SRF lessons

There are other countless references to Yogananda here in my blogs.  I will focus here more on some of “mudras” referred to in Yoga books and by Yogananda Maharaja in his SRF lessons.

There are three techniques that were revealed in general by Yogananda Maharaja

1) Hung sau technique

2) Jyoti Mudra (in ancient terms it went by other terms Shambhvi or Shan Mukhi Mudra)

3) Aum technique.

I will focus mostly on Jyoti Mudra here because it covers the other 2 mudras and if done perfectly, it automatically becomes a kriya yoga. 

First let us get the fundamentals clear. 

Prana is not the breath.  Breathing is the result of the activity of prana.  Just like smoke is the result of a fire. 

Kriya yoga is also known has kevali pranayama or kevali or kevala kumbhaka  (in the ancient text books and repeatedly stated by Yogananda Maharaja in the book God talks with Arujuna, the treatise written by him to clarify everything in Bhagavada Gita).  Pranayama is control of the prana. (prana and ayama means control).  Kevali pranayama is when prana activity is silenced.  What is the effect of this?  Breathing stops.  Just like when you extinguish the fire smoke is no longer there.  Hatha yogis, try to control the breathing hoping to stop the prana or in other words try to stop the smoke without stopping the fire or try to stop the effect without stopping the cause.  To repeat myself, in Kriya yoga, prana stops and the external manifestation is breathing has stopped.  One should not assume because we have held the breath, prana has stopped!

Now, we are ready to talk and understand Jyoti Mudra and understand why it is indispensible. 

In this mudra, the disciple uses his or her hands to cover their eyelids, thumbs to cover the ears and fingers to cover the nostrils.   This is the physical aspect to it. Merely performing this physically will lead you nowhere. 

Now that this mudra is done physically what next?  

The slight physical pressure on the eyelids causes a mixture of light by stimulation of the retina and some light of the divine is there also.  (refer to God talks with Arjuna chapter 6). Covering the ears, one begins to hear some sort of sound that is mostly a physical sound from the various organs of the body.  In order not to get distracted by the sound of the breathing, slowing the respiration or even holding it for very short durations can be helpful.

Once this is done, one must turn our attention (the word is attention not mind), completely within, the eyeballs turned upwards towards the center of the forehead or agna chakra and with all ones might and heart (reference the bible), search for the divine within.  He will manifest either in the sound of a roar (not the sounds coming from the body), or a more intense light, a lot more intense than the light from the physical pressure.  One must completely let go of all demands of the mind or the intellect or of the body.  This part, to let go completely is very difficult.  The body can be trained to let go completely (slowly) by the energizing exercises as taught by Yogananda. 

If these steps are done perfectly, i.e. one has ones attention completely within, one begins to see the light and the sounds and lets go of all and willingly surrenders all to the divine and does so fearlessly, then Kriya yoga or kevali happens completely.  The breathing is automatically arrested.  The prana from the rest of the body automatically and spontaneously turns within and starts going up through the sushumna (actually chitra and vajra and brahmanadi within the sushumna) to ascend to agna chakra.  This is Siddha yoga, this is the third step written in Maha yoga vigyana called Parivajra (meaning renunciate or sanyasi).  Here one has truly relinquished everything and one is freely roaming in the skies of Agna chakra.  Here khechari mudra is automatically done.  The word khe meaning sky and chari meaning roamer.  Yes, one can also taste the nectar giving long life and immortality also.  Yes, the person who is at this step is a hansa.  Very few reach this state of hansa and this place is the true Mansarovar.

Thus all aspects of the SRF lessons are extremely crucial and very intricately connected.  One must never question the words written by all great liberated teachers.  I would urge all disciples, no matter what path you follow to subscribe to the SRF lessons by Yogananda Maharaja.  The fee is  nominal but the rewards and the impact of his immortal divine words are beyond comprehension.   Even if you know this, read it again.  There is a big difference between reading how to cook and actually cooking and tasting it!.    Unless one has perfected the technique and is able to taste it at will, read again and again till one has reached the goal.  Like Vivekananda said, Awake, Arise and stop not till thy goal is reached.

Dineshuncle explained the meaning of the cross to me.  If you look at the Jyoti Mudra carefully, it forms a cross!  This is the true meaning of bearing or wearing the cross in the bible!

5 days ago, Kashinathdada spent the whole night with me.  I will write about this in more detail later.  However a few pearls from it.

I bowed to Kashinathdada in the tradition of sanatana dharma.  This bowing is called Sasthanga Dandwata pranama.  When I did that, dada touched all eight angas of my body.  Sasthanga means sa ashta anga meaning with all eight parts of the body.  The significance of this is as follows : the eight angas are the eight parts of yoga.  One must surrender to dada at every step of yoga, starting from yama niyama to samadhi and the steps become perfected when touched or blessed by dada.  Sasthanga dandavata pranama is only permitted by a marda.  Here the word marda means someone who is fearless and does not mean male.  If one does this with fear in the heart, yogic results will not be achieved rapidly.

I am eternally in debt to My gurudev Sombargiriji maharaja and dada for blessing me with Jyoti mudra technique and awakening my shakti and leading me to higher and higher places.