Questions and Answers
Here are some commonly asked questions about Kriya Yoga and the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. I’ve been answering such questions for over forty years and have seen the most common confusions that people have. The internet era has added to the confusion, with its extreme abundance of kriya teachers, claims, and even sectarianism in some Kriya circles.
If you have general questions relating Kriya Yoga and the teachings of Yogananda, feel free to email kriyayogaforawakening@gmail.com. If you have questions specific to your own practice of Kriya, I can’t answer those. In that case, you need to talk to the teacher or group that initiated you into Kriya Yoga.
Sincerely,
Nayaswami Devarshi
When Paramhansa Yogananda was asked if his work was a new religion, he replied that, “It is a new expression of truths that are eternal.”
In Kriya Yoga: Spiritual Awakening for the New Age, I wrote:
“Formal religion focuses mainly on outward rituals, dogmas, and rules, and on the false notion that the worshiper can only approach God through the intercession of a priest. Yogananda called such religion — equally common East and West—“Churchianity.””
Kriya is an inward practice and an approach to life. It can be seen as ‘spirituality’ rather than ‘religion.’
The practice of Kriya Yoga includes a technique called Kriya. That technique is one of a group of techniques that the kriya yogi practices every day. Kriya is also an overall approach to life, one that is supported by daily meditation and the practice of those techniques. The book, Kriya Yoga: Spiritual Awakening for the New Age, was written partly to address the way that Kriya Yoga is often narrowly defined.
The path of Kriya, unfortunately, has been caught up in the sectarianism and divisiveness of the times we live in. I wrote a blog that answers this claim:
Did Yogananda Water Down Kriya?
In Autobiography of a Yogi, we read how Kriya Yoga was first given in the form of initiation by Mahavatar Babaji to Lahiri Mahasaya. In other passages in that book, we also see that kriya is always given through initiation.
Swami Kriyananda explained it this way:
“Sincere aspirants often wonder, “If Kriya Yoga is such an exalted science, why has it not been published in book form, so that all might learn it?” A reasonable question, certainly. The masters themselves, however, have decreed it should not be published, precisely because it is a teaching that transcends reason itself. Right understanding of it depends on the unfolding intuition.
“Kriya Yoga, in order to be wholly effective, must be received not only intellectually (in written or spoken form), but vibrationally, in the form of initiation. A magnet is created either by electrical realignment of the molecules, or by close proximity to another magnet. Attunement with a God-awakened guru influences the samskaras (comparable to the material molecules) to flow upward to the brain.
“We are dealing here with a reality subtler, and much more difficult to master, than mere molecules of metal. Without an experienced guide, even mountain climbing can be fatal—though death, in this case, only ends a single incarnation. Spiritual mistakes can be costlier, in terms of long-range suffering.
“Guidance from the guru is not only helpful: It is essential. This does not mean that Kriya Yoga is dangerous. Far from it. But to take up Kriya Yoga signifies entering seriously onto the path to God.”
—from The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita Explained