My personal journey in spirituality began many years ago.  I always spoke to God but didn’t know which form to worship.  Then one day, at Lord Krishna’s temple, I suddenly felt a deep connection.   I asked God for a Guru…somebody who could guide me on the spiritual path. 

Lord Krishna lovingly answered my prayer through a book—given to me by my nephew—called “Where There Is Light” by Paramahansa Yogananda. I knew immediately that these were the highest teachings available to mankind today.  I took initiation (diksha) into the Guru-disciple relationship…and since then am practising the ancient and liberating science of Kriya Yoga.  I can truly feel its tremendous power in every part of my life. 

Let me tell you a little bit about our teachings and our line of Gurus.
The technique of Kriya Yoga is the same science taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna, and it was also known to Saint Patanjali and Lord Jesus Christ.  Mahavatar Babaji, the deathless Master, revealed the technique to the great siddha, Lahiri Mahasaya in 1861.  Lahiri Mahasaya passed it on to his disciple Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri…who then taught it to Paramahansa Yogananda.

Paramahansa Yogananda went to America in 1920.  He was the first great Indian saint to live in the U.S. and spread the ancient wisdom of yoga and
 
Lord Krishna Lord Jesus Mahavatar Babaji
Lahiri Mahasayaji Yukteshwarji Yoganandaji
 

meditation there.  One of the greatest miracles of his life occurred after his death.  Twenty days after he left his body, it still showed absolutely no sign of decay whatsoever.  “Weeks after his departure, his unchanged face shone with the divine luster of incorruptibility.” (Autobiography of a Yogi, pg. 487).

Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda founded “The Self-Realization Fellowship” in Los Angeles and “The Yogoda Satsanga Society of India” in Ranchi to carry on his work—the dissemination of the technique of salvation for this age, Kriya Yoga.

Kriya Yoga is the highest form of yoga because it completes the path recommended by Ashtanga Yoga--The Eightfold Path.  It doesn’t stop at Step 3—Asana, but takes the practitioner from Step 4—Pranayama right through Pratyahara, Dharana, and Dhyan to the final stage—Samadhi (blissful oneness with God). 

It’s practice is immensely useful, and indeed vital, to modern-day existence. More can be learned about Kriya Yoga and Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda in his spiritual classic “Autobiography of a Yogi” and at www.yssofindia.org and www.yogananda-srf.org.

  
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