yogi and was established in self-control.

In fact, it is atma-sangjam, self-control, or restrainment, that provides Sthirattva, eternal Tranquility, or eternal Realization. Lack of Sangjam, or the state of restraint of the senses, induces one to obsession to save souls.

Before leaving India, and after returning to India in 1935-36, Yogananda did not teach Khecharimudra to his disciples, but rather he asked them to learn and check Kriyas with Satyananda, who never disturbed Yogananda’s structure of Kriya teaching and never initiated any disciple of Yogananda into Khecharimudra. Rather Satyananda considered Yogananda to be primarily responsible for them.

For example, as mentioned before, in spite of the repeated insistence of Swami Satchidananda (then Brahmachari Animananda), disciple of Yogananda, Satyananda did not teach Satchidananda Khecharimudra. He had to learn it from Sriyukteswar’s household disciple, Bijoya K. Chatterjee of Howrah.

In the original Kriya tradition, Khecharimudra is very essential. One must be initiated into it directly from the permitted teacher. It is so important that in the original Kriya tradition, nobody is initiated without it into the second Kriya and all the remaining higher Omkar Kriyas.

Khecharimudra provides a special capacity (resulting in the second birth into the Kriya path), which is required to function in the special procedure which is adopted in the higher Kriyas, and without this capacity, or second birth, Omkar Kriyas simply do not become operative, no matter how perfect one is practicing them.

The life of the practice of higher Kriyas is gone if the blessings of Khecharimudra are missing. It should be mentioned here that it is fatal to practice those Omkar Kriyas without Khecharimudra.

Successful Khecharimudra, or Talabya Kriya, as Lahiri Mahasay mentioned, provided a capacity to connect the seeker to the Kutastha, the inner Self, the eternal Master. At this stage the seeker becomes Dwija, “the twice born.”

When a Kriyanwita seeker in original Kriya tradition succeeds in Talabya Kriya, he is initiated into higher Omkar Kriyas. This is the Kriyanwita seeker’s third birth.

Practicing higher Kriyas, that is, Omkar Kriyas, without Talabya Kriya, brings a qualitative change in the approach of Kriya Science. With this significant modification, whether the approach or practice remain a Kriya approach is very much questionable.

Yogananda, Sriyukteswar’s emissary to the West, who did not learn Talabya Kriya from him, reduced the importance of Talabya Kriya from “must” to “may.” At least, that is what the author was told by Yogananda’s dear and close Western disciple, president of SRF and YSS, in their second meeting, one to one, at Calcutta in November, 1972.

Liberal Yogananda was trying to respect the original Kriya tradition by indicating that he was the last Guru, or Master, of his line of teachings since he dropped the teaching of Talabya Kriya, or Khecharimudra.

As mentioned before, in the original Kriya tradition, nobody is initiated in the second Omkar Kriya, or higher Kriyas, without Talabya Kriya. Yogananda modified the teaching and taught Omkar Kriyas without introducing Talabya Kriya at all.

“Another startling innovation introduced [by Yogananda] that Second or the Third Kriya was allowed to be practised without having to do Khechari Mudra. All these innovations or rather deviations from the regular methods [Original Kriya Tradition] could not find favour with devotees and lovers of Kriya Yoga.

“It is pertinent to note that an American intellectual, Dr. Wendel Thomas, an American professor, - in his book Hinduism Invades America (New York, 1930) while eulogising the broadness of outlook of Swami Yogananda and comparing him as the best among all the Hindu Missionaries that ever came to America, pinpointing adoption of American methods by him remarked, ‘He has plunged headlong into American life ... who knows if the message itself is not changed in the long run.’ ” p. 168, Kriya Yoga written and published by Sailendra Bejoy Dasgupta, Calcutta, 1979.

Recently, on August 8, 1991 a devotee had an appointment with the author to have Satsanga, spiritual meeting. Being asked by the devotee in that Satsanga, the author explained something on Jnana Yoga, the path of Knowledge, and then explained the same in the light of Kriya Yoga. The following day, the devotee called the author to have some clarifications. He had developed some questions from yesterday’s Satsanga.

The devotee said, “Baba (the author)! Yesterday, you were explaining the path of Knowledge to me. Were you suggesting to me that my path is the path of Knowledge?”

The author said, “No. It was a general discussion. It does not necessarily apply to you. That is why the point was explained to you again in the light of Kriya.”

The devotee said, “Another question: I heard from a friend that he knew one gentleman who received Khecharimudra from Yogananda. Would you please comment on this?”

The author said, “In India, Yogananda did not teach Khecharimudra. At least, that is my observation. In the West, people have a tendency to assume things personally. Yogananda might have discussed it with some devotees during Satsanga and the devotees assumed that they were taught Khechari. It may be of that nature. Think about yourself M; you thought that you were taught the path of Knowledge just yesterday. This is an example of how average American people take things or relate to themselves personally. They think that there must be some reason and connection, otherwise, why would Baba say this? In Satsanga things are discussed in general. If there is personal instruction then it is told personally with a special emphasis.”

The devotee said, “Now I understand and see your point. Thank you Baba for your kind answer.”

Observing the average American’s physical construction, in his time, Yogananda, instructed his students to sit on a chair instead of on the floor with folded legs or lotus posture for their Kriya practice. Perhaps, for the same reason he dropped advising Khecharimudra to his students. He may have thought that the practice of Khecharimudra might horrify them.

The author feels embarrassed to point this out, but remembering Babaji’s instruction, and considering that someone has to tell the hard Truth, he must mention that this is a very significant change, or modification. The implications are so far-reaching that the entire practice would lose the credibility of being called the Kriya approach.

In his teaching of Omkar Kriyas, Yogananda made three changes:

20. He modified the nature of the head movement.

21. He changed the place for Viksha (begging).

22. Also, his teaching instructs that the last three aksaras of the Mantra be put in places which are different than in original Kriya tradition.

If the Mantra is chanted in the wrong places, bad results are produced. Lahiri Mahasay clearly wrote in two letters to his disciples that one should practice strictly according to the instructions.

“Many put attention in each center and do not make Japa in each center. In this case, the practice becomes negative. Therefore, during the practice of Pranayam, or Kriya, Japa should be made properly at the six centers in the Spine.” p. 58, Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.

"Making oneself interiorized during inhaling and exhaling, Japa should be proper at each center. If such Japa is not practiced strictly according to the instructions, then the Kriya practice becomes negative.” p. 58, Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.

23. In his teaching, Yogananda made no mention of the Fifth Omkar Kriya and all the remaining higher Kriyas simply because he was not taught by Sriyukteswar who himself did not receive these from Lahiri Mahasay.

It would be appropriate to mention some references here on this point. The references of Sixth and Seventh Kriyas are found in the letters of Lahiri Mahasay’s disciples.

“I practice in the evening as follows: Pranayam 108, the second Pranayam 28, the third Pranayam with thokar 175, the fourth 200, the fifth 200 and the sixth 175, Mahamudra 9.” p. 44, Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.

I practice according to the instructions of Dukori Dada [Dada means elder brother, while word Vai is an affectionate Bengali term for younger brother], 144 the first, 144 the second, 144 the third, 288 the work of meditation, staying inside, 336 the fifth [Kriya], with Mantras, and in tranquility 12 X 14 the sixth [Kriya] with Mantras, and later the seventh [Kriya].” p, 68, Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.

The reference of the fifth Kriya is found in the Lahiri Mahasay's reply.

“When some Kriyanwitas receive higher [Uccha] Kriya, then they think they shall not have to practice Pranayam. For this reason sometimes among the advanced Kriyanwitas there is confusion. You should practice six hundred Pranayam, fifty/sixty Mahamudra, Navi Kriya and the fourth and fifth Kriya.” Pp. 38 & 40, Lahiri Mahasay’s Personal Letters to Kriya Disciples by the author.

In fact, there are 108 steps of Kriyas in the original Kriya discipline.

24. Yogananda during his young days, learned meditation from the Radha Swami group. They emphasized meditation on Jyoti (Light) and Nada (Sound). He was benefited by the Light in his life on many occasions. He was so influenced by the Light that he even named a mudra for it, called Jyotimudra. There is no reference in the Vedic Scripture of Jyotimudra.

In fact, there is Yonimudra in the original Kriya tradition. As a matter of fact, Yogananda took some part of Yonimudra, especially the Light aspect of it, and called it Jyotimudra, since the word Jyoti in Sanskrit means “Light.”

(Note – Yoni literally means, sex organ, birth place. In Kriya, it means the place of creation of the individual self, that is, Kutastha, in between the eyebrows.)

25. In teaching his Jyotimudra, Yogananda changed the positions of the index fingers from the original Kriya tradition, so that the practitioner could easily have a glimpse of the flash of light between the eyebrows due to the pressure on points of meridian lines.

Thus, one assumes the flash of light generated in this way to be inner Light. In fact, inner Light, as well as inner Sound, are produced and generated from the tranquil Breath.

The flash of light produced from the pressures on the nerves is not inner Light, not to speak of tranquil inner Light; since it is not produced from the tranquil Breath generated through the practice of Pranayam.

In reality, Talabya Kriya, or Khecharimudra, helps transcend three sensations (smelling, tasting and touching). Yonimudra helps transcend two sensations (seeing and hearing - that is, light and sound).

In the original Kriya tradition, one is advised to practice both the mudras integratedly and simultaneously to dissolve the operation of the five sensations.

The question arises: Since Kriya is a positive science, if the integrative aspect of the approach to Kriyas is disturbed, how could the practice dissolve five sensations simultaneously, when major parts which deal with four sensations are dropped from the practice? The obvious answer is that it is doubtful.

To put it in plain English, can anyone fill up a pot with water, pouring from the top, when there are four big holes at the bottom? You know the answer.

A devotee commented the other day, that perhaps, observing his Western followers’ difficulties, Yogananda, being kind, simplified the Kriya approach for them.

Towards the end of dissolution of the individual self, according to the original Kriya tradition, integration of Talabya Kriya, Yonimudra and Omkar Kriyas is very much necessary.

On the contrary, in the modified Kriya trend Talabya Kriya is dropped, Yonimudra is partly practiced in the form of Jyotimudra, and Omkar Kriyas are practiced with several modifications without first doing anything with Talabya Kriya.

So the question remains to be answered as to whether the modified Kriya trend would work for the practitioner? Is it possible to conduct an experiment in the laboratory of physics (physical body of the seeker) when all the equipment is assembled on the table and the electricity, that is, the power line (in this case, the Talabya Kriya, or Khecharimudra) is not connected?

During the author’s stay at Ranchi in October, 1972, he wanted to test the spirit of the joint secretary YSS (American) whether the joint secretary could digest the author’s outspoken character.

The author asked him, “Perhaps, you have heard by now, that there is a controversy in India about Yogananda’s teachings of Kriya in a liberal way; what are your comments about the modifications of the integrated aspect of Kriya by Yogananda?”

He said, “Guruji [he meant Yogananda; the author is not aware if he has met Yogananda] experimented, then taught.”

Then the author asked him, “What can you tell me about your president? She came first time to India known as sister. Now the printed papers here say Mata (means mother). She was then president, the head of your organization, so who made her Mata? ”

The joint secretary did not reply to the question. He prepared to leave abruptly. Then the author asked him, “If nobody made her such, then was it self-styled?” He then left speedily and entered the office leaving the author in the verandah of Ranchi asram. His actions were understood. The author then left to go to the garden on the campus.

The joint secretary’s comment brings another question. A realized person’s experimental techniques have every chance of being influenced by his own realized state, but whether or not this would be workable and beneficial to the ignorant and ordinary seeker is questionable.