Kriya Yoga is a simple, scientific and effective technique based on breathing and control of the life-force whereby the evolutionary process is quickened. The practice of kriya enables the aspirant to direct his life-force to unite with and awaken the subtle spiritual centres of his being thereby bringing about the required transformation of his consciousness to experience the ultimate stage of self-realization. As compared to the other methods of self-realization, Kriya Yoga is the ‘Aeroplane’ path enabling the practitioner to achieve in one single life time, the result of thousands of years of natural evolution but without a trace of strain in mind or in body. On the contrary, the practise of Kriya calms down the nerves and helps in attaining a balanced state of mind that is the sine qua non for experiencing the stage of super consciousness. Even the beginner can experience the soothing effects of Kriya practice and also be blessed with the wonderful experience of the triple divine qualities – sound, light and vibration that is the tangible expression of the indwelling Spirit.Believed to be of divine origin, Kriya Yoga as a technique of self-realization is referred to in the Bhagwad Geeta as being the path in which the ancient seers were adepts. However, by passage of time, the technique was lost in obscurity. In the 19th century, the deathless master, Mahavatar Babaji, apparently following a divine fiat, received the long lost science and presented it as a means of self-realization for the hard pressed and over burdened modern man.Choosing his dear disciple, Gangadhar, reborn as Shyamacharan Lahiri as the medium for dissemination of Kriya, Mahavatar Babaji gave to the modern house-holder a direct path to the kingdom of Almighty. Shyamacharan Lahiri was the first formal teacher of this ancient science in the modern age. By the practice of Kriya, he attained to the highest evolutionary state thereby proving to the world the efficacy of Kriya as a technique of self-realization.

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The original technique was remodeled by Lahiri Mahasaya into a graded discipline so as to enable the modern man to easily assimilate and master the technique, step by step. The teachings have been handed down till date through the Master Disciple lineage. There were several disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya of whom only a few had been specifically authorized by him to initiate others. One of such advanced disciples was Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, who was his chief monastic disciple. The originality of the teaching is sought to be protected by the rule that only an authorized teacher can impart initiation. It is by such process alone that the original technique of Mahavatar Babaji is available even today through the lineage of Sri Yukteswar Giri, Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Satyananda Giri, Swami Hariharananda Giri and Swami Yogeswarananda Giri.