(This letter was sent to Ananda members and students in the Seattle area in anticipation of a kriya initiation ceremony on Saturday, July 23, 2016)
This weekend we will conduct kriya initiation: the
sacred ceremony in which the technique(s) of kriya meditation are taught to
those who have undergone the requisite training and preparation. In Paramhansa Yogananda’s
famous life story, “Autobiography of a Yogi,” Chapter 26 (called Kriya Yoga),
he explains the basic nature of kriya yoga as a meditation technique: how it
accelerates our spiritual evolution by dissolving psychic blocks which reside
deep in the subtle spine of the astral body.
Obviously not every member or student at Ananda has
been or seeks to be initiated into kriya, nor is that expected or required.
Ananda means many things to different people: for some, the practice of hatha
(“Ananda”) yoga; others, serving and sharing through their talents and
interests with others of like-mind, others, yet, the study of spiritual
teachings east or west; others are devoted to God or gurus in the heartfelt
practices of chanting, prayer and constant, inner devotion; others, find
inspiration in friendship and community; others are engaged in the practical
application of their ideals ranging from growing food to teaching children at
Living Wisdom School, serving at East West Bookshop or the Living Wisely Gift
and Thrift Store! Food, health, healing, teaching, sharing, studying, playing,
supporting, chanting, prayer, counseling and so many, many activities are
doorways to fellowship and spiritual awakening!
Nonetheless, the centerpiece of the science of yoga for
which Paramhansa Yogananda was sent to the West and to the world is the
ever-increasingly popular practice of kriya yoga. Why is this, a relatively
simple meditation technique, so central to the work of a world spiritual
teacher and to a worldwide work of yoga?
In Yogananda’s autobiography he writes that “The
ancient yogis discovered that the secret of cosmic consciousness is intimately
linked with breath mastery. This is India’s unique and
deathless contribution to the world’s treasury of knowledge. The life force,
which is ordinarily absorbed in maintaining the heart-pump, must be freed for
higher activities by a method of calming and stilling the ceaseless demands of
the breath.”
Consider now for a
moment how many of you, and millions of others, have turned away from orthodox
religion and/or are committed to reason and the evidence-based findings of
modern science. In effect, SCIENCE is the religion of modern times. We get
excited when science pushes the envelope of knowledge and hints at cosmic or
subtle realities. No more do we turn to religion or theology or priests for
describing or defining reality.
Next: consider if you
could achieve health, vitality, calmness and happiness by working with the psycho-physiological
and biological realities of meditation techniques. Researchers are falling all
over themselves in studying the techniques and effects of meditation. Not a
week passes without a new study discovering yet another amazing and
demonstrable benefit from meditation.
And what is that
biological reality that offers so much promise? Yes, you’re right: the breath!
The most elemental necessity and evidence of life itself!
Science and society is
steadily and inexorably moving towards the same discovery that yogis and rishis
made thousands of years ago: that the relationship of breath to mind (and mind
to breath) holds the key to unlocking our own highest potential.
Any thoughtful person knows
that we cannot always control the circumstances of life and that, in
consequence, our happiness and health depends, rather, on how we respond to
life. In the scientific and provable fact that our reactions to life produce
responses in heart and breath rate, AND, that heart and breath control can, in
turn, re-direct and calm our reactions to life holds for us the greatest
promise of health and happiness in an age of constant turmoil, change, and
uncertainty.
But, we all know that
there’s more to spiritual awakening than doing breathing exercises! Devotion,
wisdom, kindness and generosity (the “yamas” and “niyamas” as Patanjali teaches
in the Yoga Sutras) is, of course, the foundation for spiritual consciousness.
But the greatest obstacle to actually achieving a superconscious state of spiritual
awakening is the monkey mind and its obsession with the body and ego. The
relationship of breath to mind (and mind to one’s state of consciousness,
happiness, contentment, and awareness) holds a key to a rapid acceleration of
higher consciousness.
This is where kriya
comes in. Kriya operates directly upon the nervous system, brain, and breath to
safely and gradually slow the breath and heart rate that the higher states of
divine awareness may appear on the horizon of the mind’s inner, or spiritual,
“eye.” This is why Yogananda called kriya yoga the “airplane route” to God. Good
deeds, rites and rituals are what he called “the bullock cart route” to the
release of the ego into soul consciousness. The mystic key to the doorway of
higher consciousness has been re-discovered to accelerate our spiritual
evolution in an age of rapid change and growth.
So we ask for your
blessings upon this sacred weekend where the light of kriya yoga with the grace
of the guru spreads person to person. If you find yourself inspired to learn
more, we welcome your interest and offer free classes to explain more about
kriya yoga and even have several videos on our website that you might find
helpful!
Blessings and joy to
you!
Nayaswamis Hriman and
Padma
