Paramahamsa Hariharananda (Baba)

Kriya Yoga

When I read Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, I didn't think his yoga, kriya yoga, would ever be part of my life.  Then along came the internet.  One day I decided to do a websearch for Kriya Yoga, and up popped http://www.kriya.org . At this website, I learned that one of Yogananda's students, Paramahamsa Hariharananda, is alive and well and teaching the method.  He also has teachers who travel around the world teaching the method.

I'm impressed. I've tried many other forms of yoga and meditation and felt they were hit-or-miss.  This method only gets better with time, and even an off day is a good day.  It doesn't involve being a pretzel.  Emphasis is on the breath.

I signed an agreement not to teach this method.  So, if you want to learn more, go to the website, download an issue of their magazine Soul Culture, and if you think it might be what you're looking for, check their schedule of traveling teachers for one near you.

Kriya Yoga is not athletic.  It is not a religion.  The teachers encourage you to practice your own religion if you have one. It isn't just for kooks like me.  Luther Burbank and Mohandas Gandhi practiced it.

Here's my essay about my trip to the ashram in Florida:

Kriya Yoga Ashram

9/7/2003

Baba is dead. You can read  about his death at www.kriya.org

After a discussion  with one of the swami's, he advised me to quit Kriya.  I agreed.  I'd been doing Kriya daily for 3 years, had two initiations to ever more complicated meditation practices, and I did not "feel God meditating me."  According to the swami's if you don't feel that God is doing the meditation, then you are only doing physical exercise.  

I tried Carl Schmidt's Kriya.  http://www.thehomefoundation.com

It is much simpler than Baba's Kriya. Carl is much more accessible than the swami's.  If you want a guided meditation practice, this one is worth your time to investigate.  Carl's lessons are free.

At the moment, I'm having much more success with Sedona  Method

and Nonduality.  http://www.nonduality.com

And I highly recommend Leo Hartong's book Awakening to the Dream http://www.awakeningtothedream.com  

And Michael Gluckman's Making Your Wisdom Come Alive.

For briefer but effective meditations, 72 Names of God is a superb coffee-table quality book.

For a sample meditation, click here.

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