Babaji's Kriya Yoga is a scientific art of perfect God Truth union and Self-Realization. It was revived by a great Master of India, Babaji Nagaraj, as a synthesis of ancient teachings of the 18 Siddha tradition. It includes a series of techniques or 'Kriyas' grouped into five phases or branches.
- Ajna Stimulation Kriya 9 exercises, 23 minutes - 1 hour This kriya works to gently stimulate and balance the glandular system, especially the pituitary gland, which is associated with the Sixth Chakra. Beginning students may practice this kriya as a glandular tune-up once or twice a week, but not more frequently.
- Sudarshan Kriya. Breathing is the first act of life. Within the breath is the unexplored secret of life. Sudarshan Kriya is a powerful yet simple rhythmic breathing technique. It incorporates specific natural rhythms of the breath, harmonizing the body, mind and emotions.
- Research on Sudarshan Kriya. Research by a doctor in AIIMS − Dr. Vinod Kochupillai, head of the Cancer Centre at AIIMS did a research on this breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya in 2010. According to her, through this miraculous technique, “Negative toxins are flushed out and each cell is flooded with new life to energize body and mind.
Kriya Yoga is an ancient meditation technique of pranayama, also known as breathing control practice, Kriya Yoga was unknown to humankind for several centuries before it was taught in 1861 by the highly revered yogi, Mahavatar Babaji, to his beloved disciple Lahiri Mahasaya.
Kriya Hatha Yoga: including 'asanas,' physical postures of relaxation, 'bandahs,' muscular locks, and 'mudras,' psycho-physical gestures, all of which bring about greater health, peace and the awakening of the principal energy channels, “the nadis”, and centers, the 'chakras.' Babaji has selected a particularly effective series of 18 postures, which are taught in stages and in pairs. One cares for the physical body not for its own sake but as a vehicle or temple of the Divine.
Kriya Kundalini Pranayama: is a powerful breathing technique to awaken one’s potential power and consciousness and to circulate it through the seven principal chakras between the base of the spine and the crown of the head. It awakens the latent faculties associated with the seven chakras and makes one a dynamo on all five planes of existence.
Kriya Dhyana Yoga: is a progressive series of meditation techniques to learn the scientific art of mastering the mind - to cleanse the subconscious, to develop concentration, mental clarity and vision, to awaken the intellectual, intuitive and creative faculties, and to bring about the breathless state of communion with God, 'Samadhi' and Self-Realization.
Kriya Mantra Yoga: the silent mental repetition of subtle sounds to awaken the intuition, the intellect and the chakras; the mantra becomes a substitute for the 'I' - centered mental chatter and facilitates the accumulation of great amounts of energy. The mantra also cleanses habitual subconscious tendencies.
Kriya Bhakti Yoga: the cultivation of the soul’s aspiration for the Divine. It includes devotional activities and service to awaken unconditional love and spiritual bliss; it includes chanting and singing, ceremonies, pilgrimages, and worship. Gradually, all of one's activities become soaked with sweetness, as the 'Beloved' is perceived in all.
Guru Mantra
Om Kriya Babaji Nama Aum
(The guru mantra of Babaji's Kriya Yoga)
Om is pranava, the primordial sound of the Universe that runs through the prana.
Kriya is ”action with awareness,” which is both the vehicle and the destination of practitioners of Kriya Yoga, by making all of our actions the object of awareness.
Babaji is the Guru of the Kriya Yoga tradition, who synthesized its ancient teachings and who has disseminated them in modern times. This is the same Babaji referred to in Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi.”
Nama is Salutations or “I call to you”
Aum the primordial sound resonating within
This guru mantra, Om Kriya Babaji Nama Aum, has the power to connect our pulse to the pulse of Babaji, tuning us into the Grace of the legendary Himalayan Siddha, Kriya Babaji Nagaraj. Through the mantra he reveals himself to his Devotees. Through its repetition the inner guru, or supreme intelligence abiding in the crown chakra becomes accessible. The mantra is shakti, conscious energy. It has power, as the Guru transmits his shakti through the mantra and the shakti enters the disciple through the mantra. The root of the mantra is the guru's word, and indeed, the mantra is a form of the guru himself.
Kriya Yoga is “Action with Awareness.” It is a means of self-knowledge, of knowing the truth of our being. Babaji's Kriya Yoga incorporates “awareness” in the practice of asanas, pranayama, meditation, mantras, but also teaches us to incorporate awareness in all thoughts, words, dreams and desires, in all actions. This sadhana has the enormous potential to make us more conscious human beings. It requires, however, the willingness of the body, mind, heart and will, to align with the soul’s aspiration for purification and perfection. The sadhana of BKY is a collection of 144 exercises and spiritual practices for Self realization and transformation in all of our five bodies: physical, vital, mental, intellectual and spiritual.
The first objective of Kriya Hatha Yoga is deep physical and mental relaxation. The body can become purified of many disorders and irregularities by asana. The variety of asana grants flexibility, lightness and buoyancy in the body. The practice of the 18 asana series awakens the energy centers along the spine and kundalini, our potential power and consciousness.
Kriya Kundalini Pranayama deals more directly with the subtler vital parts of the nervous system. The first objective of pranayama is to purify the nervous system and to circulate life energy through all the nerves and subtle energy channels without obstruction. Ultimately these pranayama will awaken the sushumna and direct kundalini upward through it.
Babaji's Kriya Yoga Dhyana, demands that truth realized in our inner consciousness penetrate into our waking consciousness and become effective there. The level of our consciousness determines the nature and quality of the life we live. So, rather than trying to stop thoughts and drop into a void, our meditations focus on dynamic methods of strengthening the power of the mind, the power of visualization and stimulate a ready flow of intuition and inspiration, which can be used in our life. The meditations help us to develop our power of concentration, in order to orient the whole of our consciousness towards our soul.
Kriya Mantra Yoga is silent repetition of powerful chakra seed syllables and sound, which stimulates divine qualities. This practice tunes one's whole being and turns one's consciousness turned toward the Divine, and opens one to the a flow of divine energy and grace.
Through the practice of Babaji's Kriya Yoga , one begins to study oneself and to let go of negative habits, desires, fears and other forms of disturbances. One gradually establishes oneself in a new inner Witness perspective, full of peace and joy. As one lets go of the old egoistic perspective, one’s personality is transformed, and one begins to experience oneself as an instrument of love and as a superior creative intelligence, engaged in bringing joy to others and making the world a better place.
Babaji's Kriya Yoga is a spiritual tradition, wherein one “wakes up” from “dreaming with one’s eyes open.”. Babaji's Kriya Yoga is a path of Self-realization which is comprehensive, as it integrates all of the dimensions of our life. It is a path of self discipline which enables one to live in the world with open-hearted compassion.
The Origin of Kriya Yoga
This tradition flows directly from the Yoga Siddhas, the perfected masters of Siva Yoga. Kriya Babaji Nagaraj synthesized his Kriya Yoga from techniques taught by the Siddhas, Agastyar and Boganathar. Babaji initiated a great yogi, S.A.A. Ramaiah into these techniques in 1954 and 1955, near Badrinath in the Himalayas.
In 1983, Yogi Ramaiah gave to Marshall Govindan a set of stringent conditions to fulfill as a condition to teach the 144 Kriyas or techniques of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga. Marshall. Govindan had, by 1983, already been practicing Kriya Yoga for more than twelve years, for at least fifty-six hours per week without a break. In addition, in 1981 he had completed a year long silence in retreat, alone, by the seashore in Sri Lanka, engaging in a non-stop practice of Yoga, known as tapas. He told Marshall Govindan that if he fulfilled these conditions he would be authorized to initiate others into the 144 kriyas of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga. It took Govindan three more years to fulfill all of the additional conditions. At that time Yogiar told him simply to wait. Yogiar had often said that once he had brought his students to the feet of the “Guru,” his work with them would be finished. On Christmas Eve, 1988, in a series of profound spiritual experiences, the message came that Govindan was to leave his teacher's ashram and organization and begin initiating others into Kriya Yoga.
Henceforward, Marshall Govindan's life was directed by the Light of the Guru, (with continuing guidance, inspiration and intuition and insight), which focused on “showing the path to others.” Beginning in 1989, his life moved in this new direction; doors opened automatically, and everything facilitated a new mission. Govindan began to share Kriya Yoga with others, first, on weekends, in Montreal, and then in 1991, after the publication of his first book on Kriya Yoga, to persons all over the world. It has been a joy for him ever since to personally share this “light,” this precious spiritual scientific art with more than 10,000 students in more than twenty countries, and to train over sixteen advanced students to do the same.
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Nabhi kriya, with its endless leg lifts, is, and always will be, very dear to my heart. It might be disgustingly tough, but it was the first really tough 40-day commitment I took on, and it has absolutely changed my life… I even feel its benefits eight or so years on.
A 40-day nabhi kriya practice is on the syllabus for many a level one kundalini yoga teacher training because it builds our navel strength like no other, giving us the determination, commitment and pure grit to get us through ANY challenge that life throws at us. Starting out as a kundalini yoga teacher, with all its first time jitters etc? No problem. The navel strength that you generate in those 40 days will keep you going for that first class and way beyond.
Long Kriya Aol
So, lets talk about the disgustingly tough bit and what that might mean for you… Nokia flashing cable driver.
Anger. No, rage. No, absolute hell-fire FURY!
Many of us hold anger in our navel, and nabhi kriya has the capacity to ignite all those latent moody embers and make us very irritable in our daily life. All the 40-day-nabhi troopers I know (myself included) fell prey to the nabhi-kriya-anger syndrome. Prepare to feel pretty bloody grumpy for at least a portion of your 40-day nabhi kriya practice. Despair not, and rather than getting exasperated by it and feeling like a ‘bad person’, enjoy and bask in the fury! Allow it, for God’s sake. This is powerful juju that you’re stirring up in your mind-body system – anger is a mega driver for action. And this peevish phase won’t last forever.
Exhaustion
A friend who recently completed her 40 days of nabhi kriya found she was suffering badly from exhaustion. And as the 40 days went on, it increased into an utterly debilitating sense of defeat. She was crawling, fatigued and yawning, towards the 40-day finish line. We looked into it and discovered that it was because she was scrimping on her full 10-15-minute savasana, sometimes taking only five minutes… hey, nabhi kriya is a long kriya, and, let’s face it, we got bills to pay and a job to get to in the morning, so it’s not surprising that our savasana is the first to be hit. Thing is, nabhi kriya generates such immense energy in our body that we NEED to assimilate it and integrate it properly. It’s essential that you take your full savasana after nabhi kriya – no scrimping on this one, even if you need to wake up 15 minutes earlier.
Nabhi kriya is too long
Which brings us to our next point. Nabhi kriya is looooooong! So use your favourite music, use mantra (inhale Sat, exhale Nam), use your mental focus by pinning your focus to your third eye point, use a strong, powerful breath and GET THROUGH IT. If time is super-short, rather than miss a day, decrease your times by a half or a third. But go back to the full version as soon as you can. We got these timings for a reason and you will feel way more energised if you do the full whack. Of course, it will take you a while to build up to the full times, especially with the double leg lifts (see more advice here), but once you got it, don’t slack off.
We become emotionally hardened
All this work on the navel and we become extremely resilient, which can translate as tough and grisly. If you notice yourself feeling like some kind of Hulk Hogan steroid machine with a massive hole where your empathy and compassion used to be, balance out your navel with a heart-centred meditation after your nabhi kriya practice. This will soften the shakti (power) of the navel with the bhakti (devotion) of the heart centre. I love this heart of gratitude meditation.
Japanese word for living in the moment. The main thing to remember with nabhi kriya is, it will change your life and all of these challenges are so worth it! So keep going, love, taking it one day at a time.
If you’ve come across any challenges with nabhi kriya that I haven’t mentioned here, please do let me know by emailing me on yogigem@ymail.com so I can add it to the list. It helps us all. Thank you!
Long Kriya Time
Sat nam x
Long Kriya Art Of Living Audio