WELCOME TO KRIYA JOGA

 

ANCIENT PATH OF KRIYA YOGA TAUGHT BY BABA ATMANANDA PARAMAHANSA.

A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO KRIYA YOGA

By Atmananda Paramahansa

Kriya Yoga is a scientific technique, non-sectarian and free from dogmatic views. If you practice it 10 to 15 minutes a day, it gives simultaneous benefits to body, mind, intellect and Soul. Kriya Yoga is meant for all of us. My discussion will be based on the following aspects. What we are? What we are composed of ? I must analyse the constituents of human body. Until and unless you know that, you cannot understand how Kriya Yoga is going to benefit us. The other portion will highlight the scientific aspects of Kriya Yoga. How is it based on human anatomy? How is it a method of neuro-hormonal and neuro-psychological system, utilising the biological as well as psychological force? How along with the breathing technique, does it improve our well-being? How, does it improve our 3 bodies? Please do not be surprised when I say we have 3 bodies, when we can see only one.

In Yogic literature, it is mentioned that we have got a gross body, when we see, solid made of blood, flesh, fat, bone and skin etc. Then we have also got a subtle body. The gross body is visible but the subtle is invisible. The next is the causal body.

You may ask, whose body is this? Now comes the question of Soul. Actually these 3 bodies belong to the soul. The Soul is the master.

For better understanding, I will mention one verse from the Upanishad. The Rishi (author) has given a beautiful example.

Atmanam Rathinam Viddhi

Sari ram Ratha mevatu

Buddhim to Sarathim Viddhi

Manah pragraha mevacha

Indriyanam hayarnyahur

Visa yan stesu gocha ran

Atmendriya mano yuktam

Bhoktatyahur manisinam.

The meaning is very significant. This one stanza explains the human body and the system.

Atmanam Rathinam Vidhi - the horse carriage, we call as chariot, war chariot. The invisible Soul is the master, the rider there. Sariram Rathamevatu - The chariot of the carriage is the body. Buddhim to Sarathi Viddhi - Who is the Charioteer? It is the intellect.

Five sense organs are the horses and mind is the rein. All the objects of senses, various enjoyments are the different path through which the horses work. If you have good control over the horses by the rein, that means you have got good control over the senses, then you can drive fast in the shortest possible path and can reach your destination quickly, without any accident. If your horses are beyond control then there will be accident, injury, delay and suffering. I give this example to understand gross body. What is subtle body? Mind, intellect and ego. When I say mind, it is ego principle. Soul is beyond it. Mind, intellect and ego constitute the subtle body. What is the causal body? That which has caused us to be born, pleasant and unpleasant, sorrows, miseries, premature old age and dangers etc. These are our own earning, as per the law of action of Karma, whatever we think and do, gets deposited as subconscious in the brain (Pons and mid brain), and that works out.

You know from your knowledge of physics that, energy is never destroyed. It gets transformed. So, what we are undergoing, is our own action in our part in this very life itself. The behavioural scientists, the psychologists and the para-psychologists say that we get experience right from the mother’s womb. Previously, they were not believing this fact.

Now, scientists have evidence to believe that the infants start getting experience right from the mother’s womb and after it is born, it continues to learn. The heredity and the environment are always with him. Now, it is up to him to cultivate, to culture and to channel his life What do you want to be in the world, to be a doctor, engineer, politician, architect, businessman... ? It is up to you. So, this shows that our destiny is in our hands. You can control it, if you know the process. This Kriya Yoga is the easiest and the quickest technique by which we can control our own life and can control our surrounding and environment. This, briefly is some facts about the three bodies.

The owner of the bodies is sitting there unknown and un-manifest. He has got infinite power, friends, inside all of you, this infinite power is there. If you take a moment and think silently everything you observe around is nothing but the activities of your brain. You are sitting here, the gravity is pulling you When you are writing, your hands are so nicely controlled. Beautiful letters are written. If one part of the brain is damaged, i.e. cerebellar degeneration , then one cannot walk in a straight line, he will fall down. This shows that every thing is happening in the brain. So in Kriya Yoga, we say there are 3 vital things, the Soul, the Brain and the Spinal Cord.

You are talking, it is your brain. You are listening, it is your brain. You are hearing lecture, it is your brain. You are remembering your friends and relatives, it is your brain. You want to see Swamiji and to practise Kriya Yoga to improve your life it is your brain When you respond to your friends, when you love your wife, your husband, your children, when entertain your friends, when you talk to your boss or your subordinate it is your brain. New York City was not here before. It took an idea in some body’s brain. Now you see New York, the greatest metropolis of the world. Every thing is the brain. The Yogis realise it. The brain controls the entire system through the spinal cord. Spinal cord is the continuation of the Medula-Oblongata. Medula ­Oblongota is the vital centre of the brain. If it stops or is damaged, then the person is dead. The network of nerves goes around the body. Even a mosquito is sitting there, you feel it. What you really feel is not on the spot, but in the brain through the thalamus, in the sensory cortex, in the motor cortex. Now we have sat in this way. Constantly millions of nerve impulses are going on, action reaction, interaction connection disconnection known as ascending reticular activity system. Even during sleep, it is functioning. The entire thing is the brain and the spinal cord, It is why the brain is known as the kingdom of God. So, it, is our foremost duty to cultivate our brain and the spinal cord, for spiritual upliftment and material well-being.

Some conservative people say that materialism is not required. Only Kriya-Yoga, the scientific yogic system asserts that you need materialism also. You need food. Without food how can you energize your system? How can you do Sadhana -  the spiritual practice? Sari ram Adyam. First is the human body. Take care of the body. That is the instrument by which you can achieve every thing. The body and the mind are closely connected. A sound body implies a sound mind. Without it, you cannot achieve anything.

God by definition is all pervading. So he also pervades in the matter. So material aspect also harbours spirituality. The real meaning of Kriya is Kri and Ya. There is no non-God. There is no negative. It is all God. He is in you, in me, in every one. It is also pervading the empty space all around, above and below. Such simple truth we are forgetting most of the time. If you remember that the all pervading Divine is activating in us and is protecting us in every way, is there any real danger? We are in danger because we forget Him. Whatever you are doing, you carry on your duty to yourself, to your profession, to the family, to each family member, to your friends, relatives, and your duty to community, to the country and to the humanity.

There is a beautiful saying in the Gita “Suchir Daksha”. Who is Yogi? He who is pure in body and mind, who is expert in profession, who is skillful, is a Yogi. This is also said in Kriya Yoga. Kriya means you do your duty efficiently. Whatever you are doing, do it well but remember the Doer.

Who is the Doer?

How to know Him?

The Soul is the Doer. To remain peaceful and to be free from any apprehension, nervousness, we are to focus our attention at the mind point of our eyebrow, 4 inches deep inside.

Why is it, the mind-point of eyebrows, four inches deep? Because, that is the seat of the Soul, that is why Kriya Yoga means always watch the Doer.

Some say, it is the power of God who is doing. In India, particularly the Hindus, with devotion say that, it is the Divine Mother which is the Primodial energy (Sakthi).

They are quite close to the Truth. I will give a practical day to day example. Suppose, I do not take food for seven days, then I will not be able to talk. If I do not take food for fifteen days, can I get up ? Not only that, the voice will not come out. If I still abstain from food, my brain will not function. My thought will not be there. Brain will be blank, almost like a dead body or in Coma stage. Still if I do not take food, I will die. So this life is lost, I will lose a golden opportunity of evolving higher for God Realisation.

Then what is the secret?

If I do not take food, why cannot I work? The answer is simple. Your car will not run, if you do not fill fuel inside, will it? So this body car will not move, if you do not fill fuel inside, in the form of food.

What is food? It is concentrated, solidified energy. How this energy has come to food? From our preliminary knowledge of Photosynthesis in Botany, we know from the sun. From sunlight plants get energy, transform and store it. Human being eat it, digest and assimilate after assimilation, it is metabolized.

After metabolism the result is energy and waste product. The waste products in the form of liquid, solid and gas are given out of the body through excreta. Energy is utilised for the purpose you are destined to.

You can use this energy for constructive purpose, for spiritual upliftment, intellectual development. Positive is there and negative is also there. Friends, every human being has got infinite potentiality, it depends upon how we use it.

Every person has got special quality; some are administrators and so on. But the common thing in every body is that there is one force pulling him upward (Urdhwa Vritti) and another force pulling him downward (Adhah Vritti). We are to overcome the down pulling force which is the devil force, the evil force; we have to give a boost to the Urdhwa Vritti, which is pulling us up. There is no other technique except Kriya Yoga, which scientifically, quickly, safely give you the process of how to utilise this, how can you overcome these animal qualities and rational qualities and can go up to the Supernatural quality.

You must have read so many scriptures, heard many lectures, teaching that you should be good, you do good, lead a pious life. Do not be attached too much to things. What is to be done? How is to achieve these? What is the technique? Kriya Yoga is the technique. It tells you directly, you do this step, this step.... You will get this result, this result, this result........   

Only very few other processes can teach it. Kriya Yoga is practical spirituality and provides spirituality in a material atmosphere. Achievement, success, prosperity, wealth, health, peace every thing we need we can get all these only by following this process of Kriya Yoga, sincerely and with love and faith (Sraddha).

 

- Practical Kriya yoga © by Atmananda Paramahansa first published in 1999.

This material is copyrighted. Any Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
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