Friends, Kriya Yoga is often in the news. But is it different from Patanjali Yoga? Not at all. Kriya Yoga is hidden in Patanjali Yoga Sutras. In the beginning, one has to follow Yama, Niyama, only then the mind will become calm and stable. Then the Asana will be done automatically. Because only a person with a restless mind runs. A person with a calm mind sits quietly and relaxes. When a person sits, he will definitely breathe. He will take a good breath too. He will not take it with fear like a restless person. When the energy of life will be saved from being wasted in useless running, it will be used only for breathing. Taking a good, long and deep breath will also give him pleasure. With deep breath, the energy of the Mooladhara will rise. Suppressed thoughts will emerge from it and will connect with the soul. We cannot even call it suppressed thoughts. We can call it a blooming flower. It means everything is the same old but now it is not compressed and dark like a closed flower but is free and bright like an open flower. That is why the chakras have been given the shape of lotus flowers. Happiness comes only when the flower blooms. The common man will stop here. But a particularly curious person will adopt yoga and will pull and push his breath a lot. This will make his power cross the Mooladhar, Swadhisthana and Manipur Chakras. The power will rise above from there on its own. Many yogis say that it will not come down again, but I feel that breath pulling and pushing will have to be done in between. Because no one has a permanent state, not even power. This pull-push is done by withholding deep inhalation and exhalation. Of course, the daily practice may be of ordinary deep pranayam, and not of holding the breath, but one or two days in a week one has to give jolts. Who knows when the enemy in the form of ignorance will attack. The enemy should not be considered weak. What happens is that if we keep pushing the energy upwards by pulling and pushing the breath, then we will not be able to meditate enough in the Ajna Chakra. Because during deep Pranayam, we will be busy in pushing the energy upwards by focusing on the sensation on the spine and the chakras. Therefore, that energy will be spent in material worldly affairs. That is why it is said that when the energy reaches the Ajna Chakra, then start meditating. Once the meditation is done, then it will keep increasing on its own because it is bliss and bliss itself pulls everyone towards itself. When the life force reaches the Ajna Chakra, then it is known by itself. The great Sattva Guna is felt. The man seems to be transformed. All the divine qualities come automatically. There is no need to do or read anything. Even animals and birds start looking at him with attention and curiosity. This is the magic of breath and life force. This will automatically lead to Pratyahara. Because when a person gets bliss within, then why will he adopt the costly path of senses for it? Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi happen automatically in Ajna Chakra. Meaning the picture of meditation becomes very clear. Many Tantrik type people use Panchamakaras to reach Ajna Chakra immediately. After that they leave them. Because the Sattva Guna of Ajna Chakra prevents them from using them. Meaning climb up the ladder and then throw it away. If you keep the ladder then you will accidentally come down again. If a Sadhak continues to use them then he will get Kundalini awakening quickly but he will not be able to bear that experience for long. And will bring Kundalini down immediately. Because the Panchamakaras contain Tamoguna and Rajoguna, which cannot bear Sattva Guna for long. Still, even this momentary experience is better than nothing. The meditation of Ajna Chakra enters inside and forms a triangle in the middle of the brain. There are three points on its three ends. Meaning this triangle is felt in the form of sensation lines and sensation points of thin nerves or channels. In its middle, attention and sensation also get concentrated on the Shri Bindu. A little behind the Shri Bindu, another sensation line goes. It ends at the Sahasrar Bindu. This is the most divine place. This is the final goal. Moksha is attained here. The original sensation or Sushumna coming up from the spine from the back also joins there. All these are experiences of practice. These are not any physical line, point, triangle, chakra etc. Many yogis say that while going from the Ajna Chakra to the Sahasrar Chakra point, one feels a dark sky, then a lighted cave etc. All these experiences seem strange when heard and read. But when one continues to practice, one feels them on one’s own. There is no need to tell anyone. Many yogis say that during yoga one should not concentrate on the chakras or the back etc. Rather one should only concentrate on the Ajna Chakra point, between the eyebrows. They are also right. The main target is the Ajna Chakra. Why not aim directly at the target? The rest of the chakras are connected to the Agya Chakra. Therefore, meditation on the Agya Chakra leads to meditation on the other chakras. If you run after the sun, the moon will automatically come in your way. You will not find the sun just by chasing the moon. Yes, the path will become a little lighter or easier but it will take a lot of time. Who knows, till then man will even be alive in this world. Many people waste a lot of their precious time on the chakras. When Patanjali says that only through meditation, you will get the ultimate success, then meditation will not happen below the Agya Chakra, will it? Many tantriks make the meditation picture on the Agya Chakra very strong by sexual intercourse and very quickly or say miraculously attain samadhi and enlightenment. But the thing is the same as said earlier. To gain something, something has to be lost. One does not know when the meditation picture shining there becomes samadhi after reaching the Sahasrar, and when it turns into enlightenment. This happens so quickly that one does not get a chance to experience this or that diagram, this or that point, and this or that triangle. That is why if they are asked about the method and experience of yoga, they do not know much. They just talk about self-realization and the sex yoga that helps them achieve it. They just want the fruit, their enemies climbing the tree. But this is not everyone’s cup of tea. Anyway, after self-realization, for the benefit of the world, they deliberately do yoga in the right way and tell everyone about all their experiences. They do not need it for themselves, but for the benefit of the public, they do it. This is the sign of Bodhisatva. Many orthodox Yogis hide their experience like the Kohinoor diamond. Just as the shining line of experience is felt in the form of Sushumna, similarly, there must be a circular network of lines of experience in place of Chakra. This must be called Chakra Darshan. But what is the benefit of these? Go straight to the Agya Chakra and become free.
After Dharana, Dhyana/meditation, all Yogas are the same. There are various methods and techniques to reach here. However, the basic purpose is that power is needed. For this, someone takes extra power from the Mooladhar. Someone saves power by leaving worldly affairs. Then someone saves power by keeping non-duality in worldly affairs. So there are three types of Yoga. Kundalini Yoga or Hatha Yoga, Sanyas Yoga and Karma Yoga, these three Yogas are the basic ones. You can make as many Yogas as you want. Bhakti Yoga is also the part of Karma Yoga.
The original Kriya Yoga says that one should do nothing except Pranayam with Om Japa while meditating on the centre of eyebrows. But many later Yogis have made it so complicated that the original Kriya Yoga seems to have disappeared. The specialty of mental Om Japa is that it strengthens the picture of meditation on the eyebrows. Recite this mantra in your mind 4 to 6 times while inhaling and the same amount while exhaling. While doing Anulom Vilom Pranayama, keeping the tip of one finger resting on the centre of the eyebrows also helps in concentrating the attention there. Many poor people, falling into their mess, remain entangled in the Chakras and Sushumna throughout their lives. They are unable to reach real meditation. Some Yogis, by doing amazing Sadhana, experience these so-called strange experience like lines, points, triangles, lights, darknesses, tunnels and Chakras and also achieve various kinds of Siddhis. But they are miles away from self-realization and even real Samadhi. That is why they are unable to tell the experience of self-realization and when asked, they say that the Guru forbids them from telling it to others. Many say that the one who says that he has attained self-realization, has not, and the one who says that he has not, has got. They say that self-knowledge disappears when ego comes in. But how can this happen? If someone shows the neck hanging prize he has won to others, how will it disappear? It is true that someone can steal it, but no one can steal the inner experience. There may be some other meaning. Anyway, we do not want to get into this discussion.
One solution is to do whatever you feel is right but always keep an eye on the main goal of yoga, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi on Agya chakra and enlightenment on Sahasrara chakra. Change the techniques, improve them, do anything, but keep moving. Don’t stand at one place. Understand by experimentation and move forward. It is possible that someone gives the world a new yoga technique. Meditation on the eyebrows does not mean that you look upwards obliquely like squint, but that you close your eyes in the dark and meditate in the middle of them. Although by opening the eyes and looking obliquely, the power rises upwards, but this is not meditation. By this, the power itself rises above the Muladhara. Of course, meditation happens only with power. This is done in Shambhavi Mudra. While meditating on the centre of the eyebrows in the dark, keep moving your closed eyes in between so that the Agya Chakra is not lost.
This Chakra is more inside than outside. It is a simple matter that one should keep increasing knowledge and keep moving according to the need. If you feel uneasy with Siddhasana, then simply sit cross-legged in Sukhasana. Keep a thick pillow under your hip so that there is no pain in the knees.
The initiation is talked about so that the meditation picture of the one who gives the initiation is formed. If the meditation picture is already formed then what is the need for initiation? Once a priest of a temple asked me if I had taken mantra initiation from anyone? Sensing his intention, I immediately said that my revered grandfather is my Guru. He became very happy and was forever impressed by me.
Demystifying Kundalini 