PART III: HOW TO AVOID FAILURE ON THE SPIRITUAL

PATH
CHAPTER 13
THE VALUE OF JAPA PRAYER
To many devotees Prayer is with rare exceptions a plea to God with the
purpose of obtaining something necessary to our material existence or at
least for peace, happiness... For a mystic it is the repetition of a formula
that embodies their intention of worship and surrender to the Divine.
Instead of ''Prayer'' we can use the term: ''Internal Oration'' or ''Japa.''
I have already introduced Japa in the first part of the book. Here I
am setting out to take back the theme in a systematic way.
First part: discovering the value of Japa (Prayer)
The decision of practicing Japa on a regular basis can change the life of a
kriyaban. The figure of Mre (The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
convinced me to practice every day at least one Mala of Japa. After some
experiments I adopted the Mantra of Swami Ramdas.
Time ago I considered Kriya as a work on the energy (to pacify
Prana, to move from dynamic Prana to static Prana.) I still have the same
opinion, but now I am convinced that without a special effort to create the
Mental Silence during the day, it is not possible to calm the Prana and have
a good Kriya.
Some kriyabans challenge this conviction. There are those who affirm
impudently that Kriya Yoga has nothing to do with Japa. Almost annoyed
by finding that their path could be polluted by other practices, they pour
our their ignorance on you: "Neither Guruji, nor Lahiri Mahasaya taught it.
Kriyabans don't need it.'' These kriyabans think that Kriya works in an
automatic, infallible way, therefore what is the purpose of repeating a
devotional formula during the day?
Mystics would object: ''You can do nothing without Prayer and you can do
miracles with it.'' According to St. Teresa, Prayer is all in all in the
mystical path. 1
There is no other exercise upon which she insists so
1

Saint Teresa of vila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, (March 28, 1515 October
4, 1582) was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and
writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through
Contemplative Prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order. The teaching of
St. Teresa flows from her own experience and not from books.

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much in all of her writings and to which she grants such importance. In her
opinion, the soul that doesn't create the habit of Prayer is lost it won't
reach the mystical goal.
As for my experience, talking with a great number of kriyabans, I had been
the witness of the failure of those who were practicing with the usual
attitude: ''Kriya techniques are all in all for the awakening of Kundalini, we
don't need any other practice.'' On the hand, I saw the eyes shining of joy,
boundless love and sincere surrender to the Divine, of those devotees who
added to their morning Kriya routine the ''humble'' Prayer approach during
the intervals of their busy day, when they could remain alone even for few
minutes free from work or other activities.
As for the breathless state or the calm-breath state, there is a causeeffect relationship between Japa and reaching the breathless state. We can
say that the divine gift of the breathless state is prepared by all Kriya
technique but it becomes a real experience through the practice of Japa.
However there are no doubts that Japa is the best tool to prepare the mind
for meditation.
I have good reasons to believe that those who went to Lahiri Mahasaya not
only were already familiar with the practice of Japa, but undertook the
path of Kriya Yoga not to start something totally new but to deepen and
intensify the practice of the Continuous Prayer, in which they had already
poured their soul.
Very probably to some of them, receiving the procedure of Thokar
was the definitive practical instruction to crown their efforts to achieve the
lofty state of the Prayer of the heart.
How to choose a Mantra
Choose a Mantra (Prayer) that appeals to you. Don't feel obliged to use
Lahiri Mahasaya's favored Vasudeva Mantra ("Om Namo Bhagavate
Vasudevaya".) You can, just to give you an idea, choose one from your
favorite set of prayers, one that has (by adding, if necessary, Om or Amen at
the beginning or at the end) twelve syllables. Twelve is a perfect number
because you can utilize it during Kriya Pranayama, placing each of its
syllables in a different Chakra. Various beautiful twelve-syllables Mantras
can be taken out of Bhajans or poems. As an example, from the wellknown Adi Shankara's chant you can select the beautiful 12-syllable verse:
Chi-da-nan-da-ru-pah-shi-vo-ham-shi-vo-ham [That Form which is pure
consciousness and bliss, I am that supreme Being, I am that supreme
Being!]
One thing should be stated objectively: YOUR Mantra should express or
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evoke exactly what YOU want to achieve and embody the attitude you
want to express. For example, the attitude of surrender is expressed by
Mantras beginning with Om Namo ... other Mantras might express the
absolute non-dual realization, and so on. Sometimes, the meaning is not as
important as having in ones heart the example of a dear saint who used it.
But this is effective only if you really love that saint.
Generally speaking, a good choice is that of a Mantra having both a strong
and a soft tone. Be sensitive to the vibration that your Mantra arouses in
the body and heart. Some make an unfortunate choice, through which they
seem to punish themselves. They affirm their limits and unworthiness.
After a short time, their practice falls apart; sometimes they find
themselves repeating it once or twice during the day, like a sigh of
dejection. This has nothing to do with what we are describing here.
In literature you will see how very beautiful Mantras have been built. Here
you have the Krishna Mantra: Om Klim Krishnaya Govindaya Gopi-jana
Vallabhaya Swaha. Here you have the Durga (Divine Mother) Mantra: Om
Hrim Dhum Durgaye Namaha....
Some Hesychasts use only "Kyrie Eleison". Eleison can be translated as:
"be your embrace upon me, turn yourself to me.'' You can appreciate how
the sound Eleison seems to melt with the sound of the Om. What is
important to understand is that the chosen Prayer should be able to
stimulate your devotion, to unify all your being around the practice.
If you study a little bit the concept of Bija Mantra, you can forge for
yourself a wonderful Mantra. To a pre existent Mantra, after the initial Om,
your teacher can add some "Bija" (seed) Mantras like: Aim, Dm, Gam,
Glamu, Glom, Haum, Hoom, Hreem, Hrom, Kleem, Kreem, Shreem,
Streem, Vang,
These sounds were chosen by ancient yogis, who felt their beauty and liked
their vibration. They were not given by a divinity, they are a human
discovery. These seed Mantras have no meaning but can enrich a Mantra
who has a meaning. Read your mood, feel your emotions after an intense
practice of a Mantra, don't choose a Mantra only because certain literature
extolls its power.
I hope you are not so naive to believe that a Mantra works only if it is
received from a ''Guru.'' Certainly if you want to lighten your portfolio then
race to a teacher and buy your personal Mantra. Naturally in certain
occasions having a teacher is justified. When an experienced person helps
you to choose a Mantra and uses everything in his power of persuasion to
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convince you to apply it continually, this persons does you the greatest of
all the favors and is correct to compensate him; but that's all!
How to practice
When you have found your Mantra, resolve to complete daily at least one
Mala (a rosary of 108 beads) of it aloud. Pronounce its syllables with
serene attitude. Learn to resonate it in your mouth, chest and head areas. 2
When you have completed the 108 repetitions, close your mouth and let
Japa go ahead mentally, effortlessly, in the background of your awareness.
When it is possible, take back the vocal practice of Japa in the next hours.
Feel the protective shell of tangible peace surrounding you. I am not
recommending to do an exercise of visualization but only to become aware
of a subtle substance in which you are immersed. The same substance is
also perceived by those who come in contact with you. Practice this every
day and the results will soon be with you.
In books we seek God, in Prayer we find him. Prayer is the key which
opens God's heart.
(Padre Pio of Pietrelcina)

I tried to pass on this experience to other persons. I am reminded of a

friend who practiced Kriya without getting any result. I talked to him and
suggested Japa but I was not able to explain myself clearly. One day he
showed me how he had interpreted my explications and I was witness to a
lifeless practice, a tired plea for God's mercy. I had the impression that he
took Japa as cerebral act. His thoughts were on the repetition; its vibration
was not connected in any way to his body. His chosen Mantra was
nothing more than a sigh of self-pity. It was not surprising when, after
some time, he entirely abandoned the practice. All changed later when he
took part in a group pilgrimage. Someone began to recite the so-called
rosary (a set number of repetitions of the same prayer), and all the pilgrims
joined in. Even if tired and almost gasping for breath, my friend did not
withdraw himself from this pious activity. While walking and praying
softly, murmuring under his breath, he began to taste a state of unknown
calmness. He looked with different eyes at the show of continuously
changing landscape and had the impression of living in a paradisiac
situation. He went on repeating the Prayer unremittingly for the entire walk
2

A teacher was adamant about the fact that a Mantra should be pronounced only
mentally. I tried to follow his counsel and it didn't work. After various months I was
fed up with my useless attempt: I dared to chant it vocally on my Mala. Before
completing my 108 repetitions, a spring of happiness and mirth gushed from my
heart.
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(which surpassed the 20 miles), completely forgetting he was tired and

sleepy. When the group paused to rest, he luckily was left alone
undisturbed. He slipped into an introspective state and was pervaded by
something vibrating in his own heart which he definitely identified with
Spiritual Reality. His ecstatic state became solid as a rock, becoming
almost unbearable, overwhelming him.
My friend summarized the correct way of practicing Japa. He said
that the secret was to not only reach but also go beyond the state of
"exhaustion." After some days he chose to repeat the same Mantra I had
chosen and, thanks to it, he reached the breathless state.
Well, perhaps it is not necessary to go beyond the frontier of exhaustion.
Usually one has very good effects by completing daily one Mala (a rosary
of 108 beads) aloud then letting the repetition of one's Mantra go ahead
mentally and automatically. However the ''law of exhaustion'' is a valuable
resource for breaking some possible internal resistance and experience thus
the breathless state for the first time.
Difficult moments
Books rarely hint at the main obstacle: doubt.
In the practice of Devotional Prayer it can happen to cross some critical
moments. Often a delusion arises in us in the form of a scruple: '' By repeating
my Mantra mechanically all day long like a parrot, arent I doing the most mindnumbing activity in the word? Dont the faculties of my mind get lazy, becoming
dull tools?'' Thus we think that this practice is '' poor '' and is better to

collaborate with the spiritual evolution using a more powerful and effective
methods. Actually, you discover that through Japa the mind rests and becomes
more acute.

I counsel to reinforce your will, take a resolved decision not to

abdicate anymore the formidable help that only such practice can give. You
are going to crumble the wall of impossibility that life has put in front of
you. Whatever is the abyss of mental confusion and spiritual aridity in
which you could be, start again the practice of Prayer and repeat it with
superhuman calmness and determination. This simple act signals your
return as alive being on the spiritual path.
Consider Lahiri Mahasaya's motto "Banat, Banat, ban jay!" (doing
and doing, one day it is done!) At first this sentence will give you the idea
of one who, without ever losing heart, goes all out to reach the peak of a
high mountain. Perhaps it is not necessary to do this. Remove the obstacles
created by the mind. Practice Japa, then the spiritual dimension would
manifest naturally, without further effort on your behalf.

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CHAPTER 14
THE PRAYER OF THE HEART
To introduce the reader to this practice which is perfected only with a
tireless discipline I will utilize the literature of the spiritual movement of
Hesychasm, its explanations and its metaphors. The Hesychast movement
utilizes the formula : ''Kyrie Iesou Christe, Yie tou Theou, Eleison me ton
amartalon'' Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy of me, sinner.
If you have no time to read the Philokalia read at least the already
quoted book: The Way of a Pilgrim.'' 3 Of great inspiration is also the
literature upon the ''Desert Fathers.''
To learn the procedure of the Prayer of the heart, you must first learn
to unite breath and Prayer, then to reach ''the place of the heart'' and, finally
to synchronize the syllables of your Prayer with the pulse of your heart. 4
We have already learned to unite breath and Prayer, we shall give all
attention to the other two points.
[I] Reaching the place of the heart
Let us consider a person whose daily appointment with the Devotional
Prayer (where the restlessness of the mind is nearly dissolved completely)
is a consolidated habit. Finding "the place of the heart" means to to learn to
pray no more with the ''mind in the head'' but with ''the mind in the heart.''
The procedure is the following:
During a long inhalation visualize the Prayer that descends (inside our
body and spine) from the nose into the heart. There it remains. And also
during exhalation we visualize the Prayer remaining in the heart. Between
inhalation and exhalation we tilt the chin onto the upper part of the breast
3

The Philokalia is a collection of texts on Prayer and asceticism written from the 4th
to the 15th Centuries [first published in Greek in 1782]. In my opinion, it is a tedious
text showing the attitude of the mind, obsessed by sin and temptations, to complicate
and obscure the simplest things. However, it is irrefutable that it contains also several
pearls of wisdom. As for The way of the Pilgrim you will be amazed in discovering
that it contains a description of the throat sound produced by the breath and even a
hint to Kechari Mudra of course not with its proper name.

Strange as it may seem, for many the first exposure to the Prayer of the Heart came
from Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger: "... if you keep saying that prayer over and
over again, you only have to just do it with your lips at first - then eventually what
happens, the prayer becomes self-active. Something happens after a while. I don't
know what but something happens, the words get synchronized with the person's
heart-beats, and then you're actually praying without ceasing."
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(we avoid making a brusk movement, but feel the tension of the neck
muscles) hold the breath comfortably and feel a warm sensation in the
heart. Then we return to starting position of your head and exhale.
This pause is useful to locate the ''place of the heart.''
Gradually
the
value of this pause becomes more and more evident. During it, with your
head bowed, the eyes are directed toward the abdomen with concentrated
focus on the navel. Try to enter it as if the navel were a ''door'' through
which you come up to the ''place of the heart.'' 5
Very interesting is the instruction of this unknown author that many call
Pseudo-Symeon:
Then sit down in a quite cell, in corner by yourself, and do what I tell you.
Close the door, and withdraw your intellect from everything worthless and
transient. Rest your beard on your chest, and focus your physical gaze,
together with the whole of your intellect, upon the center of your belly or
your navel. Restrain the drawing-in of breath through your nostrils, so as
not to breathe easily, and search inside yourself with your intellect so as to
find the place of the heart, where all the powers of the soul reside. To start
with you will find there darkness and an impenetrable density. Later, when
you persist and practice this task day and night, you will find, as though
miraculously, an unceasing joy. For as soon as the intellect attains the
place of the heart, at once it sees things of which it previously knew
nothing. It sees the open space within the heart and it beholds itself
entirely luminous and full of discrimination.

[II] Prayer of the heart proper

Many think that the Prayer of the Heart is a Prayer uttered with sincere
devotion while reflecting upon the meaning of the uttered words. Actually,
it is much more than that. Let us try to come near it without being
discouraged for the first failures.
You are in the meditation position, your chin is slightly down, the gaze is
turned toward the location of your heart. With great calmness perceive the
pulse of your heart. It is not easy but if you persist you will succeed. Then
make each pulsation coincide with a word or with a syllable of the Prayer.
With this new criterion, constantly applied, you reach the stadium in which
the breath first and the pulsing of the heart then, tend to slow down and
5

Focusing on the navel in order to light the fire of devotion in your heart is what is
recommended by saints. In the last phases of the spiritual path, the navel center
(precisely all the region which in the Internal Alchemy, Taoism, is known as
Dantian) becomes more and more important. In some Kriya Yoga book you find
expressions like: ''The Samadhi state is born in the navel.'' '
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disappear. When you come near to this state, you will understand what it
means ''praying with the heart and not with the mind.''
After this practice, when you relax and are still unwrapped by the
sweetness of Prayer, often your imagination dwells upon something
beautiful. If you remain calm, that Beauty grows and grows. Then comes
the realization that you are not in the condition of resisting an allconsuming emotion, the full impact with that Reality, realizing that behind
it, there is the Divine.
From the corners of the eyes tears of inexpressible delight slowly go
down. An unlimited, all consuming internal desire to cry exert a pressure
upon your heart. When you enjoy this, you have the drastic realization that
''what you have lived till now had been nothing.''
Unheard of Light is born from this ineffably,
And thence, beyond all telling, the hearts illumination.
Last comes a step that has no limit
Though compassed in a single line
Perfection that is endless
(Monk Theophanis, the Hesychast ascetic of the 8th century)

When the Prayer of the heart is practiced constantly, this state extends to
the totality of your existence: the Prayer becomes continuous. In every
possible moment of silence you are aware of the Prayer that sweetly and
comfortably goes ahead as a music in the background of your
consciousness. When silence is not possible and you are in full activity you
preserve a presence in your heart: something which is like an ardent brazier
located in the region of the breast.
In the book The Way of a Pilgrim there is the description of how one day
the pilgrim finds eventually the Prayer at his lips and in his mind every
waking hour, as spontaneous and effortless as breath itself. In this
wonderful condition he comes to experience the effulgence of the divine
light, the innermost "secret of the heart".
Like a person enjoying the beauty of a chilly winter near the fireside,
contemplating either the sad or the joyous spectacle of life, such is a
devotee having found the infinity of the skies residing in their heart! The
Continuous Prayer is truly a marvelous gem whose glitter warms up life.
Its magic spreads into each facet of life, like walking out of a dark room
into fresh air and sunlight. (The Way of a Pilgrim)

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Saint Teresa of Avila explains that:

The body becomes insensitive and the will is totally captivated by
irresistible devotion. The other faculties, such as memory, reason, and
imagination, are progressively captivated and occupied with God. Both
intellect and will are absorbed in God. Distractions are not possible and
the external bodily senses are imprisoned.

St. Teresa couldn't have found better words attempting to express what
happens when Kundalini comes up to the heart:
The soul is wounded with love for the Divine. Body and Spirit are in the
throes of a sweet, happy pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, a
complete impotence, unconsciousness, and a feeling of suffocation,
sometimes intermixed with such an ecstatic flight that the body is literally
lifted into space. There are moments in which you feel like an arrow has
deeply penetrated your heart. One laments with such a vivid and intense
pain, but at the same time the experience is so delicious you never want it
to end.

I bow to this description because it is true, deeply true. When one

experience something similar, the strength of the divine Love intensifies
around the fourth Chakra, as if a mighty hand is squeezing the region of
the heart. Then when one returns to normal state, no other reaction is
possible except be moved to tears before this incommensurable Good.
Reflections about the heart-brain
Very few people know that the heart works as a brain independent from the
principal mind-brain. The practice of the Prayer of the heart is important
because it can establish a dialogue between the two brains.
It is inspiring to study all the available material about the concept of heartbrain. This might be decisive in understanding the difficulties of a person
who works hard with the Kriya techniques but has negligible results. This
situation could be born by an existing split between their mind-brain and
the heart-brain.
Continuously rearranging their Kriya routine and counseling new
techniques is of no use; probably what they need is to change their attitude
toward the Spiritual Path, toward life and the social relationships. Each
person needs to relax their mind-brain and start listening to their heartbrain.
It would be highly recommendable to study also the gut-brain.
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Actually, we learn to listen to our heart-brain only when all the parts of the
inferior circuits governing our gut function in perfect harmony. Our gut
often dominates our mind-brain taking ''visceral'' decisions however I do
not want to expand further this fact, at least for now.
Let us return to our consideration of the heart-brain. There are those who
(like Dr. J. Andrew Armour and Dr. Jeffrey Ardell) affirm that the heart
has an intrinsic nervous system containing an elaborate network of
neurons, neurotransmitters which enables it to process information,
produce feelings and then transmit information, including emotional
information, from one cell to another. There are those who object that the
heart does not contain brain cells but only neurons that comprise its own
intrinsic system for regulating the cardiac function. In other words it is not
a scientific fact that the heart acts as though it had a mind of its own giving
birth to desires, new plans of action and cognitive processes...
It is a fact that by working hard with the Prayer of the heart, and with all
the Kriya techniques having something to do with the heart Chakra, we
have the impression of utilizing a new tool of knowledge. We perfectly
know we are utilizing the brain but we have no doubt that our heart plays a
role in this process. We recognize that our heart-brain gives us access to a
completely new perception of reality.
Sure enough, our Ego is still active and working although we are
inspired to follow integrally our ''internal teacher.'' It often blocks our
actions. But through the constant practice of the Prayer of the heart plus
Kriya, the heart brain assumes definitively the dominant role. We shall be
surprised in discovering how, in this favorable situation, the ambient in
which we live reacts with unusual approval and affection. A great
revolution starts in our life. Our heart-brain has put in action some new
centers in the head-brain. We become fully aware of the filter exerted by
our conditioning in blurring our perception of reality. The blooming of the
best qualities in our personality (deep gratification, thankfulness feelings,
unconditional love... unrelated from circumstances) is the direct outcome
of our entrusting the direction of our life to our heart-brain.
Some of the more fascinating evidence supporting the notion of a heart
brain are the numerous documented stories (in the book, Change of heart
by Claire Sylvia) heart transplant patients who have taken on the habits,
expressions, tastes and memories of the dead donor. A woman knew the
name, address and family of the dead donor information that had been
withheld from her. In a most dramatic case, a teenage girl received the
heart of a woman who had been murdered. Shortly thereafter, in dreams
and in quiet moments, the woman was able to reconstruct details from the
crime scene so as to enable the police to gather enough evidence to
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convict the killer. These stories take this phenomena out of the realm of
coincidence.

The reason of many failures in the Kriya path

Have you ever tried to help a person who suffers of painful mental
disturbances such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks...? This person could
be a dear friend of yours. Let us suppose that he/she accepts to practice
some form of meditation or breath control under your guide. You believe in
Kriya and very probably you guide your friend to embrace Kriya. You were
told that Kriya breath magnetizes the spine, dissolving the energetic micro
vortexes which are created by our unresolved desires; you have heard that
Kriya burns the so-called "bad seeds" of Karma before they manifest in our
lives. Perhaps you see Kriya as a means of integrating the subconscious
with the conscious mind. You think enthusiastically that Kriya will surely
help your friend...
This is perfectly logic, rational but perhaps it does not work. After some
time you are confused to see that your friend is no more cooperative and
shows to nourish a whole collection of illusions! Perhaps, while feeling
exhausted you meet the spectrum of ingratitude receiving from him/her the
accusation of having given an unprofessional psychological help. 6 There
come moments of deep sadness. You have the sensation that your friend
had squeezed from you all the energy, inexorably up to the point that, as
Carlos Castaneda writes, nothing remains. You have nurtured the hope of
helping a friend and the friend had turned into a person who seems to hate
every thing of you and of your ''miraculous'' path of Kriya.
Many times the reason of this failure is that you have not cared to help
your friend in creating a harmonious connection between his/her friend's
mind-brain and his/her heart-brain! When there is a split between the two
brains the Kriya method doesn't work. Don't believe in those persons who
say that Kriya works like mathematics and the cause of apparent failures
should be attributed to negligence, lack of will... The cause of many
failures may lie in a split between mind-brain and heart-brain. The Prayer
of the heart is a wonderful method to cure that split.

I think that the pernicious mechanism of counsel, refusal, ingratitude might have
exacerbated organizations also. I wonder if those Kriya organizations that have
gradually turned away from a positive attitude toward all people and shifted toward a
plethora of prohibitions and of an absurd bureaucracy, were forced to react in this
way by the recriminations of ungrateful and mentally disturbed people.
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APPENDIX 1: RADHASOAMI
Why should kriyabans give their time to study the Radhasoami cult?
Because it has so many similarities with the Kriya path. It teaches
procedures that are very similar to the techniques Hong Sau, Om, Kriya
Pranayama and the technique that PY calls Second Kriya. Sri Yukteswar
and P. Y. were part of this movement. Every kriyaban who feels a strong tie
with PY's teachings will surely read with shivers of surprise what comes
out from Radhasoami literature.
It is reasonable to infer that some disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya
belonged to a Radhasoami group and perhaps, without even being fully
aware of this, added to Kriya some elements of theory and practice which
belonged to this movement.
The Radhasoami path deserves our respect: there are teachings in it
that complement wonderfully Lahiri's legacy. Let us say in general that the
literary material produced by this movement is very inspiring for all those
who are seeking to be in tune with the Omkar Realty.
Radhasoami is a monotheistic religion that has the Omkar Reality as
''Single God.'' Well, the Kriya path is a process of refinement, in
progressive stadiums, of the tuning with the Omkar vibration. Omkar is the
final destination of Kriya, the unique essence that permeates every of its
phases. This is what you will find in this path.... that's saying a lot.
The spiritual organization Radhasoami (Radha Swami) was formally
founded in 19th century India is also referred to as Sant Mat (Path of the
Saints). It is considered a derivation of Sikhism. 7 Actually, the tradition is
much more ancient and it relates to the teaching of Kabir and then Guru
Nanak. There were also a group of teachers that assumed prominence in the
northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century. Their
teachings are distinguished theologically by inward devotion to a divine
principle, and socially by an egalitarianism opposed to the qualitative
distinctions of the Hindu caste hierarchy and to the religious differences
between Hindu and Muslim. In the modern times the first name to signal is
that of Param Sant Shiv Dayal Singh ji who created the Radha Soami
movement in January 1861 (the same year in which Lahiri Mahasaya is
7

The Sikh religion is founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak and nine successive
Gurus; it is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world. It is interesting that the
key distinctive feature of Sikhism is a non-anthropomorphic concept of God, to the
extent that one can interpret God as the Universe itself.
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reported to have received initiation into Kriya Yoga). The founder Param
Sant Shiv Dayal Singh ji died on 1878 in Agra, India. He did not appoint a
successor, resulting in a succession crisis upon his death. Several disciples
eventually came to be regarded as successors, which led to splits within the
group. These splits led to the propagation of Radhasoami teachings to a
wider audience although with slightly varied interpretations.
Four basic Radhasoami beliefs
[1] Radhasoami affirms that Om is the Word referred to in the Bible: "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God." (John 1:1) The Sound vibration, the dynamic force of creative
energy that was continuously being sent out from the Supreme Being at the
dawn of the universe's manifestation throughout the ages, molding all
things animate and inanimate; could be listened to through a multiphase
procedure known as Surat Shabda Yoga.
The central technique of Surat Shabda Yoga aims at uniting the
essence of what we call ''ourselves'' with the Supreme Being through a
procedure of inner listening. This techniques consists in attuning the soul to
the spiritual current ever vibrating within. God is within us but physical
eyes cannot see Him, nor can these physical ears hear His Voice.
Nevertheless we can hear the "divine pressure" that hums all around us. By
entering into the silence and closing our ears we can perfectly catch that
celestial melody and therefore realize the presence of God within ourselves.
It takes a little time to develop it and Om can be heard by anyone! This is
an amazing, marvelous event for each human being! From the sacred
moment when the student hears this music, he is never again alone. He
enjoys the companionship of God Himself. Contact with this Primal Source
of peace, love, and bliss, removes our fears, worries and anxieties.
Radhasoami explains that from age to age, the great Masters come to
revive this knowledge, after materialism has obscured it. They give us back
our supreme joy, that who bring us directly to our ultimate spiritual
freedom.
[2] Radhasoami emphasizes the need of a living spiritual Master or
Satguru. There is no doubt that the concept of Guru has a special place in
Indian thought. One of the main Hindu texts, the Bhagavad Gita, is a
dialog between God in the form of Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna.
Their dialog summarizes the ideal relationship between Guru and disciple.
Radhasoami extols the role of the Guru. In Radhasoami thinking this
relationship is elaborated in great detail exactly in the same way I heard
from my Kriya organization but with an important difference: this Guru
cannot be dead (or, as they prefer to say, not having relinquished his body
through Mahasamadhi). Radhasoami is ironic about those people who
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imagine themselves followers of some dead Master. They comment: can a

woman marry a dead man and live with him? Can a dead doctor give
medicine? One person may revere the memory of a dead master or read his
writings. One may feel in his heart love and veneration-for him. But he can
never be a real Initiate of that Master.
Coming back to the real situation, namely the relationship with a
living Guru, this role is so important that there is a saying that if the
devotee were presented to the Guru and God, first he would pay respect to
the Guru, since the Guru had been instrumental in leading him to God. A
disciple could never break off the sacred connection with the Guru under
any circumstances.
Initiation to Surat Shabda Yoga procedures is a very important
moment. Radhasoami does not initiate everyone who asks for it. One has to
be spiritually ''ready'' for initiation. After one has been chosen for initiation,
he is taken into a closed room, where the initiator explains the fundamental
theoretical points we are dealing with. Beside this, at the time of initiation,
he is given a first-hand inner experience of the internal Light which appears
in the point between the eyebrows. The initiator activates this Light
stationed at the third eye of the disciple. Through it, one comes to "know
God". When a soul establishes contact with this Light, the Light takes it
back to the Godhead, its original home. Although some sects forbid
idolatry, generally the would-be initiate bows, kneels, or generally
prostrates before the Guru and worships him. They explain that a Guru
takes on himself part of the karma of the disciple, appears to them at the
moment of death in order to introduce them to God. As for the meditation
techniques, they can be learned later from other authorized persons from
the initiator and in any case the disciple takes a vow of secrecy.
[3] Radhasoami emphasizes the need of weekly gathering for spiritual
fellowship, spiritual service that can manifest in many forms and for
listening to the talks of their living Master. Often such discourses revolve
round the necessity of coupling meditation with a life of high moral values.
(Vegetarian diet, no intoxicants or recreational drugs...) at the same time
carrying out their responsibilities to family, friends and society. Attending
to these meetings is considered of paramount importance. During them, one
has experience of meditation under the direct guidance of his teacher.
[4] Radhasoami claims that the limitation of all religions has been their
inability to make God real to their devotees. Actually, we can not imagine
that men would live as they do, think and act as they do, if God were real to
them, if they had actually seen Him and loved Him. God must become real
to the individual, not a mental concept but a living reality. To practically all
men, God is simply an abstract idea, a mental concept. How can one
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worship and love a mental concept? When most people say they love God,
it simply means that they have a certain emotion induced by different
factors. But this has not the least thing to do with God-realization.
There is but one method of making God real to the seeker: that is, to make
him see God and hear Him. When the disciple hears the enchanting music
of the internal sounds, then this process has begun. But that realization is
not complete. When he rises by the aid of subtler procedures to the still
higher planes, his ''spiritual being'' meets with the Light of Kutastha, it is
then that he experiences perfect God-realization.
The sound of Om is the best experience to increase devotion for the Divine,
It is the bridge between the physical and the astral world, the conscious and
the unconscious, the form and the formless.
Practical teachings
The following procedures in their entirety are called Surat Shabda Yoga
(Surat means "soul," Shabda means "word". The "word" is the "Sound
Current", the "Audible Life Stream" or the "Essence of the Absolute
Supreme Being".
Meditation happens in the quiet of the early morning (before breakfast),
and before sleep. Meditation begins with first relaxing the body and
making it still. The position is comfortable either sitting in a chair or in a
cross-legged position with spine erect, keeping spine, head and neck
aligned naturally. It is important to gradually develop the ability of sitting
relaxed and without any bodily tension.
The teacher gives the disciple a Mantra:its repetition helps the mind to
come to complete rest. Repeating internally the Mantra in Kutastha helps
one to raise the consciousness of the Self to higher regions. This is the key
that helps transcending thought (time and space) and opens the door of the
inner being. Disciples are invited to use the "5 Names of God": 1. Jot
Nirinjan 2. Ongkar 3. Rarankar 4. Sohang 5. Sat Nam
One sits still, eyes closed, mentally repeating the Mantra, gazing into
the middle of the darkness lying in front of him. If one perceives the inner
light, the concentration is on it. Breathing is natural and free flowing. This
process automatically draws the spirit-currents, normally dissipated all over
the body, toward the spiritual center.
They explain that the seat of the Spirit is at the point between the two
eyebrows. It is on this point that the devotee having closed his eyes must
focus his attention. Concentration moves ideally from that point,
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horizontally out, 20-25 centimeters from the forehead. No tension is put on

the eyes or forehead. The gaze is focused on the middle of the dark inner
screen: gradually the darkness will fade to lighter and lighter shades,
eventually opening into the infinite space.
When the inward gaze has brought to a sharp and steady focus, one
finds that the darkness will fade and light will emerge. Concentrate in the
middle of it and continue repeating slowly your Mantra. Eventually one
experiences the withdrawal of the sensory currents and a vary peculiar state
sets in: like of ''numbness''. The Inner Light ceases flickering and develops
into a bright spot in the central portion of the forehead. Gradually, this
brilliance enlightens every constituent of the body from within. Every cell,
every tendril is seen as sparkling with a reflection of this unique glow. The
divine glow ends the darkness of ignorance. Perfect control of the flow of
the thoughts and emotions ensues.
I have not found in Radhasoami the exercise of Talabya Kriya but only the
following instruction. ''Curl your tongue up to the roof of your mouth. Get
the tip to touch the uvula make contact with Amrita (the divine nectar) that
is constantly flowing through your body. Go further and enter the nasal
passage. Usually you will experience the nectar only after much practice.''
It is claimed that this nectar is the ''living water'', the ''bread of life'' of
which Jesus spoke.
Listen to internal sounds
This movement contemplate ''teaching a spiritual path which is
intentionally easier than those described in the ancient scriptures as it
requires nothing more than sitting quietly and looking and listening
within.'' They teach that there are no other means of spiritual liberation,
except through the Omkar experience. Without actual, conscious,
participation in the internally audible Life Stream, no one can ever escape
the net of Karma and reincarnation, or ever become free and happy. They
explain that no other system leads so easily to the highest regions of
mystical experience.
In order to begin the upward journey, a devotee must learn to "go within."
The procedure involves concentrating on the primordial vibration that
activates the Universe, the so-called ''Music of the Spheres.'' In order to
hear the ''divine sound'', novices are asked to block their ears with the
thumbs so they cannot hear any external sounds.
This technique is practiced using an arm prop. Some combine the
listening to the inner sounds with the attempt to taste nectar (Amrit) by
sticking the tongue to the roof of the mouth.

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One can hear the inner sounds the same described in Kriya literature. One
listens to the internal sounds coming at first from the right side and
ultimately from the top of the head. To some devotees this sounds like a
bell. At a certain moment, it begins to fairly enchant you and to pull you
up with increasing attraction and power. You will find yourself listening to
it with rapt attention and deep delight, completely absorbed in it. You will
never wish to leave it. This experience is deepened by perceiving the light
in Kutastha.
Utilizing the breath to increase the Omkar experience.
There are plenty of variations of that procedure adopted by the different
Radhasoami groups. Here I hint to one variation which represent, in my
opinion, the most effective and efficient way to merge into the Omkar
dimension.
Inhale slowly, deeply, through your nose, and then slowly exhale, but
before all the air is out you start breathing in again, and you just keep
going, never quite letting all the air out.
Perceive two currents in the right and in the left lobe of the brain,
respectively. The inhaling current moves upward, the exhaling current
moves downward. You can actually hear the sound of the in and out breath
as ''so-hung'' (soham): ''so'' on the in-breath, ''hung'' on the out-breath. The
Divine Word is the sound your breath makes. This technique, in the classic
Yoga literature, is referred to as Kewali Kumbhak because if you are
constantly aware of the breath and of Soham you achieve the breathless
state.
This perception, if it is repeated for a long time, will help you to
perceive the astral sounds in the internal part of each ear. You will hear
internal sound inside the right ear, then inside the left ear also.
Through a long practice of this breathing exercise, you will hear a ringing
about an inch above the right ear. You will hear a ringing about an inch
above the left ear. It may take you about five minutes to hear both tones at
the same time.
Each breath should give momentum to this circular movement.
Perceive inside the central part of the brain a counterclockwise movement
(when looked from behind.) When the energy in the two is balanced, a
circular force field is formed. Follow both tonal vibrations from the ears
into the center of the cranium, where they will meet and blend into a
slightly different sound.
At the apex of this procedure you will have the revelation of the
spiritual eye. When the breath disappears, the movement goes ahead
through the sheer power of concentration. The white spiritual light appears
in the central part of your head. Go ahead, relentlessly absorbed in it. A
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deep Bell sound will lead you in the Samadhi state. This is the culmination
of this particular practice.
Working with the Chakras
The Radhasoami movement believes that besides the 6 Chakras in the
physical body, there are 6 Chakras in the gray matter of the brain, and 6 in
the white matter. The 6 spinal Chakras are materialistic in nature, therefore
they are not to be stimulated (you don't use specific bija Mantras to
activate them as you do in Kundalini Yoga) but they are simply astrally
located. Strange as it may sound, long meditation upon the Chakras is not
the right action to be done in order to achieve ''Mukti'' (liberation.) But by
astrally locating them we acquire the ability to leave the human body at
will a practice sometimes referred to as "dying while living". The
technique consists in assuming Kechari Mudra, focusing the internal gaze
in Kutastha, while part of the attention locates the seat of a Chakra until its
particular luminous vibration begins to appear. When this happens you
don't dwell upon that Chakra; you focus on the physical location of the
next each Chakra and so on. In other words, the pause upon a Chakra lasts
only for the necessary time to have that subtle perception of it.
The location of the other 12 Chakras in the brain is gradually revealed by
moving the Prana in a circular way inside the brain. A very slight breath
can be used just at the very beginning of this procedure, then breath is
forgotten and you use only the pure strength of your will.
After completing a great number of rounds, the soul has sufficient
force to penetrate the 18th portal (this for Radhasoamis is the most elevated
Chakra that is found in the white part of the brain). This portal opens on the
true, indestructible ''Radhasoami'' the ocean of the Spirit. This is the
ultimate goal to be achieved via meditation practices.
Kabir and Guru Nanak inspired the Radhasoami movement
The writings of Kabir (1398 Benares - 1448/1494 Maghar), have deep
similarities with the Radhasoami teaching. Kabirs concept of Shabda,
which can be translated as "Word" (the word of the Master), can be related
to the Omkar teaching. According to Kabir this Shabda-Om dispels all
doubts and difficulties: is vital to keep it constantly in our consciousness as
a living presence.
The literature about Kabir and Guru Nanak (1469 Nankana Sahib 1539 Kartarpur) is very inspiring. Their teachings overlapped perfectly.
Kabir, an illiterate Muslim weaver, was a great mystic, open to the vedantic
and yogic influence, and an extraordinary singer of the Divine, conceived
beyond name and form. The poems and sentences ascribed to him are
expressed in a particularly effective language that remains permanently
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emblazoned in the reader's memory. In the last century, Rabindranath

Tagore, the great mystic poet of Calcutta, rediscovered the reliability of his
teachings and the power of his poetry, and made beautiful translations of
his songs into English. Kabir conceived Islam and Hinduism to be two
roads converging toward a unique goal. He was convinced of the
possibility of overcoming the barriers that separate these two great
religions. He did not seem to base his teaching upon the authority of the
holy writings; he shunned the religious rituals. Kabir taught not to renounce
to life and become a hermit, not to cultivate any extreme approach to the
spiritual discipline, because it weakens the body and increases pride. God
has to be recognized inside of one's own soul - like a fire fed by continuous
care, burning all the resistances, dogmas and ignorance. This is beautifully
stated in Kabir's: "One day my mind flew as a bird in the sky, and entered
the heavens. When I arrived, I saw that there was no God, since He resided
in the Saints!" Hinduism gave Kabir the concept of reincarnation and the
law of Karma; Islam gave him the absolute monotheism - the strength of
fighting all the forms of idolatry and the caste system. I found the full
meaning of the yogic practice in him. He says that there is a garden full of
flowers in our body, the Chakras, and an endless beauty can be
contemplated if the awareness is established in the ''thousand-petal Lotus''.
Who is there playing upon a flute in the middle of the sky? The flute is
being played in trikuti (eyebrows center), the confluence of the Ganga and
Jamuna. The sound emanates from the north! Cowherd girl, hear the sound
of the flute and lo, they are all hypnotized by the nada." "It is a music
without strings which plays in the body. It penetrates the inner and the
outer and leads you away from illusion." (Kabir).

Beloved Guru Nanak gave the same teaching. He disapproved of ascetic

practices and taught instead to remain inwardly detached whilst living as a
householder. "Asceticism doesn't consist in ascetic robes, or in having a
walking staff, nor in visiting burial places. Asceticism is not mere words;
asceticism is to remain pure amidst impurities!" Traditionally, release from
the bondage of the world was sought as the goal, therefore the
householder's life was considered an impediment and an entanglement. In
contrast, in Guru Nanak's teaching, the whole world became the arena of
spiritual endeavor. He was bewitched by the beauty of creation and
considered the panorama of nature as the loveliest place for worship of the
Divine. He expressed his teachings in Punjabi, the spoken language of
northern India. His disregard for Sanskrit suggested that his message was
without reference to the existent Holy Scriptures. He made a deliberate
attempt to completely cut off his disciples from all the ritualistic practices,
orthodox modes of worship, and from the priestly class. His teaching
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demanded an entirely new approach. While a full understanding of God is

beyond human beings, he described God as not wholly unknowable. God
must be seen through "the inward eye", sought in the "heart". He
emphasized that the revelation of this is to be achieved through meditation.
In his teachings there are hints as to the possibility of listening to an
ineffable internal melody (Omkar) and to taste the nectar (Amrit).
"The Sound is inside us. It is invisible. Wherever I look I find it."
(Guru Nanak).

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APPENDIX 2: FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOW PY'S TEACHINGS

This appendix is devoted to those students who are serious about going
ahead on the Kriya path utilizing only the techniques that can be obtained
by the organizations that spread PY's teachings. Apart from the technique
of Kechari Mudra, often quoted in PY's writings and surely practiced by
him, they don't feel the necessity of mixing PY's techniques with other
spiritual procedures. They feel they are PY's disciples and believe that by
adopting other teachings is equivalent to betray him. When I followed PY's
teachings, our meditation counselor explained that the worst evil was
disloyalty toward Guru and his organization. With the term ''disloyalty'' she
meant even just reading what other persons who abandoned the
organization had written about Kriya Yoga. Well, once my book appeared
on the Web, I had an intense email exchange with various researchers
faithful to PY.
Receiving emails from them was a pleasant surprise. After having said in a
clear way that they did not approve my decision to write in such explicit
way the Kriya techniques as some disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya, were
spreading, they asked me how could I be sure that PY had simplified or
modified some details of the procedures of Kriya Yoga. I personally met
some among these students and we discussed in person.
I was sure they were honest researchers and that no nonsense would ever
slip out of their mouths. I learned to listen to them respectfully and silently
whenever they corrected some of my fancy interpretations of Kriya Yoga.
Many, without being exhibitionist, were able to quote by heart many
passages from the works of PY. They studied all Kriya material written or
dictated by PY and often remembered verbatim key quotations from that
material. They had read and re-read through those texts several times
trying to decode them.
They always struck me with their extraordinary commitment to the regular
practice of Kriya. Although unsatisfied with their understanding of the
subtle mechanism underlying the Kriya procedures and tormented by many
doubts, they never dismissed the practice. It was clear they were following
the Kriya path not for esoteric curiosities, not to find an alternative cure to
anxiety, depression, but for one reason only: follow and realize the spiritual
path so fascinatingly delineated in PY's autobiography.
Trying to perceive what was stirring at their heart and mind, I felt
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that their worry consisted of the idea they had lost something important, for
example techniques not contained in the correspondence course that PY
could have shared with some intimate disciples.
The greatest part of the discussion concerned the Higher Kriyas. This is
perfectly explainable. I remember that, at least in our organization, there
were not live initiations. Every student wanted at least to see how such
techniques were performed. Each technique included some physical
movements.
To many kriyabans the crisis with their Kriya organization began when
their request to have a seminar on the Higher Kriyas received an
incomprehensible, anachronistic ''NO''. Each disciple of PY would have
greatly appreciated a seminar on the Higher Kriyas where not only the
technical details were demonstrated but also a theoretical scheme had been
given, providing devotees with resources to conceive and subsequently
improve their routine.
The meetings organized to review the basic teachings (Hong So, Om
technique and Kriya proper) were always a source of inspiration. The
disappointment of not getting this opportunity also in the field of the
Higher Kriyas was unbearably bitter. We know that recently a couple of
the organizations based upon PY's legacy proved they had understood that
it doesn't pay to behave in such a way and are giving regular initiation into
the Higher Kriyas.
Here I state the results of our conversations. These are divided into two
parts and this division is born from my fundamental conviction that PY has
put in his Kriya teaching some techniques inspired by the movement
Radhasoami. These will be considered first in order to isolate and discuss
later with more clarity those that can be defined Kriya Yoga pure.
Important remark
PY's techniques are not described here in detail but only commented freely
according to my persona experience, We assume the reader of this
appendix knows them. The symbols K1, K2, K3 e K4 refer to the four
Kriyas in the way PY taught them. Therefore, when you read "K2",
remember that we are referring to the particular technique of the Second
Kriya as it was given by PY and not to the Second Kriya given by other
lineages!

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FIRST PART: RADHASOAMI TECHNIQUES IN PY'S TEACHINGS

Hong So concentration technique
The first consideration is that the Hong So technique does not give you as
by magic the ability of concentration if you do not already possess it! Often
this technique is introduced as a procedure to develop concentration,
actually this does not happen. The Hong-sau Mantra is not a "magical
formula" that, when repeated many times, calms invariably the breathing
process. 8 In order to see the power of this technique you must be endowed
with the ability to maintain a high level of concentration during all the
practice. It envisages a constant attention on the breath: only then the
breath calms down.
[I] As you know, the procedure starts with two breathing exercises. Well,
we are convinced that they put into motion the essential mechanism of
Kriya Pranayama mixing and balancing Prana and Apana. Therefore
these simple initial exercises often grant you some very beautiful and
intense spiritual experiences.
[II] It is important to never establish a rhythm in the mental chanting of
Hong Sau. If by mentally chanting this Mantra you follow a rhythm, this
rhythm will never settle down!
This Mantra should be blended with your breath, of which you must
be constantly aware. If you relax your keen awareness of it and remain
there as if hypnotized by the pleasing sound of the two syllables Hong and
Sau, you shall be disappointed. Your mind will not be prone to being
internalized and then will not guide you to the state of calm breath.
Don't permit that the implacable rhythm of the litany: ''Hong So,
Hong So, Hong So, Hong So...'' marches onward like the clackerty clack of
the wheels of a train.
If your body "could" physiologically stay off-breath for some
instants or for long moments, the rhythm should not cause the breathing
process continue implacably. If you don't let the pauses exist, then you will
never realize you are in the condition of living the emancipating experience
of the breathless state.
Be always very attentive to each pause. Respect it, have care of it,
merge with it. Enjoy the beauty of this pause, no matter if it lasts just an
instant! Students who abide by this principle will soon verify, in a very
impressive way, how this small detail is sufficient to ease the breath off. Go
8

This techniques is also taught with Sau during inhalation and Hong during
exhalation. You discover that the effect is same.
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ahead patiently with this procedure and you will enter such a beautiful
state.
The principle (respecting the pause) implies a second subtlety in your
practice. Let us focus the attention upon the pause after inhalation. In
normal, not controlled, breathing there is the tendency to exhale
immediately after inhalation. Inhaling, the rib cage expands and gets into
an elastic tension. If there is no control, this elastic force, even if it is
minimal, is released immediately after inhalation. If you want to practice
the Hong So technique in the best of the ways, you should control the
natural reflex to exhale as soon as the inhalation is completed. This is
possible only in one way: after inhalation wait calmly and without any
forcing the stimulus to exhale. Accept that the rib cage remains expanded
and therefore in slight tension for some instants. When, after this pause, the
stimulus to exhale appears, you exhale.
This slight tension, in this particular phase of the practice, is to be
respected. Putting this detail into practice as well, a "virtuous circle"
between this growing calmness and the reduced necessity of oxygen might
start. This leads to an extraordinarily result even for those who deem they
are only clumsy beginners. There is nothing more to say about this
beautiful technique. At the end of this appendix I will report the remark of
a kriyaban who affirms that this technique can be also practiced ''in the
spine'' to close proficiently a Kriya routine.
Om meditation technique
Contrarily to what some students think, this technique works. It works only
if you practice it as it is taught: in the recommended position, with arm
rest, closing one's ears as it is written, no ear plugs while mental chanting
of Om infinite times, with total commitment to internal listening without
ever discouraging.
Often your hands become paralyzed and you won't sense them anymore,
that is the moment to keep on undeterred. Usually you do not notice the
exact instant when you start listening to the internal sounds but at a certain
point you notice you are already listening to them since some minutes. The
internal sounds don't appear when the mind is active thinking, but only
when it is perfectly void, even void of the I consciousness, void of the
thought you are doing a certain practice. When you reach a total void (to
some this state seems having entered the sleep state), when the repetition of
the Mantra has created a transformation, at that moment you are surprised
by the internal sounds and sweetly you become conscious of them.

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Great experiences ensue from this meditation technique. By adding the

practice of the Kriya proper, often we are no more able to devote to this
technique the necessary time it requires. Its good effects become less
frequent and disappear entirely. This happens especially when we are badly
inspired and operate the unhappy choice of practicing Kriya Pranayama
during the very last part of the routine. This choice that to many devotees
seems rational, is not rational at all. This unhappy event instead of
cooperating with the process of calming the Prana in the body, produces
exactly the contrary effect and when this happens, the whole magic of the
meditation state is lost.
This technique is to be practiced alone, after it there is no other effort but
its natural development: the K2 technique.
K2
We know that this technique is called Second Kriya but has nothing to do
with the Second Kriya as taught by tradition. The discussion about this
procedure involves two delicate considerations. The first is the value of this
procedure, the second is to understand why has PY decided to introduce
this technique in the set of the Higher Kriyas, at the place of the traditional
Second Kriya.
First theme: the nature of this procedure
In this procedure, we focus on each Chakra until their essence is revealed
this, at least in my understanding, is the demanding goal we set up. It is
possible to perceive the colors of the Tattwas (the five elements) linked
with each Chakra. There are some writings by PY in which it is explained
in a very clear way the physical changes that happen in our body
(particular pattern of breath flow within our nostrils, different flavors we
perceive in our mouth, etc) according to the predominance of a particular
Tattwa in our consciousness. Each kriyaban stumbles upon these writings
while studying the correspondence course.
It is difficult to find the necessary time to practice this technique after
Kriya Pranayama. Despite you practice it conscientiously you can remain
without any result. You don't succeed neither in distinguishing the astral
sounds of the Chakras, nor in perceiving the color of each one of them on
the screen of Kutastha. Perhaps it is better to forget Kriya Pranayama
entirely and practice in this way: Hong So Om technique of meditation
K2. 9 Some ''strong'' experiences may begin to occur in the spine. (They
9

K2 happens in the best of the ways when the breath is particularly subtle, whereas
it is deeply hampered after the experience of a forced breath, which usually happens
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can also appear hours later or when lying down immediately after the
practice.) Each ''experience'' produces such intensity of devotion that you
will be surprised to discover it in your life. The students who have
experienced first hand the value of the Om technique of meditation, should
not delay to give all of their attention to the K2 technique. A good plan is to
practice it every day, once a day, for one whole year after a deep immersion
in the Omkar vibration. When we are attuned to this vibration a sense of
vastness pervades our conscience. Since it assumes a slightly different tone
in each Chakra, we have the impression we are flying across different
regions of an inner heaven.
Second theme: the possible reasons of a choice
Why did PY call this technique ''Second Kriya?'' or better, why did he put
this technique after his K1 and before his K3 implying that K2 ensues from
K1 and prepares K3? The story that PY was guided in this choice by
Swami Kebalananda seems plausible. Be that as it may, there are students
who felt deceived by this choice and dropped it without testing fully its
potentialities. Discussing with my friends, we agreed that when the idea
that their Guru has deceived them by not giving the ''true Second Kriya''
creeps in a student's mind, a terrible conflict (I would say a true
catastrophe from the emotive point of view) happens in their soul.
All this can be avoided, and their mood brightened by knowing that
the traditional Second Kriya is imparted ''inside'' the K3 technique. Such
teaching allows that the ability one has achieved after years of First Kriya
is stoutly utilized in bringing Prana in the first Chakra, then guiding it
slowly and intensely into the second Chakra... and so on, Chakra after
Chakra, up to the sixth Chakra. In the same way the energy present aloft
and that tendentially goes down slowly, is intensively forced into each
Chakra producing the opening of them. All this happens with K3.
In general, the Second Kriya is an ideal container of all the human efforts
to energetically ''pierce'' each Chakra both ascending and descending. The
Chakras are certainly precious internal organs but they are not something
to spend a life of meditation upon them. No, you must concentrate upon
them as much it is needed to go ''beyond them.'' In the last analysis they are
energetic knots that keep us tied up to the material reality and also to
deceptive astral realities. We have only one duty, to loosen such knots and
move beyond.
That being said, let us clarify that to ''pierce'' a Chakra means to
center on a Chakra all the possible energy we can gather (accumulate) from
our body, subtracting it to the whole body. Then we remain there a short
time just to intensify the energetic sensation and move to the next Chakra
during a beginner's practice of Kriya Pranayama.
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to do again the same action. This procedure (happening in the true, original
Second Kriya) envisages moving along the spinal tunnel with great pranic
pressure upon each Chakra. This is usually obtained by keen practice of K3
first part (this is, as we are going to clarify soon, the K3 without the
movements of the head and without holding the breath.) K3 first part,
repeated again and again, employing a subtle breath, leads a kriyaban to
witness the opening and finally the dissolving of each Chakra.
A direct disciple of PY affirms he was initiated by PY into Second Kriya in
a different way: the procedure didn't require the hand Mudra but involved a
deep concentration on each Chakra by ascending with the awareness from
the Muladhara to the point between the eyebrows, then to Sahasrara and
then coming down to Medulla, Vishuddha, Anahata ... all the way chanting
Om in the center of each Chakra, while touching it with intense mental
pressure. This is a cycle: 12 cycles are required. I have good reasons to
believe this disciple. Such disciple received a teaching which is more
similar to the Second Kriya as handed down by tradition.
Conclusion
Perhaps PY taught the K2 procedure when he was sure that his student had
practiced the Om technique deeply, having also experienced the movement
of Prana in the right channel of the spine through Kriya Pranayama. K2 is
the same procedure discovered in the Om technique but deeper, with
greater employment of mental effort. The only problem, in our humble
opinion, is that this K2 is too much difficult and discouraging.
In conclusion, if a student has the necessary time at disposal, the K2
practiced inside the dimension of Om meditation technique, could not but
guide them into a deep ecstatic state. The traditional Second Kriya (called
Thokar, the technique utilized by Swami Pranabananda during his
Mahasamadi to left the body consciously) is something different which we
learn in K3.

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SECOND PART: COMMENT TO PY'S KRIYA TEACHINGS

DEPRIVED OF THE RADHASOAMI COMPONENT
In PY's teachings the techniques that can be called Kriya Yoga in the strict
sense of the word are the following:
[a] Technique to chant Om in the Chakras and perceive the astral
spine
[b] First Kriya (Kriya proper + Maha Mudra + Jyoti Mudra.) There
are two versions of Kriya proper, one given in 1930 and one more recently
taught.
[c] Third Kriya that we will denote as K3 [in it we shall distinguish 2
parts]
[d] Fourth Kriya that we will denote as K4
Technique to chant Om in the Chakras
This technique is explained after PY has expatiated on Kundalini and given
a clear hint at the necessity of Kechari Mudra. At a certain point, PY
explains how, once stable in the meditation Asana, a kriyaban gently sways
the spine, left and right in order to feel the astral spine as separate from the
body. PY explains how to travel up and down the spine, mentally chanting
Om in the location of the Chakras. This is a very simple teaching but the
result can leave you astonished!
K1
The fundamental theme of our conversations always started from: 'Which
is better, mouth or nose Pranayama''? Some knew that a few direct
disciples of PY practiced with mouth closed.
As for Kechari Mudra I was glad to see that a good number of
kriyabans had achieved it some having applied the classic exercise of
Talabya Kriya from my book, others by following the tips found in a Yoga
web site. 10 One of them had a strange opinion: he stated that Pranayama
with Kechari was too ''weak'', being deprived of the strong sensations in
the spine that you feel with mouth Pranayama. It was clear that this friend
had tormented himself for a long time before taking his decision to give up
Kechari Mudra.
10

PY in his writings and in his talks gave the definition of Kechari Mudra without
introducing any practical exercises to be performed over a certain period of time in
order to achieve it.
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On the whole, the firm points that appeared indubitable were the following:
[1] The hypothesis that only mouth-Pranayama causes the energy to flow
through the Sushumna channel implying that the lateral currents of Ida
and Pingala have no role is baseless. During the first Kriya breaths
(unless you have mastered the Samadhi state) Ida and Pingala do have a
role.
The cold sensation during inhalation and the warm sensation during
exhalation are the effect of these two lateral currents. Sushumna current
manifest later when our breathing rate and pattern change, when breath
becomes increasingly subtle and internal. Either you have the mouth half
shut or not, this internalization is sign that part of the Prana has begun to
flow in Sushumna.
At that time the real Om sound is perceived without closing the ears.
When this happens your heart is filled with inexpressible joy. In this
situation you don't ask if your Kriya is ok or not. You know that your
practice is perfect.
[2] Mouth Pranayama has the remarkable power of granting a clear cold
and warm sensations in the spine, therefore it is reasonable to start Kriya
Pranayama in this way. These sensations attract the totality of your
awareness to the spine. One can start with the half shut mouth and then,
after a certain number of breaths, close it.
A state of tension should always avoided. During the practice of
Kriya Pranayama in great numbers, one should always close the mouth
and increase the awareness of the Chakras and enjoy the sweetness
emanating from them.
[3] Don't think that if the mouth is closed the sound of the breath
disappears: it is destined to become clean like that of a flute. This sound is
experienced after years of committed practice. It has been explained that
the flute-like sound appears only when the spine is ''clean'' like an empty
tube.
[4] We know that for a beginner the practice of the Kriya Pranayama is
reduced to 14-24 breaths. Actually, Kriya Pranayama, as taught by PY, is
of great efficacy and power. Such power is perfectly absorbed by acting
with prudence. It is fine to start the practice of Kriya Pranayama with a
certain number of natural breaths, that is without any effort to produce the
sound in the throat and without any visualization concerning the movement
of energy in the spine. During this preparatory phase, all your being resides
in Kutastha and nothing exists outside that ''cave'' of peace. In other words,
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before putting into practice the precise instructions received during

initiation, it is fine that there is a certain number of deep but natural
breaths. These introductory breaths are not counted, they serve only for
entering the practice softly.
K3 first part
Let us take into consideration the K3 procedure. After the practice of K1,
the most natural action is to practice K3 partially, that is without the head
movements, without holding the breath, focusing solely upon the
movement of the energy in the spine. As you know, this movement is
intensified by a particular mental pressure applied upon each Chakra while
chanting the 12 syllables of the Vasudeva Mantra.
Practice the K3 instructions in immobility; exhalation starts
immediately after the Prana is guided into the point between the eyebrows.
The current is guided into the prescribed centers. After vibrating each
syllable, there could be a micro pause in each one of them. However, the
flow of the breath should not lose its quality of smoothness.
Our goal is to maintain a constant intense mental pressure along each
part of the spinal path. Kechari Mudra is extraordinary in creating this
"mental pressure" but will power is equally important.
Start with 12 repetitions and add one repetition a day until you reach 200
repetitions. Practice those high numbers once a day. After the prescribed
number of breaths, forget the breath and practice the best form of mental
Pranayama. 11
Completing this Incremental Routine is a challenging, but not particularly
difficult, undertaking; time goes by without much notice and what could
seem to be an exhausting task turns out to be as easy as a moment of rest.
During this formidable work top, so many subtle experiences
happen. For example during the sleep, or in those moments in which the
body is half put to sleep but the awareness is lucid as never, experiences
loaded of beatitude will start to appear in the spine. There are moments
during the day when you realize you have a contact with the dimension that
is beyond the physical one. It is as if you feel you live already in the
dimension beyond the astral world. After this great effort of yours you
are ready to draw the best from K3 proper (second part).

11

Instead of adding one repetition a day, you can adopt a simpler plan: practice 25
repetitions a day for two weeks. Then practice 50 repetitions a day for another two
weeks. Then practice 75 repetitions a day for another two weeks ...then
100... ...125... and so on until you practice 200 repetitions a day for two weeks.
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K3 second part
At this point one is in the best conditions to face, with the same gradual
approach, the complete practice, that is with the movements of the head
and holding the breath. We put in this exercise all the ability obtained with
the previous incremental process. The plan of this incremental routine is
the same discussed for K3 first part. While increasing the number of
repetitions up to 200, you must be very very cautious. Do the movements
in a very delicate way avoiding to stress the cervical vertebrae! If you go
ahead in a prudent way, you will be able to direct a tremendous amount of
energy into the heart Chakra. This is the basis to reach high levels of
perfection with next K4.
From the technical point of view there is nothing to say, save the fact that
the movements of the head are not a ''rotation of the head'' they are indeed
a ''triangular'' movement. In this second part of K3 the work to pierce the
Chakras is completed. The three higher Chakras receive an even more
strong stimulus given by the movements of the head.
K4
What can we say about the final technique of K4? What a great, big thing
in the life is to find the courage to increase it up to 200 times. In my
chapter 9 I have already express my ideas and information. K4 is in fact the
splendid technique of the Advanced Form of the Thokar.
Once completed this work, or brought ahead up to a certain number
inferior to 200 rotations (but held as the maximum obtainable during a
determined period of one's life) you can deepen the practice of the K3. This
deepening knows no limit. Remember that K3 gives different results than
K4. You will always discover something new in it. You know that a great
saint like Swami Pranabananda chose it to leave his body. This means
something! 12
Ideal routine
We have discussed about the '' ideal routine '' that was perfect for those
who had completed the incremental numbers of K3 and K4 (200+200+200)
12

Unfortunately, when kriyabans receive K3 and K4, they are not able to resist the
temptation of trying K4 on the spot "if it leads to Samadhi, why not try it now"?
After about 15 - 20 rotations, Kumbhaka becomes stressful. Instead of giving up,
they repeat the same attempt a couple of times, while discomfort increases and a
feeling of nausea or dizziness goes on launching its alarm signals. Eventually they
stop, defeated. The gain is zero, less than zero! Not only they have not obtained the
slightest trace of Samadhi, but they have lost the initial tranquil state.
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and also for those who had paused to grant a rest. Obviously such routine
doesn't exist but one day I have tried to write something with a friend that
insisted to have a workable rational routine.
[1] Preparation: balancing the Ida and Pingala currents with Nadi Sodhana
Pranayama and Maha Mudra
[2] Mouth-Pranayama (no more than 24) followed by nose-Pranayama
with Kechari Mudra (baby or proper, first without mental chanting of Om
in each Chakra followed by mental chanting of Om in each Chakra.)
[3] Practice of K3 (what you feel correct, without overdoing)
[4] Restore the calmness in the body by practicing K3 for 12 times without
the movements of the head
[5] Jyoti Mudra
[6] At this point of the routine, one should not simply remain immovable
waiting for the time go by ... like one who is awaiting that the shot of
medicine given into a muscle by an injection spreads pacifically and is
possible to stand up and walk without compromising the action of such
treatment.
The best action is to move your awareness up and down along the
spine pausing in each Chakra. You can repeat the opening procedure of
chanting Om in each Chakra, perceiving the astral spine. This technique
can finely open and close your Kriya routine. You start your routine by
trying to perceive ''something'', namely each Chakra location and the
reality of the Sushumna channel; you close your routine in a higher state,
by flying in the regions of an internal heaven.
Some final remarks
Note 1: about the written explanation of K3
Many years ago, when I studied the written teachings provided by the
school about K3 and K4, I found they had a minor fault. The Mantra was
presented in an unusual way: Om naw maw bhaw.
The Mantra was written with 12 separated syllables, as if it was not
one Mantra but twelve different Mantras. It was not immediate to
recognize ''Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.'' I remember that many of us
were trying in vain to imagine the origin and the meaning of each syllable,
as if each one was a strange Bija Mantra.
I have so many times wondered if it was indeed a great trouble for
the compiler of the didactic material to include at least once the Mantra ''
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.'' One would instantly understand that it
had been broken into 12 syllables and knew the pronunciation having
familiarity with the Indian Bhajans. I consider so many times how great is
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the gift of a clear and complete explanation. I would have preferred no

explanation at all about ... the meaning of the Genesis, or about . how to
behave him with a disturbed wife and have one more line of explanation
regarding such a beautiful and important technique as the K3.
Note 2: about Hong So in the spine
The principles governing the Hong So procedure can be applied after Kriya
Pranayama, while you move your awareness up and down along the spine.
Actually, it is possible to visualize your breath going up and down with
Hoooong and Soooo. After Kriya Pranayama, your breath is naturally short
and subtle. You can go ahead in this way for some minutes, then, when the
breath is so short that the procedure is on the verge of evaporating into
nothing, try to feel this short breath happening in each Chakra. You can
''devote'' each breathing act to a different Chakra. One short, almost
invisible, breath happens in Muladhara and it is blended with the soothing
chant of Hong So what you obtain is a peaceful vibration in a silent mind.
Then you can place your concentration on the second Chakra: another
breath happens there, then another breath happens in the third Chakra ...
and so on... up and down along the spine... until there is no more breath,
only Hong So like a micro movement, in each Chakra.
Note 3: remark about what we have written about K2
The path of Kriya Yoga (I mean the path of Pranayama and not the
Radhasoami path of following the track of the inner sounds to encounter
the Cosmic Sound of Om ) should develop gradually with easy footsteps
following the naturalness of the deep breath encountering subtler
procedures appearing as inevitable and universally necessary.
Let us consider the succession of the techniques in the order they are
introduced: Hong So, Om technique, K1, K2, K3 and K4. An ideal
succession should allow to move easily from one technique to the
following by simply internalizing the preceding one. This happens with the
partial succession Hong So-Om technique or with K3-K4 but not with
K1-K2. This is what I have tried to explain. I have not judged K2, nay I
have tried to extoll its value putting it in its ideal place which is Om
technique-K2.
In order to have a happy result with Kriya, to the K1 a procedure based
upon subtle or very subtle breath should follow. To the K1 a procedure
should follow in which you do what you do in the First Kriya, going up
and down the spine, but now with a formidable tool your breath
transformed into Prana. Only utilizing this subtle alchemy you would have
the tool to realize the essence of each Chakra.
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K1 does not lead to K2; it is also true that Hong So and Om technique don't
lead to K1.
About Hong So and Om technique, volumes can be written since they are
fantastic and there are not doubts that they contain the whole spiritual path.
But in the practical reality they don't prepare to face the K1. The transition
from Hong So and Om technique to K1 is a difficult passage that almost all
believe they are able to do but in reality they don't know how to do. You
see how improper is to practice a technique (K1) with the long breath after
this complete-in-itself meditation where the breath has disappeared. Do
you want to practice Hong So and Om technique? Practice it after and not
before Kriya!
In conclusion, I think that the combination of Kriya with the Radhasoami
path decided by PY has enriched Kriya but has also created some
problems. I have written all this because I have observed that the much
desired path of Kriya is abandoned by many not for lack of seriousness, but
for lack of a patient guide that keeps into consideration the obvious
difficulties of a student.

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APPENDIX 3: GOOD STUDIES

Generally speaking, when we start the Kriya path, we are nave. We would
like to find a book that explains Kriya techniques in detail, with beautiful
pictures and clear diagrams helpful and supportive of our efforts. We
purchase what we find on the market. Often, skimming through those
books, we are likely to be disappointed. We won't find what we look for:
there is no practical information. The first reaction is to throw the book in
the wastebasket.
Unfortunately most books on Kriya contain tedious rhetoric and
innumerable repetitions, all drenched in useless references to abstruse
philosophical theories such that apart from one or two interesting lines, the
rest of the book can be discarded.
I don't dissuade anyone from reading a book: students must gain first-hand
experience. For example, like thousand of persons, I also read avidly the
commentaries, attributed to Lahiri Mahasaya, of some sacred writings.
Lahiri Mahasaya's great disciple P. Bhattacharya, printed these
interpretations. These books were little known for a long time, as they were
written in Bengali. Recently they were translated into English. I studied
these books with enthusiasm, hoping to find some key useful to my
understanding of Kriya. I was disappointed. Their value, from an exegetic
point of view, is almost null. It seems almost impossible to me that they
really come from Lahiri Mahasaya: I am not able to find the same practical
wisdom and tremendous realization expressed in his diaries and letters. I
find rather a mind with an almost maniacal tendency to interpret each thing
in the light of Kriya, as if centuries ago, the authors of those spiritual works
knew exactly one by one all the Kriya techniques. Yet, I'll take good care
not to say they are adulterated.
I think (this is what many affirm and I find no reason to doubt) that
Lahiri Mahasaya explained orally the meaning of some Indian sacred
books. Perhaps, reading the verses of those texts, Lahiri Mahasaya was
transported from the force of his insight, forgot completely the starting
point and, entranced, talked extensively and freely about the subtleties of
Kriya Yoga. Very probably what he said on that occasion could have been
taken as a specific comment to that text. Furthermore, it is possible that, in
order to publish those hard-to-understand notes, the editor had them
completed with parts of his own comprehension.

216

What I would suggest is to study Kriya in the light of other mystical

traditions. There are five spiritual traditions that have some parts in
common with Kriya Yoga. They are:
1. Kundalini Yoga (Tantric Hatha Yoga)
2. Radhasoami
3. Sufi
4. Internal Alchemy (Nei Dan)
5. Hesychasm
Kriya Yoga is our life, but many words coming from these great mystical
traditions can inspire us, fostering an unexpected deepening of our
understanding of our spiritual discipline. The fact is that each of the
previous five spiritual paths contain some part of Kriya, often explained in
a masterly way. The material they offer is too important to be neglected.
KUNDALINI YOGA
This is a form of Yoga concerned chiefly with the regulation of breath and
therefore of the energy (Prana) present in the body. Such path is described
primarily in the three texts of Hinduism:
1. Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Yogi Swatmarama - 15th century)
2. Shiva Samhita, author unknown (1500 C.E or late 17th century)
3. Gheranda Samhita (Yogi Gheranda - late 17th century)
They describe a lot of preparatory exercises (different position aiming not
only to keep the body healthy but also to induce mental calmness and good
ability in concentration.)
It is essential to understand what Kundalini is and when she is aroused. If
we study such matter it is as if we studied the basic theory of the Kriya
Yoga. We learn that Kundalini is aroused after the action of Pranayama
when Prana and Apana unite in the third Chakra or in the navel region and
then enter the Sushumna channel. This shows the great value of the Navi
Kriya.
To study the role of Ida and Pingala can explain the value of Maha
Mudra and can also encourage the practice of Nadi Sodhana Pranayama
although this is usually not taught in the Kriya schools. If kriyabans
understand the value of the alternate nostril breathing and practice it, they
will witness how many obstacles fade away.
217

Jung's seminar on Kundalini yoga, presented to the Psychological Club in

Zurich in 1932, has been widely regarded as a milestone in the
psychological understanding of Eastern thought. Kundalini yoga presented
Jung with a model for the development of higher consciousness, and he
interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation. According
to the psychiatrist Carl Jung, "...the concept of Kundalini has for us only
one use, that is, to describe our own experiences with the unconscious...''
An interesting discussion is if Kundalini could be awakened by an
unprepared practitioner. (See Appendix 3) 13 Worthwhile reading is
Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man by Gopi Krishna currently
available under the title Living With Kundalini.
Through intense concentration on Sahasrara only, Gopi Krishna got into
trouble. His life was both blessed by ecstatic bliss and tormented by
physical and mental discomfort. In 1967 he wrote his excellent testimony.
His book gives a clear and concise autobiographic account of the
phenomenon of the awakening of Kundalini.
He experienced this ''awakening'' in 1937 although he had not a
spiritual teacher and was not initiated into any spiritual lineage. He
practiced concentration for a number of years. His main technique
consisted in visualizing "an imaginary Lotus in full bloom, radiating light"
at the crown of the head. As he sat meditating exactly as he had for the
three hours before dawn each day for seventeen years he became aware
of a powerful, pleasurable sensation at the base of his spine. He continued
to meditate; the sensation began to spread and extend upwards. It continued
to expand until he heard, quite without warning, a roar like that of a
waterfall and felt a stream of liquid light enter his brain.
Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light
entering my brain through the spinal cord. Entirely unprepared for such a
development, I was completely taken by surprise; but regaining selfcontrol instantaneously, I remained sitting in the same posture, keeping
my mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and
brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt
myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light.
(Gopi Krishna Living With Kundalini).

13

To those who practice the classical Pranayama (especially with Bandhas and with
long pauses of holding the breath) the experience of a rising energy through the spine
happens and they can have an experience of panic. Usually, this irrational fear
disappears within a couple of days.
218

This experience changed radically the scheme of his life. He experienced a

continuous "luminous glow" around his head and began having a variety of
psychological and physiological problems. At times he thought he was
going mad. He adopted a very strict diet and for years refused to do any
other concentration exercise.
The keen desire to sit and meditate, which had always been present during
the preceding days, disappeared suddenly and was replaced by a feeling of
horror of the supernatural. I wanted to fly from even the thought of it. At
the same time I felt a sudden distaste for work and conversation, with the
inevitable result that being left with nothing to keep myself engaged, time
hung heavily on me, adding to the already distraught condition of my
mind. [...] Each morning heralded for me a new kind of terror, a fresh
complication in the already disordered system, a deeper fit of melancholy
or more irritable condition of the mind which I had to restrain, to prevent
it from completely overwhelming me, by keeping myself alert, usually
after a completely sleepless night; and after withstanding patiently the
tortures of the day, I had to prepare myself for even worse torment of the
night.

Let us consider now how he emerged from this negative experience into a
wonderful state of awakening that blessed him to the end of his life. He
discovered that the esoteric teachings contained a number of practices that
might help him to bring the energy back into balance. His main cure
reminds a lot the practice of Kriya Pranayama.
.... a fearful idea struck me. Could it be that I had aroused Kundalini
through pingala or the solar nerve which regulates the flow of heat in the
body and is located on the right side of Sushumna'? If so, I was doomed, I
thought desperately and as if by divine dispensation the idea flashed across
my brain to make a last-minute attempt to rouse Ida, or the lunar nerve on
the left side, to activity, thus neutralizing the dreadful burning effect of the
devouring fire within. With my mind reeling and senses deadened with
pain, but with all the will-power left at my command, I brought my
attention to bear on the left side of the seat of Kundalini, and tried to force
an imaginary cold current upward through the middle of the spinal cord. In
that extraordinarily extended, agonized, and exhausted state of
consciousness, I distinctly felt the location of the nerve and strained hard
mentally to divert its flow into the central channel. Then, as if waiting for
the destined moment, a miracle happened. There was a sound like a nerve
thread snapping and instantaneously a silvery streak passed zigzag through
the spinal cord, exactly like the sinuous movement of a white serpent in
rapid flight, pouring an effulgent, cascading shower of brilliant vital
energy into my brain, filling my head with a blissful lustre in place of the
flame that had been tormenting me for the last three hours. Completely
219

taken by surprise at this sudden transformation of the fiery current, darting

across the entire network of my nerves only a moment before, and
overjoyed at the cessation of pain, I remained absolutely quiet and
motionless for some time, tasting the bliss of relief with a mind flooded
with emotion, unable to believe I was really free of the horror. Tortured
and exhausted almost to the point of collapse by the agony I had suffered
during the terrible interval. I immediately fell asleep, bathed in light and
for the first time after weeks of anguish felt the sweet embrace of restful
sleep.

From then onwards, Gopi Krishna believed that this experience originated
a process in which his whole nervous system would be slowly reorganized
and transformed: he tried to write about the mystical experience and the
evolution of consciousness from a scientific point of view. He theorized
that there existed a biological mechanism in the human body, known from
ancient times in India as Kundalini, which was responsible for creativity,
genius, psychic ability, religious and mystical experience. In his opinion,
Kundalini was the true cause of evolution.
Kundalini has been described as a highly creative intelligence which
dwarfs our own. Kundalini awakening therefore requires surrender; it is not
an energy which can be manipulated by the ego.
Another interesting testimony about Kundalini awakening is that of B. S.
Goel's (1935- 1998) described in his: Psycho-Analysis and Meditation. He
was a very rare individual. His experience of Kundalini awakening
happened when he was 28 and was quite dramatic. Kundalini got awakened
on its own. During this long process, his friends thought he was "losing his
mind". He went up and down India looking for someone who could
explain what was happening to him. He found many people that had
theories. However they did not know. His uniqueness lies in his experience
of classical psychoanalysis along with meditation, which he advocated.
When he was 35, his Guru appeared in his dream, and told him that
Psycho-analysis and Marxism, both of which he had embraced, were false
ways to happiness. He told him the only path to inner peace and joy was
through God. In 1982, he opened an ashram in the Himalayas to help and
guide other aspirants who had Kundalini experiences.
What is interesting for us is that Dr. Goel talks about the different
degrees of suffering he went through as his ego was destroyed and rebuild.
He was the first, apart late Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who studied the
role of Bindu point, in the occipital region. He explained that "when the
consciousness marches toward Bindu (which he calls Brahma-randhra) the
ego-formations will get exposed before the consciousness in freeassociations, in free writings, in dreams, and above all, in meditation itself.
220

In the last part of his book, while discussing "signals toward the final
goal", among a lot of signals he had the courage to quote one in particular
whom is not usually treated in book but in those book who want of mimic
all the gurudom matter. He quotes "the great desire for being pierced and
penetrated." About "pierced", he exemplifies it with the "desire of putting a
nail at the mid-point between the two eyebrows. About "penetrated", he
clarifies that the desire of penetration at Bindu may, out of ego-ignorance
"turn into the desire of passive anal-penetration." He clarifies that an
ordinary sexual act cannot satisfy the person who need really penetrated at
the Bindu to get final spiritual bliss. He adds that: "as long as he does not
reach that stage, he may often indulge in compulsive homo-sexuality. It is
very probable that many saints of all ages might have remained great
homosexuals if they had stopped their spiritual effort in their pre-sainthood
period."
SUFI
Soul stirring ardent feelings and sincerity are to be found in Sufi literature:
the celebration of the Creator of the universe shines with a strength and
amplitude beyond comparison. Sufis tell us of their love for earthly Beauty,
letting you guess how they are carried away by their ardent form of Prayer,
from the contemplation of that Beauty to the direct experience of the
Divine.
Consider how great is the inspiration that we receive from images as this
one:
I died as a mineral and became a plant; I died as plant and rose to animal; I
died as animal and I was Man. Why should I fear? When was I less by
dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar with angels blest; but
even from angelhood I must pass on: all except God doth perish. When I
have sacrificed my angel-soul, I shall become what no mind e'er
conceived. (Rumi,Translated by A.J. Arberry)

Many Sufi practice a private and silent Adoration. Their belief is that when
you open your heart to Allah and utter words in His praise, Allah fills you
with strength and inner peace:
When praying, the individual bows as a human person and gets up as God.
(Al-Junayd)

The word Dhikr [which is the Thokar procedure we learn in Kriya] is

commonly translated as "remembrance". Essentially, the practice of Dhikr
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is a form of Prayer in which the Muslim expresses their remembrance of

God. Through Dhikr the seed of remembrance is planted in the heart and
nourished daily, until the tree of Dhikr becomes deeply rooted and bears its
fruit. Dhikr is something of tremendous importance. Sufis teach that the
purpose of Dhikr is to purify hearts and souls in order to move toward the
Light of the Divine without being deflected by anything.
Interesting is to study how they begin the practice of Dhikr by uttering the
Mantra aloud (Dhikr of the tongue) until a state of great absorption makes
it impossible to go on in this way (aloud.) At this point the mental practice
commences. By persevering assiduously in this way, the syllables chanted
mentally are gradually effaced from our awareness and only the meaning of
the Prayer remains. The mind becomes so calm that it is unable to think,
while the deepest sentiments are awakened the touch of Divine
Recollection drives the mind crazy and the most intoxicating of joys begins
to expand within.
"Heavens and earth contain Me not, but the heart of My faithful servant
containeth Me."
(Prophet Muhammad conveying the words of God, Hadith Kudsi.)

If you want to follow the Sufi path and at the same time utilize the Kriya
techniques, you will encounter no difficulties whatsoever. Of course, you
should be endowed with a strong self-teaching spirit. At the first place put
those procedures in which the chanting of the ''L Ilha Ill Allh'' is
accompanied by the movements of the head. Lahiri Mahasaya gave the
Islamic mantra ''L Ilha Ill Allh'' to his Muslim disciples. 14
We don't have the exact details of that procedure but it seems reasonable
that the head was lifted (with or without the help of the breath) from under
the navel up to the brain; after reaching the brain, it moved from the brain
to the one shoulder, then to the other shoulder and then it hit the heart.
Some Sufi order explains that he who wants to guide his Prayer into his
heart, first of all must keep the tongue pressed against the roof of his
mouth, his lips and teeth firmly shut, and hold his breath. Then starting
with the word "L" , he makes it ascend from the navel to the brain.
After "L" is placed in the head, he puts "ilha" in the right shoulder
(and upper part of the chest under the right shoulder) with head bending to
14

If you prefer to utilize a 12 syllable Mantra you can consider: Allahu la ilaha illa
huwal hayyul qayyum (Allahthere is no god except Heis the Living One, the
All-sustainer.) A good division into 12 parts is: 1- AL 2- LA 3-HU 4-LA 5-ILAHA 6ILLA 7- HU 8-WAL 9-HAY 10-YUL 11-QAY 12-YUM
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the right; "illal" is put in the left shoulder (and upper part of the chest
under the left shoulder) with head bending to the left. Then "lh" is driven
forcefully into the heart with the head bending down. From this position,
"L" is again brought into the head, while raising the chin.
At the end of the chosen number of repetitions, the phrase
''Muhammad rasul Allah'' is made to incline from the left to the right side,
and then one says, ''My God, Thou art my goal and satisfying Thee is my
aim.''
As the number of repetitions of the technique increases in intensity, a deep
intoxication is felt in the heart. One may abide by the number of repetitions
given in Kriya schools (related with the practice of the basic form of
Thokar) or can go beyond them in a completely different dimension. I
know that the Sufis reach a number of repetitions that is inconceivable to a
kriyaban.
For a good practice of Thokar I recommend the correct attitude
which is not to prepare to experience something tremendously powerful but
that to lose oneself in the beauty of the prayer, of the Mantra -- as the Sufis
do. The simplest way is the best.
"When a servant of Allah utters the words ''L Ilha Ill Allh'' (There is
none worthy of worship except Allah) sincerely, the doors of heaven open
up for these words until they reach the Throne of Allah."

INTERNAL ALCHEMY (NEI DAN)

The Taoist Internal Alchemy is a spiritual discipline, the esoteric core of
Taoism, the mystical tradition of ancient China. Here we give a synthesis of
its four phases.
[I] Lesser Celestial Circuit or Microcosmic Orbit
Let your breath free. Raise your eyebrows, become sensitive to the internal
light. Try now to intuitively perceive this light in the '' frontal" of each
Chakra. "Frontal" means on the anterior part of the body. After Kutastha,
the awareness goes down, through the tongue, in the superior frontal part of
the throat (this is the frontal component of the fifth Chakra.) The
perception of the internal light in that point happens for few second. Then
the awareness goes down in the central region of the sternum... you
perceive internal light... then in the navel... then in the pubic region and
finally in the perineum. Then the concentration moves upwards behind the
vertebral column and the same perception of light happens in the second
Chakra; then in the third one... and so up to the Medulla, the occipital
region, the Fontanelle, ending again in the Kutastha where you stop for a
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longer time.
Awareness and energy (Qi) are let flow down along the Functional
channel at the frontal part of the body and are raised along the Governor
channel at the back of the spine.
The Microcosmic Orbit entails a very interesting phenomenon. Let us
consider the three main energies in the human body: Jing (sexual energy),
Qi (love energy) e Shen (spiritual energy.) These energies are blended,
mixed together. The sexual energy is transformed in pure love and this in
spiritual aspiration: this event represents a permanent healing action upon
all one's personality.
[II] Guiding energy down to the lower Dantian and then to middle
Dantian
The Lower Dan Tian has the dimensions of a ball whose diameter is about
two-and-a-half inches long. In order to localize its position, one has to
concentrate on the belly button, to come about one and a half inches behind
and below to the same extent.
To become stable in the Lower Dan Tian means to be born to the
spiritual life. This event is designated through expressions like: "Coming
back to the center"; "The union of heaven and earth"; "The birth of the
golden flower"; "The creation of the dazzling gem".
After a normal inhalation (which increases the energetic sensation in the
brain) a long exhalation guides the energy in the Lower Dan Tian.
Visualization helps to compress this energy to the size of a pearl. Internal
heat increases. The vibration created in the Dantian ascends spontaneously
into the heart region. It illuminates the space of the heart (the middle
Dantian) and reveals the "true serenity" manifests there. The contemplation
of light shining in the heart completes this phase.
Such ascent can spontaneously happen or it can be guided by a small detail
of our way to breathe. Precisely the inspiration that was normal at the
beginning of the process becomes typical of the Reversed Breath (we have
described in the second part of the book.) In practice you inhale deeply
drawing inward the abdomen contracting and holding the anal region. The
breath becomes more and more subtle. The energy that is found in the
abdomen condenses more and more and is invited to come up in the region
of the heart. They say that the Inferior Dantian raises in the Median
Dantian.

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The contemplation of light shining in the heart completes this phase. The
spiritual experience happens without mental pollution. The devotion knows
no limits.
[III] Raise the energy through the thrusting channel
In the third stage, Prana is increased in the thrusting channel. This channel
runs like a tube from the Perineum to the Fontanelle through the center of
the body. The purpose of increasing energy inside it, is to prepare the
momentum necessary to set in motion the Macrocosmic Orbit.
[IV] Greater Celestial Circuit
The fourth stage, is a great event which happens when the time is ripe
through the full mastery of the third stage. When the energy increased in
the thrusting channel reaches the upper Dantian (Kutastha: the region
between the eyebrows), a spontaneous phenomenon of circulation of
energy in the body, which has vast implications, happens.
It is difficult to understand which procedures are prescribed by
Internal Alchemy because in the relating literature, some hints about this
topic are abnormally embellished with a lot of evocative terms, metaphors
which make almost impossible to have a clear idea of what they mean in
practice.
In Kriya we explain that by increasing the concentration at Kutastha, the
obstruction at the base of the spine is perfectly removed. A person enters
spontaneously a state of perfect peace and well being and perceives a great
infusion of energy coming down as a golden liquid outside and inside the
body, in all its cells. It is an experience radically different from Kundalini
rising. We prefer to simply say that breath is totally internalized. Now the
substance which is the blending of three energies (sexual, love and spirit)
which has created the elixir of the immortality and has ascended (crossing
the heart) to Kutastha, now infuses the body and feeds every cell. This
subtle experience makes the spiritual path complete. This is an experience
of perfect Beauty. The spiritual path doesn't finish with a flight out of the
body toward the rarefied dimensions of the Spirit. The Divine is infused in
our body.
HESYCHASM
Hesychasm (from Greek: hesychasmos, meaning "stillness, rest,
quiet, silence, tranquillity") is a Christian orthodox movement considering
inner peace a basic necessity for pursuing the spiritual path. Mount Athos is
the place where some monks developed a very effective method for
achieving this inner peace. They utilize the ''Jesus Prayer'': (Kyrie Iesou
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Christe, Yie tou Theou, Eleison me ton amartalon "Lord Jesus Christ, son
of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") repeating it unceasingly during the
day, guiding it into the space of the heart and reciting it in synchrony with
the heart beats during their meditative sessions.
Hesychasts plan to realize Christ's injunction in the Gospel of Matthew
which says: "Go into your closet to pray." They take very seriously the
daily act of withdrawing inwardly: only when you have stilled your body,
mind and heart, you can be fully open to the presence of the Divine. The
body should be held immovable for a long time. Prayer helps to reject any
useless thought. All this is perfect for a kriyaban.
Some say that the Hesychast procedures can be followed only by utilizing
the ''Jesus Prayer'', not other Prayers or mysterious Mantras, whose
meaning is hidden. This is not true! There is no infinite distance separating
the Jesus Prayer from the Hindu Japa. 15
A kriyaban can utilize the same methods, crossing the same welldefined, universal stages of internalization. One's chosen Prayer, even if
not christian, pronounced with sincerity let good qualities like surrender,
total trust in God, grow safely, leading to the complete loss of subjective
self identity.
An easy way to come closer to the Hesychast teachings is to read The way
of the Pilgrim. This is a novel written by ''Anonymous'' in the midnineteenth century and translated into English in 1930. I have already
quoted this book: in the meeting between Orthodoxy and the West which
has occurred over the past century, this book has exercised a great appeal.
About the story contained in that book, no one knows for certain if it is a
true story about a particular pilgrim or a spiritual fiction created to
propagate the mystical aspect of the Orthodox Christian faith. Some, on the
basis of other witnesses, identify the author as the Russian Orthodox monk
Archimandrite Mikhail Kozlov. Whatever the historical truth, this pilgrim
is the ideal representative of a vast category of people who spent their life
visiting sanctuaries, churches, monasteries, the Athos Mountain, the Holy
Land seeking God through the Continuous Prayer.

15

We have heard statements like this one: ''Behind some names like Krishna, Rama, or
Shiva there are demons lying in wait. Once they are invoked by the use of the
Mantra, the door is open for the devil to begin his theatrical productions, using
sounds, images, dreams, and the imagination in general in order to drag the
practitioner deeper into deception.''
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The story is about a pilgrim returning from the Holy Sepulcher who
stopped at Mount Athos. One is immediately struck by the opening words:
"By the grace of God, I am a Christian, by my actions, a great sinner, and
by calling, a homeless wanderer of the humblest birth roaming from place
to place. My worldly goods are a knapsack with some dried bread in it, and
in my breast pocket a Bible. And that is all". Then we learn how the pilgrim
at the start of his path was resolute about covering an infinite distance
across the steppes, if he had to, in order to find a spiritual guide that would
reveal to him the secret of Continuous Prayer. The novel is therefore a tale
of the pilgrim's lifelong search for the teaching on how "to pray
continually" the way Saint Paul had recommended.
One day, the pilgrim's ardor was awarded when a spiritual teacher accepted
him as a disciple, clarifying every detail of the practice. It is interesting to
read how the Pilgrim was instructed to repeat the Jesus Prayer 3,000 times
a day, then 6,000, then 12,000. By following this counsel, one day the
pilgrim discovered that the Prayer had reached the mysterious secret zone
in the heart. It happened spontaneously that the syllables of the Prayer
were pronounced in synchronous with the pulse. From then on, whatever
happened, it could not separate the pilgrim from God.
The central teaching of Hesychasm
The spiritual practice starts by murmuring the Prayer just audibly enough
that you can hear yourself. Then you skip to mental repetition. Then you
can make a few prostrations (bows from the waist, while the rest is
immobile.) Twelve prostrations will suffice in the beginning. Hesychasts
explain that the prostrations warm up the body and strengthen fervor in
Prayer.
You sit comfortably and try to lengthen the rhythm of your breath.
You breathe through the nostrils in a way that the breath produces a noise
in the throat. 16 When the breath reaches a stable and regular rhythm,
combine the Prayer with the ingoing and outgoing breath. Go ahead with
this for a minimum of 15 minutes; after a couple of weeks practice for 30
minutes. Very useful is to count the number of repetitions on rosary beads.
Then move on to pure mental repetition.
We have already described how ''to find the place of the heart'' (Chapter
16.) Hesychasts explain that the region between the eyebrows is not fit for
all the phases of meditation. If the energy of your thought comes down to
the level of the throat as it normally happens while reciting the Prayer
it acquires an evocative power recharged with emotional values. As a
16

This is what Hesychasm teaches and everyone acknowledges this is pure Yoga.
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consequence there is the tendency to become lost in mental associations. If

you move the center of your awareness towards the heart center, the
attention reaches complete cohesion. It is sustained by a higher intensity
and nothing extraneous can disturb it.
Interesting is to see how at this point Hesychasts introduce a
procedure very similar to our Navi Kriya. The instruction is to sit
(comfortably and without strain) with your head bowed and your eyes
directed toward the abdomen. You pray with concentrated focus on the
navel. You try to enter it, as if the navel were only a ''door''. They explain
that you will find a joyless and dull obscurity but with persistence, a
limitless happiness will be reached. You will see the open space within the
heart and contemplate the "Uncreated Light". Your heart will be filled with
the most loving bliss! After achieving this state you will have a drastic
realization that ''what you have lived till now had been nothing.''
Now you are ready to utter the Prayer in the space of the heart and put the
attention on the meaning of its words. This guides one into the final
abduction of the mind into God's dimension.
When this is done, you will feel a warm sensation originating from the
heart region. This sensation, first mild, may turn into a sensation of
solidification of the heart which is felt like a point surrounded by an
endless pressure. 17 In this way you live, always having God in your
remembrance. Life is different: soul and body live in harmony and this is
the base of the spiritual life. This harmony is not lost during sleep.
I sleep, but my heart waketh
(Song of Solomon 5:2)

All this is wisely and masterfully explained in the book The Way of a
Pilgrim. As you understand, the main reason for the work's attraction is the
presentation of a pilgrim's life as the model pattern of life for those who
truly wish to lead a spiritual life.
Surely, we kriyabans are ''pilgrims'', worn-out and exasperated,
moving from a pseudo guru to another each one woefully ignorant, slave
of their own fixed idea: that we westerners are pushovers enjoying to be
fooled.
Thanks to the inspiration coming from The Way of a Pilgrim we
decide to test the practice of Japa, to murmur mentally our chosen Prayer
17

St Theresa also explains the same concept: ''From this pressure comes a strange
experience of pain. We perceive the Divine, the endless Light and we burn of love.
We realize the moment has not yet come to become one with that endless Light and
Bliss: hence tears of intense longing.
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for a couple of hours a day. Instead of just hanging around doing nothing
of fantasizing about how to guess the original techniques of Kriya Yoga, we
taste the divine honey of the Contemplative Prayer. This leads us to a
sincere act of opening our heart to God. We shall gradually discover that
the goal that the Russian Pilgrim had set for himself achieving the state
of Continuous Prayer, a real heaven on this heart, a state of unparalleled
Beauty is not a myth, it is feasible in our life.

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APPENDIX 4:
SWINGS

WHEN OUR KRIYA CAUSES SEVERE MOOD

Patent exaggerations judging Kriya Yoga or Yoga in general

While browsing through the Web pages you will find some warning against
the dangers of Yoga, especially the danger of a "premature awakening of
Kundalini".The list of the problems that it would cause is limitless. There
are also a few web sites that warn against any form of meditation, hinting
at the possibility of a break with reality with unusual or extreme
strengthening of emotions, in particular agitation and anxiety, long-term
disorientation where one has become unable to focus long enough to work.
We read also that: "... an aspirant can develop occult, psychic
powers. These powers can be used for constructive or destructive purposes,
but quite often they are misused. For example the ability to read someone
else's mind can create problems and is likely to be ... resented by those who
it is used on." This is comic! When we find such amenities we wonder
who on earth has written such nonsense and with what purpose.
Unfortunately there is a tendency in the Web to duplicate pages from
site to site without changing a comma. Make an impossible story up, for
example that one yogi died of spontaneous combustion during the practice
of Pranayama, post it on a spiritually orientated web site and verify that,
after a couple of months, this story appears on many web sites.
We read that Yogis, sooner or later, are inclined to ... fall into sorcery and
black magic because they evoke, unaware, negative entities. An author
claimed that: "When you repeat that Mantra Om, Om... you are actually
invoking a demon spirit to come and possess your mind.'' He added his
testimony: "During a meditation session, I began to levitate. Ever since that
second I haven't slept as a human, I lost my sleep! Whenever I closed my
eyes, I saw the flames of Hell, I didn't dare to close my eyes, I couldn't! I
became a psychiatric case, and 26 times I've been hospitalized." Of course
there is no need to comment on.
My personal experience, limited to Kriya Yoga, of listening to similare
complaints, had not been without conflict. I had a hard time meeting
people who claimed that Kriya was responsible of all their psychological
(perhaps they meant psychiatric) problems and of some physical troubles
too.
Hence, I would have to believe that by breathing fresh air, focusing
the mind on the spine and on particular centers in the head, they had
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developed all kinds of mental and physical ailments. From a benediction as

it seemed at the very beginning, Kriya turned out to be a curse, a
misfortune. The same practices that I had experimented so many times,
with so much love, drawing the purest delight, had been for them a doom.
My reaction was: ''How, with what attitude, with what expectation,
had you approached Kriya? You say that Kriya made you crazy ... well, if
the germs of madness are inside me, they will come into bloom both if I
practice Kriya and if I do not practice it. Yet, considering the glorious
moments experienced, I will walk the Kriya path without an ounce of fear,
had I to burn in it."
What can we reply when such charges come from persons who say nothing
about the different drugs they have taken for years! A person impressed me
by telling that after practicing some simple meditation techniques
(something very mild like awareness of the breath or concentration on the
Chakras) he had lost his mental equilibrium and had experienced the most
intense attacks of anguish and terror. This person made a big fuss about it,
posting on Yoga forums. I could not abstain from a strong suspicion. For
what reason did he go to India each year, for a long series of years, without
ever showing interest for Yoga or for the Indian spirituality? Perhaps he
went there to get different types of drugs at a low price? Later through
common friends I came to know that he took not only opiates but also
acids, any kind of amphetamines and (emulous of Carlos Castaneda) didn't
disdain the use of psychotropic plants. It was obvious that by complaining
before me, he tried to exorcize the rather frightening thought that he had
seriously damaged his brain and, perhaps, of being in a condition of
permanent, fatal psychic disorder. He removed the very idea that his past
unwary choices could be put in causal relation with his present mental
situation.
Often I think how shocking would be having a magic mirror in
which people could see their past actions and realize how inconsiderate and
cruel they had been toward their body!
I understand that in some cases a preexisting mental disturbance can push a
person to be after drugs as a remedy. Well, in such case I don't believe that
the use of the techniques of Yoga can aggravate the condition of their
alienation. Perhaps fear and anguish might arise as an unconscious
resistance to awaken some lurking mental contents. In this case, fear forces
one to remain on the surface and bars their way to deep practice. .
A very common circumstance
Often we operate some changes in our Kriya routine by adding some
meditation procedures we have read in books or, more frequently, in
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Forums with a mystical orientation. Not always these changes are wise. It
might happen we experience negative moods like depression, unmotivated
fear, anxiety etc.
While finding a working remedy, never think that all your problems
originate from the blockage of this or that Chakra. Apart from Anahata and
Kutastha, don't utilize techniques that work on a single Chakra. If you
want to unlocking an energetic, psychic knot, remember that those knots
which in Yoga are called Grantis are not as we usually visualize them,
namely like ordinary rope-knots. They have a kind of mutual dependence,
they are subtly inter-twined, one inside the other. If you concentrate for
long time upon one single knot, you risk to lose your mental peace.
Don't be like a surgeon who wants to remove a gallstone embedded
in a organ, without taking all the care not to destroy the organ and kill the
patient.
It is correct to affirm that the knots are the root cause of our miseries,
because they nourish the exhausting world of superficial emotions and
thoughts. But it is not correct to think that they are our arch-enemies.
Without them we would immediately dissolve in the Spirit, we could not
lead a normal life. They are at the base of the instinct of self preservation.
Remember that the balanced techniques of Kriya Pranayama,
Thokar, Thokar Tribhangamurari and mental Pranayama work upon all the
knots simultaneously. Increasing gradually the repetition of these basic
procedures is always the best choice!
If you concentrate for some time on Muladhara, give the same
concentration to all the other Chakras and always end by concentrating on
the point between the eyebrows. Lahiri Mahasaya wrote: "Do not stay
longer at the coccyx center: a negative state of absorption would take
place." If, just to give an example, you use Thokar to hit different times
the Muladhara Chakra and you don't integrate this with other practices to
stimulate the other Chakras, the result is mainly a state of greyish mind
that appears in the day following the practice. It is difficult to sustain that
uncomfortable sensation it is as if your soul were scratched.
What to do in a state of emergency
If you experience real fear and anguish, if you feel overwhelmed by an
unknown power and all your certitudes menace to crumble, here you will
find three important counsels. [Of course Kriya is put aside for some days.]
[I] Practice intensely Mula Bandha
Sit quietly and practice slowly, but intensely, 108 Mula Bandha. Contract
all the muscles at the base of the spine, maintain the contraction for a
couple of seconds and relax. Repeat. Forget the breath, try to attune to
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calmness in the point between the eyebrows. Don't be in a hurry: each hold
and relax should last at least four seconds. You can have more than one
session in order to complete 108 repetitions.
[II] Learn from the experience of Gopi Krishna
[We have hinted at the experience of Gopi Krishna in Appendix 1
Kundalini Yoga (Tantric Hatha Yoga) ]
A routine which is totally based on a strong concentration on the
Sahasrara is not appropriate for those students who have not crossed the
spiritual eye. To obtain this, years are necessary not months. Building a
strong magnet in Sahasrara is the most powerful way to stimulate the
rising of Kundalini. You might experience moments of panic or in which
you feel unrelated with the reality. If you are a beginner, forget the
techniques in which you concentrate on Fontanelle or over it. We are
deeply thankful to the site AYP which explains clearly the reasons of this.
Now, let us reflect upon to the modality through which Gopi Krishna
started a process of recovery. Convinced he had aroused Kundalini through
Pingala, he made a last desperate attempt to bring in activity Ida, thus
neutralizing the internal fire that was devouring him. There is an action he
did, which, patiently repeated, helped him out of his predicament. He
mentally created a cold current coming up within the central channel of the
spine.
Therefore if you think you have practiced concentration upon Sahasrara or
Fontanelle, now practice the following exercise.
Sit with erected spine and concentrate all your mental strength in the point
between the eyebrows. Use all your imagination to raise a fresh current up
the spine. This can be done by inhaling through the mouth while keeping
the tongue in the position of Sitali Pranayama. Curl comfortably your
tongue and protrude it slightly past the lips to form a tube. Inhale deeply
and smoothly through the tongue and mouth a cooling sensation is felt
over the tongue and into the throat. Exhale through the nose ideally
directing the fresh breath in all the parts of your body.
Creating a cooling sensation coming up through the spine was exactly what
Gopi Krishna did to get out of his awful situation.
[III] From now onwards practice every day Nadi Sodhana Pranayama
It is important to clean the nostrils before beginning the exercise so the
breath can flow smoothly. This can be done with water or inhaling
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eucalyptus essence and blowing the nose. If one of the nostrils is

permanently obstructed, that is a problem that needs to be solved
medically. If the obstruction is due to a severe cold, no Pranayama
exercise should be practiced.
1. The mouth must be closed.
2. Close the right nostril with the right thumb and inhale through the left
nostril slowly, uniformly, and deeply for 6-10 seconds.
3. Pause for a mental count of 3 after each inhalation.
4. Close the left nostril with the right little finger and ring finger of the
same hand.
5. Exhale through the right nostril with the same uniform and deep
rhythm.
6. Change nostrils.
7. Keep the left nostril closed, inhale through the right nostril.
8. Close the right nostril with the right thumb and exhale through the left
nostril slowly, uniformly, and deeply for 6-10 seconds.
This corresponds to one cycle. Begin with 6 cycles gradually working up
to 12 cycles. Use a mental count to make sure the time is the same for both
the inhalation and the exhalation. Do not overdo the breathing to the point
of discomfort. The nostrils can be closed with the fingers in different ways
depending on the preference of the practitioner.
After a couple of weeks, practice Nadi Sodhana Pranayama adding Mula
Bandha and Jalandhara Bandha, to it. [ Jalandhara Bandha means that the
neck and the throat are slightly contracted and the chin tilts down toward
the breast.]
During Nadi Sodhana, after having inhaled (either through the left or
through the right nostril) close both nostrils and practice the two Bandhas
simultaneously. (You can also contract the abdominal muscles thereby
applying a slight form of Uddiyana Bandha.) Practicing with intensity and
strength of concentration, you'll feel a sensation of energetic current sliding
up along the spinal column an almost ecstatic internal shiver.
Let me add some more information about the importance of Nadi Sodhana
Pranayama. Some books quote scientific research endorsing the benefit of Nadi
Sodhana Pranayama. It balances Ida and Pingala currents. Ida (feminine in
nature, tied to introversion and to the state of rest) flows vertically along the left
side of the spinal column, while Pingala (masculine in nature, tied to
extroversion and to the state of physical activity) flows parallel to Ida on the
right side. Sushumna flows in the middle and represents the experience halfway
between the two: the ideal state to be achieved right before beginning the
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practice of meditation. An imbalance between Ida and Pingala is responsible for

a lack of introversion-extroversion harmony in many people. Over-functioning of
the Ida channel results in introversion, while predominance of the Pingala leads
to a state of extroversion.
There are times when we feel more externalized; others when we are more
internalized. In a healthy person, this alternation is characterized by a balance
between a life of positive relationships and a serene contact with one's own
depths. Excessively introverted persons tend to lose contact with external reality.
The consequence is that the ups and downs of life seem to gang up against them
in order to undermine their peaceful composure. Excessive extroverts betray
frailty in dealing with their unconscious feelings and might face unexpected
distressing moments. Now, the exercise fosters an equilibrium between Ida and
Pingala and in due time, between a tendency to introversion and a tendency to
extroversion.
There are four types of brain waves. During deep sleep, delta waves are
predominant (1-4 oscillations per second), and in a doze, the theta waves (4-8
oscillations per sec.) dominate. The brain waves that interest us are the alpha
waves (8-13 oscillations per sec.). They are mostly present when the person has
closed eyes, is mentally relaxed but still awake and able to experience. When the
eyes are opened, or the person is distracted in some other way, the alpha waves
are weakened, and there is an increase of the faster beta waves (13-40
oscillations per sec.).
The amount of alpha waves shows to what degree the brain is in a state of
relaxed awareness. EEG measurements prove that alpha waves increase during
meditation and the amount of alpha waves in each brain half balance out. Now,
the more we practice Nadi Sodhana, the more the alpha waves tend to become
equal. Nadi Sodhana creates that perfect balance which is the best condition to
enter the meditation state.

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APPENDIX 5 ILLUSIONS

I.
Do we really think that all the kriyabans who stick faithfully to a schedule
of regular practice are free from insane and totally irrational expectations
that contradict the very basis of the mystical path?
The problem of considering the wrong attitudes towards the spiritual
path of Kriya Yoga is a more serious theme than what is commonly
perceived. A full realization of the faddiness that keep many kriyabans'
mind busy could drive any serious Kriya teacher crazy.
I will give here an account of these last years after the breaking with my
last teacher. Besides posting the book on the net, I had many opportunities
to be confronted with illusions in which many kriyabans found the definite
failure of their spiritual effort.
Study the history of western esoteric movements
An important experience was to accept the invitation by a local cultural
institution to give lessons on the present tendency of creating self-made
religion. In order to prepare those lessons I had to go through the whole
history of western esoteric movements. This passionate study helped me to
become free from many conditioning. I tried to understand where the
boundary line between the genuine mystical quest and the cultivation of
magic ambitions lay.
I was delighted to prepare the lessons by studying the best available
essays and textbooks I mean books written by academics who didn't
belong (or were so smart as to hide their membership or affiliation) to any
particular mystical school and manifested a detached attitude toward the
whole matter. I appreciated those texts that were capable of presenting the
essence of those religious movements which flourished freely around the
great religions.
This was an unclouded period of my life: I was very gratified to have
time and opportunity to pursue such studies. The impact of certain
readings, the liveliness of certain historical facts, had the effect of making
me realize how many useless dogmas were admitted innocently into my
life through the door of meek adapting to the ideals of my first Kriya
organization.
I was struck by the devastating inconsistency of many esoteric
movements, widely recognized as demanding and elitist. Many magnificent
terms, which would have once allured me, turned out to be totally empty of
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any significance. Their redundancy filled me with nausea as if they were an

obscenity brought forth by a monster. I was stricken by the weakness of the
human mind, by its discouraging slowness in dissolving glaring deceptions
and fallacies.
Facing my new audience, since our first encounters, I tried to
communicate what is being expressed clearly with the word ''mystic.'' I
repeated that even if in some context the word mystic evokes a relationship
with the mystery, with the concept of initiation (from the Greek
[mustikos], an initiate) into secret religious rituals (also this from the Greek
, to conceal), a mystic is one who tries sincerely (adopting any form of
mental and or bodily discipline) to surrender themselves to something
which is the quintessence of supreme comfort, something which lays
beyond the territories of the mind unattainable by the acrobatics of a
never satisfied mind.
The problem was that that something beyond mind was unintelligible
and had no appeal for most part of them. I tried to extoll the concept of a
''clean mystical path'' a path directed one pointedly towards the total
surrender to God and not polluted by the fantasies and deformations of the
human mind.
Many were on the search for genuine (not polluted by New Age
crap) and easy to read mystical books. I extolled the value of spiritual
classics like: "Tales of a Russian Pilgrim". I tried to convey how beautiful
and valuable it was feeling like pilgrims, like those souls who followed the
thousand-year-old spiritual tradition of Continuous Prayer. It was evident
that I had strongly strayed off of my didactic theme. However they forgot
or didn't grasp the essence of what I was saying.
I repeated to no purpose how frail (full of suggestibility and
vulnerability) was the human psyche when it deals with approaching the
spiritual path. I saw that my students showed scant regard for this theme.
They didn't seem to realize the relation it had with their own life. Some
were sincere and confessed that they were nurturing the most curious
illusions (achieving psychic power over other persons, finding the secret
for immortality....) and had the firm proposal of pursuing them. Eventually
I realized with cold mind that some listeners had come to my lessons in the
hope to receive support and fuel for their illusions.
Merging in Sri Krishnamurti's teaching
I realized how valuable was the teaching of Sri Krishnamurti. I read and
reread some parts of his books, repeating some passages mentally during
my walks exposing my being to his way of observing the limitations of the
human mind. The magic of his way of writing had an has a particular role
in my life. I treasure the "Only Revolution" because it is a perfect synthesis
of poetry and wisdom.
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My third teacher counseled me to start studying Krishnaji. The strange

thing is that thanks to this study I found the crucial and conclusive boost
that would assist me, after many years of controversial but loyal
discipleship, to break my dependence on him. Krishnamurti said what was
then difficult to fully agree with:
What is the need of a Guru? [...] You have to walk by yourself, you have
to take the journey alone, and on that journey you have to be your own
teacher and pupil.

While I was reading these lines I felt undoubtedly that they expressed a
deep truth, but my logic suggested peremptorily, "This is a sophism; even
Krishnamurti acted as a Guru and acts upon me now just through his
writings." I could not actualize his wise warning; fear and conditioning
held me back. How many mistakes would I still have to make, how many
slaps would I still have to take before I could affirm my freedom from
gurus!
I studied many books by this author but I was literally overcome by the
beauty of The Only Revolution. I walked in the country looking at
everything with my senses fully awake but without a single thought in my
mind. How difficult it was! But it was not impossible. How right
Krishnamurti was when he said: "life begins where thought ends." I needed
to recreate silence around me, to return to simplicity, to find the time to
contemplate Beauty again. Walking around with this attitude became pure
and constant Bliss! Beauty was always around me but I hadn't noticed
because I was lost in my mental constructs based on New Age fantasies, or
on pseudo spiritual literature which was actually trash. I was not able to see
that Beauty for I was lost as Krishnamurti would say in the "Beauty of
my own making." The more I read Krishnamurti, the more I felt I had
recently crossed through hell. I realized that my obsession for finding the
techniques of the "Original Kriya" hadn't emanated from a heightened form
of drive toward the Divine but was actually motivated by a desire no
different from the desire for material things. The attitude of conducting my
hectic search was actually a distraction, preventing me from enjoying what
I already had. It had impoverished me, draining me of the flow of genuine
aspiration toward the Divine.
The effort to realize Krishnaji's teaching brought me back to the very
beginning of my spiritual path when I had decided to conquer the tendency
to daydream or jump from one memory to another during idle moments. At
that time I knew perfectly well that unbridled thought was an addiction, a
vice giving moments of pleasure but being the primary cause of much
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misery. It was in order to discipline myself that I studied the art of

Pranayama embracing, later, the discipline of Kriya Yoga.

II.
Let me come back to the theme of how many kriyabans ruin their spiritual
path by cultivating wrong expectations aroused in them by a distorted (too
enthusiastic) publicity on Kriya. There are two dangerous illusions that
could take solid roots in every kriyaban's mind. The first is is considering
Kriya is an alternative medicine, the second is considering Kriya as an
elitist esoteric process that enhances automatically our mental powers.
Kriya is not alternative medicine, is not science. The project of
embarking on the Kriya path with the hope of getting free from depression
or other common forms of neuroses leads nowhere. If you have nervous
disorders and after having experimented with alternative remedies, you
decide to follow the counsel of a friend and try the Kriya path too, you
won't obtain anything, except for a headache.
You cannot look at your spiritual practice with suspicion: "Does it
really work"? No human being can ever touch the Supreme Good unless
you place it, with unshakeable trust, above all the other achievements of
the world. You cannot clumsily try to camouflage your skepticism by
pretending a nonexistent spiritual interest.
If, by applying the Kriya procedure something good in your psychophysical system happens, you will not recognize it. With your doubts, you
can even get anguish. In this situation there is no love for Kriya. You fear
in your heart you will be disappointed, and you will.
As for the groundless expectation that Kriya might amplify your mental
powers you must remember that Kriya teaches how to contact the spiritual
dimension which is beyond the mind and has nothing to do with an excited
trip in the realm of the mind. Forgetting this gives all deformations green
light.
In certain books there is an objectionable publicity about Kriya Yoga. Most
Kriya Acharyas boast that Kriya is a scientific path that offers guaranteed
results. People are made to believe that it is possible to work out their
psychological problems, and perhaps physical problems too, with a regular
practice of Kriya. But on the spiritual path there cannot be guaranteed
results, everything depends on the the sincere involvement that one puts in
it. "Spiritual Evolution" is a vague concept. Saying that it is linked with the
number of Kriya breaths you have practiced, becomes an even more
inconsistent mirage. Empty words! Often we have no idea how empty are
the expressions we borrow from ''Best selling'' spiritual books!

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One should be very careful when talking about Kriya to avoid attracting
persons who have not the sincere desire to walk the spiritual path. Often we
talk about the value of Kriya Yoga. Often our too enthusiastic words about
the amazing effects of Kriya create a colossal deception. Instead of talking
about the ''science'' of Kriya, it is much more better being more moderate
and limit to tell: ''Kriya Yoga is a spiritual path based on good methods of
concentration and Prayer. These methods had been utilized for centuries.''
Not a word more. Furthermore, it is better avoid showing pics of people
who were successful in Kriya, It is better avoid giving the idea you want to
sell something.
A clean path
From a root wrong idea about Kriya, a wrong attitude is born and our
spiritual journey has a short life. To avoid wrong ideas is almost
impossible. Classic literature about Kriya, spiritual talks by ''masters''
create new illusions and expand the illusions we already have.
I am not too severe. It is true that great part of spiritual literature
invites us to seek the Divine only, quoting the Gospel and other holy books
with authority. It is true that they tell us to seek the Divine surrendering to
His will without asking any other thing, but it is also true that often they
seem to invite us to have quite different targets. They say that if you do
your Kriya correctly you will develop this, you will develop that....
Sometimes we get lost and realize we are following a ''magic path.'' I don't
know how many times you have examined under the lens of wisdom the
idea that each Kriya breath equals one year of spiritual evolution blah
blah blah...
Just imagine going before a saint and repeat to him this belief. Would
you have the stamina to meet his unmasking eyes? Try to understand how
insidious this idea is. Often I reflect upon the idea that Kriya is
scientifically based, and therefore automatic in practice. There is some true
in this affirmation but it will lead many persons to deception.
In the best of the situations, all the Kriya ''benefits'' are less than
nothing compared to the experience of touching the Beauty itself by
merging with the Omkar vibration. Our first duty in life is to achieve the
state of unshakeable inner peace. But there is too much restlessness in this
world. Beauty exists in this world but many are like nervous tourists who
desire to see everything and behave in a hysterical way; they want to enjoy
frenetically everything and are not able to have an idea of where they are.
The same happens with Kriya. When one good session of Kriya opens a
door upon the Infinite, all is soon forgotten even if it seemed the most solid
event. The illusions portrayed in Kriya literature are the only solid
convictions that remain.
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You can win that sad vicious circle only by intensive reflection upon the
teachings that life itself is giving. When this happens, then you want to go
immediately beyond life and not linger over exhausting every aspect of
life. Kriya is for those who have felt how hard, terrible, cruel, life might be
and desire, with all their heart and intuition, "something more". Kriya is for
those who feel that there should exist a Reality greater than the present
common way of living. Kriya is conceived to guide us towards that Reality.
By bringing the energy of your body into the spine we will have a direct
sensible experience of what lies beyond the four dimensions of physical
reality.
This is extremely beautiful. If you live your Kriya practice in this way, it
means that your path is pure, clean. You are not running after illusions.
This is all I have to say. Now if you have some more time consider the
following examples of misguided spiritual searchers.
Some personal experiences
Let me add some examples of the ''best'' illusions I came into contact
with.
There are those who only read and do nothing in a practical way. I read
some of the so-called ''masterpieces'' of esoteric literature. While reading
them, I entered an almost hypnotic state and didn't immediately realize that
each chain of ideas therein contained had no basis at all, but was only
offspring of the unbridled imagination of the author. Through an
intoxication profusion of words, the author dared to develop free from the
relationship with reality and from the rules of logic. The whole thing was
only a pure mental enjoyment comparable to that of reading a fantasy
novel. How can you think of progressing spiritually by just reading such
junk? Reading crime novels is far more useful: it can improve your mood
while exercising the gray matter of your brain.
There are those who add to Kriya practice some ''cathartic'' [causing
purification] processes.
They want to produce a cleaning effect on their psyche by unearthing any
kind of unconsciously repressed material. They explain and this idea is
not absurd that such processes favor the removal of the internal blocks.
Hence, the evolutionary process of Kriya becomes more quick.
Once I attended a group therapy session. We were in a room, filled with
multicolored posters and cushions, decorations, crystals and other objects.
The persons felt perfectly satisfied by the beautiful atmosphere.
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The session was guided by a cunning fellow who assumed the role of the
psychotherapist. With a pendulum in his hand, he was able to diagnose
everything, from the slightest indispositions to the most serious illnesses,
as well as to suggest remedies. His methods to clean away our internal
conflicts gave great importance to revealing one's childhood traumas in
group discussions. Sitting on the ground in a circle, we formed work
groups and, overcoming inner resistances, shared, sometimes with acute
suffering, experiences we had never told anyone before.
I learned to relate to each person the way an explorer deals with
unknown animals, waiting for any eccentric revelation. Sometimes I could
not abstain from reacting to their oddness sarcastically; it was something I
just could not help, it came out so spontaneously.
We were promised that during advanced seminaries, we would be
guided to find, through hypnotic regression, our past lives in order to
revive, and therefore understand, our deeper traumas. From a legal point of
view, this alternative psychotherapy had to be camouflaged as a cultural or
religious activity.
After many years, some friends are still there, to obtain a deeper cleaning
of their subconscious mind, so they said to me. The voyage of Kriya is
totally forgotten or deprived of its spiritual component is reduced to a
nothing. I would like to explain that theirs is a colossal loss of time but I
have not the moral strength to do this. Too much insistence on the cleaning
process is like preparing one's house for a distinguished guest; endlessly
polishing and decorating it, delighted by entranced awareness of the
different comforts our house allows meanwhile, after having repeatedly
rung the bell, the guest is standing neglected on the doormat
The lifestyle reigning in the gloomy environment of a-devoted-tospiritualism group [they said Allan Kardec was their occult teacher]
plunged some friends into situations of such a narrow vision that they
behavior appeared grotesque.
I never accepted having something to do with Spiritualism, neither the
classic one - characterized by a person (medium) who enters a trance state
at a desk, answers the questions put by the bystanders through a code of
loud raps nor the modern spiritualism such as that where all the
participants, putting their hands on an upside-down glass move it among
the letters of the alphabet stamped on a comfortable flexible tablet (Ouija
board). I have good grounds to believe that the untrustworthy soil of
spiritualism is one of the best areas to cultivate splits inside one's
personality. Apart from the automatic writing in which the one who asks is
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the same person that gives the answer, the Medium knows in advance the
preferences and anticipations of the person who addresses him. Therefore
all becomes like a closed circuit: question and answer reverberate in an
endless loop like the feedback of a microphone set next to its loud speaker.
As anyone can observe, the messages are always agreeable. Every adept,
even of limited intelligence, receives the message that the Divine has
assigned him an important mission I believe that this is, psychologically
speaking, very dangerous.
A friend of mine had the vice of paying attention to the revelations coming
from a channeler. 18 He visited the channeler in order that the spirits reveal
to him the karmic reason of a light illness that in my opinion, could be
cured easily following the usual dietary rules. From the channeler he
moved to a group of people who practiced spiritualism. He created a
strong bond with that group; unfortunately that farce cost him dearly. Very
often, from behind the mask of a self-confident appearance, a frail
personality allowed others to defraud him in the worst of the ways. His
original desire to find a channel that put him in direct contact with the
power and blessings of the ancient masters ended in the worst of all
prisons. He gave all his possessions, and the totality of his energies, to a
person who was an authentic rogue. That person claimed to have had the
privilege to communicate through a medium with PY and with Lahiri
Mahasaya. It was pathetic and, to an extent, even amusing being told that
nowadays PY 's message is: "In this epoch, the Kriya is old-fashioned and
useless. Devotion is enough!".
A friend was convinced that the spiritual progress cannot happen except
through receiving the power (Baraka) of the great Teachers of the past.
While seeking the transmission of power, he gave small attention to the
practice of Kriya. He believed that the power received through initiation
had in itself the power of redemption. He went on receiving Kriya from
those who claimed to have a valid lineage although their teachings didn't
add nothing to what he already knew.
He was adamant in practicing Kriya with wrong modalities, making
18

For those who have no experience of this kind of Spiritualism, a channeler is a

person who lets the invoked entity express through the flood of his own eloquence. It
is interesting to see how the channeler's biographies trace a common scheme. All tell
that once they were skeptic of their own faculties and would not accept yielding to
the higher Will who had decided to entrust to them the mission to serve as medium
between spirits and humanity. Once their mission was accepted, from the same ultra
mundane source came the inspiration to mix the flow of the various revelations with
the diagnosis of unlikely illnesses, with prescription of expensive alternative
remedies.
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glaring mistakes. For instance, he neglected the basic rules of health,

refused, during meditation, to assume the correct position of the backbone,
didn't even try to get immobility in the final part of his routine. It was
impossible to correct him. He behaved toward me in a very cordial way
but, when he talked about the absolute place to be given to ethic rules listed
by Patanjali, he was able to make me feel like a worm. He criticized my
obsession to perfect the practice of Kriya. He explained that the very desire
to master a meditation technique meant cultivating desire and this was
against Buddhist principles.
I came to know that he was the spiritual guide of a small group of
persons posing as christian devotees, while they were just bewildered. I
can't imagine what he taught them since he never talk to me of this activity.
What I never understood of him was that now and then he went to assist to
the liturgical practices of a Catholic church since, in his opinion, they
worked ''as a bland form of exorcism.''
Seeking esoteric procedures, more advanced than Kriya, is an amazingly
easy way of destroying, in a short time, years of genuine spiritual effort!
Especially if you blindly believe to a cunning individual like the one I
describe.
One of my friends met a self-named expert in occult matters who
purported to know the secrets of an almost extinct esoteric path and, in
particular, a spiritual technique far more advanced than those known today,
which was practiced centuries or millennia ago, by few privileged beings.
This "expert" guided him sweetly but with the surety of a mature
professional, towards a situation in which his economic base, essential to
his living, was at risk of being swept away, completely reduced to
shambles. He easily bewitched him. "Now that humanity is different from
before, such teachings are not revealed to just anyone" he started off, then
after a pause and with a sigh, finally concluded: "Today's students would
not know how to appreciate them and, in their hands, they could be
dangerous."
The expert created the impression of being a dreamer, but was not so nave
as it seemed; he used an enchanting terminology similar to that of the
Kabbalah (mystical teaching within Judaism) and talked effortlessly about
original Christianity also, whose texts (canonical and apocryphal) he was
able to interpret in a non-conventional way.
My friend tried to captivate the teacher in order to present himself as
a true adept. Confiding that he was willing to accept whatever toll and
deprivation, consenting to whatever behest, provided that this extraordinary
secret will be revealed to him, he actually fell into the trap. After having
expressed some reservations, our smart teacher at long last capitulated,
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murmuring: "Only for you, only because I feel I am guided to make an

exception". My friend, a poor victim quivering with emotion, lived the
best moment of his life, convinced that the meeting with the expert had
been decided in the higher spheres. The requested donation to be given
during Initiation -- united to the promise of keeping absolute secrecy -- was
conspicuous, since in that way he would confirm the great value attributed
to that event. The teacher said that the donation would be transferred to a
monk who was helping an orphanage. (It is a real classic! ... there is always
an orphanage in these stories.)
While my friend, completely satisfied, was preparing to receive such
an incomparable gift (he received the explanation that it was a gift and that
nothing could adequately compensate the benedictions that such an
initiation would bring to his life) the scoundrel distractedly decided what
kind of trash-stuff he was going to demonstrate with glaring solemnity. My
friend received with indescribable emotion, the new technique and spent
two days in sheer fervor.
Later, imprisoned in his chimera, he witnessed the rekindling of his
passion and the comedy repeated. He heard about other incomparable
valuable "revelations". This illusion is, in effect, indomitable. After having
received his "drug", he continued his inexorable run toward the abyss. I
cannot predict if, one day, he will realize that the techniques for which he
paid a fortune had been taken from some books and altered, so he would
not to guess their origin.
What is wrong with Kriya organizations? A Kriya organization has to
show its value by producing perfect, self-realized leaders.
I became acquainted with an elderly kriyaban, worthy of maximum respect
and admiration, who had begun the Kriya path many years before. We met
each other in the last years of his life. He was totally alone and I felt very
bad when I could not see him for months at a time, but for various reasons
this was inevitable.
We always met for short and fleeting afternoons, walking and speaking
quietly. I was witness to an inexorable process that brought him to the point
of living solely for the memory of the warm rays of a glance and simple
nod once received from the woman who was head of the Kriya
organization and the spiritual successor of PY. His dream was always to
form a friendship with that divine being, whom he felt was the epitome of
perfection. I tried to convince him that to deify this inspiring figure could
constitute the death of his spiritual adventure.
The problem was that this fixed mindset had corrupted the meaning
of his spiritual search. He expressed something that years before he would
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not have even dared to think: the presumed spiritual evolution of the
individual through Kriya was undeniable, but so slow as to be practically
negligible. The Kriya techniques were for him like a religious ritual which
had to be performed scrupulously just to give proof of loyalty. However,
the idea of the kriyaban's spiritual evolution determined by strict
mathematical laws remained in him as an instinctive reflex to be
unfalteringly asserted to those who asked him information about Kriya.
He had given his full approval to the idea that on this planet there were
special people, Self realized forever free from Maya and irreparably
common ones who had to wait many incarnations in order to receive a
spark of enlightenment. Unfortunately, this view was the framework upon
which he had been interweaving his thought. One day he vented all of his
gloom. Looking at how superficially so he said he had practiced the
techniques of meditation, he had no doubts that in this life he had certainly
missed the "target". He was already dreaming of future incarnations in
which he could practice with better engagement. To this he was sweetly
resigned. I felt a giant wave of inexplicable nostalgia which was ready to
overwhelm me, but it remained curbed, as if suspended around us.
Now that he is no longer alive, I wonder if the idea of the transforming
power of Kriya that eased and sustained the first years of his path, was
gradually erased from his mind by the tendency of the organization to
emphasize through a constant barrage of anecdotes the greatness of certain
persons who were "impudently" saintly, perfect, majestic. How wretched it
had been for my friend to believe that his supreme good depended on a
loving glance from the person he thought divine! He had made the
unfortunate mistake of believing that the eternal spiritual Source in the
center of his being would wither when he was far from the one person
toward whom he had directed the warm aspirations of his heart.

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GLOSSARY
This glossary has been added for those who already know the meaning of the
most common terms used in Kriya but do not wish to retain uncertainties about
the way they are utilized in this book.
Alchemy [taoist internal -- Nei Dan]
The Taoist Internal Alchemy is the
mystical tradition of ancient China. It reminds us of the techniques of First Kriya
with such precision that we have all the reasons to assume that it consists of the
same process.
Apana Apana is one of the five forms of energy in the body. Associated with
the lower abdominal region, it is responsible for all the bodily functions
(elimination for example) that take place there. Kriya Pranayama, in its initial
phase, is essentially the movement of Prana (the particular form of energy
present in the upper part of the trunk lungs and heart) into Apana and the
movement of Apana into Prana. When we inhale, the energy from outside the
body is brought within and meets Apana in the lower abdomen; during
exhalation, the Apana moves from its seat up and mingles with Prana. The
continuous repetition of this event generates an increase of heat in the navel
region: this calms the breath and kindles the light of the Spiritual Eye.
Asana Physical postures fit for meditation. According to Patanjali, the yogi's
posture must be steady and pleasant. The most part of the kriyabans are
comfortable with the so-called Half-lotus [see]: this, indeed, avoids some
physical problems. For the average kriyaban, Siddhasana [see] is considered
superior to any other Asana. If we take finally into account those kriyabans who
are expert of Hatha-Yoga, who have become very flexible, the perfect position is
undoubtedly Padmasana [see].
Aswini (Ashwini) Mudra "Ashwa" means "horse"; "Aswini Mudra" means
"Mudra of the female horse" because the anal contraction resembles the
movement a horse makes with its sphincter immediately after evacuation of the
bowels. There may be slightly different definitions of it and, sometimes, it is
confused with Mula Bandha [see]. The basic definition is to repeatedly contract
the muscles at the base of the spine (sphincter) with the rhythm of about two
contractions per second. This Mudra is a direct way of getting in touch with the
locked and stagnant energy at the base of the spine and to pump it up.
Bandha [See Jalandhara Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha and Mula Bandha]
Bandhas are like valves, locks concerning the energetic system of the body. They
prevent the Prana from being dissipated and redirect it inside the spine. No
practice of Pranayama is considered complete and correct without the Bandhas.
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In the very beginning of the Kriya path, a yogi has only an approximate
understanding of the Bandhas, later one will come to a complete command and
will be able to use them, with slight adaptations, in most of the Kriya techniques.
The three Bandhas, applied simultaneously, create an almost ecstatic inner
shiver, a feeling of energy current moving up the spine. Sushumna Awakening is
thus favored.
Bindu A spiritual center located in the occipital region where the hairline twists
into a kind of vortex. (This is the Sikha point where the Hindus leave a lock of
hair after having shaved their head.) It is not considered a Chakra in itself.
However it is an important spiritual center because it works as a door leading the
awareness to Sahasrara the seventh Chakra located at the top of the head. Until
the energy, scattered in the body, reaches the Bindu, a sort of shroud prevents the
yogi from contemplating the Spiritual Eye. Bringing all one's force there, in that
tiny place, is not an easy task because the deeper roots of the Ego are to be found
right there; they must be faced and eradicated.
Breathless state It is experienced after years of Kriya practice. It has nothing
to do with holding the breath forcefully. It does not simply mean that the breath
becomes more and more quiet. It is the state where the breath is entirely nonexistent, with the subsequent dissolution of the mind. Many kriyabans are not
able to conceive such a state. There is a halo of mystery that surrounds its
description; people think it is impossible and that any affirmation about its
occurrence is false. Nevertheless, it is possible, even if it is experienced only
after years of Kriya practice. When it manifests, a kriyaban does not feel the
need to take in any breath at all or one takes in a very short breath but doesn't
feel the need to exhale for a very long time. (Longer than the time which medical
science considers possible.) The breath becomes so calm that the practitioner has
the factual perception that one is not breathing at all; one feels a fresh energy in
the body, sustaining its life from inside, without the necessity of oxygen.
According to the Kriya theory, this state is the result of having entered with the
awareness (therefore with Prana) the Sushumna channel inside the spine.
See also the entry: Kumbhaka
Bhrumadhya The space between the eyebrows, linked with Ajna Chakra and
with the vision of the third eye (Kutastha).
Chakra The word Chakra comes from the Sanskrit cakra meaning "wheel" or
"circle". The Chakras are the "wheels" of our spiritual life; they are described in
the tantric texts as emanations from the Spirit, whose essence gradually has
expanded in more and more gross levels of manifestation, reaching eventually
the dimension of the base Chakra, the Muladhara, embodying the physical world.
The descended energy-consciousness lies coiled and sleeping at the base of the
spine and is called Kundalini she who is coiled. We human beings consider
only the physical world as real: it is only when our Kundalini awakens that we
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regain the full memory of the reality of the subtle dimension of the Universe.
No author has ever "proven" the existence of the Chakras as no man has
ever proven the existence of the soul. It is difficult to describe them: we cannot
bring them onto a table in a laboratory. In any Yoga book we find descriptions
which rest on a translation of two Indian texts, the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the
Padaka-Pancaka, by Sir John Woodroffe, alias Arthur Avalon, in a book entitled
The Serpent Power. The matter depicted there seems to be unnaturally
complicated, almost impossible to be utilized.
These concepts had been further polluted by theosophy and similar
esoteric literature. The controversial C. W. Leadbeater book "The Chakras," is in
large part the result of the mental elaboration of his own experiences.
Through the practice of Kriya, we can have an experience of the Chakras.
Located over the anus at the very base of the spinal column, in the lower part of
the coccyx, we encounter the root Chakra - named Muladhara in Sanskrit, a
center which distributes energy to the legs, to the lowest part of the pelvis,
irradiating especially the Gonads (testes in men, ovaries in women). Muladhara
symbolizes the objective consciousness, the awareness of the physical universe.
It is related to instinct, security, to our ability to ground ourselves in the physical
world, to the desire for material goods and also the building of a good selfimage. If this Chakra is in a harmonious state, we are centered and have a strong
will to live.
The second, or sacral Chakra - Swadhisthan - is placed inside the spine
between the last lumbar vertebrae and the beginning of the sacrum. It is said that
its energetic projection is the area of the sexual organs - in part it intersects the
region of Muladhara's influence. Since it is related to base emotion, sexuality
vitality, creativity, and to the deepest part of the subconscious realms, a deep
stimulus of it produces deep involving dreams; its action may be perceived as a
feeling of living a fable, whose nature is sweet and alluring.
The Manipura - navel center or solar plexus - is placed in the spine at the
level of the navel, near the end of the dorsal vertebrae and the beginning of the
lumbar vertabrae. It is said to influence the pancreas and the adrenal glands on
top of the kidneys. This connection gives fuel to the idea that this Chakra has the
same role played by those glands: higher emotion and energy - just like the role
played by adrenalin. It is said that it fosters a sense of personal power, secure
feeling of "I Am.". Grounded and comfortable with our place in the universe, we
are able to affirm with determination the purpose of our life.
The Anahata - heart center, located in the spine at the height of the
middle part of the dorsal vertebrae - is said to influence the thymus, which is part
of the immune system. There is a universal agreement that it is related to higher
emotion, compassion, love and intuitiveness. When a person concentrates on it,
feelings of profound tenderness and compassion will start to develop. A healthy
and fully open heart Chakra means to be able to see the inner beauty in others
in spite of their apparent faults. One is able to love everyone, even the strangers
we meet on the street. There is a progression from the instinctual "gut emotions"
of the lower Chakras to the higher emotions and feelings of the heart Chakra.
What is of great interest for us, is that opening this center means to see life in a
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more neutral manner and see what others cannot see. It ends the predisposition to
being influenced by other people, by churches and by organizations in general.
Vishuddha - throat center, exactly amid the last cervical vertebrae and the
first dorsal vertebrae - is said to influence thyroid and parathyroid. Since it
controls the activity of the vocal cords as well, it is said that it has something to
do with the capacity to express our ideas in the world. It seems to be related with
the capacity for communication and with taking personal responsibility for our
actions. The person with a healthy throat Chakra no longer thinks to blame others
for his or her problems and can carry on with life with full responsibility. Many
authors state it awakens artistic inspiration, the ability to develop superior
aesthetic perception.
Ajna - the third eye Chakra, located in the central part of the brain influences the pituitary gland [hypophysis] and the small brain. The hypophysis
has a vital role in organism, in the sense that together with the hypothalamus it
acts as a command system of all other endocrine glands. In Sanskrit, "Ajna"
translates to "command," which means it has the command or control of our
lives: through controlled action, it brings to reality the fruit of our desires.
Consequently, it is said that Ajna Chakra has a vital role in the spiritual
awakening of a person. It is the seat of the intuition.
The supreme Chakra is the Sahasrara - crown Chakra - right above the
top of the head. It is said that it influences, or is bound with, the pineal gland. It
allows detachment from illusion and is related to one's overall expansion of
awareness and degree of attunement with the Divine Reality. It is a superior
reality and we can experience it only in the state of breathlessness. It is possible
to "tune" into it by utilizing the Bindu as a doorway.
Teachings pertaining to the "Frontal Chakras" are to be found by some
kriyabans coming from Sri Yukteswar's disciple lineage. The perineum is the first
one, the genitals region is the second one, the navel is the third, the central part
of the sternum region is the fourth, the Adam's apple is the fifth and the point
between the eyebrows may be considered as the sixth. The core of the Kriya
teaching regarding them, is that when these points are touched with
concentration, the energy around the correspondent Chakra in the spine is
revived.
Dharana According to Patanjali, Dharana is the concentration on a physical or
abstract object. In Kriya, Dharana consist in directing the focus of our attention
toward the revelation of Spirit: Omkar's inner sound, light, and movement
sensation. This happens just after having calmed the breath.
Dhyana
According to Patanjali, Dhyana ensues from contemplating the
essential nature of the chosen object as a steady, uninterrupted flow of
consciousness. In Kriya, the awareness, dwelling upon the Omkar reality, is soon
lost in Samadhi.

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Flute sound (during Kriya Pranayama)

During the exhalation of Kriya
Pranayama, a slight hiss is produced in the throat; when a kriyaban succeeds in
assuming the position of Kechari Mudra, then the quality of that sound increases.
It has been likened to the "flute of Krishna". Lahiri Mahasaya describes it: "as if
someone blew through a keyhole". This highly enjoyable sound cuts to pieces
any distraction, increases mental calmness and transparency and helps to prolong
effortlessly the practice of Kriya Pranayama. One day the flute sound turns into
the Om sound. In other words, it gives rise to the Om sound, whose vibration
will be so strong as to overwhelm the flute sound. During this event, a strong
movement of energy climbs up the spine.
Granthi [see knot]
Guru The importance of finding a Guru (teacher) who supervises the spiritual
training of the disciple is one of the tenets of many spiritual paths. A Guru is a
teacher, a guide and much more. The scriptures declare that the Guru is God and
God is the Guru. We are accustomed to explaining the term "Guru" on a
metaphorical interplay between darkness and light, in which the Guru is seen as
the dispeller of darkness: "Gu" stands for darkness and "Ru" for one who
removes it. Some scholars dismiss that etymology; according to them "Gu"
stands for "beyond the qualities" and "Ru" for "devoid of form". In order to gain
all the benefits from the contact with the Guru, a disciple has to be humble,
sincere, pure in body and mind and ready to surrender to his Guru's will and
instructions. Usually, during initiation (Diksha) Gurus bestow the esoteric
knowledge upon their disciples, through which they will progress along the path
to Self realization. The internal phenomenon of Shaktipat happens: the dormant
spiritual realization within the disciple is awakened.
Kriya organizations don't insist upon the concept of Shaktipat but accept
all the rest, rather they are founded upon the afore summarized tenets. On the
contrary, Lahiri Mahasaya's ideas seem to go in a significantly different
direction. Once he said: "I am not the Guru, I don't maintain a barrier between
the true Guru (the Divine) and the disciple". He added that he wanted to be
considered a "mirror". In other words, each kriyaban should look at him not as an
unreachable ideal, but as the personification of all the wisdom and spiritual
realization which, in due time, the Kriya practice will be able to produce.
Now the question is: do the Kriya techniques work outside the Gurudisciple relationship? There is of course no scientifically proven answer. In this
matter we can use either faith or reason. Many kriyabans are confident they are
able to transform the no-matter-how-received instruction into "gold". They think:
"Beyond either reasonable or improbable expectations of finding a Kriya expert
at my disposal, let me roll my sleeves up and move on!"
Half-lotus
This asana has been used for meditation since time immemorial
because it provides a comfortable, very easily obtained, sitting position. The left
leg is bent at the knee, brought toward the body and the sole of the left foot is
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made to rest against the inside of the right thigh. The heel of the left foot should
is drawn in as far as possible. The right leg is bent at the knee and the right foot
is placed over the fold of the left leg where the thigh meets to hip. The right knee
is dropped as far as possible toward the floor. The hands rest on the knees. The
secret is to maintain an erect spine: this can be obtained only by sitting on a
cushion, thick enough, with the buttocks toward the front half of the cushion. In
this way the buttocks are slightly raised, while the knees are resting on the floor.
When the legs grow tired, the position is prolonged by reversing the legs. In
certain delicate situations, it may be providential to do it on a chair, provided it
has no arms and is large enough. In this way, one leg at a time can be lowered
and the knee articulation relaxed! Some Yoga teachers explain that the pressure
of a tennis ball (or of a folded towel) on the perineum can give the benefits of the
Siddhasana position.
Hesychasm
The word Hesychasm derives from the Greek word "hesychia"
meaning inner quietness, tranquility and stillness. Outside this condition,
meditation is not possible. It is a discipline integrating the continual repetition of
the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner").
It was already used by the early Church Fathers in the 4th and 5th centuries) with
the practice of asceticism.
There were hermits dwelling in the desert, seeking inner peace and
spiritual insight, while practicing contemplation and self-discipline: they had no
doubts about the fact that knowledge of God could be obtained only by purity of
soul and prayer and not by study or mental amusements in the field of
philosophy. Later, their method of asceticism came to the fore as a concrete set of
psychophysical techniques: this is properly the core of Hesychasm. It was
Simeon, "the new theologian" (1025-1092), who developed the quietist theory
which such detail that he may be called the father of this movement. The
practice, which involved specific body postures and deliberate breathing
patterns, was intended to perceive the Uncreated Light of God. The monks of
Athos might have kept on contemplating peacefully this Uncreated Light (they
considered it to be the highest goal of earthy life) had not their methods been
denounced as superstitious and absurd. The objection was mainly based on a
vigorous denial of the possibility that this Uncreated Light was God's essence. In
approximately the year 1337, Hesychasm attracted the attention of a learned
member of the Orthodox Church, Barlaam of Seminara, a Calabrian monk who
held the office of abbot in a Monastery of Constantinople and who visited Mount
Athos. There he encountered the hesychasts and heard the descriptions of their
practices. Barlaam, trained in Western Scholastic theology, was scandalized and
began to combat it both orally and in his writings. He called the hesychasts
"omphalopsychoi" - people having their souls in their navels (owing to the long
time they spent concentrating on the navel region). Barlaam propounded a more
intellectual approach to the knowledge of God than the one taught by the
hesychasts: he asserted that the spiritual knowledge could be only a work of
inquiry, brought ahead by one's mind and translated in discrimination between
truth and untruth. He held that no part of God, whatsoever, could be viewed by
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humans. The practice of the hesychasts was defended by St. Gregory Palamas.
He was well educated in Greek philosophy and defended Hesychasm in the 1340
at three different synods in Constantinople, and he also wrote a number of works
in its defense. He used a distinction, already articulated in the 4th Century in the
works of the Cappadocian Fathers, between the energies or operations of God
and the essence of God: while the essence of God can never be known by his
creatures, His energies or operations can be known both in this life and in the
next; they convey to the Hesychast the truest spiritual knowledge of God.
In Palamite theology, it is the uncreated energy of God which illuminates
the Hesychast who has been vouchsafed an experience of the Uncreated Light. In
1341 the dispute was settled: Barlaam was condemned and returned to Calabria,
afterwards becoming bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. Later, Hesychast
doctrine was established as the doctrine of the Orthodox Church. Up to this day,
the Roman Catholic Church has never fully accepted Hesychasm: the essence of
God can be known, but only in the next life; there can be no distinction between
the energies and the essence of God.
Today Mount Athos is the well-known center of the practice of
Hesychasm.
Ida [see Nadi]
Jalandhara Bandha In Jalandhara Bandha the neck and the throat are slightly
contracted, while the chin is pressed against the breast.
Japa [See prayer]
Kechari Mudra This Mudra is carried in one of the two following ways:
1. By placing the tongue in contact with the uvula at the back of the soft palate.
2. By slipping the tongue into the nasal pharynx touching, if possible, the nasal
septum.
According to Lahiri Mahasaya a kriyaban should achieve it not by cutting
the tongue Frenulum but by means of Talabya Kriya [see]. Kechari is literally
translated as "the state of those who fly in the sky", in the "inner space". Kechari
is compared to an electrical bypass of the mind's energetic system. It changes the
path of Prana flow causing the life force to be withdrawn from the thinking
process. Instead of allowing the thoughts to jump like frogs here and there, it
causes the mind to be quiet and allows focusing it on the goal of meditation. We
do not realize the quantity of energy we squander away when we get lost in our
thoughts, in our plans. Kechari turns this pernicious way of exhausting all of our
vitality into its opposite. The mind begins to lose its despotic role: the "inner
activity" happens no more by the thinking process but by the effortless
development of the intuition. Coupled with Kriya it is a substantial aid in clarify
one's complicated psychological structures. A more elusive claim is the
experience of the elixir of life, "Amrita," the "Nectar." This is a fluid with sweet
taste perceived by the kriyaban when the tip of his tongue touches either the
uvula or the bone protrusion in the roof of the palate under the hypophysis. The
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Yoga tradition explains that there is a Nadi going through the center of the
tongue; energy radiates through its tip and when it touches that bone protrusion,
this radiation reaches and stimulates the Ajna Chakra in the center of the brain.
Kevala Kumbhaka [see Breathless state]
Knot
The traditional definition of the Granthis identifies three knots: the
Brahma Granthi at the Muladhara Chakra; the Vishnu Granthi at the heart Chakra
and the Shiva or Rudra Granti at the point between the eyebrows. Those are the
places where Ida, Pingala and Sushumna Nadi meet.
Brahma Granthi is related to our physical body: it preserves the
ignorance of our infinite nature and is the first obstacle in the spiritual search,
since it obstructs the Kundalini's path as she begins to move toward the higher
centers. The world of names and forms creates restlessness and prevents the
mind from becoming one pointed. Ambitions and desires trap the mind. Until one
unties this knot, one cannot meditate effectively.
Vishnu Granthi is related to the astral body and to the world of emotions.
Lord Vishnu is the lord of preservation. This knot creates the desire to preserve
ancient knowledge, traditions, institutions... It produces "compassion", a keen
desire to help suffering humanity. Discriminating knowledge combined with
Yoga effort can unfasten the Knot of Vishnu and obtain deliverance from the
traditional bonds, deeply rooted in our genetic code.
Rudra Granthi is related to the causal body and to the world of ideas,
visions, and intuitions. After piercing the Rudra knot, the time bound
consciousness dissolves the yogi establishes himself in the supreme Atman
whose seat is Sahasrara Chakra. Perfect emancipation is achieved.
Lahiri Mahasaya underlines the importance of overcoming two other
obstacles: tongue and navel which are unfastened by Kechari Mudra and by Navi
Kriya, respectively. The knot of the tongue, cuts us off from the reservoir of
energy in the Sahasrara region. The knot of the navel originates from the trauma
of cutting the umbilical cord.
Kriya Yoga If we want to understand the essence of Kriya Yoga it is necessary
to put aside some definitions found on the web. "Kriya Yoga is the science of
controlling life energy [Prana]." "Kriya Yoga is a technique that activates the
astral cerebrospinal centers." "Kriya Yoga hastens the practitioner's spiritual
development and helps to bring about a profound state of tranquility and Godcommunion." "Kriya Yoga brings about the stilling of sensory input."
I don't want to contest them, but I think that Kriya is broader than what is
implied. There are definitions which say nothing: they make a misleading
synthesis of its methods and list its effects in the same way one would describe
Hatha Yoga or Raja Yoga practice. Patanjali refers once to Kriya Yoga: "Kriya
consists of body discipline, mental control, and meditating on Iswara." [Yoga
sutras II:1] This is definitely correct, but by following the further evolution of his
thought, we are led astray. Although he states that by constantly remembering the
inner sound of Om we can achieve the removal of all the obstacles that block our
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spiritual evolution, he does not develop this method. He is far from describing
the same spiritual discipline taught by Lahiri Mahasaya.
Kriya Yoga is a "mystic path" utilizing the best tools used by the mystics of all
religions. It consists of control of breath [Pranayama], prayer [Japa] and pure
effort of attuning with the Omkar Reality. The soothing process of calming the
breath, followed by the Thokar procedure, guides the bodily energy into the heart
Chakra, holding thus, as in a grip of calmness, the unceasing reflex originating
the breath. When a perfect stillness is established, when all the inner and outer
movements cease, the kriyaban perceives a radiation of fresh energy sustaining
each cell from inside; then the breathless state settles in. When the physical
breath is totally transcended and a circulation of energy happens in the body
the breath is said to have become "Internal" a feeling of infinite safety, solidity
and reliance originates. It is like having crossed a barrier and moved into a
measureless space: Kriya yoga is a miracle of beauty.
Kumbhaka Kumbhaka means holding the breath. It is such an important phase
in Pranayama that some Yoga teachers doubt whether a modified way of
breathing which does not include any Kumbhaka can be called Pranayama at all.
It is observed that when we are about to do something which requires our total
attention, our breath is automatically held. We are not deliberately doing
Pranayama, but our breath is suspended of its own accord; this demonstrates how
natural this fact is. In Pranayama the inhalation is called Puraka, which literally
means "the act of filling"; the exhalation is called Rechaka, meaning "the act of
emptying". Retention of breath is called Kumbhaka, meaning "holding". Kumbha
is a pot: just as a water pot holds water when it is filled with it, so in Kumbhaka
the breath and the Prana is held in the body. In the classic Yoga literature there
are described four types of Kumbhaka.
I. We breathe out deeply and hold the breath for a few seconds. This is known as
"Bahir Kumbhaka" (External Kumbhaka).
II. The second, " Antar Kumbhaka" (Internal Kumbhaka), is holding the breath
after a deep inhalation. Usually this kind of Kumbhaka is accompanied by the
use of the Bandhas.
III. The third type is that practiced by alternate breathing breathing in deeply
through the left nostril, then holding the breath and then exhaling through the
right It is considered the easiest form of Kumbhaka.
IV. The fourth type is the most important of all, the peak of Pranayama. It is
called Kevala Kumbhaka or automatic suspension of breath: it is the breathless
state where there is no inhalation or exhalation, and not even the slightest desire
to breathe.
In the Kriya praxis, the underlying principle of I. is present in all those
procedures involving a series of very long and calm exhalations which seem to
end in a sweet nothing.
Internal Kumbhaka II. happens in different Kriya techniques; particularly
in Yoni Mudra, Maha Mudra and Thokar.
Maha Mudra, with its balancing action on the right and on the left side of
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the spine, contains also in a broader sense - the principles of III.: alternating
breathing.
A turning point in Kriya is the achievement of IV. Kevala Kumbhaka.
In Kriya we distinguish between "Bahir" (external) and "Antar" (internal) Kevala
Kumbhaka. "Bahir (external) Kevala Kumbhaka" (the development and climax
of I.) appears during mental Pranayama after having relaxed and thus emptied
the rib cage.
"Antar (internal) Kevala Kumbhaka" (the development and climax of II.) appears
during the highest refining of Yoni Mudra, Maha Mudra and the Advanced form
of Thokar after having completed a long inhalation, with the rib cage moderately
full of air-Prana.
Kundalini
The concept of Kundalini and, particularly, of its awakening,
provides a framework which is convenient for expressing what is happening
along the spiritual path. Most of the spiritual traditions have some awareness of
Kundalini; not all are equally open in exposing the practical details of the
process. Kundalini is Sanskrit for "coiled": it is conceived as a particular energy
coiled like a serpent in the root Chakra (Muladhara). The representation of being
coiled like a spring conveys the idea of untapped potential energy. It sleeps in our
body and underneath the layers of our consciousness, waiting to be aroused
either by spiritual discipline or by other means - like particular experiences of
life. It is depicted as rising from the Muladhara up through the Sushumna,
activating each Chakra; when it arrives at the crown Chakra (Sahasrara), it
bestows infinite bliss, mystical illumination etc. It is only through repeatedly
raising of the Kundalini, that the yogi succeeds in obtaining Self realization. Its
rising is not a mild sense of energy flowing inside the spine. Its movement is like
having a ''volcano erupting'' inside, a ''rocket missile'' shot through the spine! Its
nature is beneficial; there is an evident resistance in trusting the reports of
Kundalini awakening accompanied by troubles such as patently disturbed
breathing patterns, distortion of thought processes, unusual or extreme
strengthening of emotions We are rather inclined to think that a dormant
malady, brought to open manifestation by thoughtless practice of violent
exercises or drugs is the cause of those phenomena. Insomnia, hypersensitivity to
environment may indeed follow the authentic experience. In a ''true awakening,''
the force of Kundalini eclipses the ego altogether and the individual feels
disoriented for some time. All is absorbed in a short time, without problems.
Alas, the search for a repetition of the episode may lead to disorderly and
careless practice of strange techniques, without ever establishing a minimal
foundation of mental silence. Each book warns against the risk of a premature
awakening of Kundalini and asserts that the body must be prepared for the event.
Almost any yogi thinks he or she is capable of sustaining this premature
awakening and the warning excites them more than ever: the problem is that
many do not have (or have lost) a genuine spiritual approach and nourish a fairly
egotistical condition.
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In the theoretical framework of Kriya Yoga we consider Kundalini to be the same

energy that exists throughout the body and not specifically residing in the
Muladhara Chakra. We seldom use the term "Kundalini awakening" and try to
avoid what could give the impression that such an experience has an alien nature:
Kundalini is our own energy; it is the purest layer of our consciousness.
Kutastha
Kutastha, the "third eye" or "spiritual eye" is the organ of inner
vision (the unified astral counterpart of the two physical eyes), the place in our
body where the spiritual Light manifests. By concentrating between the
eyebrows, a formless darkness is first perceived, then a small crepuscular light,
then other lights; eventually there is the experience of a golden ring surrounding
a dark stain with a blazing tiny white point inside.
There is a connection between Kutastha and Muladhara: what we are
observing in the space between the eyebrows is nothing but the opening of the
spinal door, which is located at the root Chakra. Some Kriya teachers affirm that
the condition for entering the last and the highest Kriya stage is that the vision of
the spiritual eye has become constant; others identify it with the condition in
which the energy is perfectly calm at the base of the spine. Therefore both
affirmations are one and the same.
Maha Mudra Maha Mudra is a particular stretching position of the body. The
importance of this technique becomes clear as soon as we observe how it
incorporates the three main Bandhas of Hatha Yoga. There are indeed a thousand
and one reasons to practice Maha Mudra with firmness. There is a ratio between
the number of its repetitions and the number of the breaths: it is recommended
that for each 12 Kriya Pranayama, one should perform one Maha Mudra.
Mahasamadhi [see Second Kriya]
Mantra [See prayer]
Mental Pranayama In mental Pranayama a kriyaban controls the energy in his
body by forgetting the breathing process and focusing only upon Prana in the
Chakras and in the body. His awareness dwells on both the inner and the external
component of each Chakra until he feels a radiation of fresh energy vitalizing
each part of the body and sustaining it from inside. This action is marked by the
end of all the physical movements, by a perfect physical and mental stillness. At
times, the breath becomes so calm that the practitioner has the absolute
perception they are not breathing at all.
Mula Bandha In Mula Bandha the perinea muscles between the anus and the
genital organs are slightly contracted while a mental pressure is exerted on the
lower part of the spine. (Differently from Aswini Mudra, one does not simply
tighten the sphincter muscles; in Mula Bandha the perineum seems to fold
upward as the pelvic diaphragm is drawn upward through the motion of the
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pubic bone.) By contracting this muscle group, the current of Apana which
normally gravitates downward is pulled upwards, gradually uniting with Prana at
the navel. Mula Bandha has thus the effect of causing Prana to flow into
Sushumna channel, rather than along Ida and Pingala.
Nada Yoga Nada Yoga is the path of union with the Divine through listening to
inner sounds. Surat-Shabda-Yoga is another name for Nada Yoga. Nada Yoga is
an experiential meditation. It has its basis in the fact that one who follows the
mystical path infallibly meets this manifestation of Spirit whatever may be
their preparation and their convictions. It is a highly enjoyable form of
meditation; anyone can be involved in this even without having fully understood
it.
You may use a particular position of the body a squatting position with
the elbows resting on the knees, just to give an example o plug both the ears.
Remaining quietly seated, you simply focus all your attention on subtle sounds
that come from within, rather than the audible sounds from outside. It is
recommended to repeat mentally, unremittingly, your favorite Mantra. Awareness
of inner sound must happen, sooner or later; your listening skills will improve
and you will become more sensitive. There are different levels of development in
the experience of inner sounds: you will hear a bumblebee, the drum, the lute,
the flute, the harp, the clapping of thunder or a hum like an electrical transformer.
Some of these sounds are actually just the sounds of your body, especially the
blood pumping. Other sounds are actually the "sounds behind the audible sound".
It is into this deeper realm that, while over time gently easing the mind into
relaxed concentration, your awareness is drawn. After some weeks of dedicated
practice you will tune in with a sound deeper than all the above-quoted astral
sounds. This is the cosmic sound of Om. The sound is perceived in different
variations; Lahiri Mahasaya describes it as "produced by a lot of people who
keep on striking the disk of a bell". It is continuous "as the oil that flows out of a
container".
Nadi
Subtle channels through which life energy flows throughout the body.
The most important are Ida, which flows vertically along the left side of the
spinal column (it is said to be of female nature), and Pingala (of masculine
nature) which flows parallel to Ida on the right side; Sushumna flows in the
middle and represents the experience that is beyond duality.
Nadi Sodhana Alternate nostril breathing exercise, it is not a part of Kriya
Yoga proper. Yet, because its effects of appeasing and cheering up the mind
(especially if it is practiced in the morning) are unmatched, some kriyabans make
it a regular part of their routine.
Navi Kriya
The essence of this technique is to dissolve inhalation and
exhalation at the state of equilibrium in the navel, the seat of the Samana current.
It is coupled in various ways with the practice of Kriya Pranayama. Some
schools which do not specifically teach it provide some substitutes for it.
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New Age The New Age sensibility is marked by the perception of something
"planetary" at work. Since distinguished men of science have contributed to the
New Age sensibility, there is no need to dwell on the affirmation, irrelevant for
our understanding, according to which such a progress coincided with the entry
of the solar system in the sign of Aquarius from this belief it derived the term
"Age of Aquarius" or "New Age". The essential thing is that people realized that
the discoveries of Physics, of Alternative Medicine, the developments of the
Depth Psychology, all converged toward one and the same understanding: the
substantial interdependence among the universe, body, psyche and spiritual
dimension of human beings. The esoteric-initiation societies, overcoming for a
long time the differences of culture and religious vision, had already recognized
this truth, which now, has become common heritage. During the twentieth
century, human thought has made a strong step forward in a healthy direction.
There are many grounds to believe that, in the future, such an epoch will
be studied with the same respect with which nowadays Humanism, Renaissance
and Enlightenment ages are studied. The New Age thought deserves a deep
respect for many reasons. If I hint at some "frenzies" I refer to the excessive use
of alternative remedies for any type of real or imaginary troubles and to even
more dangerous theories borrowed with a lot of superficiality from various
esoteric currents, rather than to a depth progress in the understanding, in the
expansion of the awareness out of the narrow fences of the small ego tied up
obsessively to the maintenance of its petty conveniences.
Nirbikalpa Samadhi [see Paravastha]
Omkar Omkar is Om, the Divine Reality sustaining the universe, whose nature
is vibration with specific aspects of sound, light and inner movement. The term
"Omkar" or "Omkar Kriya" is also utilized to indicate any procedure fostering
the Omkar experience.
Padmasana In this asana the right foot is placed on the left thigh and the left
foot on the right thigh with the soles of the feet turned up. The name means the
"posture in which the lotuses (the Chakras) are seen." It is explained that,
combined with Kechari and Shambhavi Mudra, this Asana creates an energetic
condition in the body, suitable to producing the experience of the internal light
coming from each Chakra.
There are yogis who had to have cartilage removed from their knees after
years of forcing themselves into Padmasana. In Kriya Yoga, at least for those
living in the west and not used to assuming it since infancy, it is much wiser,
healthier and comfortable to practice either the Half lotus or the Siddhasana
posture.
Paravastha This concept is linked with that of "Sthir Tattwa (Tranquility)".
Named by Lahiri Mahasaya, Paravastha designates the state that comes by
holding onto the after-effect of Kriya. It is not just joy and peace but something
deeper, vital for us as a healing. From our initial efforts directed at mastering the
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techniques, we perceive moments of deep peace and harmony with the rest of the
world, which extend during the day. Paravastha comes after years of discipline,
when the breathless state is familiar: the tranquility state lasts forever, it is no
longer to be sought with care. Flashes of the ending state of freedom comfort the
mind while coping with life's battles.
Pingala [see Nadi]
Prana The energy inside our psychophysical system. Prana is divided into
Prana, Apana, Samana, Udana and Vijana, which have their location respectively
in the chest, in the low abdomen, in the region of the belt, in the head and in the
remaining part of the body - arms and legs. That the term Prana is interpreted in
two ways should not create confusion provided that one considers the context
in which the word is used. In the initial phases of Kriya Pranayama we are
mainly interested in Prana, Apana and Samana. When we use Shambhavi Mudra
and during mental Pranayama we contact Udana. Through many techniques (like
Maha Mudra) and by the experience of Kriya Pranayama with Internal Breath we
experience the fresh vitalizing nature of Vijana.
Pranayama The word Pranayama is comprised of two roots: Prana is the first;
Ayama (expansion) or Yama (control) is the second. Thus, the word Pranayama
can be understood either as the "Expansion of Prana" or as the "Control of
Prana". I would prefer the first but I think that the correct one is the second. In
other words, Pranayama is the control of the energy in the whole psycho-physical
system by using the breathing process with the purpose to receive a beneficial
effect or to prepare the experience of meditation. The common Pranayama
exercises although they may not involve the perception of any energetic current
can create a remarkable experience of energy rising in the spine. This is not
negligible since this experience causes to the skeptical practitioner the discovery
of the spiritual dimension and pushes him or her to seek something deeper.
In Kriya Pranayama the breathing process is coordinated with the
attention of the mind up and down along the spinal column. While the breathing
is deep and slow, with the tongue either flat or turned back, the awareness
accompanies the movement of the energy around the six Chakras. By deepening
the process, the current flows in the deepest channel in the spine: Sushumna.
When by a long practice a subtle form of energy circulates (in a clearly
perceivable way) inside the body while the physical breath is totally settled
down, the kriyaban has an experience of unthinkable beauty.
Prayer [Japa] Prayer is an invocation that allows a person to make a reverent
plead or to offer praise to the Divine. The sequence of words used in a prayer
may either be a set formula or a spontaneous expression in the praying person's
own words. Whatever be the appeal to God, this act presupposes a belief in the
Divine Will to interfere in our life. "Ask, and ye shall receive" (Matt. 7:7, 8;
21:22). Prayer is a subject of wide range and scope; here I will restrict it to the
repetitive prayer. In India, the repetition of the Name of the Divine is known as
260

Japa. This word Japa is derived from the root Jap - meaning: "to utter in a low
voice, repeat internally". Japa is also the repetition of any Mantra, which is a
broader term than prayer. Mantra can be a name of the Divine but also a pure
sound without a meaning. A certain number of sounds were chosen by ancient
yogis who sensed their power and used them extensively. (Some believe that the
repetition of a Mantra has the mysterious power of bringing about the
manifestation of the Divinity "just as the splitting of an atom manifests the
tremendous forces latent in it"). The term Mantra derives from the words
"Manas" (mind) and "Tra" (protection): we protect our mind by repeating
unrelentingly the same healthy vibration.
Usually a Mantra is repeated verbally for some time, then in a whisper and
then mentally for some time. In most forms of Japa, the repetitions are counted
using a string of beads known as a (Japa) Mala. The number of beads is generally
108 or 100. The Mala is used so that the devotee is free to enjoy the practice
without being preoccupied with counting the repetitions. It may be performed
whilst sitting in a meditation posture or while performing other activities, such as
walking.
Sahasrara The seventh Chakra extends from the crown of the head up to the
Fontanelle and over it. It cannot be considered of the same nature as the other
Chakras, but a superior reality, which can be experienced only in the breathless
state. It is not easy therefore to concentrate upon it as we do with the other
Chakras. Only after a deep practice of Kriya Pranayama, when the breath is very
calm, is the attunement with it possible.
Samadhi According to Patanjali's Ashtanga (eight steps) Yoga, Samadhi is the
state of deep contemplation in which the object of meditation becomes
inseparable from the meditator himself: it results naturally from Dharana and
Dhyana. In my opinion, Samadhi does not mean "union with God." We take so
many things for granted. Our language is strongly hampered: magniloquent
words risk meaning nothing. To become one and the same thing with God is
different from to awaken to the realization that we are a part of That One! Words
deceive our comprehension and kindle egoist expectations. One is thrilled by
words such as: absolute, eternal, infinite, supreme, everlasting, celestial,
divine.
I have half a mind to suggest a sober definition of Samadhi, which may
stimulate a reflection upon the meaning of the spiritual path. Let me therefore
define Samadhi as independent from any accident, beatific, near death
experience (NDE). The descriptions of Samadhi and of NDE follow the same
pattern: actually the nature of the phenomenon which takes place in the body is
almost the same. This opinion may disappoint those who smell a restrictive and
limiting shade of meaning in it; however I prefer to think in this way and .
discover much more during the actual Samadhi experience than to thrive in
rhetoric. Even if Samadhi were no more than a NDE experience, however it
would have a superlative value. In both the experiences, the awareness can
provide a glimpse of the Eternity beyond mind; then (this happens to the trained
261

yogi) that lofty awareness blends, integrates with the customary life, which is
totally transformed for the better. To those who wonder if it is fair to diminish the
worth of the Kriya ecstatic state by reducing it to a process of contacting for
some time the after life dimension, we could reply that this genuine experience is
unmatched in fostering in a clean way the Kriya Yoga ideals of a balanced
spiritual life.
Shambhavi Mudra A Mudra in which the ocular bulbs and the eyebrows are
upturned as much as possible; often the inferior eyelids relax and a bystander can
observe the white of the cornea under the iris. All the visual force of the ocular
nerves is gathered on the top of the head. Lahiri Mahasaya in his well known
portrait is showing this Mudra.
Second Kriya It has been reported that by using the Second Kriya technique,
Swami Pranabananda, an eminent disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, left his body
consciously (this feat is called Mahasamadhi the conscious exit out of the body,
at death). There was no violence to the body; the feat happened only at the most
proper moment - according to a Karmic point of view when the moment was
right. Now the debate is: what procedure did he make use of?
a Many claim it was the technique of Thokar. It is possible that he arrested the
movement of the heart and therefore left his body. He might have done one
single Thokar and stopped his heart; this means he put so much mental strength
in this act as to block the energy which kept his heart throbbing.
b Some believe that this supreme calming of the heart was achieved only by a
mental action of immersion in the point between the eyebrows, entering the light
of Kutastha. The reports say that those who were around him did not notice any
head movement. Similarly when other great ones left their body there was no
movement.
c In my opinion, Mahasamadhi is not a "shrewd esoteric trick" to master the
mechanics of a painless suicide. Surely each great master relies upon his already
built ability to enter Samadhi. By creating a total peace in his being, the soul's
natural desire to regain union with the Infinite Source puts in action a natural
mechanism of appeasing the cardiac plexus.
Siddhasana The Sanskrit name means "Perfect Pose". In this Asana, the sole
of the left foot is placed against the right thigh so that the heel presses on the
perineum. The right heel is placed against the pubic bone. This position of the
legs, combined with Kechari Mudra, closes the pranic circuit and makes Kriya
Pranayama easy and profitable.
Sushumna [see Nadi]
Talabya Kriya
It is a stretching exercise of the muscles of the tongue, and
particularly of the Frenulum. The purpose is to attain Kechari Mudra [see]. This
practice creates a distinct calming effect on the thoughts and, for this reason, it is
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never put aside, even after Kechari Mudra is achieved.

Thokar A Kriya technique based on directing the Prana toward the location of
one Chakra by a particular movement of the head. Studying the practices of the
Sufis, we discover that Lahiri Mahasaya's Thokar is one among the many
variations of the Sufi's Dhikr.
Tribhangamurari
Some Kriya Acharya teaches the practice of Thokar in a
very particular way. The central teaching is guiding your awareness along a
three-curved path called Tribhangamurari (Tri-bhanga-murari = three-bendform). These teachers explain that in the last part of His life, Lahiri Mahasaya
drew with extreme precision the three-bends form which is perceived by
deepening the after-Kriya-Pranayama meditation. This path starts from Bindu,

goes up to the left of a very short length, then descends toward the right
side of the body. Once a particular point in the back is reached, it curves
and moves leftwards cutting the Vishnu knot whose seat is in the heart Chakra .
After reaching a point in the left part of the bacl, it changes its direction
again pointing toward the seat of the Brahma knot in the coccyx region.
Uddiyana Bandha Abdominal lock: it is usually practiced with breath out but
in Kriya it is also utilized with breath in especially during the practice of the
main Kriya Mudras: Maha Mudra, Navi Kriya and Yoni Mudra.
To practice it with breath out, utilize, at least partly, Jalandhara Bandha.
Take a false inhalation (perform the same action of an inhalation without actually
pulling any air into the body.) Draw the belly up as much as possible. Hold your
breath out. To practice it with breath in, contract slightly the abdominal muscles
until you intensify the perception of the energy in the spinal column in the region
of Manipura Chakra.
Yama Niyama Yama is Self-control: non-violence, avoiding lies, avoiding
stealing, avoiding being lustful, and non-attachment. Niyama is religious
observances: cleanliness, contentment, discipline, study of the Self and surrender
to the Supreme God (Brahman). While in most Kriya schools these rules are put
as premises to be respected in order to receive initiation, a discriminating
researcher understands that they are to be considered really as the consequences
of a correct Yoga practice. A beginner cannot to much depth understand what
"Study of the Self" means. Some teacher repeats, parrot fashion, the necessity of
observing those rules and, after having given absurd clarifications of some of the
above points (in particular which mental trick to utilize in order to avoid
being lustful), passes on to explain the techniques. Why utter empty words?
Whom is he trying to fool? The mystic path, when followed honestly, cannot
compromise itself with any rhetoric. When an affirmation is made, it is that.
Yama and Niyama are a good topic to study, an ideal to bear in mind, but not a
vow. Only through practice is it possible to understand their real meaning and,
consequently, see them flourish in one's life.

263

Yoga Sutra (by Patanjali) The Yoga Sutras are an extremely influential text
on Yoga philosophy and practice: over fifty different English translations are the
testimony of its importance. Although we are not sure of the exact time when
their author Patanjali lived, we can set it between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. The
Yoga Sutras are made up by a collection of 195 aphorisms dealing with the
philosophical aspects of mind and awareness, thus establishing a sound
theoretical basis of Raja Yoga - the Yoga of self discipline and meditation. Yoga
is described as an eight stage (Ashtanga) path which are Yama, Niyama, Asana,
Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. The first five steps
build the psycho-physical foundation for having a true spiritual experience; the
last three are concerned with disciplining the mind up to its dissolution in the
ecstatic experience. The Sutras define also some esoteric concepts, common to
all the traditions of the Indian thought, such as Karma. Although, at times,
Patanjali is called "the father of Yoga", his work is actually a compendium of
pre-existing oral Yoga traditions, an inhomogeneous whole of practices betraying
an indistinct and contradictory theoretical background. However, the importance
of Patanjali's work is beyond discussion: he clarified what others had taught;
what was abstract he made practical! He was a genial thinker, not just a compiler
of rules. His equilibrium between theism and atheism is very appreciable. We do
not find the least suggestion of worshiping idols, deities, gurus, or sacred books at the same time we do not find any atheistic doctrine either. We know that
"Yoga," besides being a rigorous system of meditation practice, implies devotion
to the Eternal Intelligence or Self. Patanjali affirms the importance of directing
our heart's aspiration toward Om.
Yoni Mudra The potential of this technique includes, in all effects, the final
realization of the Kriya path. Kutastha - between the eyebrows - is the place
where the individual soul had its origin: the delusive Ego needs to be dissolved
there. The core component of this Mudra is to bring all the energy into the point
between the eyebrows and hinder its scattering by closing the head openings
the breath is quieted in the region from throat to the point between the eyebrows.
If a deep relaxation state is established in the body, this practice succeeds in
generating a very intense ecstatic state, which spreads throughout one's being.
About its practical implementation, there are minor differences among the
schools: some give a greater importance to the vision of the Light and less to the
dissolution of breath and mind. Among the first, there are those who teach, while
keeping more or less the same position of the fingers, to focus upon each Chakra
and to perceive their different colors. One satisfactory remark, found in the
traditional Yoga literature, is that this technique gets its name "Yoni", meaning
"uterus", because like the baby in the uterus, the practitioner has no contact with
the external world, and therefore, no externalization of consciousness.

264

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