Kriya Yoga and the Nature of the Path

Kriya Yoga and the Nature of the Path

Kriya yoga has found a place for some people who are looking for a deeper, more spiritual connection to their lives. It is a kundalini oriented yoga and meditation technique that also teaches certain spiritual and esoteric principles. Unfortunately, like many similar "spiritual" power structures, it teaches you that your power essentially lies outside of you - that is, you need a 'guru' or 'master' to access your own innate spirituality.

Kriya Yoga has some goals that sound appealing and promising. Their goal is to remove "obstacles" and "obstacles" from the mind and body. However, the point of view is a very interesting thing here. Because what is a hindrance or obstacle to one may not be to another. This sheds a very interesting light on power structures and belief systems and highlights why it is important to maintain your own sovereignty in mind and action.

Kriya Yoga was brought to the West by Yogananda in the 1920s. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship as a system of "total yoga" that sought to address both the spiritual and physical aspects of the self.

Kriya yoga is primarily based on three other yoga techniques - karma yoga, bhakti yoga and jnana yoga. Karma Yoga focuses on the movement of the soul both inside and outside the mind. Jnana yoga focuses on wisdom and allows the mind freedom. Bhakti yoga focuses on love because it allows you to come to terms with everything around you. The goal of their combination was to "purify" the mind and soul, and Kriya Yoga advocates believe that in this way they can achieve self-realization more quickly than by following other disciplines.

Preparation for Kriya

The first step in Kriya is to 'prepare' the body and this is done in one of several ways. For many, Hatha yoga is the perfect preparatory exercise. There are alternatives available for others who may not be as flexible.

Next in Kriya the mind is prepared. General behavior is studied in this discipline as part of a mental process, so it is essential to ensure that your mind is properly focused. In addition, the Kriya Yoga technique forces you to study overall well-being, cleanliness, purity and even metaphysical principles. However, together they help to 'prepare' the mind for later techniques that use the body's life force currents to seemingly 'soften' the brain and nervous system.

Mantras are taught in kriya yoga techniques. They are believed to deepen the meditative experience. This sound technology undoubtedly tunes the body like a tuning fork, as well as any sound that is repeated and focused on. The question, of course, is what frequency is the body tuned to?

If self-realization is a journey, whose journey are we taking? Ours or someone else's? Kriya yoga no doubt resonates with some people. For myself, I prefer more transparency.