Spiritual Portal

It is so difficult to get out of the exterior and into the internal in meditation unless you have something like Kyria that Withdrawls the energy from the external sensory perceptions to be used to awaken internal perceptions.

This is true.  & this is the reason for the path of Kriya, from what I understand.

I think the Sutras of Patanjali explain this well & I think Babaji & Lahiri Mahasaya revived this practice in the mid 19th c. which was then made more popular worldwide by Yogananda via his book Autobiography of a Yogi.

Does this sound accurate?  Please reply with corrections if I mistaken on the history.

Clearly there are many different lineages now, debatable which ones have true Realized Masters, but perhaps they all are effective somewhat equally, as there are many different paths up the mountain...

https://youtu.be/ZNSiau8LaUs

Henry I perceive in the larger scheme of things you are right. Although I did notice you mentioned the Royal PATH here as well. For many of us it helps to follow a path to get to a destination even though as you say it can easily become a dogma. I think of the path of Kriya and how it slows my respiration and simultaneously the thought processes slow down making it much easier to slip into the meditative state at various depths. I often also use the ‘path’ of Iam created by Amma which is very helpful to me when my mind is more agitated or I have a lot of external commotion in my immediate experience.

https://pattykikos.com/prana-and-apana-the-air-coming-in-vs-the-air-moving-out/

The exhalation is moved by an energy known as apana. The apana wind is a force for expelling from the body, usually taking the form of a downward contracting movement. Its home is the pelvic floor, so the impulse to exhale originates from a point at the center of the pelvic floor.
The inhalation is moved by the energy of prana vayu in the opposite direction. Although the inhalation draws the breath down into the body, the energy of the inhalation is at the same time experienced as rising within and spreading like the opening of a lotus flower.

A couple of important things I have noticed about Kriya yoga over the years that are essential aspects of it practice;

1. It must be practiced slowly

2. It is essential to practice with focus of attention

3. The ahh sound (going up the spine) must be deep and at the back of the throat while the eee sound is barely audible and is seen as a thin thread going down the spine.

Whenever I have been checked at an SRF fellowship location I was always watched to see how slowly and focused I was at the practice.

To me these were all words until the guru blessed me with some experiences of their reality. When the consciousness begins to get interiorized and we experience a little peace we begin to crave for more. We are able to have a certain amount of intuition about people and circumstances surrounding us. We are grateful for that discernment because the material reality has so many traps and pitfalls. We begin to understand what the affect of those around us is to our consciousness and how we are letting the vibrations of those around us maintain our current level of consciousness.

We also recognize that the pain we are exposed to because of mortal consciousness and its experiences on the earth plane is part of a disciplinary energy for the transformation of consciousness. Because of this we are more willing to endure austerity and discipline while the desires continue to draw us outward into restless ignorance. We begin to understand energy and how our energy or prana is manipulated by the objects of desire.  We get a dim view of how desire is the source of our being here and the source of our limited state of consciousness.

With the practice of Kriya yoga you cause the waves of currents to move upward and downward through the spine creating a magnet that withdraws life energy from the body and senses into the Sushumana  reinforcing the currents there.

https://youtu.be/YMDkw9SjEFc

However, Kriya Yoga is more direct. It helps the practitioner to control the life force by mentally drawing that life force up and down the spine, with awareness and will. According to Yogananda, one Kriya, which takes about a half a minute, is equivalent to one year of natural spiritual growth.

Kriya accelerates our natural evolution.

Added to this the ability to keep the consciousness at the Ajna center, otherwise known as the third eye, it is also important in practice and may take years of practice till the eyes are naturally drawn up to point between the eyes and above the nose. It is essential to keep reminding oneself to bring the consciousness back to the ajna center because, looking straight ahead is associated with normal consciousness which is restless and letting the eyes drift below the horizon (down) is associated with subconsciousness which puts the devotee drifting in and out of sleep and dreams.

With the proper practice of Kriya the body gets lighter and at times it is as if dead while the spirit finds new ground and is elevated.

It is so wonderful to know I have found one technique that will help me interiorize when nothing, else at times, seems to work.

God and Guru takes us through myriad, kaleidoscopic experiences to train us in compassion and understanding through the eternal blessings of Kriya Yoga. Every time our little lives bob up and down on the ocean waves of life, rest assure that the mighty power and spirit of the ocean is below you in the heights and depths you experience through God and Guru and Kriya Yoga.

https://youtu.be/GqnyMCTmmqw?si=lxPq3E7ba3xHMhsa

Accelerating human evolution.

I think I remember reading this excerpt from AoY... Thanks for sharing it!

Considering the benefits Kriya yoga gives one would wonder why someone would not attempt using Kriya in their  meditation practice. I believe one reason is that most people do not have the patience to do several complete kriyas. I’m not saying I’m an authority on this. It is just that it requires more focus then for instance a mantra. And, the focus needs to be steady. That is why Paramahansa Yogananda gave so many other meditation techniques to prepare us for Kriya practice. I still find that my attention wanes if I do too many at my present state of development. We are fortunate to also have different Kriya practices as well, to keep our interest stimulated.

It is all relative. What I mean by that, is that it is more important to do the practice then to abjure because the atmosphere and surroundings do not suit our temperament.

Yet I went to many years of long meditations at the SRF temples and we were asked to quietly leave if for instance we started coughing during meditation. There was definitely an aura of joy that lifted our spirits when we could tune in to the spiritual uplifting influence of combined efforts to quiet the mind and senses from all distracting sensory experiences. Silence is truly golden when it is experienced both externally and internally by the group vibrations and the saying holds true that; “Where two or more are gathered in my name;‘there I shall be also”.

Sometimes it takes just that extra absorption of body and mind to rise above and experience the depth of others in our midst.

~ Mathew 18-20

I am recognizing the mistakes in the sadhana of devotees around me in my observations and not the mistakes in my own. I’m needing much more devotion in my development. There are so many distracting sensory experiences that still excite me and distracting thoughts as well.

My meditation jumped to a much higher level years ago after I included the practice of Kriya. I think though, to nurture a higher degree of devotion, I’m going to need to start asking for it from the Master’s of Kriya themselves. When I was writing this I had a de Ja Vu experience as if I witnessed in a table of contents of my life’s events, this chapter emerging.

I have attempted to listen to Shri Guruji several times UWE and will again. Does he ever come to the states? I sense he has something important to say here, for me as well. His accent is very strong and difficult to make out, but I will listen from time to time, picking up more at after hearing, where I left off. He mentions divine mother in the recording you provided, Jesus, Krishna and St. Francis. Divine Mother is incarnate this time period in the physical form of Amma. She has helped my devotion development tremendously. Still I have much to do before passing this incarnation. One has to be in love to feel love. But there are so many kinds of love. Feeling God’s love gives one tremendous devotion, but one has to keep that devotion and love ever new.

Mātā Amritānandamayī (born Sudhamani Idamannel; 27 September 1953), often known as Amma ("Mother"), is an Indian Hindu spiritual leader, guru and humanitarian, ... - wikipedia

So many experiences happen through the saving grace of Kriya Yoga.

In the practice we breath in bringing the consciousness up as the energy is brought into the spine. Then breathing 😮‍💨 out slowly and entering a soft landing, occasionally into restful peace. Pause from breath and at times accompanying bliss. The negative and positive polls of consciousness.

It is a blessing though to be with those who have been given the chance and opportunity to serve us with their advice on such matters. I remember seeing Brother Brahmananda at the Self Realization Fellowship Mt. Washington Headquarters. At the time I wondered about him. Did he really ‘see’ and know what he was doing when he gave me advice? I was ‘allowed’ to do 64 Kriyas per setting by Brother Anandamoy. But I also recognized his reluctance to give me that advice. And 108 at some long meditations. Later however, I understood his reluctant agreement to my request. It was just to many for my ability for sustained focus, even though I perhaps 🤔 mechanically practiced them.

Later when I talked with Brother Brahmananda i could only handle 24 at the time, because of service/work duties. I asked him to advice me on the Kriya practice and he asked me to do them several times. And advised me to do 36 per sitting. Later I understood he was guided by the gurus to help me with just the right amount for my abilities.

We have now entered a higher age then the kali yuga; which most people still follow in their spiritual practices. During the kali yuga most people just followed edicts and spiritual laws set down by Masters. The general population had no understanding of energies, magnetism polarities, dualities and environmental affects on human behavior. As a result few were meditating but most were struggling to just survive. For the most part the evolution of humanity was very low at that time which was during the life of Jesus and lasted up to the The Renaissance which was a period in history and a cultural movement marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity, covering the 15th and 16th centuries and characterized by an effort to revive and surpass the ideas and achievements of classical antiquity; it was associated with great social change in most fields and disciplines, including art, architecture, politics, literature, exploration and science. and the industrial revolution.  Today we have much more access to such knowledge and yet few use it but continue with their views and concepts of the past age.

"Yogis have known from time immemorial that the flow of life force in the body can be consciously directed by use of the body’s natural magnets, the two hands and two feet, the eyes, the tongue, and the uvula, all the body parts that come in pairs are positive and negative. Magnetic poles and conduct tremendous power when energized by a strong and concentrated will be applying this knowledge Jesus, another Masters perform many miraculous healings do the life force transferred by laying on of hands, sending energy hour through the hands, whether at a distance, or in proximity.

In the practice of first Kriya, creates a positive and negative pole at the Christ-Kutastha center and the coccyx, forming a magnet that withdraws the life force from the muscles and withdraws the life force into the spine...."*

Few people even accept or have begun to recognize the implications of what was just stated above. Fewer yet, are those who have put this information into practice. And even fewer yet are those who do not let the world and its distractions constantly intrude on their practice and dilute the after effects and the evolving consequences of such a practice deter them.

*The last quoted part is from the SRF lessons.