Spiritual Portal

Hello to all.

I'm very glad to have found this forum!

I discovered Yogananda in the early 1970s.  My oldest brother, whom I see as my first guru, was a member of the SRF, practiced hatha yoga and vegetarianism.  He was the one who introduced me to yoga and meditation.  I've practiced hatha yoga and meditation and been vegetarian for decades.

I hope it does not offend anyone that I did not receive kriya initiation from the SRF.  I received my initiation from Roy Davis.  I felt attuned to his approach and am glad to have received kriya from him.  I have books by spiritual teachers of other kriya yoga paths as well (Swami Hariharananda, and some books from Yoga Niketan, whose authors were disciples of Sri Yukteswar and Swami Satyananda).  I have gotten a great deal of insight from masters of other yogic paths, like Swami Satchidananda, particularly his translation/interpretation of the Gita and the Yoga Sutras.

Of the kriya yoga gurus, Sri Yukteswar stole my heart from the first time I read the Autobiography of a Yogi.  Yes, even more than Yogananda himself!  But I revere all of the gurus of this tradition, of course.  I have Sri Yukteswarji's "Holy Science" and a couple of biographies of him.  Here is a wonderful publication on the 150th anniversary of his birth, put out by the YSS in India: https://yoganandasite.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/sriyukteswar.pdf

Again, hello to all of you, and I am thankful for the presence of this forum.

Thanks for posting this, Steve!

I would say Sri Roy's approach is jnana rather than bhakti.  Not that he is against devotion, only that his personality is rather austere and intellectual.  I have found him to be responsive and helpful with questions.  I get a great deal from his writings and appreciate his somewhat no nonsense approach.  I am extremely grateful that he initiated me.