Introduction

The Kriya Yoga that I teach has been handed down from Lahiri Mahasaya through the lineage of gurus of Panchanon Bhattacharya, Nitayi Charan Bandhopadhyaya, Maheshwari Prasad Dubey and myself. It is called Vedic Kriya Yoga because it is taught in the way that the ancient Vedic rishis and gurus taught it. It is also called Vedic Kriya Yoga because the instructions and practices of this lineage are reflected within the Vedic and Gita literature. The truth behind this original Kriya is to be found within the most ancient of the scriptures, the Vedas. Initiation into Vedic Kriya Yoga is given in person to those who have a genuine yearning to receive it. The initiation ceremony is the most sacred of events in the guru-disciple relationship of the Vedic teachings. It is always conducted in the one-to-one Yagya (yajna) ceremony with the guru passing on the pure Vedic knowledge and practices of yoga. Lahiri Mahasaya set an example and taught Kriya Yoga in the one-to-one way. My lineage has adhered to this way of initiation and individualized intensives. The beauty of our lineage is that we do not have to be renunciates or saints to practice Kriya in our search for answers and spiritual truth. Our line of gurus demonstrates that we can realize God, even as a common person, with all of our strengths and imperfections.

VKY Pranayam

Vedic Kriya Yoga has special features to improve, rejuvenate and vitalize the cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, medulla, spinal cord and spinal functions utilizing prana (energy of life) through the practice of Pranayam. It is accomplished by prana-mobilization and vitalization methods. In addition, this practice has special rejuvenation and healing features. Prana is the source and force of life that is subtler than electromagnetic forces. It is why the body heals from a wound or other sickness. It controls the functions of the brain and spinal chord as well. Like electricity, Prana flows back and forth from the brain, the spinal chord and the body carrying vital messages. Properly performed, Vedic Kriya Yoga promotes proper functioning of the brain, healing and revitalization of the body and minimizes the decay of the body due to stresses and diseases. When prana departs from our physical body, we die no matter how youthful or vigorous our body may be at the time of death. Vedic Kriya Yoga will rebuild your body by freeing the Prana that is presently overworked in the process of healing throughout your body. Western doctors do not understand Prana and Ananda, which are the major source of healing beyond known chemicals and drugs. You can discover this for yourself in a relatively short period of time (days, weeks or months) in your own body.

Union with God

Yoga means union with God. It actually leads to reunion with God, as we already exist on the surface of the ocean of God's energy (force), also known in the Sanskrit language as SatChitAnanda. Satchitananda, Sadchidananda or Sachidananad means that God's being is composed of all the matter, consciousness, and bliss (our emotions are the spectral or phenomenal form of the bliss) that we behold around us. The universe springs out of the very being of God and it exists on the surface of God as waves exist on the surface of the ocean. My first set of teachings explains this in great detail and gives you a comprehensive concept of what God really is. Therefore, meditation performed by our guru-given Kriya Yoga makes God our true companion. Our soul is truly seeking reunion or marriage with God. In that search we marry God's human forms seeking love and fulfillment. But it may take several attempts and many lifetimes to truly find that companion (God).

VKY Path

My line of gurus practice yoga (meditation) based on the oldest and unaltered scriptures of the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. Ours is a well-proven path especially tailored for householders and single working men and women. It teaches that we do not have to renounce the world or any of our chosen professions or interests, because all of the professions, interests, wishes and dreams are actually arising in God's phenomenal or universal being. Therefore, our teaching starts from where and who we are and finds our true identity without abandoning our present interests and strong sense of direction.

Our guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, says that the Kriya Yoga teacher must work on a one-to-one basis with every individual with his or her interests and desires. And in that forum, show how easy it is to perform Hath (physical, mental and emotional yoga-exercises), Karma (action and work yoga), Bhakti (devotional and love and feeling related), Jnan (intellectual and logic related), and Raja (meditation) yoga. I can show everyone how to practice this discipline without running away from life, without sacrificing any of our mundane goals of work and play and educational needs to earn a living. I myself am an aerospace engineer, manage a business and have a Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering. Most importantly, I know how to find time in the busiest schedule to show students how to meditate while doing their work, getting educated, eating, playing, sleeping, waiting in line, etc.

In a few months of this disciplined life, we will gain so much that we will become the most inspired advocate of this way of life and our Kriya Yoga. We will inspire our parents, brothers, sisters and any one who comes in contact with us. I provide structured feedback to students to help them manage their lives in order to obtain a superconscious state (samadhi, nirvana, or union with God). This yoga will answer the most important questions of our lives. Who are we? What is this world? Why all this suffering? What is the right thing to do? And most importantly what is God? This is not a belief, but a practice we perform in our own lives and consciousness. The benefits are in obtaining good health, material prosperity, and emotional and spiritual well-being. This practice is the best way to reduce and maintain our weight at an appropriate level without the weight fluctuations and adverse effects of the other practices. So do not shrink from it. Om , Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Yoga is not merely for coping with this world even though it is a great by-product of Yoga. I study and teach it because it reveals that the universe itself is a projection of a Super-conscious mind on our conscious state, just as our dreams are projections of our conscious minds on our subconscious states. It also is consistent with the laws of Fractals in the universe. So what is the advantage of going into the superconscious or as the psychologists call it as the unconscious? It gives us total control over our conscious state. Literally, the superconscious state allows us to rearrange our conscious world as a film editor makes modifications to a motion picture by editing it. Most importantly it reveals who we really are and breaks the never ending groping in the darkness which we call the light and lures of the conscious world. So the world is not only a space-time continuum but space-time-consciousness continuum. It is the layers of consciousness that is the real secret of this universe and Yoga explores and reveals those layers.

Copyright © 2005-2011 Ashok Kumar Singh. All rights reserved.