Q: I noticed you refer to Yogananda frequently in some of your books, but I haven’t noticed any recommendation for using the Kriya Yoga Yogananda teaches. Is there a conflict in using the Kriya Yoga technique with the Soham meditation?
I do not recommend the practice of what is called “Kriya Yoga” today. Only a few years after Yoganandaji’s passing SRF altered the method, claiming that they were returning it to Lahiri Mahasaya’s original method. No one knows what Lahiri Mahasaya taught, since it is common knowledge in India that every one of his disciples taught a practice unique to them, each one apparently altering it according to their ideas. That is why in one of my answers found in Satsang with the Abbot I said, “Stay away from the ‘original Kriya Yoga’ jungle.” This is a very sad situation.
Yogananda often said to the disciples at Mount Washington, “When I am gone you will all change everything.” And he told his second American disciple Warren Vickerman, “In three generations you won’t even be able to tell that I came to this country.” This is the usual fate of a master’s teachings. Look at Christianity and Buddhism, what to say about modern “Hinduism.”
There may be a conflict between “Kriya Yoga” practice and Soham japa. I have no experience or observation of the matter. I know that those who practice “Kriya” and TM together can experience profound neurological upheavals.
Further Reading:
- Practical Advise on Learning the Kriya Yoga Methods
- Kriya Yoga According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali